New game 3 CARD LOW BALL at Railroad Pass

Saw a brand new game 3 Card Low Ball with a seldom-seen concept in play, the low ball hand.

I didn’t know how much fun it would be until I played it, and it is a fun game.
Player makes an Ante and a Bonus bet, player and dealer get three cards. Player may discard zero to two cards and re-draw as many cards, in an effort to get the best low ball hand, that being A-2-4 offsuit.
Strategy is to basically break up pairs, flushes, and straights, and ditch 9’s or higher, to get the lowest possible low hand.
Dealer plays by a house way, which is also to break up pairs, flushes, straights, etc., and to discard 10’s.
Dealer always qualifies, and player wins even money on the Ante, and wins the Bonus on a pay table with an 11-point hand or less of high cards only. Occasionally the dealer will draw and pair up or get a flush to pay the table.
I will admit the Railroad Pass is an out of the way place near I-95 just south of Wagonwheel, but it’s a nice joint: a standard mix of slots and tables (BJ, Roulette, craps and the occasional new comer) with $2 minimum limits, with a good steak house, buffet, and a real coffee shop.
I’m sure Mike is just itchin’ to review this game (“Oh, look….a new game….will such delights never cease...”) – but seriously, it IS a nice concept that plays really well. A sweet game.

I only read the first couple lines, just 2F.
Hopefully many others are looking for new games, inventing new games, trying new games.
You and me, we live here, we think different, I still like you. "how does it smoke"?
DWW

That seems really fun. How did other players seem to enjoy it? Anything surprising?

Am I correct that the Ante bet player-versus-dealer comparison is based on poker hand logic, even though the Bonus is based on total points? In other words, if the player has 864 and the dealer has 932, does the player still win the Ante?

I hope I get the chance to play it someday.

The Railroad Pass is a strange casino to do a field trial. Then again, it was either them or the Hacienda that had Double Exposure for years. I think the Hacienda.

I'll try to make it out there to check it out. The analysis would consist of analyzing 76,277,828,779,152,000 combinations, which is prohibitive in terms of reasonable calculation time. If anybody knows the owners, please tell them that I would sure appreciate the math report.

Quote: MrGoldenSun

That seems really fun. How did other players seem to enjoy it? Anything surprising?

A couple of surprising things:
1. A floorman mentioned that the Table hold because the table was hot, in spite of correct House edges (it had a GLI/BMM report done), all a common fluke occurrence of field trails for some metaphysical reason. It seems when a new game is introduced, the Gods of gambling activate mischief to play around with it; this is only normal variance, but it seems uncanny that new games either dump or over-hold at first, then settle down - with the same math parameters. It's like one of the unexplainable mysteries of the Catholic Church or something, we all notice this and pray that our new baby will do well.
2. Players do enjoy it, particularly when it's acting loose.
3. But it gets little action, only because it is at a far away casino in the middle of nowhere, as far as Las Vegas life is concerned. It's a bit like living in New York City, and instead of seeing a hit Broadway show or going to the Met museum, you instead decide to travel to see the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, also a worthwhile trip but done less often. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice place, but you cannot get any further away from 5th Avenue (or in this case the Las Vegas Strip) than this. I honestly think if the game were field trialed at Green Valley Ranch or at the Monte Carlo, it would do gangbusters.
The Railroad Pass casino is on the way to Laughlin, and to the Hoover Dam. If you're making a day trip there, check it out on the way!
4. Game inventors are thankful for any field trial where the casino supports the new game in good faith, and Gaming knows the score on this. Once the game is approved in Nevada, it can be distributed anywhere in this great state.

Quote: MrGoldenSun

Am I correct that the Ante bet player-versus-dealer comparison is based on poker hand logic, even though the Bonus is based on total points? In other words, if the player has 864 and the dealer has 932, does the player still win the Ante?

correct. Hands are considered 9-high, Jack-high, a pair, etc., by normal poker rules in main game play, but the bonus payouts are broken out by points in hand, which is still easy. Alternatively, 4-high (4-2-Ace), 5-high (5-3-2 or 5-4-2), 6-high, etc. could have been used also. Either way, the game plays nicely.

Quote: MrGoldenSun

I hope I get the chance to play it someday.

Me, too. I hope it gets traction.

Quote: Wizard

The Railroad Pass is a strange casino to do a field trial. Then again, it was either them or the Hacienda that had Double Exposure for years. I think the Hacienda.

I'll try to make it out there to check it out. The analysis would consist of analyzing 76,277,828,779,152,000 combinations, which is prohibitive in terms of reasonable calculation time. If anybody knows the owners, please tell them that I would sure appreciate the math report.

Roger wilco. It's a lady named Sandy in Texas, she had Charlie Ray (CRM) do the math.

As far as low hold for a new game, I would think that is to be expected. I mean, if a player buys in for $100 at Bj or any game familiar to him, he bought in to play. With a new game he might buy in to try it. And after a few hands, decide it's not that much fun.

True, a player may "small sample" a new game more so than his main staple game .
I also think that hot or cold streak occurrences are also highly noted during field trials also, as they are under the microscope.

.

The HE of 3.36% seems to be in the ballpark for carnival games.

So you have to have 11 point hand or less for the bonus, and other than that it's just your total vs dealer total? Do you "have" to play the bonus? If the average card in a deck is 8, the average point total should be 24... to have less than 11 seems fairly rare. Yeah, that bonus pay table looks not very player friendly.