Dear Mark: I enjoy playing the carnival game Let It
Ride. I know, bad odds but its fun. So I don't play
the side bets, Bonus or 3-card bet because I feel
these are sucker bets and the house has big enough
odds against me without adding to it. But every time
I would have won at one of these side bets the dealer
never fails to point this out and chastises me for
not betting it, and then the other players join in
with the dealer and make me feel like a fool for not
making the bet. I still don't make the side bets but
I want to ask you, are they right and I should be
betting the side bets and if so which one or both?
Any help you can give me would be appreciated. Bill
The
game you speak of, Bill, Let It Ride, (for those unfamiliar
with it) is a variation of five-card stud poker where
the player wagers on a poker hand consisting of three
cards in the player's hand and two community cards
in the dealer's hand.
When
the game is played using perfect basic strategy,
the casino's advantage on Let-It-Ride is 3.51%,
and even though the house edge is almost six times
the edge in blackjack when using perfect basic strategy,
you enjoy playing it, know in advance the toll it
could take on your wallet, and there are in the
casino worse games (and better ones) than Let it
Ride that you could play.
But now, lets talk about this dealer who used the
wisdom of hindsight to be critical of your play.
He, or she for that matter, is dead wrong. It's
easy to have a perfect understanding of a wager
that could have won after it has happened, but in
actuality, the Let-It-Ride side bets, where for
$1 you are offered an additional payoff with certain
paying hands, carry a double-digit casino edge making
them nothing more than sucker bets.
Skip those side bets, Bill -- better yet, any interest
in switching to blackjack?
Table
Master Multiple Player Table Games
Table Master games nearly doubles the number of
hands played per hour. Called "incremental
game speed," the more hands you are exposed
to the built-in house advantage on any of the
Table Master games.
Getting
A Cold Deck
Secretly slipping a stacked deck into the game
can provide a great potential payoff for the card
cheat.
Poker
Blind Bets and Video Poker Odds
Poker blind bets how much they cost the players
that are forced to pay them. Video poker the odds
of hitting a Triple Play video poker machine vs.
single-hand machine.
Texas
Hold'em maximum amount of players Theoretically,
Texas Hold'em can be played by up to 22 players
44 player cards, three burn cards, and five community
cards.
Good
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