Page 20 - April 2008 • Southern California Gaming Guide

DeluxeTM bundles ve of the most popular versions in a single slot. You can play the original single-hand Multi-Strike Poker or choose from four other games: Multi-Strike® 16X Poker, Multi-Strike® Double Down Stud® Poker, Multi-Strike® Big PickTM Poker and Big Split Poker®.
Multi-Strike® 16X Poker
e hot, new Multi-Strike® 16x Poker theme raises the stakes of the exciting Multi-Strike poker game by adding a fth level of play, where the fth level pays out sixteen times the pay. ere’s more risk, of course, because players must buy the chance at playing all ve levels up front, and to reach the fth level requires wins (or Free Rides) on each of the preceding four levels. But the rewards on the top tier are well worth the risk. Even a pair of Jacks returns 16 times the original bet (80 credits if playing ve credits per hand). And the ultimate dream—hitting a royal ush on the 5th tier—that’s 64,000 credits at ve credits per hand, or $16,000 if playing at the 25¢ level.
Multi-Strike® Double Down Stud® Poker
Double Down Stud® Poker is a very di erent game from the more traditional draw poker-based games. In the draw poker games, the strategy is based on knowing which cards in a dealt hand to hold, and which cards to give up to the draw, hoping to create the highest-paying hand. With Double Down Stud Poker, none of that applies.
“Free Rides” allow you to advance to the next hand without a win on the current hand. In the new Multi Strike 16x, the top hand pays 16 times the normal payout!
e cards you’re dealt are the cards you play. ere’s an important—and fun—twist, however.
In Double Down Stud, you make your initial wager, and are dealt four cards. en, you make the only choice you need to make in the game: You can either choose to keep your original wager and press deal to reveal the fth and nal card in the hand, or you can press “Double Down” and double your initial wager (doubling the payo s of winning hands) before revealing
the fth card.
Because there’s no chance
to improve on the natural hands, the pay tables are more generous than with draw poker.
In games without wild cards, a pair
of 6s or better will return even money. In the Deuces Wild versions, a pair of Kings or better pays, and
in Joker Poker, it’s 8s or
better.
With the Multi-Strike version of Double Down Stud, players have the chance to maximize their wins on a hand-by-hand basis. A Double Down on the eight times level e ectively means that a win pays 16 times yourbet!
Multi-Strike Big PickTM Poker
Multi-Strike Big PickTM Poker puts the mystery back in the game with a fourth-level that, with a win, takes the player to a four-level pick- a-tile feature. Tiles with a green arrow multiplier advance the player to the next level; red collect multiplier tiles end the feature. You’re guaranteed at least the eight-times win at this level that you’d get on a standard Multi-Strike
In Multi-Strike Poker® DeluxeTM, choose from six different themes, each with a choice of games.
game. However, if you get lucky with your picks, you could be looking at 40 times your win.
Big Split Poker®
Finally, Multi-Strike Poker® DeluxeTM also features the standard (non-multi-strike) version of Big Split Poker®. Big Split Poker is another stud poker game that has a lot in common with Pai Gow Poker. After making the wager, the player is dealt eight cards. Out of these eight cards, the player must make a ve-card hand and a three-card hand. e ve card
hand pays based on a at pay table, with the minimum payout being Jacks and 2s or better returning even money. e three-card hand pays out as a multiplier that increases the win from the ve-card hand up to
16times.
ere are no strategy cards
to memorize to play Big Split Poker, but it does require players to think on their feet. e ve-card hand must have a winning combination in it. Because the minimum winning combination is Jacks and 2s or better (in games with no wild cards),
this often means it’s not possible to keep that straight ush in the 3-card hand. It also means that any dealt hand that doesn’t contain a winning 5-card combination is over immediately.
e good news is that players can swap cards between the 3-card and the 5-card hand and experiment with nding the best combination of paying hand and bonus multiplier before clicking the “Submit” button
to end the hand.
Page 20
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
April 2008