The Ancient Chinese came up with a lot of great stuff. They’re credited with inventing gunpowder, paper, silk, kites, the compass, fireworks, and, well, acupuncture. You can’t win them all.
However, something that slides under the radar in most academic books is that they also invented the game of Sic Bo.
If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a game of chance played with three dice. The table used for Sic Bo is similar to the table used in Roulette, and it is also goes by the names Dai Siu or Tai Sai, which translate as the Big and Small game.
Although it’s not overly complicated, Sic Bo is more complex than Tiger Dragon or Baccarat, so it’s worth spending some time learning the rules.
Sic Bo in a nutshell
Very briefly, the core rules of Sic Bo are as follows:
- you place your bets by putting chips on areas depicting outcomes you want to bet on
- the dealer shakes three dice and shows their random outcomes
- you win for every number you have predicted and lose if your predictions were wrong
Clearly, there are more nuances than this, but that comes with practice and play!
Are there any strategies you can follow?
Well, it’s important to remember that Sic Bo is a game of chance. Once the dice are rolled, it’s tough to know for certain what their outcome will be.
Nevertheless, as with any game of luck, you can still be astute. After all, even though you can’t predict which way the wind blows, you can still learn to harness it.
Defend defend defend to attack attack attack
In Sic Bo, it really pays off to be patient. Avoid being gung-ho and attacking all the time. Players who successfully defend retain more of their bankroll, as well as staying in the game longer.
The best rate you will find in Sic Bo is around 2.78%, and in order for you to gain a similar percentage, it is important to focus on Small and Big bet types as well as certain combination bets.
Weighing up small and big bets
Not sure what this means? Don’t worry – it’s pretty simple. A small bet is when you predict that the total sum after the three dice have been rolled will be between 4 and 10. Conversely, a big bet is predicting the total sum of the dice after the three dice have been rolled will be between 11 and 17.
Big bets don’t offer you the chance to win as much money as a small bet, but conversely, you do have a greater chance of winning something.
In typical gambler-fashion, it’s your call to weigh up risk versus reward on your own personal scales of volatility, and see which one suits you better.
Ignore the Gambler’s Fallacy
Lastly, if you’re a rookie, it’s an easy trap to fall into. The gambler’s fallacy is the belief that if a particular event occurs more frequently than normal, it is therefore less likely to keep occurring in the future. It’s a dangerous way to think in gambling. If you toss a coin twenty times, and you get nineteen heads in a row, it’s still 50-50 as to the twentieth toss being tails.
