Unified Gaming software review

Last update: July 25, 2006

Unified Gaming used to be a dominant provider of Java software to online casinos. Today it is almost extinct, with only two or three casinos still using it. Five Dimes and Aloha are two that I know of that still use it. I haven't updated the game rules of this page since January 17, 2002 so I would suggest verifying the rules are the same as I indicate before betting a lot of money at a Unified Gaming casino.

A major annoyance with Unified Gaming casinos is lost connections to their server. When this happens it necessitates at the minimum logging back in and at most having to shut down and reboot. Disabling the sound card can help minimize this problem. The game play at Unified Gaming casinos is to the point and down to business. Following is a list of the games available at Unified Gaming casinos, the rules, and some strategy tips. Please be advised that these are the usual rules but some casinos may elect to use different ones.

Baccarat

The usual rules are followed. The player must manually click for a third card when one is required. I do not know the number of decks used.

Blackjack

Unified Gaming deals a great game of blacking, featuring the following rules:

Single deck
Dealer stands on soft 17
Double on 9-11 only
Double after a split
Split up to three times, except aces.
Late surrender, player must buy insurance to get late surrender against an ace
Betting ranges: $1-$10, $10-$50, $25-$100, and $100-$250

The following table displays the correct basic strategy for the single-deck Unified Gaming blackjack.

H: Hit
S: Stand
P: Split
D: Double, hit if 3 or more cards
Ds: Double, stand if 3 or more cards
R: Surrender

The player edge under these rules and following proper strategy is 0.01%.

Craps

The player may take 1X odds on in the $1-$25 game and 2 times odds in the $10-$100 game. The maximum allowed when laying the odds is correctly relative to the amount the player can win (a rule few software companies get right). In the 2x odds game the overall house edge on the pass and odds is 0.606% and on the don't pass with laying odds is 0.455%. The field bet pays 2:1 on both the 2 and 12. Place and proposition bets are allowed according to the usual odds.

Keno

The player can choose from 1 to 10 spots. The following table shows the return according to the number of marks chosen. The best bet is the pick 5 with a return of 94.79%. Compared to most other keno games in both real and online casinos these returns are quite generous.

Pick	Return
1	75.00%
2	92.09%
3	94.35%
4	94.55%
5	94.79%
6	94.62%
7	94.58%
8	94.61%
9	94.66%
10	94.74%

Pai Gow Poker

Unified Gaming has the best pai gow poker I have seen online. Other software providers give the dealer the role of the banker every hand, resulting in a house edge of 2.86%. At Unified Gaming casinos the player and dealer alternate the role of banker, resulting in a house edge of 1.46%. Another nice feature is the house way button, which the player may press to arrange his cards according to the house way Unified Gaming uses.

Roulette

Vegas double-zero rules are followed.

Spanish 21

Contrary to what the rules and the table itself say the dealer hits on a soft 17. Departures from normal Spanish 21 rules are that no super bonus is offered and early surrender is allowed against a dealer ace. Six decks are used. Modifications to my usual Spanish 21 strategy are to surrender on hard 12 to 17 against an ace and split suited 7’s against a 7. The house edge under these rules is 0.63%.

Sports Betting

Unified Gaming casinos seem just as serious about their sports book as their casino. There are a wide variety of sports to bet on and kinds of bets to make.

Video Poker

Unified Gaming offers many different variations of video poker. Not all games are available at all casinos. Unified Gaming’s best game is Bonus Spades which is a jacks or better variation, paying double for a flush, straight flush, and royal flush if spaded. Bonus Spades and Shock Wave are unusual games, which I do not have the software to analyze exactly. My returns for these games are my best estimate but are slightly understated. The names may vary at some casinos, for example instead of Bonus Spades some casinos have Bonus Diamonds or Bonus Hearts. Paying 4 for a four of a kind marks the usual deuces wild game. However, at least one pays 5 instead, among other changes, for a return of 99.55%.

Game	Return
Bonus Spades	99.34%
Aces and Jacks	99.25%
Double Up	99.14%
Bonus Poker	99.11%
Wild One	99.07%
Deuces Wild	98.91%
All American	98.49%
Double Joker	98.10%
Joker Poker	97.58%
Jacks or Better	97.30%
Shock Wave	95.14%

Following are specific probability tables for the various Unified Gaming forms of video poker. All tables except Jacks or Better and All American were produced with the help of Bob Dancer's Winpoker 6.0. All tables assume optimal strategy.

Bonus Spades
Hand	Payoff	Probability	Return
Royal flush (spaded)	2000	0.000007	0.014100
Royal flush	1000	0.000021	0.020790
Straight flush (spaded)	100	0.000035	0.003517
Straight flush	50	0.000082	0.002048
4 of a kind	25	0.002343	0.117146
Full house	7	0.011412	0.079882
Flush (spaded)	10	0.004415	0.044148
Flush	5	0.008280	0.041399
Straight	4	0.011013	0.044050
3 of a kind	3	0.073574	0.220721
Two pair	2	0.127855	0.255709
Jacks or better	1	0.206380	0.206380
Nothing		0.554585	1.049891

