tyler498
tyler498
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February 8th, 2022 at 11:43:40 PM permalink
I recently visited a casino in CA, and found a side bet I haven't seen before they called Magic jacks that pays if your hand + dealer up card has one or more jacks (very similar to blazing 777)
I thought this might be side countable if the initial HE isn't too bad. I guess that was naive.
The game is played with 6 decks and they added a little twist, half the jacks are "one-eyed" and half aren't. Odds-wise, it's similar to a bigger payout for "red - heart/diamonds" for example.

The pay table is as follows:
1 jack => 1 to 1
1 one-eyed jack => 3 to 1
2 jacks => 8 to 1
2 jacks with 1 one-eyed => 12 to 1
2 one-eyed jacks => 40 to 1
3 jacks => 100 to 1
3 one-eyed jacks => 500 to 1

I haven't found any data one this side bet online so if one of the math gurus of this forum would like to analyze it that'd be great.
Although by roughly comparing with blazing 777, it seems like the paytable is too bad.
ChesterDog
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February 9th, 2022 at 3:45:02 PM permalink
Quote: tyler498

I recently visited a casino in CA, and found a side bet I haven't seen before they called Magic jacks that pays if your hand + dealer up card has one or more jacks (very similar to blazing 777)
I thought this might be side countable if the initial HE isn't too bad. I guess that was naive.
The game is played with 6 decks and they added a little twist, half the jacks are "one-eyed" and half aren't. Odds-wise, it's similar to a bigger payout for "red - heart/diamonds" for example.

The pay table is as follows:
1 jack => 1 to 1
1 one-eyed jack => 3 to 1
2 jacks => 8 to 1
2 jacks with 1 one-eyed => 12 to 1
2 one-eyed jacks => 40 to 1
3 jacks => 100 to 1
3 one-eyed jacks => 500 to 1

I haven't found any data one this side bet online so if one of the math gurus of this forum would like to analyze it that'd be great.
Although by roughly comparing with blazing 777, it seems like the paytable is too bad.
link to original post



I get a house edge of only 5.10% for the first hand of the shoe.

I assumed that 3 jacks containing one or two one-eyed jacks pays 100 TO 1. Also, all the pays are based on "TO 1."

If the player would always bet $5 on the side bet whenever the side bet's EV is positive, I find the player would make from the side bets an average of about $1 per hand when one deck remains. At the level of two decks remaining, his average side bet profit per hand would be about $0.60. (The averages are not over the number of side bet made but over all hands played.)

The side bet is countable, but like a lot of side bets, it probably has a low maximum.
tyler498
tyler498
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February 9th, 2022 at 11:13:33 PM permalink
wow thanks for the analysis.
And you are correct, I forgot to mention the bet limits are 1$ to 25$.
Interesting that the initial HE is so low.
ThatDonGuy
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February 10th, 2022 at 6:51:01 AM permalink
Here is a table for a 6-deck shoe showing the maximum number of cards remaining in the shoe where the bet is an AP.
The numbers along the top are the number of two-eyed Jacks remaining in the shoe.
For example, if there are 10 one-eyed Jacks and 8 two-eyed Jacks remaining in the shoe, then the bet is an AP if there are 234 or fewer cards remaining in the shoe.
One-Eyes1211109876543210
12299292284277270262255248242235228222215
11282274266259252244237230223216210203197
10264256249241234226219212205198191185178
9246238231223216208201194186180173166160
8229221213205198190183175168161154148141
7212204196188180172165157150143136129123
6195186178170162155147139132125118111104
5178170161153145137129121114106999286
41611531451361281201121049688817467
314613712812011110395877871635649
Wizard
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Wizard
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MrCasinoGames
February 10th, 2022 at 7:36:52 AM permalink
I see I have a page on Jack Magic in my class notes for my old class at UNLV. This one has a different pay table. I plan to make a page on it soon.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
Wizard
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February 10th, 2022 at 2:29:31 PM permalink
Here is my new page on Magic Jacks. I welcome all comments.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
Romes
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February 14th, 2022 at 8:34:32 PM permalink
"Under version 1, the house edge with five decks is 20.06% and with eight decks is 19.20%."

Not sure you meant 5 decks? Directly under Analysis and under Version 1 Return Table. The same thing is under the 2nd table too.

If it was intentional, my mistake. Also enjoyed: "...including the topic of card counting (shut up Wiz!)." =D
Playing it correctly means you've already won.
Wizard
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February 15th, 2022 at 3:59:35 AM permalink
Quote: Romes

"Under version 1, the house edge with five decks is 20.06% and with eight decks is 19.20%."
link to original post



Unless I'm not seeing something, that is what I intended to say, the house edge under five and eight decks. You might say you don't see five-deck blackjack games very often, but for a while some shufflers took five decks. I'm still in the habit of calculating side bet odds with that many, as long as I went through the fuss of analyzing it with six. I just change one cell and the spreadsheet updates everything.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
Dieter
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Dieter
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February 15th, 2022 at 4:31:23 AM permalink
I do see four and five deck games out in the wild.
I usually don't see a sidebet on four decks, and many five deck games only offer TriLux.

Thanks for the interesting article.
May the cards fall in your favor.
mcallister3200
mcallister3200
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February 15th, 2022 at 5:24:59 AM permalink
Don’t forget the 3 deck games found pretty much only around Tucson. 4 deck games not uncommon in the upper Midwest, I think five deck games can be found here and there mostly in the western time zone native casinos and card rooms, sometimes from CSM’s.
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