Bet Voyager Hold 'Em

Introduction

 

Bet Voyager Hold 'Em is a poker variant made exclusively for the BetVoyager Internet casino. It is like Casino Hold 'Em, except with these changes:

• The pay table applies to the Call bet instead of the Ante.
• The pay table pays more.
• The dealer qualifies with a pair of twos instead of fours.
• If the dealer qualifies and the player wins, then the Ante will push.

 

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Rules

 

Following are the full rules of Bet Voyager Hold 'Em. I'm using the term Call for the supplemental bet after the Ante, to be consistent with Casino Hold 'Em. The game help file refers to this as just the "Bet."

1. Play begins with each player making an Ante wager.
2. The dealer gives the player and himself two hole cards and three community cards face up on the table.
3. Each player must decide to either fold or call. If the player folds, then he gives up his cards and his Ante bet. If the player calls, then the Call bet must be equal to two times the Ante bet.
4. The dealer will then deal two more community cards, for a total of five. The dealer will then turn over his own two cards.
5. Both hands shall be scored according the highest poker value of the two hole cards and five community cards.
6. The dealer must have a pair of twos or better to qualify. If the dealer does not qualify, the Ante will pay even money and the Call bet will push.
7. If the dealer qualifies and beats the player, the player will lose both the Ante and Call bets.
8. If the dealer qualifies and the player ties the dealer, both Ante and Call bets will push.
9. If the dealer qualifies and the player ties the dealer then both Ante and Call bets will push.

 

Call Pay Table

   

Analysis

 

The following table shows the probability and return of all possible outcomes. The lower right cell reflects a house edge of 1.68%.

 

On average, the player will raise 73.06% of hands. This makes the average final bet amount 1 + 0.7306×2 = 2.46. Thus, the element of risk, or ratio of expected loss to total amount bet, is 1.68%/2.46 = 0.68%.

Zero House Edge

 

There is also a "Zero House Edge" version of the game. The only differences are:

• The pay for a straight flush is increased from 50 to 52.
• The pay for a four of a kind is increased from 10 to 14.

 

The following table shows the probability and return of all possible outcomes under the Zero House Edge pay table. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 0.38%.

On average, the player will raise 73.06% of hands. This makes the average final bet amount 1 + 0.7306×2 = 2.46. Thus, the element of risk, or ratio of expected loss to total amount bet, is 0.38%/2.46 = 0.15%.

As with all "Zero House Edge" games by Gamesys N.V., the player must pay a 10% commission on any net gambling win per session. A "session" is defined as a period of gambling ending with a time between bets of an hour or more or 24 hours, whichever happens first.

AA+ Bet

 

There is also an AA+ side bet, based on the poker value of the player's initial five-card hand only. The following table shows what each hand pays (on a "to one" basis), number of combinations, probability, and return. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.97%.

Strategy

 

Sorry, you're on your own with that for now.

External Links

 

Bet Voyager Hold 'Em rules at BetVoyager.com.

Written by: Michael Shackleford