Change in HA When House Rounds Up

I was playing BJ at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, and noticed that the table didn't carry any quarters or half dollars, only the pink $2.50 cheques. I asked the dealer what would happen if I played an a fraction of a dollar and then was dealt a blackjack or surrendered the hand, and was told they would round up to the nearest half-dollar. So, a $7.50 BJ would pay $11.50 instead of $11.25 and a $7.50 hand surrendered would return $3.50 instead of $3.25.

For the math enabled out there, what is the change in HA when the house must always round up to the nearest half dollar for surrenders and BJs?

Dan Y.

It depends on what bet you start with. If you're winning an extra 0.25 on naturals for a 7.50 bet, that's roughly +0.16% in your favor, but it doesn't scale with bet size: as you bet more, the impact of the rounding becomes much smaller. Really, it just means you're losing $1-$2 less per hour. The bump is even higher if you start with a $5.50 bet to win $8.50 (rounded from $8.25), or even $3.50 to win $5.50.

Quote: dtyst1

I was playing BJ at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, and noticed that the table didn't carry any quarters or half dollars, only the pink $2.50 cheques. I asked the dealer what would happen if I played an a fraction of a dollar and then was dealt a blackjack or surrendered the hand, and was told they would round up to the nearest half-dollar. So, a $7.50 BJ would pay $11.50 instead of $11.25 and a $7.50 hand surrendered would return $3.50 instead of $3.25.

For the math enabled out there, what is the change in HA when the house must always round up to the nearest half dollar for surrenders and BJs?

Dan Y.

I would bet $0.50 more than the minimum. For example, at a $10 table, I would bet 1 red chip, 1 pink chip, and 3 white chips, for which I would get $16 for blackjack and lose $5 on surrender. Here are my calculation results for the decrease in HA for various minimum bets for an S17 game:

Bet	HA decrease
$5.50	0.47%
$10.50	0.22%
$15.50	0.14%
$20.50	0.11%
$25.50	0.09%

To take full advantage of this system, be sure to memorize the correct payouts before you play, and don't give away too many of the white chips as tips.

Quote: dtyst1

I was playing BJ at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, and noticed that the table didn't carry any quarters or half dollars, only the pink $2.50 cheques. I asked the dealer what would happen if I played an a fraction of a dollar and then was dealt a blackjack or surrendered the hand, and was told they would round up to the nearest half-dollar. So, a $7.50 BJ would pay $11.50 instead of $11.25 and a $7.50 hand surrendered would return $3.50 instead of $3.25.

For the math enabled out there, what is the change in HA when the house must always round up to the nearest half dollar for surrenders and BJs?

Dan Y.

The $7.50 surrender would return $4.00.

Quote: ChesterDog

I would bet $0.50 more than the minimum. For example, at a $10 table, I would bet 1 red chip, 1 pink chip, and 3 white chips, for which I would get $16 for blackjack and lose $5 on surrender. Here are my calculation results for the decrease in HA for various minimum bets for an S17 game:

To take full advantage of this system, be sure to memorize the correct payouts before you play, and don't give away too many of the white chips as tips.

People employing this system don't care about the dealers or other players. In fact, don't be surprised if the pit kindly asks you to even your bet. The dealer would have to break that out EVERY SINGLE TIME, and if you're not tipping those whites, they'll be coloring you up to red EACH time. I know most people on here care more about .09% than what people think, so it won't make a difference. But as another player at the table, I'd be cursing your name for slowing a game up.