Promo Chips on Free Bet BJ

My local casino has a promo in the poker room (where I basically live) where they do "hot seat" drawings and you win $250 in promo chips for use in the casino if your name gets drawn.

These are standard promo chips, single use only (you keep the chip on a push but they take the chip on a win or loss) and can be used on even money bets only (BJ main game (no side bets), Roulette Odd/Even/Black/Red, Baccarat Player/Banker, Pai Gow, Craps Pass/Don't Pass/Come/Don't Come). So the chips are worth a little less than half face value after factoring in house edge.

They do pay you 3:2 on blackjack with these chips (the only payout available that's better than even money). But the casino also offers free bet blackjack, and you can use the chips there. Due to the free bet tokens on splits and doubles, this gives several opportunities to get effective payouts higher than even money, and I figure that this should more than make up for the about double house edge in this game vs regular blackjack. Plus it's more fun to play IMO.

I'm curious to know whether anyone has figured out the value of such a promo chip using the Wizard's free bet basic strategy. The Wizard gives the strategy and the total edge but not how often each higher paying outcome occurs so I can't figure this out without doing the whole strategy analysis over from scratch.

I'm pretty sure that this is the best place to use those chips so I'll use them there anyway, but I'm curious to know the value.

Edit: Follow-up question: When using the promo chips, should I ever deviate from the basic strategy in order to create the chance for a larger payout? I'm thinking, maybe (free) split 5s instead of free doubling to create the chance to get more free bet tokens in play? Possibly only against certain dealer upcards?

Quote: SkinnyTony

…. Edit: Follow-up question: When using the promo chips, should I ever deviate from the basic strategy in order to create the chance for a larger payout? I'm thinking, maybe (free) split 5s instead of free doubling to create the chance to get more free bet tokens in play? Possibly only against certain dealer upcards?
link to original post

I’m pretty sure that the rules dictate that you can only double on 55 for free. If you wanna split them, you have to put up the matching chips.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Quote: SkinnyTony

…. Edit: Follow-up question: When using the promo chips, should I ever deviate from the basic strategy in order to create the chance for a larger payout? I'm thinking, maybe (free) split 5s instead of free doubling to create the chance to get more free bet tokens in play? Possibly only against certain dealer upcards?
link to original post

I’m pretty sure that the rules dictate that you can only double on 55 for free. If you wanna split them, you have to put up the matching chips.
link to original post

That was the case with an old rule set, but every place I've played it in the last couple of years you could split any matched rank cards except 10 value.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I’m pretty sure that the rules dictate that you can only double on 55 for free. If you wanna split them, you have to put up the matching chips.

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

That was the case with an old rule set, but every place I've played it in the last couple of years you could split any matched rank cards except 10 value.

Interesting; I didn't know that was ever a rule. FWIW the WoO lists the rule as "Free splits on all pairs except 10s"

Firstly, promo chips are not allowed in free bet Blackjack. If you can double a 55 pair for free, do not split in any circumstances.

Secondly, I find the best use of promo chips is probably on the games that you can surrender.