Notice: I am posting this out there for the table game recreational players and not the table game experts, please do not be overly harsh on the comments.

Morongo offers the Shufflemaster Progressive Table Game side bet to four of their table game offerings. Based on observation, it is one of the biggest appealing features that draws people to this casino than other nearby places (I heard Soboba has it), the possibility of winning thousands of dollars. I firmly believe and agree with the "Wizard of Odds" M. Shackleford that "All side bets are sucker bets".

I was at Morongo during the past weekend and saw the jackpot climb over $270,000, which gave me the motive to post this.

This progressive bonus is based off of the 5 card outcome on the following games:

1. Three Card Poker - The 3 cards you are dealt and the 2 face down community cards. Must play the hand in order to qualify and see the face down community cards, a fold will forfeit the bonus. On very rare occasions I saw three of a kind and straights thrown away (the odds of connecting are small anyways) because of their garbage 3 card deal.

2. Mississippi Stud - The 2 cards you are dealt and the 3rd/4th/5th street community cards. Must play through the 5th street to qualify. A fold will forfeit the entire bonus, it is common to miss out on trips, full boats, and even quads when you are dealt ugly hands like 2 and 5 offsuit.

3. Four Card Poker - The 5 cards you are dealt. Chances are if you have a qualifying winning hand of 3 of a Kind or better, you are obviously going to play it 3 times the Ante.

4. Ultimate Texas Holdem - The 2 cards you are dealt and the first 3 card flop (excluding the turn/river cards). Chances are if you have a qualifying winning hand of 3 of a Kind or better, you are obviously going to play 2 times the Ante.

I do not know how much the rake is for each $1 side bet (how much goes to the house and how much goes towards the jackpot). The $1 wager is not returned even on a win (normally on table games it is returned when you win).

The side bet payouts with respect to the $270,000 progressive meter

a. Royal Flush --- 100% Progressive Prize --- Odds 1 : 649,739 --- 270000 / 649739 = .4156 ev
b. Straight Flush --- 10% Progressive Prize --- Odds 1 : 72,192 - 27000 / 72192 = .374 ev
c. 4 of a Kind --- $300 Prize --- Odds 1 : 4164 - 300 / 4164 = .072 ev
d. Full House --- $50 Prize --- Odds 1 : 693 - 50 / 693 = .072 ev
e. Flush - $40 Prize - Odds 1 : 506 - 40 / 506 = .079 ev
f. Straight - $30 Prize - Odds 1 : 254 - 30 / 254 = .118 ev
g. 3 of a Kind - $9 Prize - Odds 1 : 46.3 - 9 / 46.3 = .194 ev

I add up all the EVs for each payout and got 1.3246 which is above 1 based on that progressive level. Though it is positive expectation, 97.1% of the time you will lose this side bet wager (High card / one pair / two pairs), hence the variance is very high since the odds of getting a paying hand are small. You are forced to play the base game which carries expected losses to even get the opportunity to play this side bet.

I was told the progressive increases about $12,000 to $15,000 per week and resets at $10,000 when the Royal Flush hits. If the straight flush hits, 10% of the jackpot gets deducted. There have been a few straight flush hits during the span, but it has been a while since the royal flush hit to reset the jackpot.