Live Dealer Bet on Poker Guide for US Players
Live Bet on Poker is a variant of the popular card game Texas Hold’Em, where you bet on the hand or position you believe will form the best five-card combination.
It’s like watching a broadcast TV poker game and guessing which hands will end up winning, but in this case, you can get some money.
If you want to learn how to play, read on! I’ll give you a detailed rundown of the game’s rules, show you how to play, and share basic strategies to help you place better bets.
Table of Contents
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Casinos to Play Live Bet on Poker
Few online casinos currently offer this game. The most recommended sites to play Live Bet on Poker are Wild Casino or Super Slots.
As a gambler myself, I have been playing at these sites for about 5 years, and I can say that they are legit and quick with payouts.
Both have an active gaming license, offer a secure website, and feature more than 60 live dealer games for US players.
| Bet on Poker Live Casino | Betting Limit | Number of Live Games | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
 Wild Casino
|
Betting Limit $1-$1,000 Per hand | 66 | Play Now |
 Super Slots
|
Betting Limit $1-$1,000 Per hand | 66 | Play Now |
How to Play Live Bet on Poker
Live Bet on Poker is played differently but has the same rules and gameplay as Texas Hold’em.
As the player, you’ll be connected to a human dealer via live streaming. That dealer will operate a standard table game layout.
Below, you will find a step-by-step guide on how to play.
Make a Pre-Deal Bet
Once the game starts, you can make one of two bets: Position or High Hand.
Betting on Position: Select one of the six spots on the table and hope they wind up with the winning hand. For the Position bets, you’ll be given odds of 5.2 to 1 on your money.
Betting on High Hand: Choosing one of the ten poker hand types below.
The likelihood of each poker hand appearing and winning the game will vary based on the probabilities, so the odds are adjusted accordingly.
During this initial betting round (known as “pre-deal”), you can also choose to place no bets and wait for the second betting round to take place.
The Preflop Round
Players begin with a two-card starting hand (the “hole” cards) before calling (or raising) a blind Ante bet to see the “flop” or three community cards.
The two-card starting hands are dealt out, and the second betting round (the “preflop”) occurs. Look at the Texas Hold’em starting hands dealt with each position.
A new round of betting takes place in which odds are assigned to each hand based on its relative strength.
Based on the posted odds of each two-card starting hand, you can now decide to back one of the positions in the preflop betting round.
Bets placed in the first round have no impact on the second betting round.
Flop and Turn Cards Are Revealed
From here, the dealer will reveal the three-card community flop, and the game will update the odds accordingly.
After seeing the flop, players can place further wagers or stand pat, getting a chance to bet on the winner based on the updated odds.
The next community card, the turn, follows the same structure. After the turn is dealt, the game will adjust the payouts again, and players can place a final wager on which hand will be the winner.
Dealer Reveals the River & Winners Get Paid
After completing the turn card betting round, the dealer will reveal the river card to complete the community board and end the hand.
The best five-card poker hand out of the six positions is declared the winner.
All bets on that position made during the course of the hand are paid out at the odds posted when the bet was made.
In the case of a tie, any of the tied positions will be paid out as winners. Additionally, all high-hand bets made on the type of hand that wins are also paid out.
Why I Love Live Bet on Poker
The concept behind Live Bet on Poker is quite unique, and the game has exploded over the last few years.
Here’s what I enjoy the most about it.
- The multifaceted betting system and variable odds used throughout each hand
- It offers skill-based betting based on your “card sense” (community card information) and a chance-based guessing game.
- It is a relatively new addition to the online casino gambling landscape with 95% RTP.
Hand Rankings for Live Bet on Poker
As explained above, this game is based on Texas Hold’Em, therefore the hands are the same.
Before moving on, if you haven’t filled a full house or faded a flush draw in a long while, review the traditional poker hand hierarchy below:
Pay Table
The pay table used to settle high-hand bets can be reviewed below.
As you can see, wagering on a royal flush and straight flush offers 100 to 1 odds, as does taking just a high card.
| Hand | Pays |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 100 to 1 |
| Straight Flush | 100 to 1 |
| Four of a Kind | 80 to 1 |
| Full House | 8.7 to 1 |
| Flush | 8.7 to 1 |
| Straight | 5.7 to 1 |
| Three-of-a-Kind | 6.8 to 1 |
| Two Pair | 3.1 to 1 |
| Pair | 5.8 to 1 |
| High Card | 100 to 1 |
Real-Life Example of Live Bet on Poker
Let’s run through a quick example so that you know precisely how the game works.
So, let’s imagine that we’ve wagered $5 on Position #1 and $5 more on a flush to be the winner.
Cards Have Been Dealt
The dealer has dealt the cards, and each player position holds these hands and percentages:
| Position | Hole Cards | Win Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Ah – Kh | 27.91% |
| #2 | 2s – 7c | 9.24% |
| #3 | 10d – 9d | 28.16% |
| #4 | Jc – 4s | 11.13% |
| #5 | 3s – 5s | 15.27% |
| #6 | Ac – 8s | 7.44% |
Live Bet on Poker will assign payout odds and win percentages to each position.
These payout odds will be slightly worse than true odds, so something like the Ah Kh would be assigned payout odds of 4.8 to 1.
Backing a Hand
At this point in the hand, the choice to bet or not is all up to you. As you’ll see in the strategy section, you may not be betting on the latter rounds very much.
