Introduction

Dragonfish is an online betting firm that is a subsidiary of betting firm 888 that specializes in developing online gaming software for outside operators. Dragonfish was founded in 2007 and has developed Bingo, Poker, Casino, Parlour, and Sportsbetting software for its clients throughout the world. The company works as a completely independent entity from 888, and because of this Dragonfish titles can be found at other online betting sites as well, including Foxy Bingo, the World Series of Poker site, Moon Bingo, and more.

Table Games

The table game menu is pretty standard. About the only surprise is a game I've never seen before called Texas Choose 'Em. Typically, the player will choose between a low, medium, and high limit table. Sometimes the player can change the style of the table.

Roulette

I seem to say this in almost every software review, but I fail to understand why there need to be some many different roulette games in an Internet casino. May I make a radical suggestion — Create some new games instead of rehashing existing ones.

Now that I have that off my chest, here are the many roulette games offered by Dragon Fish:

• American Roulette — Double-zero wheel. House edge of 5.26%.
• European Roulette — Single-zero wheel. House edge of 2.70%.
• European Roulette Pro — Single-zero wheel. House edge of 2.70%.
• 3-D Roulette — Single-zero wheel. House edge of 2.70%.
• Rockin' Roulette — This game uses 37 balls numbered 0 to 37. Harrah's Rincon in California used to have such a game, where roulette with a ball is illegal . Mathematically it is the same as single-zero roulette. House edge of 2.70%.
• Deal or No Deal Roulette — Single-zero wheel with a side bet based on the television show. House edge of 2.70% on roulette and unknown on the side bet. For more information, please see my page on Deal or No Deal Roulette.
• Pinball Roulette — Single-zero wheel with a pinball-based side bet. I only know about this game through the casino help files but it didn't appear on the game menu, so I don't know much else about it.
• French Roulette — Single-zero wheel. Players lose half only on even money bets if the ball lands in zero. House edge of 1.35% on even money bets and 2.70% on all others.

For the best odds, play only French roulette and stick to even money bets.

Baccarat

Baccarat follows the usual odds and is played with six decks. The important thing to note is that the table cloth is incorrect when it states that the tie pays 9 to 1 and the pair bets 12 to 1. After playing both bets until they won, what they are doing is paying 9 for 1 on the tie and 12 for 1 on the pairs.

If I'm losing you on the prepositions, "to one" means that the winnings do not include the original wager, which is also returned to the player if he wins. "For one" means that the win includes the return of the original wager. So, for example, 9 for 1 is equivalent to 8 to 1.

Given the actual odds of 8 to 1 on the tie and 11 to 1 on the pairs, the house edge is 14.44% on the tie and 11.25% on the pairs.

In case you're wondering, if the game did offer the odds promised on the felt, the house edge would be 4.93% on the tie and 3.86% on the pairs.

Craps

The craps game offers limits on the odds after a pass or come bet that I've never seen before — 6x on the 4 and 10, 4.5x on the 5 and 9, and 3.6x on the 6 and 8. Very strange. The combined house edge between the pass and odds under these limits is 0.35%.

The don't pass and don't come bets also feature the exact same limits laying the odds as taking them after a pass or come bet. The limits are based on the bet amount, not the win amount. The balanced house edge between the don't pass or don't come bet and the maximum odds is 0.34%.

The place and don't place bets offer the standard odds. For my American readers, in the UK and Australia they offer "don't place" bets, which are like the opposite of place bets. They pay 4-5 on the 6 and 8, 5-8 on the 5 and 9, and 5-11 on the 4 and 10.

Normally on buy bets the commission is taken from the bet amount. However, Dragonfish takes it from the win amount, which disadvantages the player. However, they nicely only charge the commission after a win. This makes the effective odds on buy bets 1.9 to 1 on the 4 and 10, 1.425 to 1 on the 5 and 9, and 1.14 to 1 on the 6 and 8. The house edge is 3.33% on the 4 and 10, 3.00% on the 5 and 9, and 2.73% on the 6 and 8.

The 5% commission on lay bets is correctly applied to the win amount and payable after a win only. This makes the effective odds on buy bets 19 to 40 on the 4 and 10, 19 to 30 on the 5 and 9, and 19 to 24 on the 6 and 8. The house edge is 1.67% on the 4 and 10, 2.00% on the 5 and 9, and 2.27% on the 6 and 8.

The following table summarizes the house edge on all for ways to bet on or against the numbers above.

The bottom lines is that if you wish to bet on or against a point number, the buy and lay bets have the lower house edge on the 4, 5, 9, and 10, while the place and don't place are superior on the 6 and 8.

The odds on the proposition bets are standard. After the misleading baccarat felt I checked if the craps payoffs were correct, which they are.

Pai Gow Poker

Very standard pai gow poker rules — 5% commission and no player banking. The player cards are nicely arranged in order and it is impossible to foul your hand. Assuming the player uses the house way the house edge is 2.72%.

Three Card Poker

DragonFish calls their Three Card Poker game Triple Card Poker. On the Ante bet the usual 1-4-5 Ante Bonus pay table is followed, for a house edge of 3.37%. The Pairplus has a 1-4-5-30-40 pay table for a house edge of 5.57%.

Video Poker

If you're nostalgic for 1980's style video poker, then Dragonfish has just what you need. Most of their machines look just like the machines of the 80's with their blue low-resolution screens on a tiny cathode ray monitor.

Unfortunately, the pay tables range from average to awful, as the return table will show.

The "Deal or no Deal" Tens or Better game is a tease. It is regular video poker with a double feature after any win with an image of a telephone.

Finally, a word about the progressive Royal Diamonds game. It is based on 8-6 Jacks or Better with a jackpot for a royal flush in diamonds. Assuming 8/6 Jacks strategy, the return is 96.80% plus 0.622% for each 1,000 coins in the progressive. The break-even point is a jackpot of 25,704 coins.

The following table shows the Video Poker games available in alphabetical order.

Here is the same list in returns range, choose your game wisely.

Blackjack

There are five blackjack tables to choose from. The table below shows the pertinent rules.

The Jackpot Blackjack game, referred to as Crazy Blackjack on the felt, has the same rules as both Classic blackjack games with three side bets added, as follows:

• Highest Hand — If you bet more than two hands you can bet which will have the higher/highest initial total.
• Safe Bet — This is a hedge bet that your hand will be a hard total of 12 to 16 that can't be re-split.
• 777 Jackpot — $1 bet on three sevens.

Click on any of the links in the bet names for all the details.

Rules common to all games are:

• Blackjack pays 3 to 2.
• Dealer stands on soft 17.
• No surrender.
• Split to one hand only, except the help files say that the re-splitting rule the High Limit Multi-hand game is that each hand may be re-split once. So, you could end up with four hands total, but only if two originate from each of the two hands after splitting.

The following table shows the Blackjack games available in alphabetical order.

Here is the same list in returns range, choose your game wisely.

Deal or No Deal

This game is pretty much like the television show. Please visit my Deal or No Deal page for all the details.

Slots

In my opinion the Dragonfish slots are a bit dated and simple but they get the job done. I don't have a good source for a list of Dragonfish slots but I can say that the 848 Casino carries mostly Dragonfish games. That said, the following is a list of their slots, in alphabetical order. Some of these may not be Dragonfish games but I think most of them are.

 

Here is that same list in order of return.

Conclusion

Dragonfish puts out a series of different pieces of software for the online betting industry, and its casino games certainly play a large role in its day-to-day operations. While the slots do look a bit dated, the overall makeup of the table games and video poker titles is solid, even if the cloth on the Baccarat tables is incorrect.