Best online blackjack? 99.96% RTP

The Paf casino offers a Single Deck Desperado Blackjack. Nicely done with a western theme and without insurance at all, but the best part is their claimed RTP - 99.96%. As this is a single deck it would need to be 99.92+0.04% from exceptions. I thought the rules are the same as Bovada's but they are not and Wizard's house edge calculator can't handle it due to two special rules. Can Wizard analyse it and confirm it's 99.92+0.04% please? Basic strategy chart would also be nice. The betting range is 0.10-500 euro.

Single Deck Desperado Blackjack – 99.96% RTP

• The game is played with one standard decks of 52 cards (Jokers not included). The cards are re-shuffled after each round.
• The dealer draws two cards, one face up and one face down, for the initial hand.
• The dealer checks for blackjack if the card faced up is an Ace or a card valued as 10.
• With a „hard” hand, the dealer will draw on 16 (or lower) and stand on 17 (or higher).
• With a „soft” hand, the dealer will draw on 17 (or lower) and stand on 18 (or higher).
• Per game round, a split may be performed only once per hand.
• All pairs, including face cards + 10, can be split. In the event of a split, the hands are played in turn, starting from the right (of the player).
• If two Aces are split, only one card per hand is dealt.
• A split Ace + a face card counts as 21 and not a Blackjack. The same applies to a split face card + Ace.
• Doubling down on any two-card hand is allowed.
• Doubling down after a split is allowed.
• You cannot draw a card on 21.
• You cannot count a Blackjack as 11 and thereby double the bet.
• Surrender, even money or insurance is not offered.

What special rules are you talking about ?

Quote: ssho88

What special rules are you talking about ?

Must be:
"• You cannot draw a card on 21.
• You cannot count a Blackjack as 11 and thereby double the bet."

No?

Haha. Very funny. Let's say I am just asking the Wizard to tell if the rules are the same as Bovada's Single Deck and what is the RTP.

Quote: MattUK

Haha. Very funny. Let's say I am just asking the Wizard to tell if the rules are the same as Bovada's Single Deck and what is the RTP.

Based on total dependent strategy, RTP = 99.927%

Based on perfect 2 card dependent strategy, RTP = 99.953%

Based on perfect composition dependent strategy, RTP = 99.963%

The house edge is near zero, does it really matter what strategy you want to use ? Bonus hunting ? LOL

Those rules don't change much anyhow--

You cannot draw a card on 21: Far as I can think of, this rule only matters if you can double on 21, if there's charlie, or if you're depth charging. And all three of these are out.
You cannot count a Blackjack as 11 and thereby double the bet: You'll never see a count high enough to make this beneficial.
Even money or insurance is not offered: That only gets taken at TC+3 in Hi-Lo, which you'll never actually see here.

Thank you ssho88. I appreciate it. I understand that you had somehow played with the Blackjack House Edge Calculator. Under normal rules it would be 100.29%. Basic strategy with 99.93% is great enough through I think the exceptions are the same or at least nearly the same as in Microgaming Classic Blackjack. Are you able still to generate basic strategy chart? This is worthy of update on https://wizardofodds.com/online-gambling/casino-reviews/paf-casino/ by the way!

Quote: MattUK

Thank you ssho88. I appreciate it. I understand that you had somehow played with the Blackjack House Edge Calculator. (snip)

I managed to get the Wiz's house edge calculator to work and get the correct house edge (see Wiz's three links at the top, and other helpful links)

https://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/calculator/
https://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/strategy/calculator/
https://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/hand-calculator/

http://www.bjstrat.net/cgi-bin/cdca.cgi
http://www.beatingbonuses.com/houseedge.htm
https://www.blackjackinfo.com/free-blackjack-combinatorial-analyzer/ (if you want one you can download)


Also, as someone already answered, Insurance "doesn't matter" since it is a - EV bet all the time when playing one box per game (if you can play two or more boxes per game, then that is a different story).

Lastly, you may find this helpful, but with the rules you mention here are some 3 card basic strategy changes:

Hard 16 vs Dealer 10: If your hand has 1 (or more) 5's and / or 1 (or more) 4's always stand, and you would generally hit if there aren't any 5's or 4's in your hand.

Hard 15 vs Dealer 10: If your hand is (order doesn't matter) 5-5-5, 4-5-6, or 3-6-6 then stand, and you would generally hit for all the other cases.

Hard 12 vs Dealer 3: Stand on all*** hands.

***: This assumes that you are playing correct BS by always splitting A's.

Note: For any pair of A's that you don't split (for whatever reason) then the "next best" play is to hit, if you had A-A-10 vs a dealer 3.

Thank you guys for your comments. I have made a silly mistake with the house edge calculator and that's why the numbers didn't match and got me puzzled. Essentially, it's the same game that Bovada and Ignition have (and perhaps Stratosphere video blackjack, according to https://www.onlineunitedstatescasinos.com/las-vegas/blackjack/video-blackjack/ ), but in euro and from just 10 eurocents (up to 500 euro). And with some humor - you play with a tattered deck in the 19th century saloon and there are even cowboys coming through the door. It's a revamped version from May 2019 of the previous game with the same rules but played on traditional blackjack table.

I know the insurance is a lousy bet - that's why it's player friendly to remove it entirely. Just like concluding the hand with player's 21. Those are nice simplifying rules as it's pretty clear that no average players will choose this variant. I particularly like that Hit, Stand and Double options are always available. This way, Paf can capitalize on player's mistakes instead of the house edge. Bravo!

Finally, may I suggest to Wiz it's worth to update their review to include their own unique games, especially Desperado Blackjack. Here's what they say: "We have games that are not found anywhere else online. Our Game Studio creates entirely new characters and we release several new games each year". For example they have progressive roulette with at least 5000 euro jackpot (6379 euro right now) so there has to be a break-even point somewhere. They don't say much how this works - only that 0.31% of the bet is added to the pot.