Sic Bo Rules

Sic Bo History Explained

Sic Bo hails from ancient China, where it has been played for centuries. There’s also a European variant of Sic Bo of sorts, Grand Hazard. The rules of the two games are almost identical. Sic Bo is a relatively new addition to western casinos.

Dice Pair

Sic Bo is Chinese for ‘dice pair’. Although the name implies that the game is played with two dice, the game is actually played with three. The three dice are shaken in a container. When the shaking stops, the dice come to a rest and show a certain value.

Sic Bo Basics

The main goal of Sic Bo is to predict the value of the three dice. Bets are placed on the Sic Bo table, much like you would when placing a bet at roulette. After placing a bet, the dice are shaken, and when they come to rest the outcome of the bet can be determined. The Sic Bo table may appear complicated at first, but if you relax and take your time, you will become familiar with the table and game within a few minutes. Always try the games in ‘free-play’ mode before playing for real money.

Possible Bets

The main goal of Sic Bo is to predict the value of the three dice after they come to rest. Bets are placed on the Sic Bo table, much like you would when placing a bet at roulette. After placing a bet, the dice are shaken, and when they come to rest the outcome of the bet can be determined.

Bets	Dices value	Remarks
Small	4 to 10	When the three dice are of equal value, you lose eg: the sum of the three dice value 4 to 100
Big	11 to 17	When the three dices are of equal value, you lose eg: the sum of the three dice value 11 to 177
Two-Dice-Combination	As predicted	Predict the total value of two from the three dice eg: the sum of two dice values 88
Single-Number	As predicted	Predict the value of one from the three dice eg: the dice will rest on number 55
Specific-double	As predicted	Two dice will value your selected number
Specific-triple	The same, as predicted	Three dice will value the number you selected
Specific-double	As predicted	Two dice will value your selected number eg: two of the three dice value 55
Any Triple	The same	All three dice value the same, no matter which number eg: all three dice value 55
Specific total	As predicted	Predict the total value of the three dice eg: the sum of the three dice is 177

Sic Bo Rules Regarding Pay-out

The pay-out ratios of Sic Bo may vary from one online casino to the next. For exact pay-out information, check the in-game game pay out information before betting. The Sic Bo pay-out ratio might be different on certain bets, but in general, all online casinos will offer you comparable average pay-out ratios.

• Small/big bets will pay 1:1
• Two dices combination bets will pay 2:1
• Single dice combination bets will pay 1:2
• Specific double bets may pay 10:1
• Specific triple bets may pay 180:1
• Any triple bet will pay 30:1
• Specific total bets will pay 60:1 by value 4 or 17, 30:1 by value 5 or 16, 18:1 by value 6 or 15, 12:1 by value 7 or 14, 8:1 by value 8 or 13

On the Sic Bo layout, there is a wide area with the numbers 4 to 17 written on them.  Those numbers correspond to the sum of the three dice. So, you bet on a number from 4 to 17, which are the sum of all 3 dice and the payout table is as follows:

• If the sum is 4, winning bets are paid 50 to 1;
• If the sum is 5, winning bets are paid 30 to 1;
• If the sum is 6, winning bets are paid 18 to 1;
• If the sum is 7, winning bets are paid 12 to 1;
• If the sum is 8, winning bets are paid 8 to 1;
• If the sum is 9, winning bets are paid 6 to 1;
• If the sum is 10, winning bets are paid 6 to 1;
• If the sum is 11, winning bets are paid 6 to 1;
• If the sum is 12, winning bets are paid 6 to 1;
• If the sum is 13, winning bets are paid 8 to 1;
• If the sum is 14, winning bets are paid 12 to 1;
• If the sum is 15, winning bets are paid 18 to 1;
• If the sum is 16, winning bets are paid 30 to 1;
• If the sum is 17, winning bets are paid 50 to 1;

You can see the symmetrical pattern of payouts, depending on the dice combinations and their probability of appearance, always with an edge on the casino side, of course.

In Conclusion

Taking the Small bet, we can see that half of all dice combinations will give us a 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10.  If we exclude the Three of a Kind, we are excluding the 1,1,1, the 2,2,2 and the 3,3,3. Therefore, we are excluding 3 possibilities out of 108 (216/2). In other words our chances of winning is 105 out of 216 or 48.61%.

Comparing this to roulette, our chances of winning on even bets are 18 out of 37 or 48.64% on a single zero wheel and 18 out of 38 or 47.37% on a double zero wheel. So playing Sic Bo on even money bets such as Small Big is comparable to single zero roulette, the Three of a Kind decision acting as a zero.

So we can easily use any even bet strategy that we have developed for Roulette, that performs even better for single zero wheels.

Compared to many casino games, Sic Bo is easy to learn. Don’t be fooled by the complicated-looking Sic Bo board. After you become more familiar with the game and its rules, you’ll soon find that Sic Bo is both easy and rewarding to play.