Casino Hold'em

Casino Hold'em™ (Ca$ino Holdem® / Caribbean Hold'em™) is a casino gambling game. This banking game, introduced by Stephen Au-Yeung in 2000 and now played in live casinos worldwide. It was licensed for use in the United Kingdom in 2007. In addition online casinos offer the game, which is based on the traditional multi-player Texas hold 'em.

Casino Hold'em is a house game designed to be dealt by a croupier for casino patrons to play in the main casino. Players play the house and not other players in this variant. Subject to the dealer qualifying, its a straight contest between the dealers hand and the players. The player may also get paid a bonus on his ante bet.

Rules of the Game

* The game is played with a standard 52 card deck.
* Each player makes an Ante bet and may make an optional AA-bonus sidebet.
* The player and dealer are both dealt two cards (face down).
* Three cards are then dealt to the board and will eventually contain five cards.
* After checking his/her cards, the player has to decide (a) to fold with no further play losing the Ante bet or (b) to make a Call bet of two time the Ante bet.
* If one or more players makes a Call bet the dealer will deal two more cards to the board, for a total of five.
* Players and dealer make their best five card poker hand from their own two personal cards and five board cards.
* Each player’s hand are compared with the dealer’s.
* The dealer must have a pair of 4s or better to qualify.
* If the dealer does not qualify, the Ante bet pays according to the Ante-Win pay table and the Call bet is a push (stand off).
* If the dealer qualifies, and the player's hand is better than the dealer's, the Ante bet pays according to the Ante-Win pay table and the Call bet pays 1 to 1.
* If the dealer qualifies, and the dealer's hand is equal to the player's, all bets are push, it doesn't win or lose.
* If the dealer qualifies, and the dealer's hand is better than the player's, the player loses all bets.

AnteWin® Pay Table Royal Flush 100 to 1, Straight Flush 20 to 1, 4 of A Kind 10 to 1, Full House 3 to 1, Flush 2 to 1, Straight or less 1 to 1.

House Edge

Under this ante pay table, the house edge is 2.16%.

This is the only ante pay table fully analyzed, because it takes the computer about a month to cycle through all possible combinations.

Strategy

There is no easy way to quantify optimal strategy for this game. Some say the optimal strategy player will raise 82% of the time. So only in the worst 18% of hands should the player fold. In general these are when the player has two singletons in the hole that are low compared to the flop, with little or no chance for a straight or flush.

Side Bets

A side bet known as the AA+ Bonus Bet (CardWin®) as follows: Based on the poker value of the player's two cards and the three flop cards.

A pair of Aces to a Straight pays 7 to 1, Flush 20 to 1, Full House 30 to 1, Four of a kind 40 to 1, Straight Flush 50 to 1 and Royal Flush 100 to 1.

The History

Stephen Au-Yeung devised the game in 2000. It first appeared as a live casino game in Egypt, Russia and South Africa. It was show in 2002 at International Casino Exhibition held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, UK.

Today the game is marketed by the Gaming Supplies Company TCS-JohnHuxley and is played in over one hundred live casinos worldwide. It was licensed for use in the United Kingdom in 2007.

Countries using Casino Hold'em

Countries using Casino Hold'em include: Russia, South Africa, Egypt, Holland, Sweden, Belgium, Romania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Morocco, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ukraine, UK.

Online casinos using Casino Hold'em

It is available to play online at casinos using Playtech, Boss Media, Net Entertainment, Realtime Gaming, CTXM software.

External links

* [http://www.casinoholdempoker.com/ Official site]
* [http://wizardofodds.com/casinoholdem Wizard of Odds analysis]
* [http://www.beatingbonuses.com/casinoholdem.php Optimal strategy calculator]