Online Mississippi Stud Practice Game (+EV)

After spending a lot of time playing UTH, I found that there’s an acceptable way to share hole card information with the table. While the dealer, floorman, and surveillance might say something if you flash your hole cards (or play them face up), they don’t care if you verbally share info. Furthermore, if you’re discreet about it, or speak another language, and don’t slow down the game, no one will probably even know you’re doing it.

A free online version of Mississippi Stud. Test out your Mississippi Stud strategy here. Practice for Vegas. Mississippi Stud is a very popular version of poker. You get to use strategies as well as the excitement of risk and reward. It is easy to learn, and you can develop winning strategies with practice. Continue reading to learn all about Mississippi Stud.

With this in mind, the value of ShuffleMaster’s Mississippi Stud just went up for everyone. While the game is already played face up at my nearby Barona Casino, now everyone can enjoy the +1.5% EV game at a full table of cooperating players. (See my Simplified 6 Player +EV Strategy, and my 4 Player Collusion Strategy.) In the meanwhile, you can practice the game here for free. It suggests the improved strategy as listed in my player reference card. Of course, you can play your hand any way you want to. Also, you can just hit the “Auto” play button to quickly play 1000 hands using the advanced strategy.

Click on the screenshot below to play:

The older Java game. You must have Java 1.6 installed on your computer (check your version).

Edge Sorting Groups for Mississippi Stud

You probably know that I’m not much into advantage play based on edge-sorting cards. That’s the realm of Phil Ivey and Eliot Jacobson. It’s a pretty cool technique, but it’s way too involved for my attention span, regardless of the payoff. However, I did watch Warren Beatty in Kaleidescope, if that counts for anything.

Anyways, a reader who saw Eliot’s post on Edge Sorting (Jacks in) Mississippi Stud asked me if it’d be worthwhile to also sort the Queens, Kings, and Aces. That’s a pretty interesting question, since I can see how Eliot would start out with just the Jacks, as you’d know when you had a sure winner. But, maybe sorting the other “pay” cards would improve the return. You might not know exactly when you had a winner, but you’d have a good idea, and much more often.

I realised a Monte Carlo analysis would easily yield the ideal return for any selected sorting group. I modified a few lines of code, and violá, I simulated the estimated theoretical max return for the following sorted card groups in Mississippi Stud:

How To Beat Mississippi Stud

(I use the paytable that pays 5:1 for a straight.)

Mississippi Stud Practice Games

So it’s probably worthwhile to sort all the “pay” cards, unless it really complicates the practical strategy (not too likely).

While it’s easy to get the return for an ideal strategy for any sorting group, it takes time to work out a practical strategy. It’s straightforward, but tedious, so I’m not doing it. (Well, I actually did it for a reader, so it’s his now.)