Aces and Jacks

Hand Payoff Probability Return

Royal flush 800 0.000025 0.019896

Straight flush 50 0.000106 0.005301

4 Aces 100 0.000196 0.019611

4 Jacks 50 0.001972 0.049302

Other 4 of a Kind 25 0.000195 0.009757

Full house 8 0.011516 0.092125

Flush 5 0.010865 0.054326

Straight 4 0.011212 0.044847

3 of a kind 3 0.074482 0.223445

Two Pair 2 0.129327 0.258653

Jacks or better 1 0.215283 0.215283

Nothing 0 0.544822 0.000000

Total Return 1.000000 0.992546

Double Up

Hand Payoff Probability Return

Royal flush 800 0.000026 0.020546

Straight flush 50 0.000103 0.005141

Four of a Kind 25 0.002358 0.058958

Full house 6 0.011497 0.068984

Flush 5 0.010654 0.053270

Straight 4 0.012357 0.049429

Three of a Kind 3 0.074265 0.222795

Two Pair 2 0.129007 0.258013

Tens or Better 1 0.254251 0.254251

Nothing 0 0.505482 0.000000

Total 1.000000 0.991388

Bonus Poker

Hand Payoff Probability Return

Royal Flush 800 0.000021 0.016655

Straight Flush 50 0.000113 0.005658

4 Aces 160 0.000219 0.035034

4 2s, 3s or 4s 80 0.000524 0.041924

4 5s-Ks 50 0.001604 0.080191

Full House 9 0.010629 0.095662

Flush 7 0.015222 0.106556

Straight 5 0.015021 0.075103

3 of a Kind 3 0.072871 0.218613

Two Pair 1 0.118925 0.118925

Jacks or Better 1 0.196745 0.196745

Nothing 0 0.568107 0.000000

Total Return 1.000000 0.991065

Deuces Wild

Hand Payoff Probability Return

Natural Royal Flush 800 0.000023 0.018423

4 Deuces 200 0.000187 0.037397

Wild Royal Flush 25 0.001909 0.047732

5 of A Kind 15 0.003123 0.046842

Straight Flush 9 0.004933 0.044396

4 of A Kind 4 0.061322 0.245288

Full House 4 0.026189 0.104754

Flush 3 0.020445 0.061334

Straight 2 0.057482 0.114964

3 of A Kind 1 0.268001 0.268001

Nothing 0 0.556387 0.000000

Total Return 1.000000 0.989131

All American

Hand Payoff Number Probability Return

Royal flush 800 471358116 0.000024 0.018917

Straight flush 200 2922799932 0.000147 0.029326

4 of a kind 30 44143469760 0.002215 0.066437

Full house 8 216179550000 0.010845 0.086761

Flush 8 318155186772 0.015961 0.127688

Straight 8 381570970320 0.019142 0.153140

3 of a kind 3 1342387584588 0.067344 0.202033

Two pair 1 2343751515684 0.117580 0.117580

Jacks or better 1 3648082846500 0.183015 0.183015

Nothing 0 11635565235528 0.583727 0.000000

Total 19933230517200 1.000000 0.984898

Double Joker Poker

Hand Payoff Probability Return

Royal Flush 800 0.000022 0.017806

Wild Royal 100 0.000348 0.034774

5 of a Kind 50 0.000415 0.020732

Straight Flush 25 0.001503 0.037571

4 of a Kind 8 0.018649 0.149193

Full House 5 0.018374 0.091868

Flush 4 0.019289 0.077157

Straight 3 0.034920 0.104761

3 of a Kind 2 0.177127 0.354253

2 Pair 1 0.092890 0.092890

Nothing 0 0.636464 0.000000

Total Return 1.000000 0.981007

Joker Poker

Hand Payoff Probability Return

Royal Flush 800 0.000023 0.018304

5 of A Kind 200 0.000094 0.018713

Royal With Joker 100 0.000104 0.010415

Straight Flush 50 0.000552 0.027575

4 of A Kind 20 0.008597 0.171945

Full House 6 0.015746 0.094476

Flush 4 0.014431 0.057725

Straight 3 0.017094 0.051281

3 of A Kind 2 0.134753 0.269505

2 Pair 1 0.111276 0.111276

Kings Or Better 1 0.144553 0.144553

Nothing 0 0.552778 0.000000

Total Return 0 1.000000 0.975768

Jacks or Better

Hand Payoff Number Probability Return

Royal flush 800 496224876 0.000025 0.019915

Straight flush 50 2146096656 0.000108 0.005383

4 of a kind 25 47100003732 0.002363 0.059072

Full house 8 229504776948 0.011514 0.092109

Flush 5 217303355868 0.010902 0.054508

Straight 4 223952329860 0.011235 0.044940

3 of a kind 3 1484283075660 0.074463 0.223388

Two pair 2 2577335006268 0.129298 0.258597

Jacks or better 1 4287052708344 0.215071 0.215071

Nothing 0 10864056938988 0.545022 0.000000

Total 19933230517200 1.000000 0.972984

Shockwave

Hand Payoff Probability Return

Royal flush 800 0.000025 0.019891

4 of a kind (charge mode) 250 0.000059 0.014636

Straight flush 50 0.000108 0.005384

4 of a kind 20 0.002306 0.046126

Full house 6 0.011483 0.068900

Flush 5 0.010868 0.054340

Straight 4 0.011266 0.045063

3 of a kind 3 0.074510 0.223530

Two pair 2 0.129316 0.258631

Jacks or Better 1 0.214891 0.214891

Nothing 0 0.545169 0.000000

Total 0 1.000000 0.951392

Note: In Shockwave the player enters "charge mode" for the ten plays following a four of a kind.

See my casino index for a list of sites that use Unified Gaming software. The URL for Unified Gaming is www.unifiedgaming.com

The Wizard's other sites: Wizard of Vegas, Wizard of Macau, Math Problems The Wizard recommends: The Bear Growls, Casinomeister, Online Casino Suite