Rules
Play starts with each player makes three bets of equal size. Then
the dealer gives every player three cards and two community cards
are placed face down. After seeing their first three cards every player
has the choice to take one of their three bets back or to "let
it ride" and leave it out. Then the dealer turns over one of
the two community cards. Then each player has the option to pull out
another bet or "let it ride." The player may leave their
bet in or take it out the second time regardless of their first decision.
Finally the second community card is flipped and the players are paid
according to the following payoff table:
| Hand |
Pays |
| Royal flush |
1000 to 1 |
| Straight flush |
200 to 1 |
| Four of a kind |
50 to 1 |
| Full house |
11 to 1 |
| Flush |
8 to 1 |
| Straight |
5 to 1 |
| Three of a kind |
3 to 1 |
| Two pair |
2 to 1 |
| Tens or better |
1 to 1 |
Strategy
With three cards you should only "let it ride" if you
have:
Any paying hand (tens or better, three of a kind)
Any three to a royal flush
Three suited cards in a row except 2-3-4, and ace-2-3
Three to a straight flush, spread 4, with at least one high card
(ten or greater)
Three to a straight flush, spread 5, with at least two high cards
With four cards you should only "let it ride" if you have:
Any paying hand (tens or better, two pair, three of a kind)
Any four to a royal flush
Any four to a straight flush
Any four to a flush
Any four to an outside straight with at least one high card
Any four to an outside straight with no high cards (zero house edge)
Any four to an inside straight with 4 high cards (zero house edge)
A lot of people have asked me what I mean by "inside straight",
"outside straight", "spread 4", and "spread
5." An inside straight is one in which an 'inside' card is
missing, such as (4,5,7,8). An outside straight is one in which
an outside card is missing, such as (4,5,6,7). Outside straights
are much better because there are 8 cards that can complete them
as opposed to 4 for an inside straight. Spread 4 means that the
cards in question span 4 ranks in a row, for example a (5,6,8).
Spread 5 means the cards in question span 5 ranks, for example a
(5,7,9).
House Edge
The house edge is calculated in detail in the appendix. However,
to summarize, there are 311,875,200 ways to choose 5 cards out of
52, with regard to the order chosen. The total amount the player
would lose, assuming perfect strategy, over all possible combinations
is 10,933,344. The house edge is defined as the average player loss
to the minimum bet, or 10,933,344/311,875,200 = 3.5056792%.
The total amount bet over all combinations is 384,256,512. The
"element of risk" is defined as the average loss to the
average bet or 10,933,344/384,256,512 = 2.8453243%.
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