Unusual BJ rule in Ponce, PR

Not sure if this rule appears in any other casinos, but I saw it one time at the Ramada in Ponce, PR.

My wife and I were playing a $5 blackjack table (yes, we're lightweights, but we won enough for cab fares and stuff.) We noticed that the dealers did not have any $2.50 chips. So we played long enough to hit a blackjack, at which point the dealer paid us $5 and put a $5 chip out in front, contingent on the result of the next hand - if we win, we get paid the $5 in addition to our bet; if we lose, we don't get it and lose our bet.

I've never seen this rule anywhere else and didn't see it at the two casinos we played in San Juan. We pay the standard 3-2 at my casino in Columbus, OH. Was this place in Ponce really that weird or does this happen all the time?

Quote: hwccdealer

Not sure if this rule appears in any other casinos, but I saw it one time at the Ramada in Ponce, PR.

My wife and I were playing a $5 blackjack table (yes, we're lightweights, but we won enough for cab fares and stuff.) We noticed that the dealers did not have any $2.50 chips. So we played long enough to hit a blackjack, at which point the dealer paid us $5 and put a $5 chip out in front, contingent on the result of the next hand - if we win, we get paid the $5 in addition to our bet; if we lose, we don't get it and lose our bet.

I've never seen this rule anywhere else and didn't see it at the two casinos we played in San Juan. We pay the standard 3-2 at my casino in Columbus, OH. Was this place in Ponce really that weird or does this happen all the time?

I've heard about this rule somewhere else - very likely in one of the Wizard's recent Latin American casino reviews. I believe that mathematically it works out to worse than a normal 3-2 payout, since obviously you're at a slight disadvantage on every hand, so the "bonus" chip is worth less than $2.50 in EV, on average. I'm assuming if you push, the "bonus" chip stays out there again?

I wonder how they handle splits and doubles. Could you put out an additional $10 on a double down?

Quote: hwccdealer

Not sure if this rule appears in any other casinos, but I saw it one time at the Ramada in Ponce, PR.

My wife and I were playing a $5 blackjack table (yes, we're lightweights, but we won enough for cab fares and stuff.) We noticed that the dealers did not have any $2.50 chips. So we played long enough to hit a blackjack, at which point the dealer paid us $5 and put a $5 chip out in front, contingent on the result of the next hand - if we win, we get paid the $5 in addition to our bet; if we lose, we don't get it and lose our bet.

I've never seen this rule anywhere else and didn't see it at the two casinos we played in San Juan. We pay the standard 3-2 at my casino in Columbus, OH. Was this place in Ponce really that weird or does this happen all the time?

This used to be quite common all over the islands.It is called enprison. You can ask them to only enprison $1 instead of $5,so on a $5 bj they would pay you $7 and enprison $1. On $25 dollar bets and up,if you don`t speak up they will enprison $25.

There was a thread here some time ago where the poster was offended by such a rule when he encountered it. He felt that he was being forced to up his bet on the next hand to $7.50, just because he hadn't bet in even increments. His adamant reaction was to bet $10 per hand for the rest of his session. I pointed out that I was amused -- to stick it to the casino for forcing him to increase his bet by $2.50 for one hand, he increased his bet by $5 for every hand thereafter. Cracked me up!

I have played with such a rule in a couple of countries.
The $5.00 stay there untill you win or lose.
If you push next hand it stays for the subsequent hand.
If you have a double opportunity in next hand it is irrelevant for the $5.00.
If you split next hand it goes to the first of the split hands.

That applied for both Blackkacks and surrender. ie surrender $25 you get back $10 and $5 goes for the next hand.
I estimated teh overall effect on EV on this rule (apply to both BJ and surrender) to be:
$5 bet -0.27%
$25 bet -0.05%

If the game has no surrender, then it only applies to BJ.
The overall effects would be around half of the above ie for the $5 bet around -0.13%

If you just wanted the money, rounded down to the nearest dollar (or increment they had), would give it to you?

Quote: AcesAndEights

I've heard about this rule somewhere else - very likely in one of the Wizard's recent Latin American casino reviews.

Good memory! Yes, the general policy in Costa Rica is that if they owe you half a bet they will let it ride on the outcome of the next bet. My advice is to bet even number of dollars when this is the policy.