How To Play Sic Bo
Sic Bo originated in ancient China and means literally "dice
pair", although the game is actually played with three dice! The
game is played throughout Southeast Asia, Korea, China and
increasingly in Western casinos. Sic Bo is an easy game to play,
the object being to bet on the outcome of a role of the three
dice, to include combinations of any two or three of the dice,
single numbers, two of a kind or three of a kind.
The game is played on a table that illustrates the 50
permissible bets in pictorial form and with their associated
payout. Sic Bo payouts range from 180:1 for a specific triple,
to 1:1 for betting on the value of just one dice. The dice are
usually tumbled in a basket by the dealer, who will enter the
results on to the table, and then light up the winning
combinations. The dealer pays out the lucky winners and removes
the unsuccessful bets.
The first and most straight forward betting option in Sic Bo is
to bet on any one number of the numbers 1 to 6 on a dice, and if
that number comes up on any one of the three dice rolled, then
the bet is paid out at evens, if two number come up then the
payout is 2:1 and if all three dice feature the chosen number
the payout is 3:1. A player can also select a pair of numbers
for example 2 and 4 to come up on any two of the dice, and if
successful the payout is 5:1.
A bet can be placed on the total of the three dice from 4 to 17
inclusive. The odds vary for this bet depending upon the total
bet. "Small bets" refer to a wager that the total of the three
dice will be between 4 and 10 (although this does not payout for
triple 1, 2 or 3), whilst "Big bets" require the total of the
three dice to be between 11 and 17 (excluding triple 4 and 5);
both these latter popular bets pay out 1:1.
A specific triple requires all three of the dice to show the
selected triple e.g. 3 x 3, and this pays out the maximum of
180:1. A variant of this, at the lower payout of 30:1, is the
any triple bet that pays out for any of the six possible
triples. A specific double bet pays out 10:1 if any two dice
match the number that has been wagered.