By Jeff Hwang
A distinguishing feature of poker-based casino table games is that the vast majority are multi-stage games requiring multiple wagers to get to showdown (with Pai Gow being the most notable exception as a single-bet game). These games typically start with an initial ante (or blind) wager – a forced bet – which drives the action in the game, much the same way that the antes and blinds effectively drive the action in real poker games.
The ante is essentially dead money. Assuming optimal play, the entirety of the house advantage is derived from the ante, while all wagers that come after are made in attempt to recover the lost value from the ante.
In Three Card Poker, for example, the player starts with an Ante wager and is dealt three cards. Optimal strategy is to make the 1x Play bet with Q-6-4 or better, which happens on 67.4% of hands. This strategy is enough to recover all but 3.37% of the initial ante.
That 3.37% is the house advantage.
Multiple Forced Bets
While most games start with a single forced bet, some games start with multiple forced wagers as a means of achieving certain gameplay characteristics – chiefly scalable betting, and higher betting and max-bet frequencies (see The Two Kinds of Hit Frequency and Betting Frequency and Max-Bet Frequency) – by creating more dead money.
Both Crazy 4 Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold’em – both designed by Roger Snow of SHFL Entertainment (now part of Scientific Games) – require two initial wagers to start the game. In Crazy 4 Poker, the player starts with an Ante wager and a forced Super Bonus wager, the latter of which pays according to a paytable; the player is dealt five down cards, and can bet 1x-3x the Ante, with the stipulation that the player must have a pair of aces or better in order to bet 3x. In Ultimate Texas Hold’em, the player starts with an Ante wager and a Blind wager, with the Blind wager paying according to a paytable; the player is dealt two cards, and can either bet 3x-4x the ante pre-flop, or 2x on the three-card flop, or 1x on the river.
It should be noted that no player wants to make multiple initial wagers – if the player wants to bet more, he can raise the stakes on his own. Consequently, if you are going to force the player to make multiple wagers, the player must get something back in return.
In Crazy 4 Poker, the player gets playability (betting frequency) and the ability to bet more on his good hands with a relatively high frequency (max-bet frequency). Overall, the player can bet at least 1x on 76.5% of hands, which is materially higher than the 67.4% betting frequency of Three Card Poker. The player can also bet the 3x maximum on 18.6% of hands, which compares favorably to a game like High Card Flush, in which the player can only bet more than the 1x minimum on 3.1% of hands.
In Ultimate Texas Hold’em, the benefits are even stronger.
1. The player gets to see the river on 100% of hands without having to make another bet.
2. The player can correctly bet and thus get to showdown on 80.8% of hands.
3. The player can bet the max (4x pre-flop) on 37.7% of hands.
In these games, the second forced bet is used to create the house advantage. As Eliot Jacobson notes in his book Contemporary Casino Table Game Design, the main game in Crazy 4 Poker has a 31.36% player advantage; the Super Bonus bet has a house advantage of 34.78%, yielding an overall house advantage of 3.42%. Similarly, the Wizard of Odds shows the main game in Ultimate Texas Hold’em having a 29.28% player advantage; this is offset by a 31.47% house advantage on the Blind wager, yielding an overall house advantage of 2.19%.
A distinguishing feature of poker-based casino table games is that the vast majority are multi-stage games requiring multiple wagers to get to showdown (with Pai Gow being the most notable exception as a single-bet game). These games typically start with an initial ante (or blind) wager – a forced bet – which drives the action in the game, much the same way that the antes and blinds effectively drive the action in real poker games.
The ante is essentially dead money. Assuming optimal play, the entirety of the house advantage is derived from the ante, while all wagers that come after are made in attempt to recover the lost value from the ante.
In Three Card Poker, for example, the player starts with an Ante wager and is dealt three cards. Optimal strategy is to make the 1x Play bet with Q-6-4 or better, which happens on 67.4% of hands. This strategy is enough to recover all but 3.37% of the initial ante.
That 3.37% is the house advantage.
Multiple Forced Bets
While most games start with a single forced bet, some games start with multiple forced wagers as a means of achieving certain gameplay characteristics – chiefly scalable betting, and higher betting and max-bet frequencies (see The Two Kinds of Hit Frequency and Betting Frequency and Max-Bet Frequency) – by creating more dead money.
Both Crazy 4 Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold’em – both designed by Roger Snow of SHFL Entertainment (now part of Scientific Games) – require two initial wagers to start the game. In Crazy 4 Poker, the player starts with an Ante wager and a forced Super Bonus wager, the latter of which pays according to a paytable; the player is dealt five down cards, and can bet 1x-3x the Ante, with the stipulation that the player must have a pair of aces or better in order to bet 3x. In Ultimate Texas Hold’em, the player starts with an Ante wager and a Blind wager, with the Blind wager paying according to a paytable; the player is dealt two cards, and can either bet 3x-4x the ante pre-flop, or 2x on the three-card flop, or 1x on the river.
It should be noted that no player wants to make multiple initial wagers – if the player wants to bet more, he can raise the stakes on his own. Consequently, if you are going to force the player to make multiple wagers, the player must get something back in return.
In Crazy 4 Poker, the player gets playability (betting frequency) and the ability to bet more on his good hands with a relatively high frequency (max-bet frequency). Overall, the player can bet at least 1x on 76.5% of hands, which is materially higher than the 67.4% betting frequency of Three Card Poker. The player can also bet the 3x maximum on 18.6% of hands, which compares favorably to a game like High Card Flush, in which the player can only bet more than the 1x minimum on 3.1% of hands.
In Ultimate Texas Hold’em, the benefits are even stronger.
1. The player gets to see the river on 100% of hands without having to make another bet.
2. The player can correctly bet and thus get to showdown on 80.8% of hands.
3. The player can bet the max (4x pre-flop) on 37.7% of hands.
In these games, the second forced bet is used to create the house advantage. As Eliot Jacobson notes in his book Contemporary Casino Table Game Design, the main game in Crazy 4 Poker has a 31.36% player advantage; the Super Bonus bet has a house advantage of 34.78%, yielding an overall house advantage of 3.42%. Similarly, the Wizard of Odds shows the main game in Ultimate Texas Hold’em having a 29.28% player advantage; this is offset by a 31.47% house advantage on the Blind wager, yielding an overall house advantage of 2.19%.
Number of Forced Bets
| Let It Ride presents a unique format, in which the player starts with three forced wagers but can remove up to two of them as cards are revealed. So while the game technically has three forced wagers, practically speaking the player only has to commit to one of them. Next: Betting Rounds 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. |