Blackjack promotion

Hi,
My local casino is offering a blackjack promotion next Wednesday, $50 maximum bet. They are placing 4 jokers in a 6 deck shoe. If you get a joker as one of your first 2 dealt cards, you get your bet paid back extra as a bonus, then you play the hand as normal with your original bet. If you get 2 jokers, each as one of your first 2 cards, then you get 2X your original bet back. Split is considered 2 normal hands, with joker bet bonus available on first 2 cards of each. Bonus available on double down THIRD card but you only get your initial bet paid back (not the double). All other times when joker appears e.g. as your third card, to dealer it is burnt. Can I get an estimate of house / player edge, over and above basic strategy, on this game please. I believe that this game gives the player an advantage off the top, but don't have an exact number

Quote: sorcererofodds

Hi,
My local casino is offering a blackjack promotion next Wednesday, $50 maximum bet. They are placing 4 jokers in a 6 deck shoe. If you get a joker as one of your first 2 dealt cards, you get your bet paid back extra as a bonus, then you play the hand as normal with your original bet. If you get 2 jokers, each as one of your first 2 cards, then you get 2X your original bet back. Split is considered 2 normal hands, with joker bet bonus available on first 2 cards of each. Bonus available on double down THIRD card but you only get your initial bet paid back (not the double). All other times when joker appears e.g. as your third card, to dealer it is burnt. Can I get an estimate of house / player edge, over and above basic strategy, on this game please. I believe that this game gives the player an advantage off the top, but don't have an exact number
link to original post

sorcererofodds,

I see this is your first post, so Welcome to the Wizard of Vegas board!

Your post left some questions (If you get a joker and receive the bonus, is the joker replaced with another card so you can play your hand? What is the normal house edge for the game?), so I can give just a rough estimate of the edge.

Adding 4 jokers to a 6D shoe brings the total to 316 cards, so the probability of any random card being a joker is 4/316. That means the probability of getting a joker in your first two cards is (a bit less than but really close to) 2*4/326, or 8/316, or about 1 time per 40 rounds. This alone will give you a 2.5% edge over the usual house edge for the game. If we assume that house edge is about 0.5% (so NOT a 6:5 table!), then you will have a healthy 2% edge over the house.

I know you have additional chances for the bonus (3rd card on DD; second card on split hands; double bonus for joker-joker) so your edge will be slightly more than 2% (again, for a NON-6:5 game), so I recommend that as long as you have the bankroll, just flat bet $50 on as many spots as you can.

And if you notice all 4 jokers have been used, maybe take a bathroom break until the new shoe ;-)

Hope this helps!

Dog Hand

When dealer gets a joker or player uses up a joker as a hit card, the joker is burnt. This just means the player's edge depends strongly on the number of available jokers in the remaining cards.

We can just assume in a half of the 2-card joker-containing hands, player does not have an edge because dealer uses up the other half. This will drop the player edge to 1%. This is a little tricky. I'm not sure if this is correct, but one thing is for sure, player needs to use up as many jokers as possible.

Quote: aceside

When dealer gets a joker or player uses up a joker as a hit card, the joker is burnt. This just means the player's edge depends strongly on the number of available jokers in the remaining cards.

We can just assume in a half of the 2-card joker-containing hands, player does not have an edge because dealer uses up the other half. This will drop the player edge to 1%. This is a little tricky. I'm not sure if this is correct, but one thing is for sure, player needs to use up as many jokers as possible.
link to original post

aceside,

Considering only the player and dealer, I agree with your implied assertion that, for 2-card, joker-containing hands, half of them will go to the dealer and half to the player. This is similar to saying that, on average, the dealer and the player each receive one-half of the BJs.

However, I do not understand why you claim, "This will drop the player edge to 1%." The calculation I showed is based on the player receiving a joker in his first two cards approximately once in forty rounds. Sure, we can also say the same for the dealer, but that does not invalidate the calculation: in the long run, the player will receive an addition 2.5% from this promo.

Dog Hand

Very good. I agree with you now. I was hesitating on the strategy and other things.

I think you will also want to split 22,33,77 vs dealer 8, unless jokers are depleted in the shoe. (I'm assuming this is DAS).

There are some other pair splits that may be optimum as the remaining jokers start to become a higher and higher fraction of the shoe. I haven't really surveyed all the possible splits. 66vs7 may be one. Maybe 99vs7 and 99 vs A? 44vs4?

Also maybe double on A6vs2 and A5vs3? Also double on A8 vs 6?

If the player can play 6 hands simultaneously, can you guys help calculate the player’s edge from this promotion?

Let me do a rough calculation first. Player getting a joker probability is 12x4/312=15%. This means the players edge gain from this promotion is 15%. This is crazy! Is this correct?

Quote: aceside

If the player can play 6 hands simultaneously, can you guys help calculate the player’s edge from this promotion?

Let me do a rough calculation first. Player getting a joker probability is 12x4/312=15%. This means the players edge gain from this promotion is 15%. This is crazy! Is this correct?
link to original post

I assume the promo bonus is only paid on any one hand that has the joker. You would not get paid for all six hands, so no change to EV. Maybe I don't understand the full rules.

I think your overall EV would be higher playing one hand. The later hands might turn negative EV based on jokers being consumed on the earlier hands. It is too late to reduce your bet. You have more flexabilty if you play one hand at a time, especially close to the cut card.

The basic rule is that when dealer gets a joker, that joker is burned; when dealer or player uses a joker to hit, that joker is burnt too. Burnt means removed. The main edge of this game is in catching jokers, but they can easily leak out.

My instinct is players must catch these jokers before they leak out, so that means that a player needs to play simultaneous multiple hands, but I just cannot get the math right. Please help.