Texas Shootout @ Santa Ysabel Casino, CA
Something seems wrong about dealing poker out of a 6-deck shoe. As much as I like anything arcane and anything gambling, while this is both, it may be too much even for me. Amazingly, my relatively close Santa Ysabel Casino has both Texas Shootout and Mini-Tex. I’m sure I’ll end up playing this game sooner than later, so I made a cheat sheet from the Wizard’s analysis to use at the table.
I just sorted the 2-card hand EVs in a “table” that’s easy to use. The table ranks the hands by EV, from top to bottom, left to right in descending order. You use the table to select the best 2-card hand from the four cards you’re dealt. If you can make a second +EV hand, you should “split” and bet it as well. I put some reference marks for the hand EVs, to give you an idea of the hand strengths.
--- +0.55 EV --- AAs AAo KKs KKo QQs QQo JJs JJo TTs TTo 99s 99o 88s AKs 88o 77s AQs 66s 77o AKo AJs 55s KQs ATs AQo 66o --- 0 EV --- KJs AJo 44s A9s 55o KTs KQo ATo A8s QJs 33s A7s KJo QTs K9s 44o A6s A5s A9o KTo A4s JTs 22s K8s QJo Q9s A3s A8o K7s 33s A2s A7o QTo K6s J9s K9o Q8s K5s A6o A5o T9s K4s JTo 22o J8s A4o Q7s K8o K3s Q9o Q6s A3o T8s K2s K7o 98s Q5s J7s A2o J9o K6o Q4s Q8o 97s T7s 87s --- -.25 EV --- K5o Q3s T9o J6s Q2s J5s K4o J8o 86s 96s 76s T6s Q7o J4s K3o Q6o T8o 98o J3s 75s 65s 95s 85s K2o T5s Q5o J7o J2s T4s 54s 97o Q4o T7o 64s 87o 74s 84s 94s T3s 93s Q3o J6o T2s 53s 92s 96o 86o J5o 76o Q2o 63s T6o 73s 83s --- -.35 EV --- J4o 43s 82s 52s 75o 65o 95o 85o J3o 62s 72s T5o 42s J2o T4o 54o 64o 74o 32s --- -.40 EV --- 94o 84o T3o 93o T2o 53o 92o 63o 73o 83o 43o 82o 52o 62o 72o 42o 32o --- -.50 EV ---
You don’t make any decisions after selecting your hole cards. You just make one Ante bet, and you win even-money if you beat the dealer’s hand. Otherwise, you lose (dealer wins ties). Hopefully, they deal the flop, turn, and river separately. It’s be pretty boring if they just dealt the 5-card board all at once.
Discount Gambling 
When this game was dealt in Washington you were dealt cards and split them into two hands if you wanted to or you could stick with one hand. Just an FYI.
Thanks for your work,
Lou
In Missouri (well, Kansas City, anyway) at the two casinos that offer it, they just flip all five over at once. People seem to love it, however: it’s a pretty wild game and can be a lot of fun at times.
I played it today, and I really enjoyed it. The game can best be described as “Poker Blackjack”. You make a single bet, and play vs. the dealer for even-money. Everyone gets 4 cards, selects their 2-card playing hand (and perhaps to split the hand and play two bets), and tucks their cards under their bet. The dealer then turns up his 4 cards, and selects his 2 card hand with the “house-way” rules. They deal the 5 card board all at once. I actually prefer it this way, because it’s a fast action game like blackjack. If you flat bet the minimum each hand, the game is extremely mild and cheap. If you vary your bet, it plays a lot like blackjack, without the frustration of busting. Maybe it feels more like an educated coin flip. If you ever get the chance to play it, try it out!
Hi,
This game is also offered in Bucky’s (Prescott, AZ), exactly as you said like a blackjack poker: 6D and the procedure is the same (except that they burn 1 in every 4 cards). I’m wondering if the sidebet is beatable…..maybe just theoretically (like the 21+3 sidebet in regular bj) some player advantage can be gained in flushes (when the suits are very unbalanced) or in pair or trips (when rank is unbalanced).
Thanks.