House Edge if you can only split aces
December 28th, 2009 at 10:29:44 AM
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Hi,
my question is how the house edge changes if you can only split aces (and cant draw afterwards like normal).
For Clarification: Use 4 Decks, standard rules (dealer stands at 17 and so on) and you can split aces but other cards can never be split. How is the house edge then lowered compared to the usuall rules that every 2 same cards can be split?
Edit: Ofcourse I am talking about Blackjack (forgot to mention that).
my question is how the house edge changes if you can only split aces (and cant draw afterwards like normal).
For Clarification: Use 4 Decks, standard rules (dealer stands at 17 and so on) and you can split aces but other cards can never be split. How is the house edge then lowered compared to the usuall rules that every 2 same cards can be split?
Edit: Ofcourse I am talking about Blackjack (forgot to mention that).
December 28th, 2009 at 5:02:26 PM
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Surprisingly, that adds 0.35% to the house edge only. That situation applies in the game Triple Shot.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
January 18th, 2010 at 10:04:54 AM
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The advantage to the house is that it collects your money if you go bust. After your money is collected the house can bust with no consequence.
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The advantages that the player has are listed
(1) Optimal play of hard hands (dealer has no choice)
(2) Bonus money collected on blackjack
(3) Ability to double certain hands when optimal
(4) Ability to split pairs when optimal
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The ability to split pairs is the least important of the four player advantages.
Remember that the proportion of times that you get pairs is fairly small (only 1.65%).
Out of the times you get a pair, less than half the time you should split (44% of pairs you receive are pairs of 10's which are never split). In many cases splitting only gives you a marginal advantage over doing some other play. If you retain the strongest split (splitting aces) it doesn't hurt your overall EV that much.
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The advantages that the player has are listed
(1) Optimal play of hard hands (dealer has no choice)
(2) Bonus money collected on blackjack
(3) Ability to double certain hands when optimal
(4) Ability to split pairs when optimal
------------------
The ability to split pairs is the least important of the four player advantages.
Remember that the proportion of times that you get pairs is fairly small (only 1.65%).
Out of the times you get a pair, less than half the time you should split (44% of pairs you receive are pairs of 10's which are never split). In many cases splitting only gives you a marginal advantage over doing some other play. If you retain the strongest split (splitting aces) it doesn't hurt your overall EV that much.
