Sic Bo Guide: Strategy, Odds and House Edge

Introduction to Sic Bo

Sic Bo (骰寶) is an Asian dice game that literally translated means “Dice Treasure” and is specifically popular amongst the Asian gambling markets. The game can also be called tai sai (大細) or dai siu (大小) which translate approximately to ‘Big Small’ .

Sic Bo is played with 3 dice. Players can bet on a variety of possible results with payoffs varying depending on the likelihood of the result. Unlike the other popular casino dice game, Craps, when playing Sic Bo the dealer rolls the dice and this is done inside a specialise ‘chest’ to ensure it doesn’t disturb the chips on the layout. Alongside this the results of any bet on Sic Bo are always decided with a single roll.

Sic Bo is available at the following online casino softwares – Playtech, Microgaming, Realtime Gaming, GamesOS, Vuetec, GameSys, OpenBet and Boss Media*.

How to Play Sic Bo

Players around the table will place their bets on the section of the layout that represents their betting choice. Once all bets have been placed the dealer will then pick up the chest containing the 3 dice and shake the chest. The dealer will then return the chest to the table and open it to allow all players to see the result. The dealer will then payout winning bets on the layout and remove losing bets.

The different possible bets when playing Sic Bo are as follows;

Big/Small – This is a wager that the sum of the 3 dice will be between 11 and 17 (Big) or 4 and 10 (small). If all dice show the same value (triples) this bet loses even if the total is in the right range.

Odd/Even – This is a wager that the sum of the 3 dice will be either Even or Odd. We have not seen this bet on any online version of Sic Bo.

Roll Totals – These are bets on sum of the 3 dice being a specific number between 4 and 17. The payouts for the various numbers increase as the likelihood of the number occurring decreases.

Domino Combinations – These bets are shown by domino like symbols on the layout. They are a bet that the two numbers on the domino will appear on the three dice. For example, if you bet on 1,2 you would win if a 1, 2 and any other number were rolled.

Doubles – This is a bet that least two of the rolled dice will show a specific number

Triples (Any) – This is a bet that the roll will result in three of the same number.

Triples (Specific) – This is a bet that the roll will result in three of a specific number.

Single dice – This is a bet that a specific number will be rolled on at least one of the dice. If two or three of the dice show the selected number the payouts increase.

Sic Bo Payouts and House Edge

The below table shows the various paytables for the Sic Bo games we’ve found online alongside the House Edge for each specific bet;

Calculating the House Edge for varied bets/paytables

Calculating the House Edge for Sic Bo is a relatively trivial calculation. Below you’ll find a table showing all the possible rolls resulting from 3 dice including the summed total of each roll;

In total there are 216 different combinations. To calculate the House Edge for any bet we need to find out how many combinations would win (this has already been done in the Payouts and House Edge table), multiply this by the payout for winning the bet then subtract one for every other possible combination and finally divide by 216. Below you’ll find an Easy and a Harder example;

Easy

The payout for the ‘Triple (Any)’ bet is 30 to 1. There are 6 possible ways to roll a triple, so the House Edge calculation for this bet looks as follows;

(30x6 – ((216-6)x1))/216 =

Harder

The payouts for the ‘One Dice’ bet are 1 to 1 if you get one of your number, 2 to 1 if you get 2 of your number and 3 to 1 if you get three of your number. There are 75 ways to get 1 of your number, 15 ways to get 2 of your number and only 1 way to get 3 of your number, so the House Edge calculation for this bet looks like this;

((1x75 + 2x15 + 3x1)-((216-75-15-1)x1))/216 =

Optimal Sic Bo Strategy

As Sic Bo is decided on a single roll of the dice, there is no strategy involved. The only way the player can influence the expected cost of playing is by selecting the wagers with the lowest House Edge. In general these wagers are the Big/Small bets though this is not always the case and as such players should refer to the table above. It should be noted that by and large the Big/Small wager (as long as it does not pay less than 1 to 1) will generally cost only a small fraction of the cost of the other bets on the table.

Sic Bo Fairness Calculator

Below you can find a calculator to allow you to check the fairness of your wins/losses when playing Sic Bo.

Winning Sic Bo Strategies

Offline

Sic Bo is an unusual game in that the player has no control over the outcome. There is no strategy that can be employed to reduce the House Edge and as the dealer rolls the dice, control cannot be exerted over the outcome in the form that may be possible with Dice Control when playing Craps. As such, as long as the payouts have been correctly set-up and the dealer is not making any errors in payoffs, there’s no way to beat the offline game of Sic Bo without the use of promotional coupons or other forms of short term, conditional improvements in odds.

Online

There are several methods of legitimately gaining an advantage over the online Sic Bo games. By and large these involve the use of promotions, bonuses and comp point systems as the games by themselves – assuming the game is functioning in a correct fashion – will not provide any additional information that could be used to gain an advantage.

It should be noted that online advantage play is not specific to Sic Bo and in recent years the wagering requirements for player’s choosing to play any table game has inflated to the point that Sic Bo is now often a sub-optimal choice for the player.