Oasis Poker

Here in South America we have the Oasis Poker issued by the Wiz at his site. One variation is that here we are allowed to talk to other players during the game, even by asking if they have a 'X' card. My question is: in a full table, if I'm dealt 3 of a kind and no one in the table has my card, which is the house edge in buying for quads?
Thanks!

I have never heard of this game before this post.

I checked the Wizard's site and it definitely looks like a game I would like to play...

Does anyone know if it is offered in one or more of the Detroit casinos?

MightyOne, unfortunatelly I can't answer your question, since I am brazilian and my first trip to US will be this December. But for now what I can say is that sometimes I play Oasis Poker, when I get tired of VP and blackjack and there are no fellows for baccarat, and I usually do very well. One time I went out UP U$700 and another U$1100.

Assuming 6 players at the table, including you, you can see 31 cards. You already have 3 of a kind, so you are looking for the 4th, with a 1/21 odds of drawing it. You can also draw 3 cards to the full house, which is a big part of you return. How many full house cards you can see affects this decision.

If the dealer qualifies AND you draw it, you improve from winning 3*2 + 1 = 7 to 20*2 + 1 - 1 = 40.
If the dealer qualifies but you don't draw it, you go from 7 to 6.

So you are risking 1 to win 23. If you knew the dealer would qualify, this would be a good bet. But the dealer only qualifies around 56.32% of the time, adjusted for the cards you do see. If you draw, and the dealer doesn't qualify, you win 0.

The hard part is adjusting this chance to qualify for the rare chance the dealer has of beating your 3 of a kind, but losing to your four of a kind (or full house). If you have a mid range trips like 7s, there are around 45000 hands that are between trip 7s and quad 7s, out of the possible 2.6 million. So you also have a 1-2% chance of needing to improve your hand to save the loss.

This is getting close to a good bet, but I am running out of steam to figure out the details. Maybe someone can program a simulation to sludge through the rest.

I've heard this game is popular in eastern Europe and Africa. Sometimes you can also buy an extra card, and make the dealer switch his highest card. Under those rules I think there is a player advantage.