Blackjack question I was curious about
In casinos blackjack obviously favors the house (usually with a small house edge of about 1% with optimal player strategy). The standard rules have most items favoring players - 3:2 payout on blackjack, fixed strategy for the house, doubling, splitting, surrendering. The only two edges the rules give the house are that one dealer card is face down and that the player must play first, meaning if the player and dealer both busy, the house wins.
Suppose we remove one of the house edges and deal both dealer cards face up. Which of the player edges would have to go away in order to restore the small house edge that exists in the standard game? For simplicity assume that the house still plays the standard “hit 16 or less; stand on 17 or more” strategy
3 Replies
Good question, I don’t think it’s possible. Giving the player both cards lets them play perfectly. Idk, Letting the dealer hit if behind? Don’t some variations make 22 a tie or ties the player loses?
Good question, I don’t think it’s possible. Giving the player both cards lets them play perfectly. Idk, Letting the dealer hit if behind? Don’t some variations make 22 a tie or ties the player loses?
It looks like you are correct. I was perusing wizardofodds.com. The author of that site gives advantages from various rule variations. Apparently the idea of letting the player see the dealer’s hole card has been used as a promotion in some places, but it’s obviously a losing proposition for the casino. According to the site, this gives the player a 10.1% advantage. For comparison, this is far larger than the advantage given by any of the rules benefitting the player, most of which are less than 1%. The single biggest way to reduce the player advantage is paying even money on blackjacks, which (if I’m remembering right) lowers the players edge by about 2%. That’s likely why nobody has ever offered a face up hole card version of blackjack.
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This is called double exposure blackjack. It is a game already offered in casinos. They balance it out with lose on push and bj pays even money.
