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The History of Sic-Bo
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The game Sic-Bo has often been called by a variety of other names such as 'Tai Sai' which roughly translated means 'Lucky Dice', Sic-Bo has also been named 'Dai Sui' which means 'Big-Small'. The game has also been called simply 'Hi-Low'; this is especially true of the game in the Philippines with the game also believed to be related to the English game 'Grand Hazard'. What is true of Sic-Bo is that it has been around for a long time and has been adopted by many of the cultures in the South-East of Asia including countries such as Korea and would soon be adopted by Western Cultures around the nineteenth century. Sic-Bo began to find itself in the casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City after being played for a period of time in Western Front casinos.
Like many of the games that have come before it, the game Sic-Bo is believed to have began its true origins coming from the Ancient Chinese, with the name Sic-Bo translating in to the words' Dice Bowl' or 'Dice Pair'. It is said that the name was given to the game as it related to the instruments which were used to play the game for example the bowl or the dice. In any case the original game of Sic-Bo is authentically played with a total of three dice so the translation of the word to 'Dice Bowl' is more likely. The game was said to have been originally been played with an over turned bowl and bricks which would have been tumbled in between two plates by the player, in casinos today the game has been adapted so that it can be played in a more modern fashion without losing the original rules or aim of the game. The Sic-Bo table in today's casino has an illustration of the fifty possible bets that can be made by anyone player, in picture form also included in these illustrations is the payout for each of these bets. The players are asked to place their bets on the table which are to be placed directly on the illustration that represents their bet this is pretty similar to betting on a roulette table and is simple in form. The dice are then placed in either a dice tumbler or a basket by the dealer, once the dice have been thrown the dealer will then display the results on the table, the table will illuminate (in most casinos) the winning combination. The dealer will then collect in all the losing bets which go to the house before playing out the winnings to the player who bet on the winning combination.
The basic aim of the game is for the player/s to guess the outcome of the three dices that are to be thrown and place a bet on their guess, with these bets being able to placed on any of the possible combinations which can be made by either two or three of the dice, for example two of a kind or three of a kind or a single number. The game offers a large payout with the maximum odds standing at 180-1 however this is held for a specific triple, when all three of the dice show the required sequence such as 3x2. The lowest payout in the game is 1-1 with these odds being held for the players who only bet on the value of one dice, there are also a number of similar odds for 'smaller bets' made by any player these betting odds are kept for all three dices thrown between 4 and 10 but this bet does not receive a payout for the triple 3, 2, 1. These betting odds are also kept for 'bigger bets' which would mean that all of the three dices thrown must show numbers between 11 and 17 and again exclude a triple, in this case 6, 5, 4.
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