If you have played at an online casino before, there is a high possibility you have come across games from Betsoft. Betsoft is one of the prominent casino game developers. It has designed slots, live casino games, and table games, including one we will be talking about today, Draw Hi-Lo. This Draw Hi Lo Guide will take you through how to play, the game’s odds and probability of winning, and strategies to apply to increase your chances of winning. We will also cover the rules of the game, among other details.

Draw Hi Lo Guide: Defining the Draw Hi-Lo Game

The Draw Hi Lo Game is a fast-paced casino table game that requires you to guess whether the next card from the deck will be of a lower value or higher. It is a fun game between you and the dealer or random number generator. Once one card is generated and placed on the table, you have to look at it and guess whether the next card out of the deck will be below one of the tables or upper. For example, if 8 is the first card generated, you have to guess whether you will get a 9, 10, J, Q, or a K (Higher) card, or cards below 8, which include 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A.

The game is usually associated with Betsoft as it was the first developer to bring the game to life and released it in 2017. Today, Nucleus Gaming has also designed its version of Draw High Low.

If you are an adrenaline junkie, this game will appeal to you. Besides guessing which card will come out of the deck, the game allows you to earn some money through betting. But, the payout rate for each card is different. We will cover that in a short while.

Game Rules

Draw Hi Lo follows the basics of the classic poker game. Players sit on one end of the table with all betting components while the virtual dealer is seated on the opposite side. Our Draw Hi Lo Guide highlights standard and unique rules from other poker variants, which include:

• The game uses a 52-card deck. All cards are ranked as in the usual poker. But, aces in this game are always low.
• In the classic poker game, an ace card can be used as a low or high card. But in this case, the ace’s value will always be “low.”
• A card cannot be used in the same game twice. Once you see a specific card wearing a particular suit, you can trust not to see that card again in the same game. You can probably use this as a tip to increase your chances of winning.
• A player is given a choice to bet whether the next card will be higher or lower as long as it is not apparent. For example, if the ace card is displayed on the table, the next card is higher or similar. In this case, you cannot bet. A player may quit playing at any time during the game and collect their winnings. But, you cannot quit in the first decision or when the first card is displayed.
• If you choose to predict the next card correctly, you are paid according to the paytable provided by the casino you are playing at. In the game, in a tie, the bet becomes a push. If you predict incorrectly, you lose your bet.

Deck and Card Value

We just mentioned that Draw Hi-Lo uses a 52-card deck. Only one deck is used rather than several, as with other table games such as blackjack. The game can be played at a land-based casino or online casino. If you are playing in a land-based casino, the dealer will put the cards that have already appeared on the table in a discard pile. Once all cards have appeared or when the game ends, the dealer will reshuffle the cards.

Whether you are playing online or in a land-based casino, the card’s value is as-is. For example, cards with the number 2s are valued at 2. Aces are ranked as the lowest cards in the deck, while Kings are ranked as the highest.

So, the hierarchy will be as follows (from lowest to highest):

• A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K.

Your goal is to guess which card will come off the deck depending on the one already on the table. You can also bet that the next card will tie, which means the next card to come out of the deck matches the previous

Payouts

So far, we know two game developers who have designed a Draw Hi-Lo table game. The two have designed a pay table based on a card’s ranking and probability of getting the card from a deck. Take a look at this table.

From the table above, you can see the payout rate is dependent on the difficulty of landing a card. For example, if you have a queen on the table, the probability of getting a King as the next card is low. If you take the risk and predict K will come out next, you will earn 12 times your ante. On the same note, a lower card than Queen will likely come out next. In that almost obvious case, the payout rate is usually lower. There is no payout rate for cards higher than Kings or lower than Aces because it is obvious you cannot get a card higher or lower depending on which is on the table.

Players can also bet on ties. The payout for this bet is 10 to 1 on your ante bet. If an Ace card is on the table and predicts the next card will be an ace card, you will get 10x your ante if it comes true.

Draw Hi Lo Guide: Learning How to Play

The first step to playing this game is placing an ante bet. This is a mandatory bet without which the game cannot start. If you are playing the free mode version of this game online, you can use the free bonus offered to you to play. You might not cash out this amount, but your wins will be added to the virtual funds to continue betting with. The next step is the dealer/virtual dealer/random number generator will display one card on the felt, face up.

You will see several buttons on the screen, including tie, lower, higher, cashout, clear, and repeat. If you think the next card to come out of the deck will be higher, click the higher button and lower button if you think a lower card will come out of the deck. You can continue playing by clicking these two buttons. But, if you want to cash out, you can click the cashout button to receive your wins so far.

How Does the Payout Work?

