Advice on Free Bet Blackjack

I have read on this website that Free Bet blackjack has a pretty decent house edge of about 1.04%. Not as good as traditional blackjack perhaps, but still quite reasonable.

The only casino within 100 miles of me offers Free Bet (Pay Table 3), and I have been intrigued by it but I have not really played it. I sat down one night for about 20 minutes but I had no idea what I was doing and I didn’t stay long enough to use my money to try to learn.

I downloaded, reduced, and laminated the chart from this website into a wallet size card that I can carry at the table. My hopes are that if I do play it I can play as close to perfect basic strategy as possible. I haven’t taken the time to memorize the strategy but I do have the card, unlike traditional basic strategy which I have committed to memory for decades. I’d rather play off the card for a little while and see if it’s something I really want to spend the effort to completely master.

Having said all that, I would like to ask the views of more experienced people here. If you went to a casino would you play for a bit? Would you turn around and walk the other way? Would you sit down with serious money intending to play for several hours? I’d really like to get the views of people with far more experience than I have.

As always, thank you in advance for your help.

I am new to this forum, and I still haven’t figured out how to get email notifications of replies to a thread. How do I subscribe to it?

Quote: bcmarshall

I am new to this forum, and I still haven’t figured out how to get email notifications of replies to a thread. How do I subscribe to it?

https://wizardofvegas.com/preferences

This may also be accessed by clicking your name in the upper right of the page.
At the top of any thread is likely a pair of buttons for subscribe and block.


I personally find the 21 games where the dealer doesn't lose when he busts fundamentally distasteful.

Quote: Dieter

I personally find the 21 games where the dealer doesn't lose when he busts fundamentally distasteful.

I had wondered why this thread had been read so many times and yet had not been responded to. This post answers that conundrum for me. Obviously, the true BJ players that populate this forum just don't want any part of those silly games. And I get that.

That's always been my way as well. I've been studying, playing, and loving this game since the mid 1970's, and like most of you, I consider myself to be sort of a blackjack purist. I've been completely ignoring both Free Bet and Spanish 21 for decades, although obviously I know they exist. I've played a total of about 45 minutes split between the two games just to see what they were about, and never went back to either of them in scores or hundreds of casino trips since.

I wouldn't have posted the question at all had I not run across Michael's analysis that shows a HE of 1.04%. In fact, it never even would have occurred to me to ask it, but that number caught my attention because, as everyone here knows, standard BJ has a built-in house edge as well and yet it's a winnable game.

Yeah, I'm here for the game, but I'm also here for the MONEY! The idea of the house providing both double-bets and splits is what has intrigued me and what prompted this thread. I know...there's no such thing as a free lunch. But still, I don't think many of you would disagree that 1.04% ain't bad, and to me it's just fascinating enough to get me to rethink those long-held positions...at least once for a serious test if nothing else, sitting down with a reasonable stake and playing it hard and long the way I do the regular game, just to see what happens, rather than dipping my toe in the water once for 20 minutes maybe 25 years ago and then abandoning it forever as I have done up to now.

The lack of response from all of you has also provided an undeniable reply to the main question I originally posed about whether the folks here would play a bit, walk away, or sit down with serious money to play for hours. Clearly the vast majority of you will walk away.

Your collective opinion of it is undoubtedly so low that you don't even think it deserves a reply, and that's OK. My feelings aren't hurt because after all, I was asking for your views, and I got them, albeit indirectly.

If anyone's interested I'll let y'all know how it plays out next trip "up the hill", but I do think it's worth giving it a fair test at least once, and I have prepared myself with Michael's basic strategy card to play it as well as I possibly can. If I'm successful with it I'll take the time to completely memorize the new strategy, but until I can make an intelligent judgment I'll either live by the card or die by the card, so to speak. And if it's a disaster I'll know that at least once I gave it a fair shake and I'll never have to consider it again.

And Dieter, thanks. Your one-line response truly spoke volumes to me.

I didn’t respond because there’s no specific math or strategy question and I don’t like blackjack.

Because I don’t like blackjack, I’m automatically not inclined to play blackjack variants.

I just found it unnecessary to respond by saying I don’t like blackjack, but yeah, that’s all I’ve got.

Quote: bcmarshall

If you went to a casino would you play for a bit? Would you turn around and walk the other way? Would you sit down with serious money intending to play

My last gambling trip was to the laundromat.
I really like the coin pusher there.

Last trip was a bust; playfield didn't look interesting enough to wait for the kid to finish playing, left with my sock of quarters.


I generally find novelty 21 games even less interesting.

Quote: Dieter

My last gambling trip was to the laundromat.
I really like the coin pusher there.

Last trip was a bust; playfield didn't look interesting enough to wait for the kid to finish playing, left with my sock of quarters.


I generally find novelty 21 games even less interesting.

I guess you could say I’m a gambler by nature. I really enjoy the thrill and the excitement that comes from a win at the casino. It’s been said that money won is twice as sweet as money earned and I believe that.

