There are so many side bets available at the casino online table it’s like two completely different full games offered at the same time, both with their own set of strategy, rules, odds and payoff. Talk about multi-tasking. Here’s the next in my serious of side-bet run-through.

Called Royal Match, this side bet follows suited cards, and offers fewer payoffs than super sevens, but is fun to play nonetheless. Starting with a single-deck payoff, you can bet on what’s called an Easy Match, meaning you win so long as your first two cards are the same suit, doesn’t matter what cards they are or whether they’re next to each other in the deck. There’s a fairly high 23% chance of this occurring, and thus your return is only 2.5:1. Not sure this is the wisest bet, as the payoff isn’t really worth the risk, however reasonable it may seem.

If you’re feeling lucky, you can try your hand at a Royal Match, which puts you as a winner if your first two cards are a King and Queen of the same suit. As you can imagine, this is much harder to obtain. In fact, there’s a 3% chance of it, with a payoff of 25:1. Again, I can’t see the draw to something with such a skewed risk/return. You might get it 1 out of 33 times, but even when you hit, you only get a 25:1 return on your wager. Even a grade-school kid will tell you that doesn’t add up.

And that’s the problem with the odds on a single-deck game, they still have to lie in favor of the casino. In fact, the overall house edge climbs to a staggering 10% for a single deck game, and still sits at a head-shaking 6% for an eight-deck game. There are certain side bets that open the door to a reasonable expectation of cashing in and having it be worth your while, but Royal Match puts the player at an enormous disadvantage.

On last note, there are casinos that, regardless of the number of decks being used, will also pay off for a suited blackjack, somewhere in the area of 5:1. If you are determined to try this side bet, see if you can find a table that at least offers this, as well, as it cuts down on the house odds a couple percentage points.