Wild Six Card Draw Poker

I just returned from a trip to Colorado, where I had the opportunity to play Wild Six Card Draw Poker for a few hours. I thought it was a very entertaining game, but I'm not sure that I want to see the house edge info for the game and the side bets that I participated in (I broke even across my two sessions, mostly due to 1 big hand).

The rules are:
54 card deck, standard 52 + 2 jokers
Each player receives 5 cards, and must discard 1
Each player then receives an additional card, resulting in a new 5 card poker hand
The dealer receives 6 cards initially, and will make the best card hand from those 6 cards
Each player makes a "Poker" bet
All player hands are compared to the dealer's best 5 card hand
Winning player hands win even money on the Poker bet, losing player hands forfeit the Poker bet
There are 2 available side bets: Queens or Better, and a Discard Bonus

Side Bets:
Queens or better, pays a graduated pay table based on the player's initial 5 card hand. a pair of queens or better pays 1:1, a natural royal pays 500:1.
Discard Bonus, pays a graduated pay table based on the best 5 card poker hand made from the players 6 total cards. 2 pair pays 1:1, a natural royal pays 250:1.

My reaction: I thought the 2 fully wild cards made the game interesting. The base game plays fairly and easily. The dealer can see all 6 of his cards before setting the best 5 card hand, the player must first discard and then receive a new 5th card. This is the source of the house edge on the game. I never saw a tie, but I assume the house also wins ties. The queens or better side bet was also straightforward, though the need to pay that wager mid-hand (before the discard) was mechanically challenging. The discard bonus didn't add much, and the effect on the game was a little odd. Unless the discarded card was paired by the drawn card or an inside straight was hit, it plays basically like a delayed kicker amount on the queens or better payout.

My play: I had a pretty regularly declining session, except for a 4 OAK with 2 wilds. That got me up about $200 at one point, which I then bled back down to even. Here are some hand highlights:
1. 5 card initial club flush. Forced to discard 1 card. Didn't re-draw the flush & lost the poker hand. Seems like a weakness in the game.
2. QWW45. 45 suited. Gave up the Q, drew an offsuit 7 for the straight. Not sure if that was the right play, but 555 didn't seem much worse than QQQ with straight and flush possibilities and 1 card to come.
3. AAWW9. Tossed the 9, drew an 8. 5 aces would have won me $2500. $250 isn't bad, but damn!

My gut reaction is that the house has enough of an advantage by picking a 5 card hand while looking at 6 card that they shouldn't need the "must discard" rule.

Therefore, I'd suggest avoiding this game.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

My gut reaction is that the house has enough of an advantage by picking a 5 card hand while looking at 6 card that they shouldn't need the "must discard" rule.

I agree, that's a pretty crappy rule. But that isn't quite the rule from what I can find. Hopefully rdw did get paid even money for his flush along with his queens up bet because he was supposed to. Straights or better are automatic winners for the base game. The house also pushes ties, but ties are rare in any 5+ card draw game.


http://catlin.casinocitytimes.com/article/wild-six-card-draw-poker-45776

http://coloradogamingnews.com/how_to/popular-new-poker-game-debuts-in-colorado/

Download for Text File of CO Rules:
http://tinyurl.com/Wild6CardDraw

Quote: tringlomane

I agree, that's a pretty crappy rule. But that isn't quite the rule from what I can find. Hopefully rdw did get paid even money for his flush along with his queens up bet because he was supposed to. Straights or better are automatic winners for the base game. The house also pushes ties, but ties are rare in any 5+ card draw game.

Well son of a B!! I did not get paid for my flush. I assumed that the automatic winner would apply to the final hand, so that a straight or higher would win after the draw. The actual rules make more sense, but that's not how my hand was handled. Oh, well. I guess I was still a net-winner on the hand.

Also, according to those links, the draw is optional, not mandatory. So even if the pat straight was not an automatic winner, you are still not forced to break it up.

Quote: AxiomOfChoice

Also, according to those links, the draw is optional, not mandatory. So even if the pat straight was not an automatic winner, you are still not forced to break it up.

According to CO rules, if you make the draw side bet, you get a 6th card, but that is supposed to come AFTER you get paid for your "automatic win". That paragraph is questionable. I am not sure if he should be able to get paid twice on the bonus bets with the dealt flush or not.

Quote: tringlomane

According to CO rules, if you make the draw side bet, you get a 6th card, but that is supposed to come AFTER you get paid for your "automatic win". That paragraph is questionable. I am not sure if he should be able to get paid twice on the bonus bets with the dealt flush or not.

I did get paid on both bonuses. My first 5 cards had a flush for the queens or better, and the best 5 of my 6 cards were also a flush. It's just that the hand I was forced to play against the dealer was not a flush.

Quote: rdw4potus

I did get paid on both bonuses. My first 5 cards had a flush for the queens or better, and the best 5 of my 6 cards were also a flush. It's just that the hand I was forced to play against the dealer was not a flush.

Yeah, I think they just effed that last part up. At least you got double paid on the flush for the bonus bets (correct I think).

I visited Cripple Creek in June and noticed Wild Six Draw Poker at the Century casino. I've got the rule card in front of me, if anyone feels inspired to try to analyze it. However, for one placement, I'm not likely to bother with it.

Just scanned the rule card. That writing on side 2 was actually hand written on the card, it wasn't me.

Odd game. The Queens or Better Bet and Draw Bonus Bet don't involve the drawn card at all - they are essentially pay-tables on your starting 5-card stud hand (given 2 wild cards in the deck.).

There are almost zero player decisions required. The only player decision is which card to discard -and 99+% of the time that decision is straightforward. You (almost) always discard your lowest singleton (or card that is not needed for a straight draw or flush draw.)

There may be a couple of rare instances in which the decision is difficult:

Ex: You are dealt Kh-Qs-Js-Ts-2s.

Do you discard the Kh and draw to the flush? Or discard the 2s and draw to the open-ended straight? I am guessing you discard the 2s and draw to the straight, but I haven't done the math.
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The only calculation I will offer is the probability of these dealer hands is:

- Jack High or lower: 0.028795263
- Queen High: 0.037511666
- King High: 0.069886881
- Ace High: 0.120006203
- High Card (Total): 0.256200013
- pair of 2s: 0.029090765.
- pair of 3s: 0.029031758
- pair of 4s: 0.02897275
- pair of 5s, 6s, 7s: 0.028913743 (each)