Next are the return tables for a pay table 3, which I saw at the MGM Grand on July 15, 2004.

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

Big Split Poker

Last Update: Jul 16, 2004

Introduction

Big Split Poker is a poker based video game in which the player gets 8 cards and arranges them into 5 and 3-card hands and is paid based on the poker value of one or both hands. Little skill is required, so this game may appeal to players who want something harder than slots but easier than video poker.

Rules

Player bets on either (1) the 5-card pay table only, or (2) both the 5-card and 3-card pay tables.
Player bets one to five coins per pay table.
Player presses the deal button and gets 8 cards randomly dealt from a single deck of cards.
If no win is possible, the game is immediately over.
If a win is possible, the player arranges the 8 cards into a 5-card hand and a 3-card hand.
When player is satisfied with his hands he presses the submit buttons.
Both the 5-card hand and the 3-card hands are scored.
If the player bet on the 5-card pay table only then he is paid based on that hand alone.
If the player bet on both pay tables then he is paid based on product of the 5-card and 3-card pay tables.

Following are the six pay tables available for Big Split Poker with no wild cards. These are per coin and based on max coins played. A royal flush only pays 50 per coin with less than max coins played. All pays are on a "for one" basis, in other words the original wager is never returned. Pay tables for joker poker, double joker poker, and deuces may be found in Bob Dancer's article, The New Game in Town. A Friendly Look at Big Split Poker, the source for these pay tables.

Big Split Poker - Five Card Pay Tables>
Hand	Table 1	Table 2	Table 3	Table 4	Table 5	Table 6
Royal flush	200	200	200	200	200	200
Straight Flush	20	16	10	20	18	14
Four of a kind	10	8	7	16	14	9
Full House	5	5	5	4	4	4
Flush	2	2	2	2	2	2
Straight	2	2	2	2	2	2
Three of a kind	2	2	2	2	2	2
Two pair (jacks and twos or better)	1	1	1	1	1	1

Note: If playing only one pay table then a royal flush pays 50 per coin bet.

Big Split Poker - Three Card Pay Tables
Hand	Table 1	Table 2	Table 3	Table 4	Table 5	Table 6
Three of a kind	16	16	16	14	14	14
Straight flush	15	15	14	12	12	12
Flush	4	4	4	4	4	4
Straight	4	4	4	4	4	4
Pair	2	2	2	2	2	2
Nothing	1	1	1	1	1	1

Strategy

There isn't much strategy. Just arrange the cards according to the highest possible win. You can try as many arrangements as you like and the score of each will be immediately indicated. If you put in a non-paying hand for the 5-card hand the game will warn you that a paying hand is possible. The return is higher playing both pay tables.

Return

It takes my program about six hours to run through a pay table so I only did two. Following are return tables for playing both one and two pay tables in the "full pay" table 1 above. In the table for two pay tables the return column is the product of the probability, the payoff, and 0.5. The reason for dividing by 2 is to base the return on the two coins bet. Note the return for playing both pay tables under pay table 1 is 99.95%.

Big Split Poker - Pay Table 1 - One Pay Table Return
Hand	Combinations	Probability	Pays	Return
Royal flush	3632160	0.00008619	50	0.00430942
Straight Flush	30602880	0.00072618	20	0.01452365
Four of a Kind	141638672	0.00336098	10	0.03360975
Full House	2556519168	0.0606642	5	0.30332102
Flush	2847617920	0.06757175	2	0.1351435
Straight	3756066720	0.08912853	2	0.17825706
Three of a kind	2155608000	0.0511509	2	0.10230179
Two pair (jacks and twos or better)	8256112704	0.19591111	1	0.19591111
Nonpaying hand	22394338176	0.53140016	0	0
Total	42142136400	1		0.9673773

Total
3200
3000
800
400
320
300
200
160
150
80
75
40
32
30
20
16
15
10
8
5
4
2
1
0
Total

fg_lite_yel" colspan="4">Big Split Poker - Pay Table 1 - Two Pay Tables Return

Combinations

Probability

Return

8288

0.0000002

0.00031467

9408

0.00000022

0.00033487

319648

0.00000758

0.003034

610176

0.00001448

0.0028958

73920

0.00000175

0.00028065

81536

0.00000193

0.00029022

2684640

0.0000637

0.00637044

1541904

0.00003659

0.00292705

1178464

0.00002796

0.0020973

7402528

0.00017566

0.00702625

7208544

0.00017105

0.00641449

41190016

0.00097741

0.01954814

87833312

0.00208422

0.03334745

123453120

0.00292945

0.04394169

271201056

0.00643539

0.06435389

147974400

0.00351132

0.02809054

113088192

0.00268349

0.02012621

184812096

0.00438545

0.02192723

3029319776

0.07188339

0.28753357

1222040736

0.02899807

0.07249518

3719582496

0.08826279

0.17652558

6041842464

0.14336821

4744341504

0.11257952

0.05628976

22394338176

0.53140016

42142136400

0.9995332

Big Split Poker - Pay Table 3 - Two Pay Tables Return
Total return	Combinations	Probability	Return
3200	8288	0.0000002	0.00031467
2800	9408	0.00000022	0.00031254
800	319648	0.00000758	0.003034
400	610176	0.00001448	0.0028958
200	2684640	0.0000637	0.00637044
160	73920	0.00000175	0.00014033
140	81536	0.00000193	0.00013543
112	1541904	0.00003659	0.00204894
98	1178464	0.00002796	0.00137024
80	4612608	0.00010945	0.00437814
70	7208544	0.00017105	0.00598686
40	2789920	0.0000662	0.00132405
32	89844384	0.00213194	0.03411099
28	158383680	0.00375832	0.0526165
20	221160576	0.00524797	0.05247968
16	148883952	0.0035329	0.0282632
14	144883536	0.00343797	0.02406581
10	146961024	0.00348727	0.01743635
8	3083062976	0.07315868	0.29263471
7	5691840	0.00013506	0.00047272
5	1222040736	0.02899807	0.07249518
4	3719582496	0.08826279	0.17652558
2	6041842464	0.14336821	0.14336821
1	4744341504	0.11257952	0.05628976
0	22394338176	0.53140016	0
Total	42142136400	1	0.97907013

Other Information

bigsplitpoker.com: Features a play for fun game and list of casinos where game can be played.