Side Bet: Push

At the Santa Anna Star in Bernalillo, NM, there's a double deck, $10 min, s17, no das game with a $25 (max) "push" side bet, where a push pays 9-1. How bad is this bet, and can it be optimized by abandoning BJ bs altogether and playing a "hit any stiff" strategy, where the player would also never split or double down on the BJ bet, and pursue the "push" (with max $25 bet) exclusively? I didn't see this bet in the "Side Bet" section.

One more thing: I feel like betting the side bet only on high counts (say +2 or higher, hi-lo) would help cut the HA, because of the higher chance of pushing 20 and BJ. I would just flat bet the BJ bet, and play bs when not betting the side, of course.

How is the participation? Anyone plays?

Yeah, lots of takers. Mostly $1 side bettors. One guy hit four $25 side bets in a row to net $225 a whack, then went home.

Update: the side bet pays 10 to 1, but it's limited to half your bet.

I never went back there 'til recently because their DD game, which I prefer, had NDAS.

Quote: wizard, see link

The player will get a tie about 8.75% of hands.

that's a chance of about 1/11.43

fair odds are about 10.4 to one, so 9:1 isn't too bad and 10:1 is really good - but all have an HA

https://wizardofodds.com/games/ties-win-blackjack/

PS: the 8.75% chance is for a version of BJ that has no splitting - if ties in splitting count this could go over to player advantage at 10:1 with a BS that includes more splitting. The math is over my head.

Very interesting. I imagine the playing strategy would match the terrible house edge from the wizard's "play like the dealer strategy". I would guess that you have to give up too much for there to be an edge.