Online Sic bo
As a Chinese gambling game, Sic bo is regularly played in Asia where players usually refer to it as Tai Sai or Dai Siu.
It is also legally played across America, as well as in the United Kingdom. In fact, Americans are playing this casino game since the early twentieth century when Chinese immigrants arrived and brought the game with them.
It is basically a game of chance, played with three dice. Other games, such as Grand hazard and Chuck-a-luck, are similar games of a chance though they are of English, not Asian origin. Chuck-a-luck is the American variant of the English Grand hazard.
In this guide, we have prepared rules that will help you to get familiar with the game. The other important thing on this page is that you can play Sic bo for free and practice with few different versions that are common in online casinos.
Recommended Sic bo casinos
Rules
Although this guide is primarily intended for playing online, we will pretend that the game takes place at the live table.
Depending where are you playing, you, dealer or RNG shakes three dice in a basket or a cup. Now, to reveal the roll result they must uncover the bowl.
Please note that in some modern casinos, the dice are shaken by mechanical means, unless the live dealer does the shaking, and the winner is revealed by a computer that calculates roll results and lights them up on the Sic bo table.
A player sits at the table and is allowed to make as many bets as he or she wants. The final outcomes are based on the roll combinations and the results they bring up. Results are declared on a table that is similar to the roulette table in casinos. Most tables light up elaborately to announce the winning combinations.
The wagers available and their associated odds can differ from place to place, depending on casino policy and country custom.
Payouts depend on which wager was placed and the roll result. The typical wagers and payouts for "Small" and "Big" wagers are listed below, but there are many others.
There are many different ways to bet with Sic bo. The first is to simply bet on one number. The thing is, if you bet on one number, it must appear on all three dice, like a "Three of a kind". The odds of this happening are pretty thin (1 out of 216) but if you do hit that number, your payout will be 150 to 1!
You can also bet on a number that must appear on two of the dice. This is the "Two of a kind" and the chances of winning are about 5.82%. If you believe that the same number will appear on all three dice without indicating which number it is, you can also bet on that. This is called "Any three of a kind" and you have about a 6 out of 216 chance of winning. Of course, the payout is 24 to 1.
You can skip these high-risk bets by betting even money bets in an area called "Small". This is a process where you bet on the sum of the three dice. You will bet that the sum will either be equal to the numbers four, five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten. This does not count for "Three of a kind" numbers like 3 (three ones) or six and nine.
Small: You win when the result brings up a dice total of 4 to 10. This is ignored if a triple is rolled. Your chance of winning this wager is 48.61%. This bet pays 1 to 1. The house edge is normally 2.78%.
Similarly, you can choose to bet the even money bets in an area called "Big". You bet the sum of the dice will either be eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen or seventeen. Of course, the "Three of a kind" numbers don't count here either, so twelve, fifteen and sixteen don't count.
Big: You win when the dice shake brings up a dice total of 11–17 unless a triple is thrown. Your chance of winning this wager is 48.61%. Pays 1 to 1. As with the small bet, the house edge is 2.78%.
If you want even preserved play than that, you can bet on one of the numbers on the board that range from four to seventeen. If you bet on one of these numbers, you are betting that the sum of the three dice will add up to any of the numbers in this area. Depending upon the number that you choose, the payout will be higher or lower.
For instance, if the winning number is:
- 4 - the payout is 60:1
- 5 - the payout is 30:1
- 6 - the payout is 17:1
- 7 - the payout is 12:1
- 8 - the payout is 8:1
- 9, 10, 11, 12 - the payout is 6:1
- 13 - the payout is 8:1
- 14 - the payout is 12:1
- 15 - the payout is 17:1
- 16 - the payout is 30:1
- 17 - the payout is 60:1
There are many different variations of this game and people truthfully love to play it for the risks as well as the high payoffs. Remember to set yourself a budget so that you don't go overboard with your bets as many of these. This is crucial and something that many seasoned players have to struggle to remember at times.