Reason #1 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

Excellent customer support

The thing that separates Bovada from the rest is its customer support. Many other online gaming companies outsource their support. It can be difficult getting a response from them, and if you do it is often slow and handled by somebody with little understanding of gambling or even of English. But Bovada’s support is handled by Bovada, and their support staff is actually knowledgeable and helpful.

I’m so confident that you’ll have a good experience with Bovada that if you have a problem getting paid and you can’t resolve it with them on your own, I’ll talk to them myself. I personally have known the Bovada management for about three years and always found them to be professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. I have also personally visited one of their call centers so I could see first-hand how they handle customer issues. (More on my mediation service.)

If you have a problem with any other casino besides Bovada, I can’t help you. I get complaints from players of other online casinos every day who have difficulty getting paid. However that isn’t my job nor my problem. If you play at Bovada after clicking through my site I’ll stand behind you 100%. Any place else and you’re on your own.

Visit Bovada

Three Way Action

Last Update: Jan 14, 2004

Three way action is three games in one. The player may make any number and combination of them. There is also an optional blackjack side bet. The game is played with a single deck of cards that is shuffled after every hand. Following are the betting options:

Blackjack: Normal single-deck blackjack rules except the player the player may only split aces and player automatically wins with a seven-card hand of 21 or less (7-card Charlie). Assuming the dealer hits a soft 17, double on any two cards, and double after a split the normal house edge would be 0.18%. Not splitting any pair except aces adds 0.35%. The 7-card Charlie rule helps almost nothing. So the overall house edge in the blackjack portion is 0.53%.
Combat: Player's first card against Dealer's up card, highest card wins. A player win pays even money. Dealer wins half on a tie. House edge of 2.94%.
Seven Card Showdown: Additional cards are added to player's and dealer's final blackjack hands to make seven each. The best poker hand wins. Dealer must have at least an ace high to qualify. If dealer doesn't qualify then the players wins 1/2 his bet, otherwise a win pays even money. Following are the possible outcomes of this bet according to a random simulation.

Seven Card Showdown - Seven Card Showdown
Hand	Total	Probability	Pays	Return
Dealer doesn't qualify	7058671	0.077398	0.5	0.038699
Player wins	38775791	0.425173	1	0.425173
Dealer wins	45306542	0.496782	-1	-0.496782
Tie	58996	0.000647	0	0
Total	91200000	1	0	-0.03291

The lower right cell shows a house edge of 3.29%.

There is also a side bet titled Bonus Action based on the player's final seven cards. The following table shows the winning hands, their probability, what they pay, and the return.

Three Way Action - Bonus Action
Hand	Combinations	Probability	Pays	Return
Royal flush	4324	0.000032	1000-1	0.032321
Straight flush	37260	0.000279	100-1	0.027851
4 of a kind	224848	0.001681	25-1	0.042017
Full house	3473184	0.025961	7-1	0.181727
Flush	4047644	0.030255	5-1	0.151275
Straight	6180020	0.046194	3-1	0.138581
3 of a kind	6461620	0.048299	3-1	0.144896
2 pair	31433400	0.234955	lose	-0.234955
Pair	58627800	0.438225	lose	-0.438225
Nothing	23294460	0.174119	lose	-0.174119
Total	133784560	1		-0.128632

The number in the lower right hand corner shows the house edge is 12.86%.

There is also a similar game called Triple Shot.

Michael Shackleford, ASA