5ive card hi lo

Hi guys,

I was at the Mardi Gras Casino in Charleston, WV for the 1st time yesterday and they had this game called 5ive card hi low. I can find nothing on it online including the wizard sites except the page for the company that puts it out, in bet gaming, which can be found here: http://inbetgaming.com/5_card_hi_lo.html.

Here is a copy of the rack card: http://inbetgaming.com/5_card_hi_lo_rack_card.html


I just wanted to know a) The hand where it makes sense to fold instead of raise. b) the house edge on this game. I can try to do the leg work here but if someone has already done the work or can do it faster, I would love the help.

Thanks,
Nic

I'll work on this when I have some spare time.

Awesome, thanks for the help. I just had to wipe my computer and I am in the process of getting my Minitab license back. I really need to learn R for stuff like this. Clearly the major complexity in this game is the only decision the player makes, which is to make an ace high or low.I know there are C(52,5) possible 5 card poker hands, or just over 2.5 million. Just need some software to do really brunt force of this, first step being finding the expected value of both the high and low hands for the dealer.

The easy part is done, just the boring, tedious to go. Perfect strategy gives a player ev of -0.050418439 for ante bonus A, -0.060714865 for B, -0.061176588 for C, and -0.061330496 for D.

You play all hands when your low hand is 8 or less.
Low of 9 needs a high of 23
Low of 10 needs a high of 25
Low of 11 needs a high of 26 (fold 5 6 8 8 10)
Low of 12 needs a high of 27
Low of 13 or higher needs a high of 28

3 aces:

Lowest	2nd Lowest: No Ace Low	2nd Lowest: Yes Ace Low
2	2-6	7-10
3	3-5	6-10
4	4, 5	6-10
5	5, 6	7-10
6	6	7-10
7-10	none	7-10

2 aces:

Lowest	2nd Lowest	3rd Lowest: No Ace Low	3rd Lowest: Yes Ace Low
2	2 to 4	All	None
2	5	6-10	5
2	6	8-10	6, 7
2	7 to 10	None	All
3	3	All	None
3	4	5-10	4
3	5	7-10	5, 6
3	6	9, 10	6-8
3	7 to 10	None	All
4	4	5-10	4
4	5	7-10	5, 6
4	6	9, 10	6-8
4	7 to 10	None	All
5	5	7-10	5, 6
5	6	9, 10	6-8
5	7 to 10	None	All
6	6	8-10	6, 7
6	7	9, 10	7, 8
6	8 to 10	None	All
7	7	9, 10	7, 8
7	8 to 10	None	All
8	8	9, 10	8
8	9, 10	None	All
9	9, 10	None	All
10	10	None	All

1 Ace:
Not done yet. There are 495 hands to go through.

Here is my 1 Ace chart. These are the hands with no ace in low. Look up the lowest 2 cards on the left, and the 3rd highest card on top. If the highest card is in that square, then you Ace in the High hand. If the lowest 2 cards aren't listed, then always play the ace in the low hand.

Lowest	2nd Lowest	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2	2	4 5 6 7 8 9 10	5 6 7 8 9 10	4 5 6 7 8 9 10	5 6 7 8 9 10	6 7 8 9 10	7 8 9 10	8 9 10	9 10	10
2	3		9 10	9 10	8 9 10	7 8 9 10	7 8 9 10	8 9 10	9 10	10
2	4				10	9 10	8 9 10	8 9 10	9 10	10
2	5						10	9 10	9 10	10
2	6								10	10
3	3			10	9 10	8 9 10	7 8 9 10	8 9 10	9 10	10
3	4					10	9 10	8 9 10	9 10	10
3	5							10	9 10	10
3	6									10
4	4					10	9 10	8 9 10	9 10	10
4	5							10	9 10	10
4	6									10
5	5							10	9 10	10
5	6									10
6	6								10	10
6	7									10
7	7									10
8	8									10

Wow, thanks for doing this. So this game, when played perfectly, is a bad game, with a 5-6% house edge. It does not even have large payouts (except the rare ante bonus). A simplified strategy could be figured off this not losing much value but I don't even think its worth it. I suspect this game won't be seen much outside the small Mardi Gras Casino.

Thanks for the info been playing this game at Diamond Jacks Shreveport (only place I had seen it) and was looking for some optimal strategies. I believe the only difference is I swear the felt at DJ says they pay out the perfect hand at 500-1 instead of the 200-1 that the ibg site linked mentions. I'll have to double check that again, not that it matters much since the odds of ever seeing that is so low.

I like it for killing time , so many pushes all night long. The stack doesn't seem to move much in either direction at all if you play conservatively unless you have a great hand.