June 6th, 2025 at 2:00:42 AM
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Hello, I am curious about the odds of getting a 20 and losing to blackjack.
4 standard decks. 208 cards
Total Hands: 208 × 207 = 43056 hands
Player Hard 20: 64 x 63 = 4032 hands
Player Soft 20: 32 x 19 = 512 hands
Player any 20: (4032 + 512) / 43056 = 284/2691 [ ≈ 10.5537% ]
Dealer 21(P hard 20): 62 x 16 = 992 hands
Dealer 21(P soft 20): 64 x 15 = 960 hands
Dealer any 21: (992 + 960) / 43056 = 122/2691 [ ≈ 4.5336% ]
Probability of both events happening:
(284 x 122) / (2691 x 2691) = 34,648 / 7,241,481 ≈ 0.4785% chance
This feels low to me so I'm not sure if I made a mistake somewhere along the way.
Can anyone verify that the work is correct or point out my error(s)? Thank you!
4 standard decks. 208 cards
Total Hands: 208 × 207 = 43056 hands
Player Hard 20: 64 x 63 = 4032 hands
Player Soft 20: 32 x 19 = 512 hands
Player any 20: (4032 + 512) / 43056 = 284/2691 [ ≈ 10.5537% ]
Dealer 21(P hard 20): 62 x 16 = 992 hands
Dealer 21(P soft 20): 64 x 15 = 960 hands
Dealer any 21: (992 + 960) / 43056 = 122/2691 [ ≈ 4.5336% ]
Probability of both events happening:
(284 x 122) / (2691 x 2691) = 34,648 / 7,241,481 ≈ 0.4785% chance
This feels low to me so I'm not sure if I made a mistake somewhere along the way.
Can anyone verify that the work is correct or point out my error(s)? Thank you!
June 6th, 2025 at 3:18:57 AM
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Let me consider an infinite deck game. The probability of a dealer blackjack is
8/169=0.0473.
The probability of a player two-card twenty is
18/169=0.107.
The probability of both events is
(8/169)x((18/169)=0.00504 =0.504%.
However, the probability of a known player 20 of any number of cards losing to a dealer Blackjack is 4.73%, but that hand can lose to a dealer 21 of multiple cards too.
8/169=0.0473.
The probability of a player two-card twenty is
18/169=0.107.
The probability of both events is
(8/169)x((18/169)=0.00504 =0.504%.
However, the probability of a known player 20 of any number of cards losing to a dealer Blackjack is 4.73%, but that hand can lose to a dealer 21 of multiple cards too.
Last edited by: aceside on Jun 6, 2025
June 6th, 2025 at 11:08:11 AM
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I used to want to buy insurance with a 20 against a dealer Ace.
June 6th, 2025 at 3:16:36 PM
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The odds of losing with a twenty seem to change depending on the size of the bet one makes. Nothing attracts a dealer BJ like a fish making a particularly large bet.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
June 6th, 2025 at 6:25:10 PM
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I didn't budget for losing on the dealer drawing to a 21 without a Black Jack.
June 7th, 2025 at 3:43:33 AM
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I bought in for 20units ($200) and lost it all without winning a hand playing basic strat. (6 or 8decks)
I didn't lose 20 hands... more like ~17.
Some were either splits or doubles
edit:
doh.. misread title of thread
I didn't lose 20 hands... more like ~17.
Some were either splits or doubles
edit:
doh.. misread title of thread
Craps is paradise (Pair of dice).
Lets hear it for the SpeedCount Mathletes :)
June 7th, 2025 at 7:28:52 PM
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Quote: pbM9000Hello, I am curious about the odds of getting a 20 and losing to blackjack.
4 standard decks. 208 cards
Total Hands: 208 × 207 = 43056 hands
Player Hard 20: 64 x 63 = 4032 hands
Player Soft 20: 32 x 19 = 512 hands
Player any 20: (4032 + 512) / 43056 = 284/2691 [ ≈ 10.5537% ]
Dealer 21(P hard 20): 62 x 16 = 992 hands
Dealer 21(P soft 20): 64 x 15 = 960 hands
Dealer any 21: (992 + 960) / 43056 = 122/2691 [ ≈ 4.5336% ]
Probability of both events happening:
(284 x 122) / (2691 x 2691) = 34,648 / 7,241,481 ≈ 0.4785% chance
This feels low to me so I'm not sure if I made a mistake somewhere along the way.
Can anyone verify that the work is correct or point out my error(s)? Thank you!
link to original post
Using your work as a template, here's how I would do it:
Total Hands Player: 208 × 207 = 43056 hands
Player Hard 20: 64 × 63 = 4032 hands
Player Soft 20: 2 × 16 × 16 = 512 hands
Total Hands Dealer: 206 × 205 = 42230 hands
Dealer 21(P hard 20): 2 × 62 ×16 = 1984 hands
Dealer 21(P soft 20): 2 × 64 × 15 = 1920 hands
Probability of both events happening:
4032 × 1984 / 43056 / 42230 + 512 × 1920 / 43056 / 42230 ≈ 0.4940% chance
June 7th, 2025 at 8:59:44 PM
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But if I only take insurance with a 20, I'll only win the insurance bet 4/13ths of the time.