Author: horse-racing-free-tips

The history of Sic Bo dates back to the game’s origins in ancient China, the term Sic Bo meaning literally “dice pair”, although to add an element of oriental intrigue into the equation the game is actually played with three dice! Sic Bo is, in essence, a simple dice game; historically it is thought that the game was played with bricks, tumbled between two plates and an overturned bowl, which over time was adapted to the dice and cage shaker variant common in today’s casino versions.

The ancient game of Sic Bo is also as Tai Sai, “Lucky Dice” and as “Hi Lo” in the Philippines. In Macau the game is widely played under the name “Dai Siu”, meaning “Big Small”, referring to the most popular betting option. The game is also similar in concept to an English game called “Grand Hazard.” Throughout the history of Sic Bo the game has been throughout Southeast Asia, Korea, China and increasingly, due in part to the movement of populations from those countries to the west during the nineteenth century, it has gained popularity in the West and is now played in many Western casinos.

The object is to bet on the outcome of a role of the three dice, to include combinations of any two or three of the dice, single numbers, two of a kind or three of a kind. Sic Bo payouts can be very large as the maximum odds are 180:1 for a specific triple (this requires all three of the dice to show the selected triple e.g. 3 x 2). At the lower end of the spectrum payouts of 1:1 are for betting on the value of just one dice. Similarly paying out 1:1 are “Small bets”, a wager that the total of the three dice will be between 4 and 10 (although this does not payout for triple 1, 2 or 3), and “Big Bets”, which require the total of the three dice to be between 11 and 17 (excluding triple 4 and 5).

The game is played on a table that illustrates the 50 permissible bets in pictorial form, with their associated payout. Players place their bets on the appropriate section of the gaming table, much like in roulette. The dice are usually tumbled in a basket by the dealer, who will enter the results on the table, and the winning combinations are then lit up. Finally, the dealer will pay-out the lucky winners and remove the unsuccessful bets.

As it is with most popular card games, the origins of Poker and the history of 7 Card Stud Poker are shrouded in mystery. No one is entirely sure how or where the game began. Further, when considering the history of 7 Card Stud Poker, you should first know how Poker is thought to have come about.

There are many theories about the history of Poker and the history of 7 Card Stud Poker. The most commonly held belief is the name Poker came from the French card game Poque (from the German word pochen, which means “to knock). However, the game itself more closely resembles a Persian game called Nas, which was played with a five-suit deck. Likely the game of Poker as we know it resulted from some combination of Poque and as Nas. The concept of bluffing in Poker came from still another source: the English game brag (first spelled Bragg), which is very similar to Poker but played using only three cards.

The first recorded instance of Poker in the United States was an 1829 game in New Orleans, played with a 20-card deck consisting of all cards with values of 10 and higher (four tens, four jacks, four queens, four kings and four aces). The game was not named, but the object was to bet on whose five-card hand contained the highest cards. This game soon spread to Mississippi riverboats, where con artists used a 52-card variant to bilk unwary travelers and claim their “pokes,” or gambling money stashes. Author Jonathan H. Green described this “cheating card game” in one of his books, and some give Green credit for coining the final term of “Poker.”

Stud Poker emerged during the American Civil War. Some attribute the invention of stud, or stud-horse as it was sometimes called, to cowboys around Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. 5 Card Stud was the first version played, appearing in The American Hoyle as an “official” Poker variant in 1864. Still, draw Poker was the favored variation until someone–no one is certain exactly whom–introduced 7 Card Stud in the early 20th century. The game remained the most popular form of professional and casino Poker until the 1980’s, when a slight twist on 7 Card Stud called Texas Hold ‘Em overtook the traditional version to become the favorite among gamblers and casual players alike.

The majority of Poker tournaments are based on core games of 7 Card Stud or variations of it. Binions Casino, the founder of the largest professional Poker tournament in existence–the World Series of Poker–began a Poker Hall of Fame to commemorate the greatest Poker players in history. Among them are “Wild Bill” Hicock, who was shot and killed during a Poker game holding a two-pair hand of aces over eights (which is still known as a “dead man’s hand” among gamblers); and “Red” Hodges, considered the greatest 7 Card Stud Poker player to have ever lived. 7 Card Stud is still an immensely popular game in Vegas, home games and Internet casinos.