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Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em -- Genting UK Rules
Introduction
On May 31, 2024 someone posted in my forum that the Genting casinos in the UK do not follow the conventional rules. Instead, they automatically pay the Play bet even money if the dealer doesn't qualify. He provided a link to the rules on the casino web site to back up his claim. I show a screenshot of them below.
Source: gentingcasinos.co.uk.
Some posters, including me, suspected the web site was simply wrong. However, the original poster insists he has played there and they follow the web site rules. I have been unable to get a confirmation. Some have suggested they depressed the Blind bet pay table, but the online rules show the standard 1-1.5-3-10-50-100 pay table.
Rules
I am going to assume the reader is already familiar with the conventional rules for Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em. In those rules, the Play bet always has action and pays even money if the player wins. For purposes of the Play bet (sometimes referred to as the Raise bet), it doesn't make any difference whether the dealer qualifies with a pair.
However, as explained in the introduction, at the Genting UK casinos, they automatically pay the Play bet even money if the dealer doesn't qualify.
Strategy
Following is the player strategy when to make the large 4x play bet before the flop.
Beyond that, I'm afraid you are on your own.
Analysis
The following table shows the number of combinations for all 70 possible outcomes. The lower right cell shows a player edge of 3.23%.
UTH Genting UK Rules Analysis
| Event | Raise | Dealer Qualifies |
Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tie | Small | 0 | 244,203,656,052 | 0.013985 | 0.000000 | |
| Dealer wins | Small | No | 0 | 317,625,826,668 | 0.018162 | 0.000000 |
| Trash | Small | No | 1 | 121,837,835,640 | 0.007467 | 0.007467 |
| Pair | Small | No | 1 | 281,654,011,992 | 0.016854 | 0.016854 |
| Two pair | Small | No | 1 | 16,808,196,048 | 0.000953 | 0.000953 |
| Three of a kind | Small | No | 1 | - | 0.000081 | 0.000081 |
| Straight | Small | No | 2 | 64,353,239,868 | 0.004031 | 0.008061 |
| Flush | Small | No | 2.5 | 13,704,915,276 | 0.001031 | 0.002578 |
| Full house | Small | No | 4 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Four of a kind | Small | No | 11 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Straight flush | Small | No | 51 | 61,039,080 | 0.000005 | 0.000279 |
| Royal flush | Small | No | 501 | 2,969,136 | 0.000000 | 0.000074 |
| Dealer wins | Small | Yes | -3 | 1,963,988,854,224 | 0.114264 | -0.342792 |
| Trash | Small | Yes | 2 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Pair | Small | Yes | 2 | 227,249,742,360 | 0.013461 | 0.026922 |
| Two pair | Small | Yes | 2 | 338,882,863,992 | 0.020877 | 0.041754 |
| Three of a kind | Small | Yes | 2 | 39,321,578,100 | 0.002338 | 0.004675 |
| Straight | Small | Yes | 3 | 182,481,349,284 | 0.011727 | 0.035181 |
| Flush | Small | Yes | 3.5 | 61,890,642,180 | 0.005013 | 0.017546 |
| Full house | Small | Yes | 5 | 20,062,179,276 | 0.001359 | 0.006794 |
| Four of a kind | Small | Yes | 12 | 360,730,476 | 0.000024 | 0.000292 |
| Straight flush | Small | Yes | 52 | 671,190,684 | 0.000048 | 0.002498 |
| Royal flush | Small | Yes | 502 | 20,695,824 | 0.000001 | 0.000526 |
| Fold | Small | -2 | 1,867,521,945,960 | 0.109521 | -0.219042 | |
| Tie | Medium | No | 0 | 93,721,256,484 | 0.005935 | 0.000000 |
| Dealer wins | Medium | No | 1 | 1,806,611,496 | 0.000447 | 0.000447 |
| Trash | Medium | No | 2 | 2,607,223,992 | 0.000320 | 0.000640 |
| Pair | Medium | No | 2 | 404,485,721,172 | 0.024563 | 0.049127 |
| Two pair | Medium | No | 2 | 127,091,536,752 | 0.007579 | 0.015158 |
| Three of a kind | Medium | No | 2 | - | 0.000127 | 0.000254 |
