Raise it Up Stud

Introduction

Raise it Up Stud is a poker game developed by Shufflemaster. I first came across it in September 2012 at the Pala casino located near San Diego.

This game combines elements from Let it Ride and Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em. Similar to Let it Ride, players are rewarded solely based on their own cards since the dealer doesn't play a hand. In the style of Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, players have the option to increase their bet, with the potential for higher stakes the earlier they choose to raise. Below are the detailed rules.

Rules

1. Gameplay begins with the player placing matching Ante and Blind bets. Additionally, players have the option to make an extra Pairplus side bet.
2. The dealer provides the player with three cards.
3. The dealer sets aside three community cards, all face down.
4. The player can choose to make a raise that is three times their Ante or simply check.
5. First community card is turned over.
6. If the player hasn't raised yet, they can place a Raise bet that equals twice their Ante or check. However, if they have already raised, they cannot increase their bet further.
7. The second community card is revealed.
8. If the player has not yet raised, they can either make a Raise bet equal to their Ante or choose to fold. If they have already made a raise, no additional raises are allowed.
9. Third community card is turned over.
10. The dealer will evaluate the best five-card poker hand for each player, using the player's three cards along with the three community cards.
11. Payouts for the Ante, Blind, and Raise bets are determined according to the payout tables provided below.
12. Payouts for the Pairplus bet depend on the player's initial three cards as well as the corresponding Pairplus payout table listed below.

Strategy

Stephen How developed the following basic strategy, which resulted in a house advantage of 3.70% based on his simulations. This is 0.20% more than the optimal strategy. In this approach, a 'high card' is any card valued at 10 or above. Discount Gambling Three suited cards with no more than two gaps between them.

Make 3X Raise with:

• Any pair.
• Three high cards.
• Two high cards with one gap or less.
• Three suited cards that include three high cards, which do not need to be the exact same cards.
• Three suited cards, two of them high.

Make 2X Raise with:

• Any pair.
• Any straight or flush draw.
• An outside straight draw and a double inside straight draw.

Make 1X Raise with:

• Any flush draw.
• Any pair.
• An inside straight draw along with at least one high card.
• The table below outlines the various combinations of player choices and final hands. The bottom-right cell shows a house edge of 3.50%, which indicates the expected loss relative to the Ante bet.

Analysis

Statistically, players will opt for a large raise roughly 24.60% of the time, a medium raise 17.32% of the time, a small raise 22.77% of the time, and they will fold approximately 35.32% of the time. The average total wager amounts to 3.31 units, leading to an Element of Risk (the ratio of initial wager to total wager) calculated at 3.50%/3.31 = 1.06%.

Players can also make a side bet that pays out based on their initial three cards. This follows the same payout structure as the Pairplus bet from Three Card Poker, with an associated house edge of 7.28%.

Pairplus

Strategies and insights that are mathematically sound for various casino games such as blackjack, craps, roulette, and numerous others awaiting play.

Outside Links

• Raise It Up : Analysis at Discount Gambling.

Written by: Michael Shackleford