Sic Bo is a popular Asian dice game. It is very simple requiring very little equipment apart from 3 dice. You can play the game at most casinos, online or land based, and the game is very popular in Asia. You may also know it by its alternative names of Tai Sai, Dai Su or hi lo. In English it is know as Chuck a Luck. Essentially it is a luck based game with dice – there is no skill involved – the only player decision is to predict what roll of the dice will come next. Particular combinations are less likely than other combinations, and they attract better odds if you bet on them. The most common combination attract the least odds.

Scoring the game of Sic Bo

The game depends entirely on the combination of the three dice that are thrown. If you are not a lover of mathematics, then you will find the following very dry, but it is important for understanding the game. The dice that you throw, each have 6 possible outcomes. There are 3 dice, each with 6 outcomes, so the total amount of combinations is 6 x 6 x 6. This is a total of 210 possible combinations out of all the dice throws.

To work out the probability of your combination coming up, you work out the total different combinations there are, and divide by 210. Fortunately, you do not need to do the maths in your head as there are many tables and charts listing the probabilities.

There are 4 major combinations that are frequently bet on in the game. These include big, small, odds and evens. This name refers to the combinations of the dice. Odds and evens are very self explanatory. Simply score an role of odds or a role of evens or odds and evens respectively. The chance of scoring this is actually slightly less than 50% (48.6% to be precise) because 'triples' are excluded from the scoring.

A triple is where all three dice show the same number. Thus if you decide to opt for evens, and end up rolling a total of 6 consisting of 2, 2, and 2, you will not win the bet. The odds offered for the odds and evens are 1:1, which means that the probability is less than the odds, which is the house edge. The house edge for big, small, odds and evens is 2.8% each throw of the dice.

You can opt for other higher scoring combinations, but they are all less probable, and in fact give more of a house edge, despite being more unlikely. There is no reward for bravado here! You can score by betting on all triples, doubles (two of the dice coming up with the same number), particular triples or doubles, or particular values.

Some players come up with betting combinations that they feel is a luckier way to win and get ahead, but what the game comes down to is walking away when you are already ahead!