Easy Over Under

Introduction

Easy Over Under made its debut at the Red Wind Casino in Olympia, WA on May 2, 2011. It is a fairly simple dice game involving the shake of two dice and one playing card. There are four bets based on the relationship between the dice total and the card.

 

Rules

 

 

Play begins with the player making over, under, and/or "Bet the Spread" wagers. Then two dice are shaken and exposed. At this point, unless the roll was a seven, the player may make an additional wager called the "Short Side." Then a single card is dealt to each player. The value of the cards are as follows:

 

• Ace = 1 point
• 2 to 10 = Pip value
• Jack = 11 points
• Queen = 12 points
• King = 13 points

 

Note that the average dice roll and card value are both seven. Following are the specific rules of each bet.

 

Over

The Over bet wins if the card value is greater than the roll of the dice. In the event of a tie, the player loses half. Except, a tie as the result of rolling doubles will push. Wins pay even money.

 

Under

Same as the Over bet, except player wins if the card value is under the roll of the dice.

 

Bet the Spread

The Bet the Spread wager pays according to the point difference between the dice total and the card. Following is the pay table:

 

• 11 = 30 to 1
• 10 = 10 to 1
• 9 = 5 to 1
• 8 = 3 to 1
• 7 = 2 to 1
• 6 = 1 to 1
• 5 or less = Loss

 

 

Short Side

The Short Side is the only wager that is made after the roll of the dice. If the roll of the dice is under seven, it pays if the card is less than the total of the dice. If the roll of the dice is over 7, it pays if the card is greater than the roll of the dice. The further from seven the dice total is, the more the Short Side pays if it wins.

If the card value equals the roll of the dice the player will lose half, except if the dice are doubles a tie results in a push. This is the same rule as the Over and Under bets. The reason some ties lose half is to give the casino an advantage; otherwise, the odds would be exactly fair.

 

• 2 or 12 = 11 to 1
• 3 or 11 = 5 to 1
• 4 or 10 = 3 to 1
• 5 or 9 = 2 to 1
• 6 or 8 = 7 to 5
• 7 = Short Side not available.

 

The Short Side wager is limited to the amount of the player's Over or Under wager.

 

Analysis

 

Over and Under

The following table shows the probability and return for each outcome of the Over and Under bets. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 3.21%.

 

 

 

Bet the Spread

The following table shows the probability and return for each outcome of the Bet the Spread bet. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.99%.

 

 

 

Short Side

The odds on the Short Side bet depend on the dice total and whether the dice roll was doubles. The following tables show all the possibilities. "Easy Way" means the total was not doubles. "Hard Way" means the total was doubles. The tables show the house edge is exactly zero after any doubles and 3.85% otherwise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strategy

To minimize the overall house edge, my advice is to bet the Over or Under wager. Then bet the Short Side only on doubles up to the full amount of the Over or Under wager. This will result in an average bet of 1.166667 units and an expected loss of 0.032051 units per round. The "Element of Risk," which is the ratio of the average loss to average bet, under this strategy is 0.032051/1.16667 = 2.75%. The house edge of the Bet the Spread wager is not much higher at 2.99%.

 

Links

easyoverunder.com, the official web site for the game.

Written by: Michael Shackleford