Mississippi Stud - Return Table ??

Since UTH has been rapidly draining my bankroll over the last few months, I started looking for a different game to play.

I recently found Mississippi Stud at a casino within reasonable drive distance. I have never played the game, but watching it being played indicated it can be an aggressive betting exercise with very good returns when you catch good hands. Well on the surface I liked the game until I came home and checked it out on WOO site. The HE at 4.91% is high for my tastes. But with the EOR at 1.37% it was more appealing.

Studying the optimum strategy indicated a number of betting plays that were ‘betting on the come’ – like betting 3X on a low pocket pair at 3rd street and a few of the straight and flush draw bets at 4th and 5th street. Obviously all these bets are proper given the math and possibility of catching a big hand with good returns in the long run. But I could never make some of them since I am not a fan of ‘betting on the come’.

I spent about a week looking for an alternative strategy and evidently everyone uses a strategy identical or very close to the one here at WOO. I played the different practice simulator games on the web and rarely could I get a positive return even with the ‘suggested’ play turned on. MS is a tough game.

So I decided to come up with my own composite strategy, definitely not optimum, but much more conservative and not thoroughly tested. I’m not trying to ‘reinvent the wheel’, I’m just looking for a strategy that I can make bets where I’m comfortable and not give too much back to the house.

My questions are: Can I use the MS return table on WOO and set to 0 the return for the plays that I do not make in my strategy and using all the returns that match my strategy? I would view this as similar with the ‘impossible’ plays that have a 0 return in the table. Since I’m only changing the return value, do the combinations and probabilities change for the rest of the table? I do not have any plays that are outside the WOO return table list. Will summing up all the total returns (original and the changed ones set to 0) indicate a HE like it does for the WOO table? Thanks in advance.

I don't have the skills to give good advice on this strategy modification. But the game itself is just a killer. If you don't like UTH for its aggressiveness and variation, MS is worse (IMO) for both.

It's been my experience over maybe 20 hours of play, that you win or push about as often as you get a trips pay on UTH: maybe 1 on 10 hands at best. And I hate how often you have to keep betting because the numbers say so (in the optimal strategy), only to lose more than you wanted to. You just get sucked along with the hope of pairing in 5 cards so much, and ending with a mismatch of middle & high cards. Yuck.

I have seen one or two people run good, but they were catching pocket pairs more often than expected, or high cards pairing the board frequently. Not me. So I've stopped playing it.

Quote: CharmedQuark

Since UTH has been rapidly draining my bankroll over the last few months, I started looking for a different game to play.

I recently found Mississippi Stud at a casino within reasonable drive distance.

Take Babs advice, MS will kill you just as quickly.

MS is the highest variance game in the casino. And has almost 5% house edge on the ante. It's a rough game for sure. I have walked by a game where a guy betting the table minimum got quad 9s for 2 grand...and there lies the rub. A lot of your return is tied into very infrequent hands.

Quote: tringlomane

MS is the highest variance game in the casino.

My first experience playing MS in a casino illustrated this perfectly. I sat down at a $5 table with $200, and ran it up to $1000! The next day, I sat again at the $5 table with $200, and lost is all without winning a single hand!

MS is definitely not for the faint of heart (nor the short of bankroll).

I played 2hours and 40 minutes one day and never won a hand, i pushed 2 or 3 times.

The last time I played it, I lost $500 betting $5 and I was HC'ing the game with a 54% advantage!!

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It looks like I'd better stick with UTH and it's lousy variance. I guess sooner or later my 4X bets will see some decent flops.

I'm going to continue looking at MS but not play until I can figure out the return with my alternative strategy. Doing some testing it appears I will be folding a lot of hands. Not too encouraging. Since my strategy is very conservative (chicken) I expect the HE will increase substantially. I still need to figure out how to redistribute the combinations and calculate new probabilities in the return table for the plays I set to 0 - like the 1-3-1 and 3-1-1 and 3-1-3 and 3-3-1 plays which are not part of my strategy..

Thanks again.

If you do decide to play MS, I think you should stick to the published strategy. It is pretty easy to memorize, and if you are dealt a low pair the triple-up can turn into a serious hit; you should always have enough bankroll to put up the 3x bet on the first decision. Remember if it doesn't improve the next two bets are 1x. And it feels really good to trip that third 5 (for example).

On the 3x bet on low pairs, while its obviously great to trip or quad them (I landed quad 5s last year), obviously the most common return on these is a simple pair on the community board for a nice 2x return. I have found that two pairs is a very key hand in this game that can keep you alive between hits. The swings in this game can be insanely frustrating but if you stick to textbook strategy you will best most of the people at the table that are playing everything. Except for that ONE person who hits everything playing rags. And I mean everything.

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

The last time I played it, I lost $500 betting $5 and I was HC'ing the game with a 54% advantage!!

What what what????? You found a hole card game and bet the table minimum???????????

Quote: Wizardofnothing

What what what????? You found a hole card game and bet the table minimum???????????

This was a while back. And table max at the time was $5!

Oh wow- i never saw a min so low

Quote: Wizardofnothing

Oh wow- i never saw a min so low

Harrah's Stl. Was/is $10 max. Don't know if it still is.

Soooooooo stupid what are they afraid of if they trained their dealers properly

Quote: Wizardofnothing

Soooooooo stupid what are they afraid of if they trained their dealers properly

I don't think it's that.

Here's a fun fact about this game from my experiences. I've seen 3 royal flushes. The first two within two weeks (I was not playing). Then the third a couple of years later. I've seen a total of ZERO straight flushes though.

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

I don't think it's that.

Here's a fun fact about this game from my experiences. I've seen 3 royal flushes. The first two within two weeks (I was not playing). Then the third a couple of years later. I've seen a total of ZERO straight flushes though.

I have had 3 st flushes but never had or seen the royal.

Quote: Hunterhill

I have had 3 st flushes but never had or seen the royal.

I once folded 3-6 suited, and watched the 4 and 5 come up. Lucky for me the next card was an off suit picture.

It's $5 minimum, $100 maximum at Mohegan Pocono. There are a couple regular players there who play that $100, plus all the side bets, and play all the hands.