| Straight | Medium | No | 3 | 17,107,192,932 | 0.001467 | 0.004402 |
| Flush | Medium | No | 3.5 | 8,433,713,124 | 0.001296 | 0.004536 |
| Full house | Medium | No | 5 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Four of a kind | Medium | No | 12 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Straight flush | Medium | No | 52 | 43,263,000 | 0.000013 | 0.000669 |
| Royal flush | Medium | No | 503 | 2,661,984 | 0.000000 | 0.000100 |
| Dealer wins | Medium | No | -4 | 935,776,514,280 | 0.057908 | -0.231632 |
| Trash | Medium | Yes | 3 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Pair | Medium | Yes | 3 | 149,832,761,340 | 0.010482 | 0.031445 |
| Two pair | Medium | Yes | 3 | 621,604,470,324 | 0.038193 | 0.114580 |
| Three of a kind | Medium | Yes | 3 | 201,468,798,756 | 0.012353 | 0.037059 |
| Straight | Medium | Yes | 4 | 48,467,166,156 | 0.004260 | 0.017040 |
| Flush | Medium | Yes | 4.5 | 34,118,271,900 | 0.004927 | 0.022171 |
| Full house | Medium | Yes | 6 | 139,523,734,164 | 0.008637 | 0.051821 |
| Four of a kind | Medium | Yes | 13 | 8,703,989,892 | 0.000559 | 0.007261 |
| Straight flush | Medium | Yes | 53 | 557,791,476 | 0.000090 | 0.004769 |
| Royal flush | Medium | Yes | 503 | 39,250,656 | 0.000003 | 0.001275 |
| Tie | Large | 0 | 62,047,081,200 | 0.014219 | 0.000000 | |
| Dealer wins | Large | No | 3 | 21,048,498,000 | 0.006288 | 0.018865 |
| Trash | Large | No | 4 | 68,350,672,800 | 0.019092 | 0.076367 |
| Pair | Large | No | 4 | 124,079,529,600 | 0.040678 | 0.162714 |
| Two pair | Large | No | 4 | 26,243,366,400 | 0.007162 | 0.028650 |
| Three of a kind | Large | No | 4 | - | 0.002417 | 0.009670 |
| Straight | Large | No | 5 | 9,348,307,200 | 0.003939 | 0.019697 |
| Flush | Large | No | 5.5 | 3,876,501,240 | 0.002369 | 0.013027 |
| Full house | Large | No | 7 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Four of a kind | Large | No | 14 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Straight flush | Large | No | 54 | 11,032,200 | 0.000012 | 0.000674 |
| Royal flush | Large | No | 504 | 2,183,760 | 0.000003 | 0.001734 |
| Dealer wins | Large | Yes | -6 | 649,248,566,880 | 0.186389 | -1.118335 |
| Trash | Large | Yes | 5 | - | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Pair | Large | Yes | 5 | 203,197,684,920 | 0.067069 | 0.335345 |
| Two pair | Large | Yes | 5 | 214,108,796,760 | 0.075873 | 0.379363 |
| Three of a kind | Large | Yes | 5 | 51,668,078,160 | 0.017545 | 0.087727 |
| Straight | Large | Yes | 6 | 27,102,695,040 | 0.011854 | 0.071124 |
| Flush | Large | Yes | 6.5 | 19,128,293,640 | 0.011079 | 0.072015 |
| Full house | Large | Yes | 8 | 28,833,738,480 | 0.012587 | 0.100694 |
| Four of a kind | Large | Yes | 15 | 1,790,043,840 | 0.000942 | 0.014127 |
| Straight flush | Large | Yes | 55 | 136,452,840 | 0.000095 | 0.005232 |
| Royal flush | Large | Yes | 505 | 30,605,040 | 0.000023 | 0.011823 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,068,347,520,000 | 1.000000 | 0.032339 |
It should be emphasized that the player advantage of 3.23% is relative to the Ante bet only. For example, if the player bets $100 each on the Ante and Blind, he can expect to win $3.23.
The following table shows the probability of each Play bet.
- Fold = 0.067144
- Small (1x) = 0.274060
- Medium (2x) = 0.179159
- Large (4x) = 0.479638
The average Play bet is 2.550929 units. That makes the average total wager, including the Ante and Blind, 4.550929 units. That makes the Element of Risk, defined as the average player loss to total amount bet, -3.23%/4.550929 = -0.71%. In other words, the player can expect to win 0.71% of the total amount bet, considering all three bets.
If you play perfect strategy for the conventional Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em rules, the player advantage is 1.22%.