Wanted: River Card Bonus info

Wiz and/or other Math Experts,

I noticed Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi features a "River Card Bonus" table game. The game company seems to indicate this game won a "Best New Game" award in 2014. Like MS Stud, gamblers bet against a pay table and win with a pair of 7s or better in their 5-card hand. A Bonus bet provides a 6th card and a different pay table. Apparently, some versions also offer a progressive bet.

I cannot find any reference to this game on WoO, but I sure would like to know the best-play strategy. Any info appreciated.

I'm not complaining, but I am surprised no one has suggested best play for my original River Card Bonus (RCB) post. RCB is a game similar to -- but much simpler than -- MS Stud. I'm not sure what the house advantage is, but it seems to me it must have a more favorable element of risk since the max bet on the base game is only 2x (vs 4x when playing thru to the River in MS Stud). Unlike MS Stud, where paying pairs start with Jacks, RCB pays with 7s or better (but the player cannot triple-up on bets).

Perhaps folks are still celebrating/commiserating recent election results. Perhaps I should have included the link to the game owner Internet site, which has the rules and a video demonstrating how the game plays (something I can fix now).

River Card Bonus rules

I've been wrestling with the WoO breakout of MS Stud calculations, thinking I can get a close estimate of HA and best play for RCB. But, as I work with the data, it seems the best strategy -- regardless of the HA -- is to get the initial (Ante bet) 3-card hand and count outs available to make a winning hand with the 2 cards the player receives when making the second (Call) bet. It's sorta like UTH, where the player is heads-up against the dealer. But, in this case, there is no actual dealer as your opponent. I wouldn't be surprised if the best strategy is to make the Call bet with any pair or whenever 2 of the player's 3 initial cards are over 6.

Anyhow, I expect to track RCB down when I visit Biloxi next month. I like MS Stud, but I think I may like RCB even better.

I'll be there shortly. Any other install's in that market?

Woo-Hoo!! Fact-checking on the ground! Outtasite!

Not sure about your timetable for "being there." I hope to phone the MS Gaming Commission (MGC) tomorrow to ask if the game application for River Card Bonus (RCB) is a public record. I can also ask whether they can tell me any other Mississippi casinos approved to offer RCB. Who knows if I'll get anything, but I got good service in the past when I called MGC for information.

Well, 4 tables of MS Stud at TB has got to be most install of any casino! At $2 ante a real bargain for craps players who need a sit down break. Be there next week, though staying at "not so grand".

Well, I did play it, and lost. With no basic strategy to help play, I had a WTF am I doing here moment. Limits are $2 - $15. I'll stick to MS as a sit down game until we do get bs help.

To me, the best sit down, take a load off your feet game is the new bac terminals at Harrah's, where else bac at $5 a hand? Some players still sit at the dealer table, smoking up a storm, and holding up action with buy ins and more buy ins.

Quote: DeMango

Well, I did play it, and lost.

Many thanx for the report. Sorry it didn't work out better for you. I spent an evening dealing it to myself (4-handed) just to see how the game played out. My mythical players didn't win either.

But, I'm still a bit surprised WoO hasn't added this game (hint, hint) to its section on game strategy. Seems the odds calculations would be pretty straightforward for the Wiz (or any of the other Probability Pros on WoV). And, wasn't it was a (the?) game of the year in 2014?

I'll try to check it out during my upcoming Biloxi visit (8-16 Dec). But, $5 Baccarat machines also sound interesting. I wonder if they use more than one deck. Or, does the machine reshuffle one deck after each hand? (Curious minds want to know...)

The terminals work off a video feed from two nearby active bac tables. Also two roulette tables. You can switch feeds at your table to play any one of the games. Pretty neet. You can glimpse the dealer dealing, you can look up to a large monitor, or you can watch it on your screen, with many streak tables on the side, plus all the appropriate buttons to make bets, cash out, etc. I am thinking you can make bets in increments of $1 past the minimum bet, since I seen a neighbor bet $11 on Banker. Not nosy enough to watch the result, but if he won, it would have paid $10.45. Payouts are of course like a slot ticket. I was told more terminals are on their way, and the possibilities of moving dealers to a room where no players can interact with them is being discussed.

Currently no one else has this system in Biloxi (AFAIK) nor River Card Bonus.

Quote: LuckyPhow

I'm still a bit surprised WoO hasn't added this game (hint, hint) to its section on game strategy. Seems the odds calculations would be pretty straightforward for the Wiz (or any of the other Probability Pros on WoV).

Well... This is from the "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" department.

Here's my seat-of-the-pants analysis of best strategy when playing River Card Bonus Poker, using the Poker Tools Internet simulation. The only usable 5-card simulation I found is for Stud-Hi, but my assumption is that a 5-card hand is a 5-card hand. In River Card Bonus Poker, the gambler plays against a pay table rather than another player's 5-card hand, so there is "slop" in my analysis. My working assumption (in using the simulator to fashion a strategy) is that the gambler plays against an opponent who ALWAYS gets a hand no higher than a pair of sixes, since the Player wins with a pair of sevens or better.

The decision point comes following the initial 3-card deal. So, lets look at two simulations:

Opponent Hand	Player Hand	Player Wins
66A	77+any	57.14%
66A	AKQ	42.39%

In the above table, the Opponent always has its highest possible hand, with a pair of sixes and an ace in the initial 3-card deal. With the initial 3 cards, the Player then decides whether to fold or to bet equal to the original Ante to receive the final 2 cards. The Player appears to need at least a pair of sevens to obtain more than a 50% chance to win. An Ace-King-Queen is not sufficient to have a positive expectation of winning. But, lower pairs may be worth keeping (in hopes of getting trips or 2-pair hands). Or, maybe not. Seems best strategy probably mirrors MS Stud somewhat, but the devil is in the details, don'cher know?

Of course, what's missing here is any calculation of the probability of drawing a 5-card hand with at least a pair of sevens. (About 26% by my estimate for pairs higher than 6s, but this omits hands better than a pair). Also, this analysis takes no account of the escalating pay table (like MS Stud), where better hands win more than 1-to-1. Also, the win percentages in the simulation assume the Player loses if the Opponent hand improves. Since the player wins with a pair of 7s or better, the game rules assume the opponent hand cannot improve beyond a pair of 6s at all under any circumstances. However, the simulation cannot process 5-card vs 5-card hands, so I could not research this. (Any help appreciated!)

Hopefully, I'm somewhere in the right ballpark here, as I will soon be testing this game in the field for real $$. But, win, lose, or draw, I expect to enjoy myself, so it's all good.

I can't begin to tell you the angst I had playing this game and not knowing the rules (BS). I will not play it again until someone comes up with it. Also would like to know where other installs are of this game. Remember playing MS at Boomtown when it was one of only six installs, nationwide. Keep us posted.

Quote: LuckyPhow

This is from the "Fools rush in ...

Seems best strategy probably mirrors MS Stud somewhat, but the devil is in the details, don'cher know?

Well, wasn't that insightful? If you have a "guaranteed win" pair of 7s, you will beat the House about 57% of the time. Obviously, the nut behind the keyboard had a screw loose last night.

Clearly, one must factor in hi-card pairing possibilities, as well as possible flushes and straights, since making them result in a much higher payout. So, without further info, I'll continue to assume the best strategy parallels that for MS Stud in some "general, sorta" way.