By Jeff Hwang
Aside from Pai Gow, virtually every casino poker variant starts with at least one initial wager – an ante – followed by at least one bet-or-fold betting round. Most games feature a single such betting round.
Other games feature multiple betting rounds, employed in a variety of ways.
In Ultimate Texas Hold’em, the player has three betting rounds in which to make a single bet, or otherwise fold. The player starts with two initial wagers – an Ante and equal Blind bet – and is dealt two hole cards. The player can either bet 3x or 4x pre-flop, or 2x on the flop, or 1x on the river, or otherwise fold on the river and forfeit the initial Ante and Blind wagers.
In contrast, Mississippi Stud features three distinct bet-or-fold betting rounds. The player starts with an ante and is dealt two down cards. The player can bet 1x-3x the ante or fold (the 3rd Street wager); if the player bets, the dealer reveals the first of three community cards to be shared by the players. The player can again bet 1x-3x the ante or fold; if the player bets, the dealer reveals the second community card. The player can once again bet 1x-3x the ante or fold; if the player bets, the dealer reveals the final community card to complete the player’s five-card poker hand.
Let It Ride is completely different. In Let It Ride, the player starts by placing three equal wagers, and is dealt three cards. At this point, the player can pull back a wager if he doesn’t like his hand, or let the bet ride (i.e. “let it ride”). The dealer then deals the first community card to be share by the players, after which the player can either pull back the second wager or “let it ride.”
Aside from Pai Gow, virtually every casino poker variant starts with at least one initial wager – an ante – followed by at least one bet-or-fold betting round. Most games feature a single such betting round.
- In Three Card Poker, the player starts with an initial ante, and can bet 1x or fold after receiving three down cards.
- In High Card Flush, the player starts with an ante, and can bet or fold after receiving seven down cards; the player can wager 1x-or-fold, but may also 2x with a 5-card flush, or 3x with a 6- or 7-card flush.
- In Caribbean Stud, the player starts with an ante, and can bet 2x or fold after receiving five down cards.
- In Four Card Poker, the player starts with an ante, and can bet 1x-3x or fold on his five down cards (best four-card hand plays).
- In Crazy 4 Poker, the player starts with two initial wagers – an Ante and Super Bonus wager – and can bet 1x-3x the ante or fold; the player can only make the 3x wager with a pair of aces or better.
Other games feature multiple betting rounds, employed in a variety of ways.
In Ultimate Texas Hold’em, the player has three betting rounds in which to make a single bet, or otherwise fold. The player starts with two initial wagers – an Ante and equal Blind bet – and is dealt two hole cards. The player can either bet 3x or 4x pre-flop, or 2x on the flop, or 1x on the river, or otherwise fold on the river and forfeit the initial Ante and Blind wagers.
In contrast, Mississippi Stud features three distinct bet-or-fold betting rounds. The player starts with an ante and is dealt two down cards. The player can bet 1x-3x the ante or fold (the 3rd Street wager); if the player bets, the dealer reveals the first of three community cards to be shared by the players. The player can again bet 1x-3x the ante or fold; if the player bets, the dealer reveals the second community card. The player can once again bet 1x-3x the ante or fold; if the player bets, the dealer reveals the final community card to complete the player’s five-card poker hand.
Let It Ride is completely different. In Let It Ride, the player starts by placing three equal wagers, and is dealt three cards. At this point, the player can pull back a wager if he doesn’t like his hand, or let the bet ride (i.e. “let it ride”). The dealer then deals the first community card to be share by the players, after which the player can either pull back the second wager or “let it ride.”
Number of Betting Rounds
*Three rounds to bet once | Strategy and the Challenge with Multiple Betting Rounds The use of multiple betting rounds can add layers of complexity to a game and potentially make it more interesting. However, this comes with a potential major challenge in that adding betting rounds can also make game strategy exponentially more complex. This is particularly true of games with scalable betting such as Mississippi Stud, as the player must also choose a bet size on multiple betting rounds. |
The advantage of games with single betting rounds is that they often feature simple strategies than can be summed up in a few rules or less (The strategies for Caribbean Stud and Four Card Poker are a bit more complicated due to the fact that the dealer has an up card in both games.):
But add a few betting rounds, and proper game strategy invariably becomes more complex. According to Wizard of Odds, the strategy for Let It Ride – with two betting rounds but no bet-sizing decisions – has ten rules. Ultimate Texas Hold’em with three betting rounds to make one bet is even more complex.
