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jm2552
09-05-2005, 10:15 PM
Mohegan Sun in CT is now offering this. Haven't viewed it in person, just noticed it on their website. Now, I see all the BJ variations (777, etc.) they have running, and see folks happily parting with their money and thinking they're getting a bargain, and I hate to see another "enticement" that's only going to help the house's bottom line. Just wondering what the statisticians here thought of this. I quote:

"The object of Casino War is for the player to have a higher ranking single card dealt to them than the dealer.

After the players have completed placing their bets, the dealer will give each player one card, face-up. The dealer will also get one card, face-up.

In addition to the initial wager, the player may elect, prior to any cards being dealt, to make a "Tie" wager (from $1.00 to $100.00 max.).

To win the "Tie" wager, the rank of the player and the dealer card must be equal. Tie wagers are paid at odds of 10 to 1.

To win the initial wager, the rank of the player's card must exceed the rank of the dealer's card (the rank of the card is as follows: Ace [high], King, Queen, Jack, etc.). All initial winning wagers are paid even money.

If the player's and dealer's cards have the same rank, the player is given the option to go to "War" with the "House". The player must make another bet equal to their initial wager to exercise the war option. The dealer also matches the player's initial wager and places it next to the player's wager. The dealer then burns, face down the next three (3) cards and deals the next card to the player, then burns three (3) more cards face down and then deals the following card to himself. If the player's card has a higher rank than the dealer's card then the player wins the "War". If the player's card has a lower rank than the dealer's card then the player loses. Either way, the winner of the war collects all the money in front of that player and the dealer starts a new game. If the dealer and the player cards are of equal rank after the player has exercised his/her option to go to war, the player automatically wins the war and is paid a bonus equal to their original war wager.

If the player chooses not to go to war with the dealer, he/she will relinquish half of their original bet."

Any thoughts?

stainless steel rat
09-06-2005, 02:35 PM
sucker game, old as the hills.

don't play it.

FunkyChicken
09-07-2005, 12:50 PM
If it really is even money classic game of war (disregarding the tie bet), it seems a 0 EV, no? In fact, reading it again, the player wins ties after he goes to war -- so wouldn't this favor the player? I must be missing something.

stainless steel rat
09-07-2005, 01:42 PM
There is a catch.

If you tie you can go to war and put out another bet. If you win the war, you win the additional bet, but the _original_ bet is a push. If you lose, the casino takes both the original bet and the second bet.

House edge is about 2.5%. There are variations concerning surrender (on a tie, you give up half your bet, etc., and there are side-bets for ties and the like).

Don't play it. The casinos do _not_ offer "even money games"... The variance could kill them.

stainless steel rat
09-07-2005, 02:54 PM
I didn't write that very accurately. Let me try again.

1. you and the dealer each get a card. If you win, you win even money. If you lose you lose your bet. Odds of that are 50-50 (not counting ties). On a tie, there are two options depending on the rules being used:

(1) you _must_ go to war. And here you have a problem, because you first double your bet, and then if you win, you only win 1/2 of that total (you win even money on the "raise" but push on the initial bet. But if you lose, you lose _both_ bets. The house has an obvious edge there.

(2) some offer a surrender option. Which means that on ties, you can give up 1/2 your initial bet (this is _not_ a push) and quit.

It is played from (usually) a 6D shoe. But for each "hand" you have the following probabilities:

Since there are essentially 13 different cards, the probability that two cards are dealt that are not the same is (assuming just one deck here to keep the numbers small) you have a probability of "war" happening about 1 in 13 hands. I get any first card, the dealer has a 1/13 probability of getting that same card for his, causing a war. So I will win about 6/13 of the time, lose 6/13 of the time, and have to deal with a tie 1/13 of the time. If I surrender, 1/13 of the time my ev is -.5 units. If I go to war, my EV is a bit better, but still below -2%...

I suspect the wizardofodds has the house edge, but our network is misbehaving and I can't get there at the minute to check. Look at www.wizardofodds.com and see if you see a link for "casino war" or "war" or even "battle royale"...