GamingTips

So there’s no hard and fast betting strategies that I know of in Let It Ride, although surely you could adjust any betting strategy to the game.  There is one set in stone betting rule, though, which has to do with a small and oft-ignored placard which will rest on almost any Let It Ride table.

The placard will usually read: “Maximum Payout per hand-$XXXXXX” and/or “Maximum Aggregate Payout per hand-$XXXXX.”  The first refers to how much any one player can be paid on one hand.

For example, you are playing at a casino with a maximum per hand of $75,000.  The paytable pays 1000:1 on a Royal, and the bonus (which you are betting) is $20,000.  You are betting $25 on each of your spots, and leave all bets up.  You should, according to the paytable, be paid $95,000.  You have 3 $25 bets, paying 1000:1, or $25,000 each, plus the bonus bet, which pays $20,000.  But, the maximum is $75,000.

The second, the maximum aggregate or total payout, is the most they will play out to all players on the table during any given hand.  Again, let’s use the same paytable.  We’ll assume that there are only two players at the table.  Usually, the way that this works is that they calculate the percentage of the payout which each player is entitled to.  So let’s say that you have AKQ of spades.  The dealers hows a J 1o of spades.  You’re thrilled.  You’re waiting for your $95,000.  Meanwhile, I’m sitting next to you with the 987 of spades.  I’m thrilled.  Using the same paytable, and also betting $25 per spot, I am now expecting $5000 per spot, or $15,000, plus a $2,000 bonus, for a total of $17,000.  Now, let’s assume that the maximum aggregate is also $75,000 at our favorite casino.  The total expected payout is $122,000.  Of that, your $95K makes up about 78% and my $17K makes up the remaining 22%.  That means that you will receive 78% of $75,000, or $58, 500, andI will receive the remaining $16,500.  Although both of these seem like a lot of money, statistically speaking, they make your odds at Let It Ride even worse.

Some casinos do it differently, and will pay the bets in order of amount.  This would be a far worse deal for me, since you would receive $75,000 and I would receive nothing.  You will need to read the brochure on Let It Ride at an individual casino to learn which of these methods is used.

Either way, however, this has a serious implication for strategy.  You should only play within the maximum payouts.  If the maximum payout, or the maximum aggregate payout, is $75,000, and you are playing at the casino we’ve been talking about, you should evaluate.  You are playing the bonus.  So take off $20,000.  You’re now looking at a maximum of $55,000 between your three bets.  Divide this by 1000, and you get 55.   Divide this by three and you get 18 1/3.  In other words, if you want to bet big, at this particular table, the biggest you shoud bet is 18 (or 15 if you’re trying not to drive the dealer insane) per spot.

Remember though, your odds don’t get any worse for betting small.  This doesn’t mean you have to be 15 each time to maximize your odds.  It means that you should not bet more than $15.

To generalize, you should subtract the bonus payout for a royal from the maximum payout (if you play the bonus), then divide what remains by the payout for a royal, and divide by three to get your maximum per spot bet.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

Lotteries are one form of gambling which is widely legal in the United States.  Lotteries are not regulated by federal law, and are subject to the laws of each state where tickets are hold.  Some states hold their own lotteries, others participate in multi-state lotteries, the best known is probably Powerball.

Only Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Mississipi, Alabama, Alaska and Hawaii do not allow lottery.  Lottery is allowed in Puerto Rico, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  In general, lotteries donate a large portion of their profits to state funding for education.

The way that traditional lottos work is that people purchase tickets, on which there is a given quantity of numbers.  Players can either pick their own numbers or allow a machine to randomly select the numbers.  They hang on to their tickets and each week, usually in a televised proceeding, balls are drawn by machine.  Each ball has a number on it, and similar to Keno, players are paid out based on how many of their numbers match the drawn numbers.  They can usually collect small winnings at gas stations, grocery stores, or other places that sell lotto tickets, but for larger jackpots, they need to contact the agency which runs the lottery directly.

There are also several “instant win” variations in various states.  These usually involve using nails or coins to scratch off boxes on a ticket.  They come in all types of variety and can be quite fun.

Thanks for reading and good luck!

Baccarat Chemin de Fer is a European form of the game in which the players actually act as “banker” or “punters.”  The dealer will shuffle the cards and pass the deck in turn to each player, who has the right to shuffle.  The dealer then performs the final shuffle, offers the player to his left the cut, and hands a stack of cards (the game is played with six decks) to the first player in the rotation.  This player will now be the “banker.”

