Dealer's Choice (U.S. Syndicated Game Show)

Dealer' s Choice is an American syndicated game show/ The original version aired from January 21, 1974 to December 12, 1975 in syndication for a total of 210 episodes. Bob Hastings was the host for the first few weeks; afterwards, Jack Clark, better known at the time as an announcer for other game shows, took over at the helm. Hastings and Clark were assisted by hostess Jane Nelson and by announcer Jim Thompson. The show was taped at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, but later moved to Los Angeles after its first season. Local stations normally aired the program in daytime slots which the networks did not feed; relatively few aired the show during the coveted Prime Time Access early evening slots before network prime time programming. As such, Dealer was not among the most popular off-network games of its time due to comparatively low audiences, but managed to survive over parts of three seasons nonetheless.

In 1983, Dealer's Choice returned to the airways and became one of the best game shows on television. The current version was hosted by Tom Kennedy from 1983-89. Bob Eubanks became host from 1990-97. In 1998, Louie Anderson became host, where he hosted from 1998-2008. Finally, John O'Hurley became host, and that's when the show hits it's grove. Burton Richardson became the announcer in 2008, with Lanisha Cole (from The Price is Right) being the hostess. The current version is a Sony Television Pictures production, and is distributed by Debmar-Mercury Syndication.

Gameplay
Three contestants, chosen from the studio audience, competed in games of chance, all related to gambling. Three audience members' names were each hidden behind one of nine slot machine symbols on a gameboard. An audience member was selected and chose four symbols from the board. For each symbol that hid a contestant's name, the audience member received $25. If the audience member uncovered all three contestants' names, the audience member won a bonus prize.

After being seated behind one of three podiums onstage, each contestant was given 100 chips to wager in various casino-type games. Multiple games used playing cards, including "Blackjack", "Any Pair Loses", "In-Between", etc. Other games included using a "Wheel of Chance" or a hopper filled with colored ping-pong balls. In some games contestants made a single bet which was then paid out at specific odds or subtracted from the contestant's chips depending upon the outcome of the game. Other games featured a compounded betting format in which the contestants made an initial bet, and the payout was doubled or tripled multiple times as the game progressed.

The first three games featured limits for the number of chips allowed to be wagered. The first game usually featured a five- or ten-chip limit, and the second had a 25-chip maximum. Blackjack was always featured as the third game and had a 50-chip maximum. The third game also featured an audience member acting as the "house". The audience member won $1 for each chip lost to the house in the game, and also won a bonus prize if the house's hand beat all three contestants' hands. The fourth game featured no limit on betting, and each contestant's wager was made in secret at the start of the game.

After the fourth game, contestants chose one of three prizes from three different categories (1−100 chips, 101−300 chips and 301 chips or more) based upon the final number of chips they held. If two or more contestants finished in the same level, the contestant finishing with the higher total received first choice of the prizes. in later episodes, a contestant who finished with 500 or more chips won a car. Additionally, the person with the highest chip total overall played a bonus game for an additional prize.

Bonus Dice
The winning player rolled special dice whose faces represented sums of money from $50–$200. One face on one of the dice had a spade on it, and if the contestant rolled the spade all bonus round winnings were lost. The contestant continued to roll until they hit the spade, quit with the money already won or reached $1,000, in which case they also won a bonus prize such as a car or trip.