The carnival games — Three Card Poker, Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride, Pai Gow Poker, Sic Bo — share a design pattern. The base game carries a moderate house edge, usually between 2% and 5%, and is beatable down to that number with a strategy simple enough to memorise in a minute. Alongside it sits a side bet carrying two to ten times the edge, marketed with a large top prize.
The side bet is where the game makes its money. On most of these tables, the difference between playing the base game correctly and playing base plus side bets is larger than the difference between correct and incorrect strategy in the base game itself.
Guides
Three Card Poker Rules, Strategy and OddsThe Q-6-4 rule that plays Three Card Poker optimally, the real house edge on ante-play versus Pair Plus, and why the hand rankings are not the ones you know.
Let It Ride Rules, Strategy and OddsHow Let It Ride works, the two pull-back decisions and exactly when to make them, the real house edge, and why the 3-card bonus side bet is the expensive part.
Pai Gow Poker Rules, Strategy and the House WayHow to set a Pai Gow Poker hand, the house way that plays it near-optimally, why banking matters, and the real cost including the commission and copies.
Sic Bo Rules, Odds and PayoutsEvery Sic Bo bet with its true odds and house edge, from the 2.78% big/small bets to the 18.98% specific-triple trap, and why most of the layout should be ignored.