Side Bet City

A live poker-themed game show in which players wager on the poker value of dealt hands through a series of optional side bets, with no player decisions.

Definition

Side Bet City is the name of a well-known live poker-based game show, and it is representative of a wider format: cards are dealt to a table position and players win by betting on the poker rank the resulting hand achieves — a pair, flush, full house and so on — across several optional 'side' bets, rather than by playing a hand against a dealer. Players make no strategic decisions; they simply choose which side bets to back before the deal, and each side bet carries its own payout table and its own house edge, some of them substantial for the rarer, higher-paying hands. Presented as an entertainment show with a host, it blends poker's familiar hand rankings with the pace and simplicity of a betting game. Like all such games it is designed with a built-in house edge, so it is an entertainment product, not a poker skill contest.

Worked example

A player places optional bets on whether the dealt cards will make ranked hands of at least a pair, or reach a flush; higher-ranking hands pay far more but occur rarely, so the bets targeting them carry a larger house edge, and the player influences nothing once the deal begins.

Why it matters

Poker-based side-bet shows illustrate how poker hand rankings can be turned into a pure betting game with no strategy, and how each optional side bet carries its own — often high — house edge. For the industry it represents the poker-flavoured branch of the game-show category and underlines the importance of describing side-bet odds transparently.

Related

Note: Payout tables and house edges for poker-based side-bet games differ between titles and versions; specific figures should be read from the individual game's rules rather than assumed.