Posts Tagged ‘blackjack side bets’

Blackjack Strategy: Don’t Take Insurance

Friday, April 30th, 2010

In the game of blackjack, whether you’re playing online blackjack or at a brick and mortar casino, you and the house have the same goal. That goal is to make money. Unfortunately, those goals are mutually exclusive. They can’t both occur at the same time. If you win money, the casino loses money and vice versa. For that reason, you need to keep in mind that while the dealer should be trusted, his interests are not the same as your own.

There are a lot of rules and decisions that are beneficial to the player, such as splitting and doubling in the correct situations. Unless you ask for help, though, the dealer won’t remind you to do that. The dealer probably won’t say, “You have a pair of sevens. Would you like to split them?” It’s up to you to know that you should split a pair of sevens.

However, there is one decision that the dealer will always ask you about and that is insurance. If the dealer has an ace as an up card, he will ask if you want to buy insurance against a blackjack. Not only that, but “Insurance pays 2 to 1” can usually be found printed right on the blackjack table, just to remind you. Is that out of the kindness of his heart? Hardly. The dealer is quick to ask about this because insurance is a bet with a high house edge. You’ll notice that the table doesn’t have “You should always split aces” printed on it.

Insurance is a suckers bet and you shouldn’t take it. For those who don’t know much about the rule, insurance is offered when the dealer has an ace as an up card, because in that case if he has a 10 in the hole, he has a natural blackjack and you would always lose unless you also have a blackjack. The dealer then offers insurance where you get paid 2 to 1 if he does have a blackjack and if he doesn’t, he wins that side bet and can also win the original bet if he still beats your hand.

Therefore, insurance is basically a bet that the dealer has a 10 in the hole. While there are more cards with a value of 10 than any other value, you need to remember that it’s still outnumbered. There are 4 cards (10, J, Q, K) out of every 13 that have a value of 10. That means there are 9 cards out of 13 that have a different value. In that case, the dealer would have a 69% chance of having something other than a 10 in the hole and a 69% chance of winning the insurance side bet.

For that reason, you shouldn’t take insurance when it is offered to you. In fact, as a general rule you should avoid any side bets in blackjack, because almost all of them have a higher house edge than the regular game. The only exception is if you are counting cards, which you can’t do at an online casino, and determined that the deck is rich in tens. In all other situations, if the dealer offers you insurance, say thanks, but no thanks.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Blackjack Side Bets: Royal Match

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Side bets are quite common in the game of blackjack, whether you play at an online casino or the brick and mortar variety. One of the reasons for the popularity of side bets is that players (incorrectly) see them as an easy way to win extra money. Another reason for their popularity is that casinos know that they are an easy way for the casino to take more money, since the house edge for the side bets are usually higher than on the regular game of blackjack. They also provide a sense of variety for the players who like to mix things up.

One of the more popular side bets at online casinos and land-based casinos is the royal match bet. This side bet, like with the perfect pairs side bet, only concerns the first two cards dealt to the player. In this bet, the player wins if the first two cards are in the same suit (an “easy match”) and gets a higher payout if they are in the same suit and one is a queen and the other a king (a “royal match”).

It’s really that simple. So what are your odds? There are two different common pay tables for this blackjack side bet, which I will call Pay Table A and Pay Table B. Pay Table A, which is more common, pays 2.5:1 for an easy match and 25:1 for a royal match. In Pay Table B, which you don’t see quite as often, the casino pays 3:1 for an easy match and 10:1 for a royal match. Players have a 23.2% chance of drawing an easy match and a 0.3% chance of drawing a royal match.

As you can see, Pay Table A pays slightly less for an easy match but significantly more for a royal match. However, since easy matches are much more common, Pay Table B is a much better deal. In fact, if you’re playing with 4 or more decks, there is actually a player advantage for this side bet (which is why the first pay table is more common at casinos).