Draw Hi-Lo game is programmed to display two possible payouts depending on the currently displayed card. On the table, you will see one side with the writing “low pay” and “high pay” on the other side. In the center, there is a blinking card with the words “place bet” on it. Just beside it, there is a circle with the word “tie” on it. On the right-hand bottom corner, you will see chips of different values. Once you select a chip value, move to the place bet area and click it.

You can click as many times as you get the amount you want to stake. In this example, we will use one chip valued at $5. After, you can click the “deal” button that will appear after you place a bet. Suppose 6 of hearts is the first card to come out of the deck.

From the above paytable, you can tell you will see x2.00 in the low pay area. This reflects how much you will win if the next card out of the deck is lower than 6. This means you will get (.00x$5) – the ante profit if the next card is truly lower than six. On the high pay side, you will see x1.50. This shows that you will win 1.50x$5 if the next card dealt will be higher than 6.

How Do You Read a Payout?

If you are wondering why you have to subtract the ante to get your win, here is the explanation. You must understand that most casino games have a payout system called “to one.” That is why you will see a paytable looking like this 5:1. But, the payout system for Draw Hi-Lo is “for one.” This means the casino/house claims your ante before releasing your profit.

Going by the example we gave above, assume the next card that followed 6 is a jack, and you choose high pay. Thus, you will get 1.5x$5 to get $7.50. Subtract the ante to remain with a profit of $.50.

Payout Based on Risk
From above, you see we choose to bet on high pay rather than low pay. Why? There are fewer cards below 6 and more cards above 6. So, the difficulty of pulling out a card lower than 6 is greater than it is pulling a higher card. That’s why you will see the payout is a bit better if you pick low pay as compared to high pay. But don’t rely on this tip so much. It is mostly applicable for the first card. We will cover strategies below that you can rely on.

When to Use the Cashout Feature
The winnings from Draw Hi-Lo are added to the bet amount to be bet again. If you do not want your wins to be added to the bet amount, use the cashout feature to take your profit to your wallet. There is an advantage of allowing your wins to add up to the wagered amount. You get a higher wager amount. This tip is especially important if you can easily guess which cards will come off the deck next. But, if you are still new to the game and do not know other tricks such as card counting, cash out whenever possible.

Draw Hi Lo Guide: Effective Strategies to Employ

When playing Draw Hi-Lo, your goal should be to make several wagers in favorable situations to increase your profits. But, you cannot do this randomly. You need strategies. These include:

Card Counting

We mentioned something about card counting earlier. We also said cards are not returned to a deck once removed in a game until the next round. So, the card counting strategy would work so well with this table game. If you can keep track of cards and remember each card’s value already discarded from a deck, this strategy is for you. If you master this trick, you will move the house edge to almost zero and increase your chances of winning a larger amount.

Optimal Decision

With this strategy, you do not have to worry about the probability of the specific outcome. Michael Shackleford of Wizard of Odds invented the optimal Draw Hi-Lo decision. Michael is a poker pro and has played many poker variations whose winning strategies are at his fingertips. Take a look at this table:

Optimal Draw Hi-Lo decision is a long-game kind of strategy. It increases the volatility of a game. But, you can be sure to cash in a lot if you are playing the Draw Hi-Lo game for a long while. Don’t use this strategy to survive a hand but maximize the expected value from each choice you make. Earlier, we mentioned looking at the number of cards remaining in the deck depending on the displayed card.

Ideally, we chose to pick higher when card 6 was on display because more cards were remaining in the deck than lower cards. Our choice was logical. But, sometimes, you don’t have to go with logic. Suppose you get 4 from the deck. It seems logical to choose higher for the same reason we explained a second ago. But, when you look at the payout compared to the odds against picking “low pay,” which is x3.00, it makes it the optimal decision.

Is Draw Hi-Lo the Same as Draw Poker?

When you look up Draw Hi-Lo, you will find a little information about it. The search results are usually crowded by draw poker. But the two are not the same. Draw Hi-Lo may use a 52-card deck like most poker variants, but there is a difference between the two. For a start, Draw Hi-Lo was invested by BetSoft in 2017 as an online game. Some land-based casinos might be offering it. On the other hand, draw poker dates back to the Middle Ages. There are several variations of draw poker. These include:

• Five Card Draw
• Lowball Draw Poker
• Deuces to seven lowball
• Badugi
• Archie
• Drawmaha
• Badeucey & badacey

Draw poker is based on the fact that each player must get what seems like a complete hand before betting can begin. Then, players discard some cards and replace them, creating a draw. As the game progresses, additional bets may come up.

Conclusion

Whether you have played casino games before or not, Draw Hi-Lo will keep you thrilled from the time you start playing to the end. The fact that you have to guess which card will pop up next is exciting. With the winning strategies, you can lower the house edge and enjoy playing the game. Take advantage of bonuses offered at an online casino and start playing Draw Hi-Lo.

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Draw Hi Lo Guide FAQs