Author: horse-racing-free-tips

Sic Bo originated in ancient China and means literally “dice pair”, although the game is actually played with three dice! The game is played throughout Southeast Asia, Korea, China and increasingly in Western casinos. Sic Bo is an easy game to play, the object being 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.

The game is played on a table that illustrates the 50 permissible bets in pictorial form and with their associated payout. Sic Bo payouts range from 180:1 for a specific triple, to 1:1 for betting on the value of just one dice. The dice are usually tumbled in a basket by the dealer, who will enter the results on to the table, and then light up the winning combinations. The dealer pays out the lucky winners and removes the unsuccessful bets.

The first and most straight forward betting option in Sic Bo is to bet on any one number of the numbers 1 to 6 on a dice, and if that number comes up on any one of the three dice rolled, then the bet is paid out at evens, if two number come up then the payout is 2:1 and if all three dice feature the chosen number the payout is 3:1. A player can also select a pair of numbers for example 2 and 4 to come up on any two of the dice, and if successful the payout is 5:1.

A bet can be placed on the total of the three dice from 4 to 17 inclusive. The odds vary for this bet depending upon the total bet. “Small bets” refer to 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), whilst “Big bets” require the total of the three dice to be between 11 and 17 (excluding triple 4 and 5); both these latter popular bets pay out 1:1.

A specific triple requires all three of the dice to show the selected triple e.g. 3 x 3, and this pays out the maximum of 180:1. A variant of this, at the lower payout of 30:1, is the any triple bet that pays out for any of the six possible triples. A specific double bet pays out 10:1 if any two dice match the number that has been wagered.

One of the most popular variations of Poker, the 7 Card Stud Poker game is played at every Vegas casino and in all internet casinos. The popularity of 7 Card Stud Poker is eclipsed only by a variant of the game called Texas Hold ‘Em, which is the main format of the World Series of Poker, the largest professional tournament in the world. Once you know how to play 7 Card Stud Poker, it is an easy step to learn Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha, or other popular variants.

The hand ranking order is the same for 7 Card Stud as it is for just about every one of the hundreds of Poker variations played around the world. The highest possible hand is a Royal Flush, and after that in descending order are the Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, and Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and High Card. The odds of being dealt a high hand in 7 Card Stud are lower than those in Texas Hold ‘Em because you must construct the hand using only the cards you receive. There are no community cards in traditional 7 Card Stud.

As with every Poker game, play in 7 Card Stud begins with the ante: each player pays a small amount to the pot in order to participate in the game. There are six stages in 7 Card Stud Poker; known as third street, fourth street, fifth street, sixth street, the river, and the showdown. After the ante, each player is dealt two face-down cards (called hole cards) and one face-up card. This initial deal is third street. The player with the highest card showing initiates the betting, and will either check (not raise the pot), or bet. Then, each subsequent player can either call (match the first player’s bet), raise (increase the bet amount), or fold (withdraw from the hand). Three more face-up cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, with a round of betting after each deal pass–these stages are fourth, fifth and sixth street.

The seventh card is known as “the river,” and is dealt face-down. One final round of betting ensues, after which those players who have not folded enter the last stage, called “the showdown.” At this point, beginning with the last player to call the bet, each player shows their respective cards and names the best five-card hand they can make with their cards (full house, two pair, etc.). The pot is given to the player with the highest ranking hand, and then the next hand begins. Now you know how to play 7 Card Stud Poker!