Poker wheel (1 Viewer)

[FortyMorty]

I have been tasked with manning a booth at the local church fair. I need to make this poker wheel in to an enjoyable carnival game. Any ideas?

In years past they used the painted board, hitting quads was how a player won. I’m willing to make a new board for the players to place their bets on.

 

[joepro]

Hitting quads seems reasonable, not complicated, and will have a lot of winners and also bring in a lot for the house.

 

[FDLmold]

I'm sitting here trying to calculate distributions for a simple, fair game that's 20%+ toward the house. That's a nice wheel, certainly hundreds of dollars on the secondary market.

 

[FDLmold]

If the quads game of "Bet card X, if XXX hits on the wheel, you win" gets lots of action, I see no reason to change it. 999 JJJ and KKK appear four times each, TTT QQQ and AAA only three times each, so the T, Q, and A are the super "sucker" bets I suppose. For every 48 units wagered, the house nets on average 41 units, so the house advantage is over 85%.

If you wanted to add some variety, you could also add one more bet, the "Straight" bet. 9TJ and QKA, the "straights" are seven of the 48 spaces. A bet here wins if one of those two spaces hits. House advantage is still over 70%.

 

[mipevi]

I think the quads game is simple enough, I would not go adding features for the intended target audience. This wheel at a PCF meetup would be completely different story though.

 

[JWC]

I only see three cards per stop. Where do quads come into play?

 

[WedgeRock]

I only see three cards per stop. Where do quads come into play?

You bet an Ace and hit ace, ace, ace. Quads.

 

[FDLmold]

If somebody else wants to play with the odds and the game, I'll save you the work.

999 four
99T three
9TT four
9TJ three

TTT three

JAA four
JJJ four
JJQ three

QQQ three
QQK three
QKA four

KKK four
KKA three

AAA three

9 7-3-4 25x
T 6-4-3 23x
J 7-3-4 25x
Q 7-3-3 22x
K 7-3-4 25x
A 7-4-3 24x

 

[WedgeRock]

Trips (bet a T, hit TTX for example) is a push.

Straights are four cards (bet a Q, spin 9TJ). Straights and Quads pay 1:1 (keep your bet + win your bet). Maybe make quads aces pay more (because quad aces can't hit a straight).

I haven't done the math, but I think this might reduce a house edge because a queen can hit a straight or quads.

Maybe make two queen and two jack spaces -- one for a straight and one for trips/quads.

Maybe make people pick two cards. And the best hand after the three card flop (spin) wins 15% of the total wagered? That makes it obvious what the house edge is, tho. And also could lead to multiway chops if no one hits the flop/spin solid. Might be too confusing. I just thought paying one big winner instead of a few small winners may be more attractive.

Maybe run a trial and see what works.

 

[BigChief]

You could play this just like the wheel that have dice. Player places a bet like 25¢ on a spot (9 thru A). Let’s assume we bet on the Jack. Spin the wheel. If it lands on a spot with three Jacks, player wins 3 quarters, two Jacks wins 2 quarters, 1 Jack wins 1 quarter, no Jacks loses. When the player wins, they keep their original bet as well.

 

[Colquhoun]

The big question... how do you incorporate chips into this?

 

[WedgeRock]

The big question... how do you incorporate chips into this?

Like Roulette. Buy $20 in chips, get 20 red chips (or whatever color). Winnings paid in chips. Cash out out chips when you're done, get $ back.

 

[FDLmold]

You could play this just like the wheel that have dice. Player places a bet like 25¢ on a spot (9 thru A). Let’s assume we bet on the Jack. Spin the wheel. If it lands on a spot with three Jacks, player wins 3 quarters, two Jacks wins 2 quarters, 1 Jack wins 1 quarter, no Jacks loses. When the player wins, they keep their original bet as well.

House advantage here is about 10/48, or a little under 20%

 

[buzzmonkey]

Trips (bet a T, hit TTX for example) is a push.

Straights are four cards (bet a Q, spin 9TJ). Straights and Quads pay 1:1 (keep your bet + win your bet). Maybe make quads aces pay more (because quad aces can't hit a straight).

I haven't done the math, but I think this might reduce a house edge because a queen can hit a straight or quads.

Maybe make two queen and two jack spaces -- one for a straight and one for trips/quads.

Maybe make people pick two cards. And the best hand after the three card flop (spin) wins 15% of the total wagered? That makes it obvious what the house edge is, tho. And also could lead to multiway chops if no one hits the flop/spin solid. Might be too confusing. I just thought paying one big winner instead of a few small winners may be more attractive.

Maybe run a trial and see what works.

Any coders on here? Someone could probably throw together a simulator in Python fairly quickly.

 

[FDLmold]

Any coders on here? Someone could probably throw together a simulator in Python fairly quickly.

It's a church fundraiser. K.I.S.S. For both the parishoners and the game operators.

 

[FDLmold]

What do people usually bet with on this game? Quarters? Bills? Little kid puts a dime on her favorite card, the queen?

 

[buzzmonkey]

It's a church fundraiser. K.I.S.S. For both the parishoners and the game operators.

I don't disagree, but once you have a model, you can play around and see if there are any minor changes you can make to spice the game up a bit.

 

[FortyMorty]

What do people usually bet with on this game? Quarters? Bills? Little kid puts a dime on her favorite card, the queen?

Players typically bet quarters.

 

[FDLmold]

Players typically bet quarters.

I'd encourage you to have Sacagaweas on hand too then. For the punters to bet and the dealer to pay out. For the big whale high rollers! If somebody wants change for a $5 to place a bet, you make more money with $1 coins than quarters.

 

[FDLmold]

I see two games here.

Keep the quads game, payouts are scant, house advantage is 80%, there are no winners except the house. Over 90% of bets lose, so there will be very little excitement or action I imagine.

Or, game two, you win if your card shows up, no matter how many times. So the 9 pays 1:1 on any of the fourteen spaces that show a 9. 9TJ pays the 9 the same as 999. This is still easy to understand, to play, and to payout. House advantage drops, however, to around 40%. Payouts get a little more complicated on say the 9TJ space, but not unbearably so. You'll get a little more action here because more people will win more often (almost 30% of bets here are winners on average). I don't know if that will translate to more money for the church, however. But it would be more fun for the crowd and the dealer I'm guessing.

 

[FortyMorty]

Once again, PCF to the rescue. Thanks for the help!