Here’s the Wizard of Odds take on the strategy for Ultimate Texas Hold’em:
That’s 13 rules (eight for pre-flop play, though you can think of them as one rule if you are an expert poker player; three on the flop; and two more on the river), one of which requires a lot of interpretation (“less than 21 dealer outs beat you”), and is not a calculation that is necessarily natural even to expert poker players. Moreover, this strategy only gets the player to a 2.43% house advantage – still short of the game’s 2.19% theoretical house advantage under optimal play.
Stephen How of Discount Gambling has produced a strategy for Ultimate Texas Hold’em that improves to a 2.3% house advantage. This strategy has 23 categories of rules (the eight pre-flop rules represent a single category).
Meanwhile, the optimal strategy for Mississippi Stud – with three distinct bet 1x-3x-or-fold betting rounds – is similarly complex. The Wizard of Odds strategy for Mississippi Stud (credited to Joseph Kisenwether) requires 23 rules to get to a house advantage of 4.91%.
The challenge with having complex strategy is that the more rules required – the greater the skill requirement – the bigger the gap will be between the actual player disadvantage and the theoretical house advantage under optimal play. This creates player value risk, which is the risk that the player is losing more money faster than he should be, while creating perceptible barriers to entry for the player: An intelligent gambler is less likely to play a game in which he is unsure of the strategy than he is to play a game for which he is confident in his knowledge of proper game strategy.
This is especially true when the player knows the game is designed to beat him.
Consequently, as we discuss in The Demand for Skill Games, there must be an incentive for the player to acquire the skills to play a game he knows he can’t beat. What this means is that the house advantage for such games should usually be lower (as in Ultimate Texas Hold’em) rather than higher.
Next: The Two Kinds of Hit Frequency
Jeff Hwang is President and CEO of High Variance Games LLC. Jeff is also the best-selling author of Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy and the three-volume Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha series.
- Three Card Poker: Bet Q-6-4+
- High Card Flush: Call the maximum allowed with J-9-6+, while 9-7-5 to J-9-5 are borderline (per Wizard of Odds)
- Crazy 4 Poker: Max-bet (3x) A-A-x-x+, min-bet (1x) K-Q-8-4+
But add a few betting rounds, and proper game strategy invariably becomes more complex. According to Wizard of Odds, the strategy for Let It Ride – with two betting rounds but no bet-sizing decisions – has ten rules. Ultimate Texas Hold’em with three betting rounds to make one bet is even more complex.
Here’s the Wizard of Odds take on the strategy for Ultimate Texas Hold’em:
- Pre-flop: Bet the max (4x) with 33+, any ace, K2s+, K5o+, Q6s+, Q8o+, J8s+, JTo
- Flop: Bet (2x) with two pair or better, any pair of threes or better, any 10-high flush draw or better
- River: Bet (1x) with any pair or better, or if “less than 21 dealer outs beat you.”
That’s 13 rules (eight for pre-flop play, though you can think of them as one rule if you are an expert poker player; three on the flop; and two more on the river), one of which requires a lot of interpretation (“less than 21 dealer outs beat you”), and is not a calculation that is necessarily natural even to expert poker players. Moreover, this strategy only gets the player to a 2.43% house advantage – still short of the game’s 2.19% theoretical house advantage under optimal play.
Stephen How of Discount Gambling has produced a strategy for Ultimate Texas Hold’em that improves to a 2.3% house advantage. This strategy has 23 categories of rules (the eight pre-flop rules represent a single category).
Meanwhile, the optimal strategy for Mississippi Stud – with three distinct bet 1x-3x-or-fold betting rounds – is similarly complex. The Wizard of Odds strategy for Mississippi Stud (credited to Joseph Kisenwether) requires 23 rules to get to a house advantage of 4.91%.
The challenge with having complex strategy is that the more rules required – the greater the skill requirement – the bigger the gap will be between the actual player disadvantage and the theoretical house advantage under optimal play. This creates player value risk, which is the risk that the player is losing more money faster than he should be, while creating perceptible barriers to entry for the player: An intelligent gambler is less likely to play a game in which he is unsure of the strategy than he is to play a game for which he is confident in his knowledge of proper game strategy.
This is especially true when the player knows the game is designed to beat him.
Consequently, as we discuss in The Demand for Skill Games, there must be an incentive for the player to acquire the skills to play a game he knows he can’t beat. What this means is that the house advantage for such games should usually be lower (as in Ultimate Texas Hold’em) rather than higher.
Next: The Two Kinds of Hit Frequency
Jeff Hwang is President and CEO of High Variance Games LLC. Jeff is also the best-selling author of Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy and the three-volume Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha series.