Colombo casinos

Hi All,

Am planning a trip to Sri Lanka, partly to take advantage of the apparently player-edge BJ rules as detailed here

Has anyone been there and can confirm these rules exist? (and there aren't other killer rules which destroy the edge) or have any useful advice on heat/penetration etc at the Colombo casinos.

Thanks

Yes, I was there early this year & asked for the odds of the 5-card option of winning 1/2 bet except against dealer's Ace (not allowed).
What I still dont understand is why Wizard advised to take 1/2 bet win when player's has 5 cards total 19 or less against dealer's any card from 2 to 8?
I can understand player's 5 card total 19 or less to take 1/2 bet win against dealer's 9 or 10 and
player's 5 cards total 20 to stand against dealer's any card except take 1/2 bet win against dealer's 10 and
player's 5 cards total 21 to stand against dealer's any card.

I m going to Colombo next month & will verify whether dealer's blackjack will only take player's original bet. I think dealer's blackjack takes all except of course draw against player's blackjack. All other rules listed are correct as of my last visit in Mar 2010.

This is why I, from Msia prefer to play in Macau (Wynns & MGM), Singapore (Marina Bay Sands) and also in S Korea (7 Luck, dealer takes hole card)
where dealer's blackjack wins player's original bets, player may double on any 2 cards even after splitting & resplitting Aces (Wynns & MGM only).

Wizard, I m new to this forum.
Is there anywhere in the forum or website where I can get a table of odds of win or lose of a player's hand of 12 to 21 against a dealer's initial 1 card from 2 to Ace?

Regards, KC

Expected value of hands

I'm not too sure what you were asking for, but I think this is basically it.

Edit: It's an infinite deck so if you're playing single/double decks with any reasonable penetration, the values will be skewed.

Hi, I was able to retrieve the table fm
Qs.
1. Is the dealer's Ace after peeping hole card?
2. If no hole card, do you assume that dealer's blackjack only wins player's original bets excluding split & double down?
3. Is Player's A,10 after splitting Aces? (coz player's blackjack wins 1.5 except vs dealer's blackjack?)
4. If no hole card, will the player's odd improve with double down of 10 or 11 against dealer's Ace?

Regards, KC

In Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong he goes into a lot of detail about this rule, but some of his strategy recommendations are quite different from the Wiz's here

Most importantly, whilst the Wiz says you should stand on most soft 18s and all soft 19s with 4 cards, Wong says you should hit most 4 card soft 19s (except against a dealer 7 or 8) and all 4 card soft 18s. This is a huge difference, so would love if someone could explain why. Anyone with the book the relevant pages are 98-104

Thanks!

Quote: elscrabinda

In Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong he goes into a lot of detail about this rule, but some of his strategy recommendations are quite different from the Wiz's here

Most importantly, whilst the Wiz says you should stand on most soft 18s and all soft 19s with 4 cards, Wong says you should hit most 4 card soft 19s (except against a dealer 7 or 8) and all 4 card soft 18s. This is a huge difference, so would love if someone could explain why. Anyone with the book the relevant pages are 98-104

Thanks!

Is it possible for instance that Wong's tables are based on a single deck game and should therefore be ignored for multi deck anyway?

It looks like my Lisboa strategy had some errors. If the player has 19 he should refuse the half win against a 7 or 8. I previously indicated he should accept it. The player should also hit some 3- and 4-card soft doubles that would normally favor standing. These were typographical errors in producing the GIF image of the strategy, not something intrinsic to game analysis.

It should be noted that Wong indicates the player should refuse the half win with 20 against a 10 in Basic Blackjack. However, I think this is because his strategy is based on a hole card game. Under the Lisboa rules the dealer doesn't take a hole card, thus there is more value in the half win rule against a 10.

My apologies for the error, and thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Quote: Wizard

It looks like my Lisboa strategy had an error. If the player has 19 he should refuse the half win against a 7 or 8. I previously indicated he should accept it. This was a typographical error in producing the GIF image of the strategy, not something intrinsic to game analysis.

My apologies for the error, and thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Thanks very much for clarifying this. Do you stand by the advice to stand on most 4 card soft 18s and all 4 card soft 19s?

Quote: elscrabinda

Thanks very much for clarifying this. Do you stand by the advice to stand on most 4 card soft 18s and all 4 card soft 19s?

You're welcome. No, I don't. I will address that next.