I love playing blackjack and for more than 40 years it’s been the only game that I play when I go to the casino. It’s almost an addiction or an obsession to me. And from that standpoint I totally agree that the idea of a novelty blackjack game is anathema to everything that I have believed and done for all these decades.

It just seems that with the very decent house edge and the bets that the house is making for me that it’s worth giving it a go at least once.

Hey, no worries. Try it. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't. No shame either way.

I might leave the coin pusher for the FreeBet table if there was a promotion or something else to make it interesting.

I was lucky enough to play FreeBet when it originally came out. One advantage of it is you don't lose lots of bets when you've split and/or doubled many hands and the dealer pulls a 21 from a 6. Obviously this doesn't come for free and have to accept the Push 22 rule. One problem is you have to learn the different strategies, one catering for the Push 22 for real money hands, and the other for the freebet hands. It is a fun game to play.

Quote: charliepatrick

I was lucky enough to play FreeBet when it originally came out. One advantage of it is you don't lose lots of bets when you've split and/or doubled many hands and the dealer pulls a 21 from a 6. Obviously this doesn't come for free and have to accept the Push 22 rule. One problem is you have to learn the different strategies, one catering for the Push 22 for real money hands, and the other for the freebet hands. It is a fun game to play.

That’s kind of what I was thinking as well. It looks like kind of a fun game and I really want to try those free bets and see how they play out in the real world. I don’t intend to study the basic strategy yet. I’ll just play by the card until I get a sense of what it’s really about. If I find it to be a profitable game then of course I will commit everything to memory but for this experiment I’m just going to wing it with a card in my hand and delay the game for everyone else if I need to while I’m looking something up.

Thanks for the feedback.

Quote: bcmarshall

...i don’t intend to study the basic strategy yet...

Actually the strategy is take ALL free splits and doubles; and you only have to worry about when to hit or stand (or real money double).

For real money the only difference is you hit on some totals against smaller cards (e.g. 13v2 12v4) - personally I would not worry about the real money doubles at this stage (e.g. A7v5,6).

For free bet hands there are some key differences as you only get paid if you win, a tie is as bad as a loss. So you hit most soft 18s (except vs 7) and hit hard 17s vs 7,8,9, A, as well as hitting 14vs2. There are also some fun real money doubles, but I've yet to have 9A vs 6! Hitting hard 17 happens occasionally!

Quote: charliepatrick

Actually the strategy is take ALL free splits and doubles; and you only have to worry about when to hit or stand (or real money double).

For real money the only difference is you hit on some totals against smaller cards (e.g. 13v2 12v4) - personally I would not worry about the real money doubles at this stage (e.g. A7v5,6).

For free bet hands there are some key differences as you only get paid if you win, a tie is as bad as a loss. So you hit most soft 18s (except vs 7) and hit hard 17s vs 7,8,9, A, as well as hitting 14vs2. There are also some fun real money doubles, but I've yet to have 9A vs 6! Hitting hard 17 happens occasionally!

At the risk of turning this thread into a free bet tutorial, when you refer to a real money double bet that is a reference to my first opening bet that was made with real money on the first two cards only correct?

A free bet double by definition I assume could only occur after a split. Is that also correct?

I know so little about the game in an actual practice that even the terminology is confusing.

Quote: bcmarshall

At the risk of turning this thread into a free bet tutorial, when you refer to a real money double bet that is a reference to my first opening bet that was made with real money on the first two cards only correct?

A free bet double by definition I assume could only occur after a split. Is that also correct?

I know so little about the game in an actual practice that even the terminology is confusing.

There are two types of hands, the ones with your first two cards (where if you tie you retain your initial bet) and the ones after splitting (where you only get paid out something on a win).

A free double, which can happen on either types of hands, is where the total is a hard 9, 10 or 11. You always make these where possible. If you win you get paid out twice your original bet.

A free split, which can happen on most hands, is where you make a split and the second hand now becomes a "free money hand". You always take any free splits. Technically you are allowed to split 5s or 10s with your own money, but it never pays to do this.

Where the total of the first two cards isn't 9, 10 o 11, you are allowed to use your own money to double. There are a few occasions where you do this and they are slightly different whether it's the first hand or a "free money hand". The one I cited was where you originally had a pair of 9s and on the second hand received an Ace.

Wait, are you saying you can't free split 5s?

Quote: FinsRule

Wait, are you saying you can't free split 5s?

Yes. You obviously double rather than split. I can't remember whether Geoff added it as a rule as the advice used to be to take all free splits. The UK rules ( https://www.ukcasinotablegames.info/blackjackfreebet.html ) do prevent you from splitting 5s and says "when allowed to split 4's" makes the House Edge 0.73 (S17)%. (Since you can't lose additional money the same correct strategy applies whether it's peek or not.) I don't know the effect of H17 on the House Edge.

* The old Blackjack rules used to prevent the splitting of 4's (5's and 10's), hence why I'm guessing it's mentioned.