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Deucekies
Deucekies
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March 28th, 2023 at 10:46:13 AM permalink
Galaxy has a new blackjack variant called Split to Double Blackjack.

The player places two equal bets: One main wager, and one Blackjack Or Bust wager.

The player may never hit their hand. Their options are as follows:
- Split any two cards, they do not need to be a pair (resplits must be a pair)
- Double Down anywhere from 1x to 4x the main wager
- Surrender the first two cards
- Stand

The dealer plays their hand as in normal blackjack.

Any time the dealer busts and the player hasn't already busted, the main wager and Blackjack Or Bust wager pay 1:1. If the player has a winning blackjack, the main wager pays 2:1, and the Blackjack Or Bust wager pays according to a paytable.

Blackjack: 2:1
Suited Blackjack: 5:1
AJ suited in spades or clubs: 20:1

The Galaxy website for this game.
The official rules from the WSGC website.

Would you play this game? Any thoughts as to the house edge or the strategy?
Casinos are not your friends, they want your money. But so does Disneyland. And there is no chance in hell that you will go to Disneyland and come back with more money than you went with. - AxelWolf and Mickeycrimm
gordonm888
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gordonm888
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March 28th, 2023 at 1:43:39 PM permalink
Wow! What an interesting set of rules. Completely different than standard BJ.

- BJ pays 2:1
- player cannot simply hit his hand, he is only allowed to stand, split or double. Splitting and doubling both involve being hit automatically with one card only
- There is DAS, including after splitting aces. Dealer may split any two cards such as 54 vs T into two hands 7 vs 6 and 5 vs 6 (with an additional bet) and hope they make hands they can subsequently double (such as 8-11), which allows their hand to be hit again with the prospect of being improved to 17 -21.
- there is also a required 'BJ or Bust' Bet that pays off as per a payoff table when the player has BJ or the Dealer busts (the more common scenario in which this bet pays off).

The strategy will probably not be "total-dependent" it will depend upon the composition of your first two cards. So a T,2 may be played differently than a 7,5 even though they both are 12.

I just did some quick checking. I think you stand on 98vsT; and SPLIT on T6,97,A5vsT.
So many better men, a few of them friends, are dead. And a thousand thousand slimy things live on, and so do I.
charliepatrick
charliepatrick
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March 28th, 2023 at 3:23:49 PM permalink
Interesting game. I'm not sure how the second bet wins if "the dealer busts and the player doesn't" whether that apllies to all hands, though I can imagine that you probably don't double 12 or more so might never bust.

Only doing a quick look at the dealer's 10, assuming they've already peeked then I get....
(Note: I agree you would split 97 (-1.064) rather than stand (-1.081), but as the EV is less than -1, you late surrender instead. Also at this stage I've ignored the benefit of being able to resplit, so this may swing some close surrender or split decisions).
1010Stand
91Stand
109Stand
81Stand
108Stand
99Stand
71Stand
107-Split-
98Stand
61-Split-
106-Split-
97SURR
88SURR
51-Split-
105-Split-
96SURR
87SURR
41-Split-
104-Split-
95SURR
86SURR
77SURR
31-Split-
103-Split-
94SURR
85SURR
76SURR
21-Split-
102-Split-
93SURR
84SURR
75SURR
66SURR
11-Split-
92Dbl x4
83Dbl x4
74Dbl x4
65Dbl x4
82Dbl x1
73Dbl x1
64Dbl x1
55Dbl x1
72SURR
63SURR
54SURR
62SURR
53SURR
44SURR
52SURR
43SURR
42SURR
33SURR
32SURR
22SURR
Dieter
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Dieter
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March 28th, 2023 at 5:09:08 PM permalink
Quote: Deucekies


AJ suited in spades or clubs: 20:1
link to original post

(trimmed)

This does not match the layout included in the WSGC filing.
A "Super Blackjack" is the Ace of Spades with a black (spades or clubs) Jack.


This sounds like a heck of a ride on the rollercoaster.

Thin air guess: 96%, 16, with all mandatory bets, without optional sidebets
May the cards fall in your favor.
zbrownson
zbrownson
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March 28th, 2023 at 6:27:29 PM permalink
This looks like a game that would be fun to try out. I don't know how long I would stay at the table though, whether through choice or variance (wouldn't take but a couple losing 4x doubles to deplete a bankroll). Also, not crazy about a mandatory second wager in blackjack, at least poker derivatives can call it a "blind"....

This game seemed familiar, seems it was created a while back under a different name:
Deucekies
Deucekies
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Thanked by
Dieter
March 29th, 2023 at 12:17:21 AM permalink
Quote: Dieter

Quote: Deucekies


AJ suited in spades or clubs: 20:1
link to original post

(trimmed)

This does not match the layout included in the WSGC filing.
A "Super Blackjack" is the Ace of Spades with a black (spades or clubs) Jack.



Your eyes are better than mine, sir. Good catch.
Casinos are not your friends, they want your money. But so does Disneyland. And there is no chance in hell that you will go to Disneyland and come back with more money than you went with. - AxelWolf and Mickeycrimm
charliepatrick
charliepatrick
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March 30th, 2023 at 12:16:12 PM permalink
Initial ideas on a strategy, note I only looked at whether you double soft 21 if it's after a split. Also sometimes you would have a hand that you'd like to split/surrender, but you can't after a split, so I've given that decision as well. I've also not combined rows at this stage.
R=Surrender if your first two cards.
DogHand
DogHand
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March 30th, 2023 at 11:21:52 PM permalink
charliepatrick,

That's a nice job!

I would suggest that you increase all your "s#" numbers by 10. For example, A-K is a soft 21 or a hard 11: it isn't a soft 11. By definition, a soft hand is one containing an Ace that is counted as 11, so a soft total must be a double-digit number.

Also, perhaps you could use different colors for -Split-, Spl/St, Spl/D1, and Spl/D4 cells. For example, since Spl/St involves potentially standing, maybe use a light red (pink?) color, so it resembles the red Stand cells. Similarly, light yellow for Spl/D1 and light green for Spl/D4, and then leave the -Split- cells as blue.

Dog Hand
charliepatrick
charliepatrick
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March 31st, 2023 at 12:31:36 AM permalink
^ Thanks - I agree. It was just a quick look to see the trends, so there's lots of opportunities for me to tidy it up; e.g. all hard 11s are treated the same, put all the pairs together etc.
Dieter
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Dieter
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March 31st, 2023 at 3:31:13 AM permalink
As I read it, Rule of Play 3.b.i. says that the player cannot double a dealt natural 21. They are paid at 2:1 (and the cards are presumably swept) before the player can act.

Rule of Play 4.b. suggests it may be possible to double soft 21 after split, if house rules for 21 games do not preclude action on hands totaling 21. This rule also caps the double wager at table max, so the table limit sign may force the player into suboptimal play (similar to some MAP schemes).

If the player cannot double at x4 due to limits, does the strategy still recommend doubling for max, or is a lesser amount preferred?

Nice looking strategy, charliepatrick.
I say let the players come up with their own shorthand symbology and color it in however they fancy. ;)
May the cards fall in your favor.
charliepatrick
charliepatrick
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April 6th, 2023 at 11:47:30 PM permalink
I understand the original version (Super Blackjack) of the game paid 6 to 1 for Suited Blackjacks and I agree that this would have given a House Edge of about 0.3%. With the current version paying 5 to 1, I suspect it's about 1.38%. (Your chances of a suited BJ, not Super, is about 1.1%)
btw as I read it, the "Blackjack or Bust" bet seems to pay your Blackjack even if the Dealer also has a Blackjack.
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