But for the sake of the example hand, we’ll “hedge” our pending bet on Position #1 by backing the only other hand with a better percentage of winding up the winner. Position #3 and the 10d 9d.
To keep the math clear, we’ll say this bet has current payout odds of 3 to 1 and bet $5 more on Position #3.
The Flop and Turn
The flop has come 10h 9h 2h, giving our Ah Kh hand for Position #1 a flush.
None of the other positions have seen their hands improve except Position #3, which made the top two pairs with the 10d 9d.
The odds would be updated to reflect the flop’s influence, and we could place another wager, but this time we’ll stand pat.
The turn card is an As to change nothing, and we decline to bet for the second time.
The River and Getting Paid
The river card is a 3h, and the final board reads 10h 9h 2h As 3h. The final poker hands for each position are as follows:
| Numbers | Hole Cards | Resulting Hand | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Ah – Kh | Ah Kh 10h 9h 3h | Flush |
| #2 | 2s – 7c | 2s 2h As 10h 9h | One Pair |
| #3 | 10d – 9d | 10d 10h 9d 0h As | Two Pair |
| #4 | Jc – 4s | As Jc 10h 9h 4s | High Card |
| #5 | 3s – 5s | 3s 3h As 10h 9h | One Pair |
| #6 | Ac – 8s | Ac As 10h 9h 8s | One Pair |
The best hand out of the six is Position #1 with the flush. Thus, our initial Position bet for $5 is a winner at 5.2 to 1 odds, so we collect a profit of $26.
We also bet on the flush hand type to be the High Hand, and that $5 wager wins at 8.7 to 1 odds, adding $43.50 to our total profits.
Finally, we bet $5 more on Position #3 as a hedge bet, but despite flopping two pairs, the 10d 9d finished as the second-best hand. Meaning we’ve lost that $5 to the house.
Live Bet on Poker Strategy
Any single hand’s result will depend entirely on luck, so even if you spot pocket aces as one of the six starting hands, the “pocket rockets” won’t be anywhere close to a lock.
This is because you’ll always have five other hands to beat, and none of the hands will ever fold out.
With six starting hands playing all the way through to the river on each deal, this multi-handed element makes the usual poker prognostication much more difficult.
So even the strongest holdings will only have a roughly 1 in 6 chance of winding up as the winner.
The best way to break the Live Bet on Poker strategy is by looking at the house edge rate offered at each of the game’s four betting stages. (Pre-deal, preflop, flop, turn).
House Edge
After selecting six random Texas Hold’em starting hands and running through a mock hand, the average house edge you’ll be facing during each of the four betting rounds breaks down as follows:
| Betting Round | House Edge |
|---|---|
| Pre-Deal | 4.28% |
| Pre-Flop | 9.42% |
| Flop | 10.12% |
| Turn & River | 10.53% |
Generally speaking, in games that reveal information to players one step at a time, you’ll face the most favorable odds with the maximum amount of information to consider.
However, in Live Bet on Poker, adjustable odds reduce the payouts for the strongest hands, thus leveling the playing field.
As a hand progresses, you gain access to the information provided by your hole cards, the flop, and the turn. However, you actually face significantly worse odds – despite having a much better idea of which hand will win.
Clearly, the best strategy is to bet on the pre-deal stage of the game, picking either a position on the table or a specific type of hand to become the winner.
By doing so, you’ll face a relatively reasonable house edge of 4.28%.
When you continue to wager after seeing the hole cards, the flop, or the turn, the house edge against you immediately climbs by more than double – reaching double digits on the flop and turn.
House edges such as this are typically found only on the “sucker bets” or “carnival” games favored by casino managers.
If you do choose to confine your betting to only the pre-deal options, take a look below to review the house edge rates offered by each of the High Hand bets:
| Hand | Pays | House Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 100 to 1 | 98.14% |
| Straight Flush | 100 to 1 | 84.36% |
| Four of a Kind | 80 to 1 | 29.01% |
| Full House | 8.7 to 1 | 4.97% |
| Flush | 8.7 to 1 | 5.89% |
| Straight | 5.7 to 1 | 5.43% |
| Three-of-a-Kind | 6.8 to 1 | 5.42% |
| Two Pair | 3.1 to 1 | 5.42% |
| Pair | 5.8 to 1 | 6.52% |
| High Card | 100 to 1 | 94.72% |
I’ve bolded the lowest house edge rate to identify the best bet you can make, which is on the full house.
At just under 5 percent house edge, the full house offers reasonable odds – at least when it comes to side bets – along with the flush, straight, three-of-a-kind, and two-pair bets, which are all under 6 percent.
For the royal flush, you’ll face a 98.14% house edge, the worst casino game bet ever offered. The straight flush and high card bets come in similarly obscene rates, at 84.36 and 94.72, respectively.
This means that for every $100 you wager over the long run, you can expect to lose between $84.36 and $98.14.
Combining all of this data leaves us with one conclusion. The optimal strategy for Live Bet on Poker involves only betting on the pre-deal round and limiting those bets to the full house hand type.
Other Live Games for US Players
Check out other live dealer games at online casinos. Give them a try, and let us know your favorite.
It’s Time to Get Started
So now you know the game layout, the betting options, the hands, and potential payouts. I hope you liked my live Bet on Poker guide.
I’ve armed you with a step-by-step explanation of the game, legit US casinos to play at, real examples of a hand in action, and strategies for placing more profitable bets and reducing the house edge to a minimum.
Now, it might be a good time to go online and try to get some winning five-card poker hands.
