How good is a free Ace?
Quote: glloyd4304I'm a tourist visiting Vegas and a local casino gave me a coupon for the first card at Black Jack to be an Ace. Bet limit is $10.00. I'm not sure of the specific house rules regarding soft 17, splits, doubles, and surrender, and I am no math wizard, but, my gut feeling is that it is a good bet no matter how bad the rules are for the player. Does anyone have a simulator or formula that would calc how often a player's hand where one card is an Ace wins vs 2 random cards for the dealer?
I once used a free ace for the max $100. They would still deal your card as normal but you had a card on the betting circle that indicated the Ace. Of course I received an Ace as my normal card and then lost the hand. I was sad.
Quote: odiousgambityes, worth roughly 50% of what you bet. This is at WoO somewhere.
The link I attached in my post? lol
Can you link to that information? I always thought it was worth a bit more. What if they let you double down and split with it?Quote: GreasyjohnIt is worth 51 percent if it's a 3:2 game, less if it's 6:5.
I used 100's of $25 and $50 Aces at stations casino's one year.
Is that including splits and double downs?Quote: Ibeatyouraceshttps://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/appendix/14/
Quote: AxelWolfCan you link to that information? I always thought it was worth a bit more. What if they let you double down and split with it?
I used 100's of $25 and $50 Aces at stations casino's one year.
I know it's worth 51 percent. That figure is in many publications that are written for a 3:2 game. If blackjack pays 6:5 then the value of the ace is substantially reduced. I'm assuming that you could split and soft double. Tidbit: The Lady Luck in Las Vegas ( now the Downtown Grand) used to have first-card-ace coupons in their Fun Books.
Shows how much you know J/k. If you look around you can find a few of them, not as often as match plays however.Quote: IbeatyouracesThe only pace I know you can get one is at Four Queens and it's only once per account at sign up on the coupon sheet after hitting the free VP machine which is now a different contraption.
Fine print: Its Coupon counts as your first card, bet no more than ten for yourself at a 3:2 table. Its a pretty good deal if you are already in the casino or know that you will be there anyway. Its not particularly good as an inducement to trek there though. Just be sure that either way, you are having fun. And just like the pie, its not a meal.... its just a "dessert". A sweetener to liven up your play a bit. Its not some fantastic bargain, but its nice to use it up as long as they sent it to you.
Quote: IbeatyouracesI believe so.
It is.
Some years ago a mathematician determined the optimal strategy is to forego doubling and splitting altogether, the reason being that they don't add much relative to the considerable extra risk involved.
It is questionable how practical this is: usually you can't bet anything like Kelly when an ace is coming, in which case the relevant calculations are different.
They are going there for the entertainment, would probably spend the gas money anyway and so they might as well get off their duff and do it with the coupon in hand.Quote: IbeatyouracesIt amazes me that people will spend $6.00+ in gas to drive for $5.00 in free slot play.
Not even our fearless leader would drive nine tenths of the way to the casino simply because that was all the coupon was worth. Its an inducement, we never really think the casino is giving us much more than a fun way to start out at the casino with a little deal sweetener.
Quote: AxelWolfI used 100's of $25 and $50 Aces at stations casino's one year.
Axel, I don't know if you ever met Hawaiian Derek. We called him the "fastest flush attacker in the west." When the light came on he looked like the Tasmanian Devil. Anyways, Derek related the story to me of limping into Stateline (Primm) from California with less than $100 in his pocket. He went through the casinos looking for anything to jump start a bankroll. He found a day tripper fun book on a machine with a $25 Ace in it. He scoured the casinos looking for more, even looking in the garbage cans. He would stand out by the buses and hit the day trippers up for their fun books when they were leaving.
Long story short, he left Primm a few days later headed for Las Vegas with $2000 in his pocket.
WOW nice he probably had very little competition. I didn't know they had $25 Aces, I would have gone, unless I was on something better. You cant be everywhere at once. I love running ACES as long as I have access to a lot of them, hard to lose.Quote: mickeycrimmAxel, I don't know if you ever met Hawaiian Derek. We called him the "fastest flush attacker in the west." When the light came on he looked like the Tasmanian Devil. Anyways, Derek related the story to me of limping into Stateline (Primm) from California with less than $100 in his pocket. He went through the casinos looking for anything to jump start a bankroll. He found a day tripper fun book on a machine with a $25 Ace in it. He scoured the casinos looking for more, even looking in the garbage cans. He would stand out by the buses and hit the day trippers up for their fun books when they were leaving.
Long story short, he left Primm a few days later headed for Las Vegas with $2000 in his pocket.
Back in the early 90's when I first started out, Primm had coupons in a local magazine, for a free fun book at all the casinos there, 3 I think. Me and a friend loaded up on magazines and headed to Primm. You only needed to take the coupon to the cage at each casino, no ID no players card nothing. Each time they gave you 2 fun books, A small tip to the cage girl and they would give you a few more books if you said, they were for your friends or family. Each book had a $5 match play for just about every table game, for each casino, including games like the big 6. Each day we ran enough coupons to make about $200 a day each.I was like I was being paid to have fun
I was not rich or broke at the time, $200 a day playing many different tables games, while having fun with a friend, was defiantly rewarding and good times. Free ride on the roller-coaster too.
Bonus:There is not a lot to do in that town, girls get board and the competition is low.
Sounds better than Jean.Quote: AxelWolfBonus:There is not a lot to do in that town, girls get board and the competition is low.
There's a story floating somewhere on the internet of some mentally-ill advantage player holed up in Jean for months in a comped room. Truly fascinating reading.
Quote: teddysSounds better than Jean.
There's a story floating somewhere on the internet of some mentally-ill advantage player holed up in Jean for months in a comped room. Truly fascinating reading.
TBC? He's posted here and at 2+2 poker. Banned at CET poker rooms, iirc. I dunno if I would call him mentally-ill per se...just a gambling addict not grinding enough +EV games.
Quote: teddysThere's a story floating somewhere on the internet of some mentally-ill advantage player holed up in Jean for months in a comped room. Truly fascinating reading.
This was several years ago but I had a buddy, Tex, who would spend two or three months at a time in a comped room in Jean, playing FPDW.
Quote: glloyd4304I'm a tourist visiting Vegas and a local casino gave me a coupon for the first card at Black Jack to be an Ace. Bet limit is $10.00. I'm not sure of the specific house rules regarding soft 17, splits, doubles, and surrender, and I am no math wizard, but, my gut feeling is that it is a good bet no matter how bad the rules are for the player. Does anyone have a simulator or formula that would calc how often a player's hand where one card is an Ace wins vs 2 random cards for the dealer?
If the max bet is $10, it is my opinion you should use it on any random hand at a machine dealt game because this is the only time you know you are at a disadvantage without the coupon; and a machine dealt game generally offers a lower edge than the first hand of a shoe. As a counter, I would use this in a negative count at a shoe since it would decrease my bet in a positive count.
Quote: SonuvabishIf the max bet is $10, it is my opinion you should use it on any random hand at a machine dealt game because this is the only time you know you are at a disadvantage without the coupon; and a machine dealt game generally offers a lower edge than the first hand of a shoe. As a counter, I would use this in a negative count at a shoe since it would decrease my bet in a positive count.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0
Quote: geoffhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0
Why don't you say what you would do? Because although it may not actually make a difference what hand he plays on in a shoe game, there is nothing else implied (and nothing at all expressed) that I see in my response that is irrational. I would like to know what you would do because it is probably less efficient than my suggestion. Maybe I misunderstood something about the $10 bet limit, as I have never had a free ace.
