Shoot The Moon

Shoot The Moons is a great new game that launched on Betfair at the beginning of the year. The game requires players to make the highest total score by rolling ('Shooting') two dice three times. There is a betting round after each roll during which your last dice roll is hidden from your opponents. After each betting round is completed your dice score is displayed for your opponents to see. The game is similar to Stud Poker in many respects in that players have some 'hidden' dice and some dice shown to their opponents during each round of betting.

The game has a special twist in that if you manage to roll a double three ('Shoot the Moons') during the final roll, you win half the pot automatically - so you always have the chance to scoop some of the pot however far behind you may be! As the game is new, the players seem to be on a pretty level playing field in terms of skill. Therefore it's worth taking a minute to consider what strategy you should be employing when you sit down to play as there's an opportunity to jump ahead of your opponents who are yet to discover the nuances of the game. Firstly, as the objective of the game is to roll the highest dice score let's look at what the chances are of rolling each:

The following chart shows the probability of throwing each dice total. The closer the total is to 7, the greater is the probability of it being thrown.

Imagine, you've rolled (5,4) in your first roll and then (6,3) for a total score of 18, and are facing one opponent who you can see has a first roll of (6,4) for a score of 10. Their second roll is hidden from you but what are the chances of them having a 9 or better and so having a higher score than you? The above table shows that they will have rolled a 9 or better 27.8% of the time. However, you should also remember to pay attention to their betting pattern as they are more likely to bet and raise if they have rolled well and more likely to check or fold if they have rolled poorly.

How about the odds of catching up when you figure that you are behind you opponent?

Let's say that you are dealt (5,5) in your first roll and make an opening bet which a very tight opponent then raises. If we assume that our tight opponent would only raise us with a (6,6) then we are currently 2 behind in the race . We still have 2 rolls to catch up, so despite being sure that we're currently behind this does not mean that we should necessarily surrender just yet!

The table shows that when we are 2 behind our opponent the chance of us being ahead of them after the next roll is almost 1 in 4. If the pot is €2 and it is only €0.50 to call our opponents raise then we are getting 4:1 pot odds to call and so it is worth calling to try to catch up!

In Shoot The Moons, you are never certain of what your opponent holds as their previous roll is always hidden, but now you should have a better understanding of how likely they are to have rolled certain totals and a clearer idea of what your chances are of catching up or staying ahead.

Shoot the Moons is part of the Poker Cubed trilogy of dice games, found in the Multiplayer section of Betfair Arcade.