basic strategy adjustment for Buster Blackjack

I go to a casino in California that has the following rule:

If player busts with three cards and dealer busts with a higher total, then the player's bet is push.

For example, player 8-7-8 pushes against dealer 4-10-10, but 5-5-6-6 loses automatically because it is a four card bust.

Does this rule cause any changes in strategy? The strategy used by the banking corporation includes these deviations:

With 12, hit against 2 and 3 ONLY IF you have a two card 12. With 3 or more cards, stay against 2 or 3.
Split 2's and 3's against dealer 8.
Split 9's against 2-9 (including against a 7)
Double soft 19 against 6 (this rule is somewhat standard, but not everywhere advises this)

Also interesting is that if the player wagers $100 and $10 on the same hand, he can choose to split for all of his bet or only part of it, so if dealt 8/8 against 10, he can choose to split only the $10 bet and play the $110 on the first resulting hand and $10 on the second hand.

And if anybody knows, what's the house edge?

Here are the other rules:
8 decks
6:5 BJ
Hit soft 17
Split only once (no resplitting anything)
Double after Split
Double any Total
NO SURRENDER
NO INSURANCE
Dealer Peek for BJ

I'm most interested in the strategy changes, or how to figure them out if you don't want to do it for me. The rest is just a bonus.

Quote: icravedanger

I go to a casino in California that has the following rule:

If player busts with three cards and dealer busts with a higher total, then the player's bet is push.

I'm most interested in the strategy changes, or how to figure them out if you don't want to do it for me. The rest is just a bonus.

Hi ICD and welcome to the forum.
What a remarkable rule set which will surely change basic strategy somewhat, though I haven't a clue how. It must be a nightmare for dealers to pay out correctly.
the 6:5 Blackjack rule would be enough to keep me away, even if there was no Atlantic Ocean already in the way for me.

You know what will keep you away? It's not the 6:5. It's the collection. You have to pay $1 per bet, and if you bet $200 you pay $2. If you want to use that interesting double/split for less rule that I talked about, you have to pay $1 extra to make that extra bet. There's no way for a card counter to overcome the collection.

It's not hard for dealers, at least not for BJ payouts. You just pay the original bet, say $60, and then look at the total $120 and give $12 extra. And the corporate banker watches every payout. The harder payouts are for the bonus bet, which pays if the dealer busts based on the number of cards in the dealer's hand. The payout table is 2, 2, 4, 18, 50, 200, for a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8+ card bust respectively. Whether the player busts or not has nothing to do with the outcome of the bonus bet.

Going back to the original post, I want to add that at this casino (where I work as a corporate banker, so I take people's money), it is almost customary for players to double down on 12 against a 5 or 6. The logic is that even in the worst case scenario, the player who gets 22 will push if the dealer gets 23 or higher. It sounds ridiculous, but it's something the majority of players do here.

*And in case you don't know about the collection. In California the casinos are not allowed to bank their own games. Instead, they stay in business by charging players $1 per $100 to bet, and charging the banking player or company a flat $2 or $3 for the privilege of banking the game.

Quote: icravedanger

You know what will keep you away? It's not the 6:5. It's the collection. You have to pay $1 per bet, and if you bet $200 you pay $2.

Bloody Hell Yeah. 1% fee just for playing? Screw that.

Quote:

*And in case you don't know about the collection. In California the casinos are not allowed to bank their own games. Instead, they stay in business by charging players $1 per $100 to bet, and charging the banking player or company a flat $2 or $3 for the privilege of banking the game.

Quote: OnceDear

Bloody Hell Yeah. 1% fee just for playing? Screw that.

It beats the 25% fee MGM Detroit charges to bet $1.00. And a blackjack that bet pays even money!

The average player changes $20, bets $15 on the base and $5 on the buster. Pays $1 collection. If he wins and the dealer doesn't bust, he wins $9. I pay $2 for the pleasure of taking his $20 of action. Sometimes when a player changes $100 and plays $10 a hand while having good luck, it costs us $200-400 in collection to finally make him lose everything. The casino makes $3 every hand.

Is it a dollar a hand or a dollar per hundred dollars bet?

$1 per bet. $10 minimum, $100 maximum. If you bet $105-200 you pay another $1. If you want to wager on two hands, including someone else's hand, you pay collection for that too, and whoever bets the most gets to decide how to play the hand. We don't have chips less than $1 here. Collection is absolutely mandatory for all players. Betting on top of someone else's bet is strictly prohibited, because the house loses $1.

If you think this is bad, the popular cardroom/casino across the street charges $1 collection for each BONUS sidebet also, so some people pay $5 in order to play Blackjack and bet the Buster, Lucky Lucky, Pair, and other bonuses. Sheesh