Beating UK Pontoon: Boat Casino Rules
June 24th, 2010 at 3:59:59 AM
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I am wondering what the best achievable advantage or disadvantage is for a game that is called Pontoon and played on the Boat Journey's from England to Mainland Europe. I also wonder if anyone has a basic strategy for this game as I know it will have to differ significantly from blackjack basic strategy due to the significant rule differences.
Table layout is the same as for blackjack and the player can play any number of boxes available.
They use six decks from a manual shoe that is penetrated to about the last deck. So card counting would be possible which is made easier by all cards being dealt face up.
The min bet is 2 pounds and the Max net is 20 pounds giving a maximum spread of 10.
A summary of the rules are as follows.
Dealer sticks on hard or soft seventeen and hits sixteen or less.
Dealer wins ties! (I think this is a very nasty sting to this game but maybe the rules below go towards making up for this grossly adverse rule.)
You can 'buy' a card for any hand which is a double of the original stake. You can then take a card after this but you have to also buy it for the same price. If you want a further card you cannot buy it but you can be dealt it. You can buy cards after splitting.
If you get to five cards without busting you get paid 3 to 2 as a five card trick as it is called.
Blackjack pays 3 to 2
You can split on any pair and continue splitting without limit apart from with aces that can only be split once and only have one card dealt each. 21 resulting from either of these is counted as 21 and not blackack.
Dealer has no hole card and so you have to wait if you have blackjack if they show ace or ten as the dealer will win if they get a blackjack. There is no insurance offered.
There is no surrender options available.
Also if anyone knows any references on the internet on how to beat such a game please share this with us all also.
Table layout is the same as for blackjack and the player can play any number of boxes available.
They use six decks from a manual shoe that is penetrated to about the last deck. So card counting would be possible which is made easier by all cards being dealt face up.
The min bet is 2 pounds and the Max net is 20 pounds giving a maximum spread of 10.
A summary of the rules are as follows.
Dealer sticks on hard or soft seventeen and hits sixteen or less.
Dealer wins ties! (I think this is a very nasty sting to this game but maybe the rules below go towards making up for this grossly adverse rule.)
You can 'buy' a card for any hand which is a double of the original stake. You can then take a card after this but you have to also buy it for the same price. If you want a further card you cannot buy it but you can be dealt it. You can buy cards after splitting.
If you get to five cards without busting you get paid 3 to 2 as a five card trick as it is called.
Blackjack pays 3 to 2
You can split on any pair and continue splitting without limit apart from with aces that can only be split once and only have one card dealt each. 21 resulting from either of these is counted as 21 and not blackack.
Dealer has no hole card and so you have to wait if you have blackjack if they show ace or ten as the dealer will win if they get a blackjack. There is no insurance offered.
There is no surrender options available.
Also if anyone knows any references on the internet on how to beat such a game please share this with us all also.
June 24th, 2010 at 4:34:56 AM
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On the Wiz' main site, he has strategy for two different Pontoon rules. Maybe one of these will help you out:
https://wizardofodds.com/pontoon
https://wizardofodds.com/pontoon-rtg
https://wizardofodds.com/pontoon
https://wizardofodds.com/pontoon-rtg
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
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