A.P Heat

In this post,  I presented flop-hole-card strategy for Mississippi Stud (MS). At the time, I stated that the most common hole-card to see in MS is the flop card. After watching the game at several casinos, I was not so sure. Then I read a message board post at wizardofvegas, stating:

I know it must seem like I am drunk, given the way I keep analyzing over-the-top AP opportunities. How could it be possible to see both of the dealer's hole-cards in Texas Hold'em Bonus Poker (THB) at the start of the hand? I was recently contacted by a surveillance professional at a casino where this exact scenario took place! He told me that THB was hand dealt at his casino.

There is no doubt that Texas Hold'em Bonus Poker (THB) has a big hole-card issue. In this post I covered the situation when the AP sees one dealer hole-card, which gives the AP a 7.61% edge over the house with perfect play.

Match the Dealer (MD) is a popular side bet offered with six-deck Spanish 21.  I have never seen this wager offered on ordinary blackjack, though it is certainly possible. The wager is similar to the Pair Square side bet, paying for pairs with a premium for suited pairs.

Racing Card Derby (RCD) is a relatively new table game that uses an innovative electronic interface to dress up what is otherwise a very simple idea – betting on the suit of a dealt card. The novelty of this conglomeration has yielded RCD placements both in the U.S.

Criss Cross Poker (CCP) is yet another stud poker clone. Like all poker clones, CCP faces a very tough road towards success. In recent months I’ve been contacted by a few people who have asked me to take a look at hole-carding CCP. Now that CCP is getting a few placements, I decided to do the analysis.

I recently received the following question from a reader:

A few days ago I was contacted by an advantage player who asked me to evaluate a new card counting system for Lucky Lucky (LL). I told him I would do the analysis only if he gave me permission to post the results here. He agreed. His e-mail to me was the following:

During the hold ‘em poker craze that began when Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, there was a rush to bring poker variants to the casino floor. Four Card Poker (FCP) was introduced in the height of the poker craze. For several years it wasn’t clear which poker games would succeed.

One of the most massive games to analyze is Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker (THB). The game has a huge cycle, consisting of 55,627,620,048,000 (more than 55 trillion) different possible final hands.  The cycle for hole-card play, knowing one of the dealer’s two cards, is even larger at 111,255,240,096,000 (more than 111 trillion) different possible final hands.