Welcome to Las Vegas! My name is Victor H. Royer, but everyone just calls me Vegas Vic. I was named after that famous neon sign in Downtown Las Vegas, that cowboy with the hat on top of the Pioneer Club, always waving his hand and beckoning to his long love, Sassy Sally, on the other side of the street. I will be writing a few articles for AccessVegas.com, so I hope you enjoy them.
Caribbean Draw and Super 9's
Caribbean Draw
I guess it was inevitable that a version of Caribbean Stud that allows players to draw replacement cards will eventually find its way to the casino floor. As yet quite rare in most casinos, Caribbean Draw overcomes the major player's complaints about Caribbean Stud: the "draw". Of course we all know that in Caribbean Stud we are "stuck" with whatever five-card hand we happen to have been dealt. And that's why Caribbean Stud is really nothing more than a slot machine played on a table with cards.
However, in Caribbean Draw, the players have the choice of asking for up to two replacement cards. This limitation in how many cards players are allowed to draw is a problem, but at least there is a draw. The betting is identical to Caribbean Stud: ante plus twice the ante amount as the "bet" wager. Dealer has to qualify with 8's or better. If he/she does, then the players are paid based on the value of their hands if they beat the dealer. If the dealer does not qualify, players are paid their ante bets at even money. There is also the $1 progressive jackpot bet, which plays strictly against the pay chart, however only the first initial payer's five cards are considered in action for this side bet (prior to any draw the player may wish to make). Therefore, this side bet is really nothing more than the Caribbean Stud side bet in a new dress.
This game is slow. Well, if you've played Caribbean Stud then you already know how slow that game is, and Caribbean Draw is even slower. It's an "okay" game if you're interested in long hours at the table. Otherwise, it's ho-hum as far as I'm concerned. My recommendation is to never surrender - meaning, always stay in the hand. You'll win more often and more when you do.
Super 9's
This is the newest of the table games, as yet not widely available. It's basically a "fun" game, where player's don't play against the dealer, but solely against the pay chart. Winning and losing, therefore, depends solely on the kind of cards the players get.
There are three bets in action, similarly to LIR. However, all three bets must stay in action, and therefore the players cannot "take back" two of the three bets, like they can in LIR. The player is first dealt one card, then one more card and then three more cards. The first bet is decided on the one card dealt, as is the second. The third bet is decided based on a five-card poker hand, and its relative value based on the pay chart. The Second and Third bets pay off on hands of pair-twos or higher, and lose otherwise.
The first bet wins or loses depending on whether the player's first card is a 9 or higher. If it is a 9, the player is paid 3:2. If it is higher than a 9, the player is paid even money. If it is neither, the player loses that bet.
The second bet wins or loses depending on whether the two cards the player now has are a pair-twos or higher. However, the second card dealt also pays if it is a 9 or higher, just like the first card dealt for the first wager, in addition to the pays for pair-twos or higher.
The third hand wins or loses depending on the final value of the five-card poker hand. Now it's a Stud Poker game, with no draw. The players "push" on a pair-twos through pair-eights, and then are paid in progressively higher increments for the remainder of the standard poker-hand hierarchy, all the way up to 1,000-to-one for the royal flush.
It's a simple game, about as simple as table games can get. There are absolutely no player decisions whatsoever. Players make their bets, and then win or lose dependant entirely on what kind of cards they receive, versus the pay chart. That's it. And, so this game is yet another slot machine played on a table with cards. However, it is quite a GOOD game, odds-wise.
The overall house edge is a little under 2%. On the first and third hands, the house edge is a shade under 4%, while on the second bet the player has an edge over the house of about 2%-to-3%. This means that the game winds up being fun for both the casino and the player, because, overall, both the casino and its players wind up wining something most of the time. Hopefully this game will make a bigger impact on the casino floor, since it can be quite a good distraction from the slots, and allow for relaxed camaraderie among players, and casino, alike. For more information about these games, please read my book: Powerful Profits from Casino Table Games, available through this web site.
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