Side Bet City

Side Bet City By Evolution Review

The Game in Short

In Side Bet City, you’re looking to make the best possible poker hand out of 3, 5 or 7 cards. The better the hand, the more you’ll get paid. The dealer of the game will always hand out 7 cards on a table. However, through three different bet options, you have to choose if you would like to play 3, 5 or 7 cards. You can also play all of them. 

All of these options have their own payout table and poker hands that qualify for a prize. If you play 3 cards, only the result of the first 3 cards dealt will count and you’re looking to make a 3-card hand. Similarly, if you play 5 cards, only the result of the first 5 dealt cards will count and you’re looking to make a 5-card hand. 

With the 7-card option, all 7 cards that are dealt are in play. However, you are still only looking to make a 5-card hand. This means that it will be easier to do so. Of course, the payouts are adjusted to reflect the increased odds. 

In addition to the three bet options mentioned, you can also bet on an “All Lose” option. This is a bet that wins if neither the 3-card, 5-card or 7-card hand qualifies for a payout. 

Fun Factor 

I like the concept of Side Bet City a lot. In difference to other poker games found at gambling sites, it’s a breath of fresh air. It’s really cool being able to play three different types of poker hands at once. The studio is also quite a fancy one while the dealer of the game can be very social if you choose to write to him or her in a chat. That’s a plus for me.

However, the game has one big drawback, which is why I don’t play it that much. In my opinion, cards are dealt way too quickly. I guess this is good if you’re looking for fast game rounds. However, it kills the excitement for me as you don’t have time to evaluate the board and realize what cards you are looking for. But maybe that’s just me that can’t think fast enough. I’ll let you be the judge on that. 

A downside for me is also that the game is quite a dead one – there aren’t that many people playing it. This may not be a concern to you, but if you want a more lively and social gambling experience, live dealer games such as Crazy Time and Lightning Roulette would be much better. They aren’t poker though. 

For a modern game, I could also wish for more side bets to be included. I see missed potential. However, with all of this being said, I do think that Side Bet City is a game well worth trying if you appreciate poker. 

Payouts 

If you’ve played any other poker game by Evolution Gaming or played at online casinos, you’re already familiar with the payouts of Side Bet City. They’re quite similar. You can win anything from 2 times your stake up to a hefty 1,000 times. 

Personally, I always like when live dealer games have the potential to pay big money. To get the biggest payouts you do, however, have to be quite lucky as a straight flush or royal flush is required. Most of the time, the game delivers rather small winnings ranging from 2 – 8 times your bet amount. Then occasionally, you will land a hand that rewards you with 25x – 50x.

In terms of RTP and long-term chances of winning, I’m a bit disappointed that there’s a noticeable difference between different bets. This is never a good thing as it can make you favor some bets over others. Check the table below to see how the RTP ranges. 

Strategies

Being quite a simple game, there aren’t any good strategies to use in Side Bet City. A strategy to maximize your chances of making a profit would be to only bet on the 3-card option. This is pretty pointless though as you could just as well play 3 Card Poker which is also offered by Evolution Gaming. 

The only real strategy that makes some sense to use is to bet on all options in the game or all except the “All Lose” option. This is, in my opinion, the most exciting way to play. It’s kind of the point of the game, if you ask me.

What I do when I play Side Bet City, is to mix up the amounts I bet on the different bet positions. Since the “All Lose” option only pays 1.7x, I usually bet a little bit more here. I also tend to bet more on a 7-card hand than a 5-card one since the 5-card hand comes with higher payouts.