If you have been around for a long time, Hi-Lo is perhaps not a new name. You could be remembering the 2000 Hi-Lo album by the Irish rock band The Walls or possibly the Hi-Lo song from Evanescence’s album Synthesis. Surprisingly, this is not only a popular name in the online entertainment sector alone but also in the tech and vehicle industries. Have you ever seen a caravan that reduces wind resistance by rolling its upper half over its lower? That is the popular Hi-Lo brand.

Well, don’t worry about all this buzz. This article will majorly focus on Hi-Lo as a game. When playing it, you’ll often be required to guess whether the number of a card will be high or low. So, why don’t you stick around to discover what this game is all about?

General overview

Known for its straightforward nature, this game offers you the chance to transform it from a casual game to an engaging casino variant with various odds. According to ReadWrite.com, Hi-Lo is purely based on luck and is based on guessing what the next card will be like – whether high or low – as we have already hinted.

So, that means Hi-Low is not as complicated as other games like Blackjack and Baccarat. This could explain the reason for the popularity of the game, as even beginners can easily enjoy it.

And if you didn’t know, the game has been around since the era of the Tang Dynasty in China, when the initial games used handmade cards. It was referred to as Hailou in China and later became popular among the European countries through the Silk Road trade.

It was after this trade that the handmade cards underwent a significant transformation to become what they are today. Initially, they were quite different from contemporary cards.

And as technology has continued to advance, the game has also evolved alongside, resulting in numerous versions and strategies. Like now, you can enjoy the game from any location in a nearly real environment through live casinos. AR and VR will also likely transform how we experience this game.

Are there any rules involved?

Of course, rules are part of the reason for the allure of casino games. It’s not any different with Hi-Lo. While it follows the rules of poker, these rules are just basic and anyone can understand them. You may first want to find a trusted gaming platform before you can play.

And as we have already mentioned, the whole idea is to predict the outcome of the next card. Once you use a card, you cannot use it again in the same round. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t pause the game; you can do this at any time. But once the betting decision has been revealed, you cannot stop the game.

If the outcome is what you predicted, you will receive the payout indicated on the paytable. However, if there is a tie—the next and previous cards have the same numbers—the bet amount will have to be returned. Something you may want to take notice of is that, in most cases, the game doesn’t have stable payouts.

The base card determines the payouts – the payout odds will be small if the probability of the next card to be higher or lower is great. Plus, you may find some variants with enhanced betting options, but the concept and general principles remain the same.

More fascinating insights

We can never overemphasize the importance of reading and understanding the rules. For instance, in some cases, especially when there are ties, casinos may offer to place bets. At other times, bets may be offered on specific cards, such as the next card being a king. So, getting such nitty-gritty can help you have the best of your gameplay.

You are aware of the house edge principle, right? This means that the gaming platform always has an advantage over you. Of course, anyone in business will want to make a profit, and so the casino will always calculate the payouts in their favor. This is determined by the RTP. The higher the RTP, the lower the house edge.

Do you need any strategies?

High-Low is majorly based on probability and luck and it might not need a complex strategy to play. But since you must play the first card, some experts advise going lower if the face-up card is eight or above and vice versa if the face-up card is six or lower. If it is a seven, you can trust your gut as the probability of drawing lower or higher is just similar.

And if the face-up is an Ace, Queen, King or Deuce, you can continue playing. On top of that, you can do a number prediction where you guess that the next card will be among a certain group. For a color prediction, you only need to tell whether the next card will be red or black.

Overall, there is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to what strategy to use when playing Hi-Lo. You can use any of these strategies to see which works well. Plus, as we have mentioned, this game is quite straightforward and mostly relies on luck. With tech advances enhancing the popularity of online games, we can expect that future innovations will strengthen the appeal of Hi-Lo even more.