The banker deals the hands, as well as banks the hand.  He puts an ammount of money forward as the “bank” for the hand.  The other players (going in order) then have the opportunity to “go the bank” and bet the full ammount the banker has put up.  If no one “goes the bank” each player has the opportunity to bet against the banker in any ammount up to the bank.  If the total of the players bets is more than the total offered by the bank, the bets are honored in the order they were placed.  If the total is less, spectators may join in.

Once the bets have been matched up, the cards are dealt alternating between the “punters” and the “banker” (2 each).  The punter with the highest bet acts on behalf of the punters.  If either party has an 8 or 9, they will show it, and the side with the higher total wins.  If not, play continues.  The punters are offered a third card.  It is considered poor form for the punter to accept a third card if the total is 6, 7, 8, or 9, or to refuse it on a 0,1,2,3, or 4.  Basically, any hesitation should tell the banker that the punters started with a 5.  The banker is then allowed to choose whether or not to deal him/herself a third card.

If the bank wins, all of the “punter” bets are added to the bank and the same banker deals another hand.

If the punters win, the bets are paid and the next player becomes the banker, and play continues.

Ties push, but all bets remain in action for the next hand.

The catch for the dealer is that s/he cannot remove the bank.  Any bank wins continue to grow the “bank” until the punters win and the “bank” is divied up.

Double bonus video poker is a variety of video poker where four of a kinds pay out with bonuses.  It is among the better paying video poker games, especially if you can find a “full pay” machine, which is 10/7.  I have yet to see a full pay Double Bonus game, but it is still a fun game, and is actually the game that I usually play when I play video poker.  Below is the strategy guide.  Remember, look at the list and see which option for how to play the hand is the highest, then play it that way.

Four of a kind; royal flush; straight flush

Four to a Royal

3 A’s

Flush; straight; or full house

3 of a kind (not A’s)

4 to an inside straight

2 pair

Pair of J’s or better

4 to a flush

3 to a royal

4 to an outside straight

Any pair

AKQJ unsuited

3 to a straight flush, if there are no gaps, or if the number of gaps is equal to or less than the number of J’s or better

4 to an inside straight, with 3 face cards

Q,J suited

3 to a flush  with 2 face cards

2 suited face cards

4 to an inside straight with 2 face cards

3 to a straight flush, if the number of gaps is one higher than the number of face cards

4 to an inside straight with a face card

J,10 suited

QJ unsuited

3 to a flush with a face card

Q,10 suited

3 to a straight flush, where there are two gaps and no face cards

K,Q; or Q,J unsuited

Ace

K,10 suited

J; K; or Q

Four to an inside straight (no face cards)

3 to a flush (no face cards)

If you don’t have at least the three to a flush, don’t held anything and draw again.  Have fun, and good luck!

Now that we’ve looked at the 3 card hand and the 5 card hand, let’s take a look at the 7 card hand.  With 7 out of 52 cards, there are 133,784,560 possible hands.  Of those, 4,324 are Royal flushes; 37, 260 are straight flushes; 224,848 are four of a kinds; 3,473,184 are full houses; 4,047,644 are flushes; 6,180,020 are straights; 6,461,620 are three of a kinds; 20,598,408 are two paying pairs (10s or higher).

Now let’s turn those into percentages.  You have less than 1% chance each of getting a royal, a straight flush, or a four of a kind; about a 2.5% chance of getting a full house; 3% chance of getting a flush; 4.5% for a straight, just under 4% for a three of a kind;  just over 15% of getting a paying two pair; and about a 69% chance of getting nothing.  If you hit the less than 1 in 3 hands that pays, what will you get paid?

Royal-100

Straight Flush-20

4 of a Kind-7

Full House-5

Flush-4

Straight-3

Three of a Kind-2

Two Pairs (10s high or better)-1.

Overall, the 7 card hand gives the house just over a 3.25% edge.

Here’s another one for the math nerds.

Below are the aproximate probabilities of getting any given hand in three card poker.  We’ll save the discussion of what these mean in terms of a hold/house advantage for a later post.

Straight flush-48 combinations, >1%

Three of a kind-52 combinations, >1%

Straight-720 combinations, just over 3%

Flush-1096 combinations, just shy of 5%

Pair-3744 combinations, just shy of 17%

Nothing-1644o combinations, just over 74%