What Is Sic Bo?
Sic Bo is an ancient Chinese gambling game which is played with three dice. The Sic Bo table is somewhat similar to a roulette table. In a nutshell, Sic Bo is a game of chance played with three dice. It originates from China and sometimes can be referred to as Dai Siu, Tai Sai, Hi-Lo, or the big and small game. The original Sic Bo game is more popular in Asia and Macau. However, with the power of the internet you can now play it online no matter where you are.
How To Play Sic Bo Online?
To pick up Sic Bo it is fairly easy to pick up, it may be frustrating at first but it is not that difficult to learn the rules and even easier to play online. The gameplay goes like this:
- You place your bets by putting chips on areas depicting outcomes you want to bet on
- The dealer shakes three dice closed in a tiny chest (or the game software ‘rolls’ the dice and shows their random outcomes)
- You win for every number or sum you predicted and lose if your predictions were wrong.
Sic Bo Betting Options
There are plenty of betting options you can choose from:
1). Small and big bets
The most basic ones you need to know are the small and big bets:
- The Small bet is when you bet on any dice sum between and including 4 and 10.
- The big bet is when the sum is between and including 11 and 17.
They usually pay 1 to 1 and have the smallest house edge. Thus, these are the best odds you can have in a Sic Bo game. Though you may notice the sum of 3 and 18 are missing. That’s because when you bet small or big, any triple sum (three dice with same numbers, eg 1-1-1, 6-6-6) makes you lose. Thus, these bets are not exactly 50/50 but have a probability of 48.61%
2). Other Sums Bets
Don’t feel like betting on specific dice numbers and their combination? You can always choose one specific sum and bet on it.
It can be anything between and including 4 and 17.
But there are different sums and they have a different number of winning possibilities.
For example, you can get the sum of 4 only three ways: 1-1-2, 1-2-1, and 2-1-1. Same goes for 17. Thus, these sums have the biggest payouts and the biggest house edge.
a). Single Dice Bet
If you make single dice bet, you can predict that a specific number will appear on one, two or all three dice. You can choose any single number – from 1 to 6. If it appears on one dice, the payouts are 1 to 1. If it appears on two dice – 2 to 1, on three – 3 to 1.
b). Double and triple bets
You will want to make a double bet when you have a strong feeling that two of the dice will come up having the same number.
This bet pays 10 to 1 but you have only 7.4% chance to predict it right.
Like the double, there are triple bets too. You can bet that all three dice will have the same numbers and if you are right, it pays 30 to 1.
c). Two dice combination bets
If you look further Sic Bo table layout, you will see 15 domino-like areas for different two dice combinations, e.g. 1-2, 2-3, 3-5 etc.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Sic Bo is a fairly easy game to learn. The only complexity of the game lies in the table. There are several bets laid out on the table. Bettors will place wagers on one of the many bets and the dealer will shake the dice in the cage and reveal the results. The winning bets will be paid out.
There is no way to know how the dice will roll out as this game is purely based on luck. There are tons of strategies on the net which are based on the various betting options but apart from the betting strategies, Sic Bo does not necessarily have a strategy that will guarantee a player’s way to improve their odds of winning.
The Triple Bet has the highest payout. Sic Bo’s triple bet requires bettors to guess a number that will appear on all the three dice at the same time to win.
