HOW bad is $1 blackjack?

$1 blackjack has arrived in my neck of the woods, Foxwoods, so I’ve been reading postings here and on other forums about the game which apparently has infested casinos everywhere. The 25-cent ante fee for Foxwoods tables was all I needed to hear to know the game is a MAJOR rip-off, but how bad is it? Specifics are hard to come by. Zoomie posting at BlackjackInfo.com estimates a house edge of nearly 19% for the 25-cent ante fee flavor. Can anyone provide the house edge for at least some of the many variations? Given the popularity of the game it might warrant some information on the Wizard of Odds site.

I saw something curious two weeks ago - an idle $5 table at Mohegan Sun at 10 am Saturday morning and empty seats at some of the other four tables. I haven’t seen idle $5 tables there since they closed the 12-$5-table pit years ago. I think the low-level players migrated to the $1 tables at Foxwoods. We like!

Serious players curl their lips at the game and they should. However, if I were to take a noobie pal to Foxwoods I think the $1 table would be great fun. For about $25 dollars he (or she) could play a real casino table game for an hour! They could get FREE DRINKS! Never mind they would be getting screwed far worse than playing slots. Playing just like the big boys *cough* would be a great memory.

So, can some of the forum members with better math skills than I give us some stats on the $1 blackjack games being offered? My apologies if this has been done already and I missed it.

Great for the casinos to bleed you dry. Low limits.for card counters.AP play but problematic for the drunkards. A great reel to lute martingalers.

Quote: BleedingChipsSlowly

So, can some of the forum members with better math skills than I give us some stats on the $1 blackjack games being offered? My apologies if this has been done already and I missed it.

It just depends on the Rules. Just take the Expected Loss for x amount bet by multiplying:

(House Edge Expressed as Decimal) * (Amount Bet) = Expected Loss

And, after you do that, add a quarter. After adding the quarter to the Expected Loss, you can then do:

(Expected Loss)/(Amount Bet) = New House Edge

Okay, so let's say it's eight-deck, dealer Hits S17, DAS, Double Anything, Resplit to Four Hands, No RSA, No HSA, No Surrender, Blackjack Pays 6:5

These rules yield a House Edge of 2.00291% with Optimal Play, so the expected loss on a $1.00 bet is obviously $0.0200291. If you add that quarter ante, the expected loss is $0.2700291 and the House Edge is 27.00291%.

If you bet $3 and must still pay the ante:

.0200291 * 3 = $0.0600873 Expected Loss

Add in the quarter, and it is $0.3100873, which means:

.3100873/3 = .1033624333~ or a 10.33624333~% House Edge

Thanks Mission146! Your logic is easy to follow. Makes me feel like I should have kicked the problem around for a few days to see if I could have come up with something on my own. Accounting for the ante factor was throwing me. Most of the other variations can be addressed with the Wizard's calculator, I think.

You're welcome!

$1 blackjack (with a fee) is basically buying a movie ticket.

You bring $20 to the table, and spend an hour or 2 having drinks and watching cards come out, and that's it. You won't win.

I don't like the free drinks argument because you should be tipping. If you are unwilling to pony up $80 more to cut down an extra 25% then obviously $1 is significant. (call them cheap drinks) . But thats not the only reason. You can get cheap drink service playing 1 penny at a time on something or a .25 BJ machine.

The question is.... are you willing to toss a quarter in the trash evry few minutes for entertainment? That's really what you are doing for the privilege of usiusing real cards and real chips to geg more hands. If you cant muster up $100 buy in to hit the $5 level instead. I'm thinking you probably shouldn't be playing In the casino.

If its just a matter of just not wanting to risk the money I say find a .5/ .25 BJ machine or nickel VP machine. You can play as slow or fast as you want.

ploppys can do as they wish with their own money and no one should berate them(without them we wouldn't have casino's) but if you have any influence in guiding someone on a path, I say discurrage them from commission BJ.

Quote: AxelWolf

ploppys can do as they wish with their own money and no one should berate them(without them we wouldn't have casino's) but if you have any influence in guiding someone on a path, I say discourage them from commission BJ.

I agree, but still feel $1 BJ with ante might be a worthwhile introductory experience for a novice, something easier to "sell." When suggesting a 10-hand session just to give it a try the possibility of losing [ignoring possible DD/splits] $12.50 would be far more acceptable than $50 or $100.

Tip of the hat again to Mission146 for his insight in calculating the effect of an ante on house edge. Based on what I learned from him, here's a table I came up with for Foxwoods' $1-wager/25-cent-ante game:



Here's that data in graphic form:



Clearly the game sucks big time. For what it's worth, kicking up the wager to $3 lowers the HE to slot level. Whoopie!

Thanks to all for comments. I have me answer to the question "HOW bad is $1 BJ?" At least for the game at Foxwoods.

BTW, the cell formula could have been expressed as =B$1+B$2/D2, so the house edge is increased by the ante divided by the wager. That's just a simpler way to state the effect of the ante on the house edge. Doesn't reduce the suckage one iota.