Big Split Poker

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

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

Total return	Combinations	Probability	Return
3200	8288	0.0000002	0.00031467
3000	9408	0.00000022	0.00033487
800	319648	0.00000758	0.003034
400	610176	0.00001448	0.0028958
320	73920	0.00000175	0.00028065
300	81536	0.00000193	0.00029022
200	2684640	0.0000637	0.00637044
160	1541904	0.00003659	0.00292705
150	1178464	0.00002796	0.0020973
80	7402528	0.00017566	0.00702625
75	7208544	0.00017105	0.00641449
40	41190016	0.00097741	0.01954814
32	87833312	0.00208422	0.03334745
30	123453120	0.00292945	0.04394169
20	271201056	0.00643539	0.06435389
16	147974400	0.00351132	0.02809054
15	113088192	0.00268349	0.02012621
10	184812096	0.00438545	0.02192723
8	3029319776	0.07188339	0.28753357
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	0.9995332

 

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

 

Other Information

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

Written by: Michael Shackleford