Casino Hold'em

Introduction

Casino Hold 'Em is a poker variant closely resembling Texas Hold 'Em, popular in countries such as Egypt, Russia, South Africa, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Ireland, Morocco, Malta, Ukraine, Panama, and Romania. It's also accessible for online play through platforms powered by Net Gaming, Real Time Gaming, Playtech, Gamesys, and Galewind Software.

This game is alternatively referred to as Casino Hold 'Em Open. The distinction lies in the fact that, under this title, players receive their hole cards face up; in the regular Casino Hold 'Em variant, those cards are dealt face down.

Rules

The rules are as follows.

1. Gameplay initiates when each participant places an Ante wager. There is an optional side bet available for a Progressive Jackpot.
2. The dealer distributes two hole cards to both the player and himself, along with three community cards placed face up on the table.
3. At this point, players must choose to either fold or call. If a player opts to fold, they forfeit their cards and their Ante bet. Should they decide to call, the amount for this bet must be twice the Ante wager.
4. Subsequently, the dealer reveals two additional community cards, culminating in a total of five. After that, the dealer reveals his own two cards.
5. Both players and the dealer compare their hands based on the best combination of their two hole cards and the five community cards.
6. To qualify, the dealer needs at least a pair of fours or better. If the dealer fails to qualify, then the Ante wins are paid according to the Ante payout chart below, while the Call bet simply remains as is.
7. Should the dealer meet the qualification and outplay the player, the player loses both their Ante and Call bets.
8. If the dealer qualifies but the player wins against the dealer, the Ante payout will align with the Ante payout table, and the Call bet will yield a 1 to 1 return.
9. In cases where the dealer qualifies but ends up tying with the player, both the Ante and Call bets will result in a push.
10. The Progressive Jackpot side bet's rewards are determined by the player's final seven-card hand, even if the player chooses to fold or loses to the dealer. Additional details about this bet are covered near the bottom of the page.

Caribbean Hold'em Warning

Be warned that Realtime Gaming has an imitation of this game called Caribbean Hold'em It's worth mentioning that, should the dealer not qualify, they will payout 1 to 1 on the Ante, rather than following the complete Ante Bonus payout table. Interestingly, this modification is not explicitly described in the game's rules.

Analysis

The table below illustrates combinations, probabilities, and estimated return contributions for all potential outcomes based on Ante pay table 3, which is commonly used. Notably, the house edge amounts to 2.16% in the bottom right cell.

The following return table illustrates pay table 4, which reflects a house edge of 0.35%. This pay table is often employed by online casinos utilizing Gamesys N.V. software, branded as 'Casino Hold 'Em with Zero House Edge.' However, the term 'Zero House Edge' is somewhat misleading; players must contribute a 10% fee on any net gambling wins per session, with sessions concluding after one hour of no betting or 24 hours, whichever is first.

The owner of Casino Hold 'Em asked me to clarify that Gamesys N.V. is using his game without proper authorization.

I would like to thank Stephen How of Discount Gambling For supplying the combinations in pay table 4.

Currently, my comprehensive analysis covers only pay tables 3 and 4, as processing all possible combinations demands considerable time. However, if one follows optimal strategy under pay table 3 while mistakenly playing under pay tables 1 or 2, the associated house edge would be 2.40% for pay table 1 and 1.96% for pay table 2. The actual house edges for pay tables 1 and 2 would be slightly lower or equal to these estimates.

Strategy

Regrettably, determining the optimal strategy for this game is not straightforward. I can say that an optimal strategy player will raise their bet about 82% of the time. Thus, they should only fold in the worst 18% of scenarios—often when they have two low cards in hand alongside a flop that offers little chance for a straight or flush.

Side Bets

The only side bet I know about for this game is called the AA+. It pays out depending on the poker value of the player's hand after the flop. There are three established pay tables as follows:

Pay tables 1 and 2 are typically found in physical casinos, while pay table 3 is the one used by Internet casinos operating on Gamesys software.

To illustrate, here is the complete return table for Pay Table 1.

Progressive Jackpot

The Progressive Jackpot wager rewards players based solely on their two hole cards and the five community cards, irrespective of whether the player folds or loses against the dealer. If either a straight flush or royal flush appears on the board, all players who placed a Progressive Jackpot wager will share in the winnings.

The following table presents probabilities and returns for various events. Obviously, returns from the two top winnings are contingent on the size of the jackpot and are thus treated as unknowns.

In the table above, fixed wins yield a return of 42.77% based on the total bets. Assuming that a player is the sole participant, for every $1,000 in the meter, the return can increase by 6.02%. The break-even point is determined to be $9,503.22. Due to the sharing of the jackpot, the return may slightly decrease, depending on how many other players make the same bet.

Jumbo Jackpot

Another progressive jackpot is called the 'Jumbo Jackpot.' The next table outlines the winnings, probabilities, and return contributions for each winning hand type.

The return for the top prize is influenced by the total in the jackpot. However, other rewards return 53.16% of the total amount wagered. For every 100,000 wagering units in the meter, the return rises by 2.39%. A jackpot totaling $1,958,300.75 results in a total return of 100%.

Progressive Jackpot Side Bet

There exists yet another side bet that is focused on the player's first two cards along with the three-card flop. I have further details outlined on my page titled Casino Hold Em Progressive Jackpot Side Bet. .

Casino Razz Bonus

I believe this side bet pays based on the poker value derived from the player’s two hole cards and the three flop cards—the lower the value, the higher the payout. You can find all the rules and analytic insights on my dedicated page on Casino Razz Bonus .

Methodology

The analysis above was conducted using a brute-force combinatorial approach which evaluated all 27,813,810,024,000 possible outcomes, playing every hand according to the optimal player strategy. This extensive process took about a month to complete across the 27.8 trillion hands.

External Links

You can access the website dedicated to Casino Hold'Em, as well as other games, at www.casinopokergames.com .

There is a good Casino Hold 'Em calculator at beatingbonuses.com.

Written by: Michael Shackleford