blackjack switch and 22 push rule change

The casino I frequent has recently changed their rules on blackjack switch. The rule used to be hard total of 22 for the dealer was a push on all remaining hands. It has been changed to ALL 22 are a push. So if the dealer gets A-5-6 it's a push!

My question is how does this change the house edge? Is it better for me or the house? As far as I can tell I think it would be better for me. But that is purely a hunch on my part.

No, I think 12 is a bad hand for whoever has it. It's more likely to bust than to make a hand, and always has -EV as a player hand. I think this rule is good for the house.

Quote: casinoflea

But that is purely a hunch on my part.

What is A-A-3-7 ? Is that a soft 22? If it is only 3 card soft 22's, then it won't make much of a difference.

Your hunch cannot be right. A 12 is a losing hand, so the casino is better off taking a push.

Blackjack Switchweb page says under the standard Las Vegas rules, with six decks, the dealer hits a soft 17, and a switched blackjack counts as 21 points, the house edge is 0.58%, assuming optimal strategy.

Perhaps the Wizard will add a note as to the actual change in house edge with this rule variation when he does the calculation

Dwheatley and pacomartin thanks for the help. Any hand that could be 12 OR 22 is a soft 22. I fear you both are correct in saying my hunch was wrong. All other rules are the standard lv rules you quoted from. Would this change basic strategy? Im very curious how much the house edge changes here.

It shouldn't change by much, as the soft 22 is pretty infrequent. I would also be surprised if it changed strategy. But there is no way to know without running the computer program.

Does Switch know about this?


Seems like an odd rule. What if the dealer is showing an ace and they flip over another ace in the hole. That's it? They stop and call it a push?

That's what it sounds like, but that is probably the one situation where it favours the player, because I think in a soft 12 may actually be an ok hand against the average player hand.

I'm not sure where everyone is getting their math, but 12 is more likely to make a hand than it is to bust. Particularly if you were to consider that busting at 22 would give the push anyway.

my intuition is that hit on soft 22 favors the dealer.. i'm thinking the ratio of the dealer making_hand:bust:push would be around 3:1:2

Quote: geoff

I'm not sure where everyone is getting their math, but 12 is more likely to make a hand than it is to bust. Particularly if you were to consider that busting at 22 would give the push anyway.

That's what I was thinking, but I don't have the math to back it up.

But does that mean the edge goes up or down?

Yes Teddy It goes up or down. I think.

Since there is a no single card that would break the dealer wouldn't it be better for the house to hit? Even a 10 is still a push 22. Is there anyone here who can do the math?

Using Infinite Deck approximations a 12 will become:
17 10,3465%
18 10,3465%
19 10,3465%
20 10,3465%
21 10,3465%
22 33,4235%
Bust 14,8438%
Total 100,0000%

Based on the above the EV for a player based on his total is:
21 56,2300%
20 35,5369%
19 14,8438%
18 -5,8493%
17 -26,5424%
16- -36,8889%

Treating the S12 as 22 has EV of 0 in all players Hands.
If treated as 12 then the EV is better for the player when his has 19-21 and worse when he has 18 and below.
To get the correct answer we need to know the weighted average of the above numbers.
Simple Average is around + 6% for the player.
In normal BJ, where the player often stands in Stiff Hands, I would expect the Weighted Average to be a lot Worse than this simple average of +6% as a player would stand on 12-15 also.
But in BJ Switch (never played the game) the Switching means that the player very often gets to good hands (ie 19+)

My best guess is that the effect is small (better or worse) but Is very difficult to say whether is better or worse without doing a lot of detailed calculations.
And also it should effect BS on Marginal Decisions

Acetwo Thanks for the helpful reply. I feel like the player does get more higher hands on this game.