The house edge for this blackjack side bet varies greatly depending on the number of decks in pay, for obvious reason. The more decks are being used, the more cards there are. The more cards there are, the more pairs are available to draw. Therefore, though the house edge for the regular blackjack game increases as the number of decks increases, your odds in the royal match side bet are the best in an 8-deck game.

In Pay Table A, there is a 10.85% house edge with one deck, an 8.32% house edge with 2 decks, a 7.07% house edge with 4 decks, a 6.67% house edge with 6 decks and a 6.46% house edge with 8 decks. In Pay Table B, there is a 3.77% house edge with one deck and a 0.82% house edge with 2 decks. With 4 decks, there is actually a player advantage of 0.63%. There is a 1.11% player advantage with 6 decks and a 1.35% player advantage with 8 decks.

Therefore, if you can find an online casino that offers the blackjack royal match side bet with Pay Table B, you should take that bet every time.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Blackjack Side Bets: Perfect Pairs

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

One of the appealing things about blackjack is that there are a number of variations for the standard game that can keep things from being too repetitive. One of those variations is the side bet, of which there are countless combinations. One popular side bet is perfect pairs.

The perfect pairs side bet is common in casinos in Australia and London as well as online casinos. This blackjack game is simple. You play everything else like the traditional blackjack game. However, if you choose to do so, you may also place a side bet on whether or not you will draw a pair in your first two cards. Any pairs after that mean nothing; only the first two cards for this side bet count.

There are three types of pairs that you might draw in this blackjack game. The first is the “perfect pair,” which is two identical cards, such as two ace of clubs. The second type is called a “colored pair,” which is two cards that match in rank and color, such as an ace of spades and an ace of clubs (both suits are black). The third type of blackjack pair is sometimes called a “mixed pair” and other times called a “red/black pair.” This is a pair that matches in rank but is opposite color, such as an ace of hearts and ace of spades.

There are three different pay tables that are common for the perfect pairs blackjack side bet. These examples show your odds when playing with 8 decks. While the house edge for the general game of blackjack increases as the number of decks increases, the house edge on the perfect pairs strategy actually decreases. That is because the more cards there are, the more pairs exist.

In the three common pay tables, a perfect pair pays either 25:1 or 30:1, a colored pair pays either 12:1 or 10:1 and a mixed pair pays either 5:1 or 6:1. Those may sound good, but look at your probability of drawing those pairs. In an 8 deck game (these are your best odds), you have a 1.7% chance of drawing a perfect pair, a 1.9% chance of drawing a colored pair and a 3.9% chance of drawing a mixed pair.

Because of the low probability of drawing those pairs, the house edge on the perfect pairs side bet ranges from 3.37% to 7.95% with 8 decks. If you think those are bad, the perfect pairs side bet has a house edge up to 26.2% when playing with 2 decks. Compare that to the 0.5% house edge for the regular blackjack game and you see how bad your odds are with this side bet.

Most online casinos allow this side bet simply for that reason: It is an easy way for the casino to take your money. Therefore, play this side bet if you wish, but you should realize that the odds are stacked against  you.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Blackjack Variations: Triple 7s

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Just when you think you have blackjack all figured out – you learned basic strategy and counting cards – they start throwing all of these variations at you to confuse you. There are blackjack variations like Spanish 21, pontoon and extreme 21 commonly found at brick and mortar and online casinos. Some online casinos have up to 40 different blackjack variations. Today’s variation that I’m covering is triple 7s.

Triple 7s is played as a side bet to a traditional game, which means you have to play strategy for normal blackjack as well as bet on whether or not you will be dealt any sevens and take a shot at the progressive jackpot. The house edge on this side bet is over 30%.

In most ways, triple 7s plays the same as traditional blackjack. You should still play the same basic strategy and bet the same as in a normal game. One difference in the game is that both of the dealer’s initial cards are dealt face up, rather than having a hole card. In this blackjack variation, you can only double on a 9, 10 or 11 and you cannot double after splitting.

The main thing that makes triple 7s different from traditional blackjack is the payouts. Aside from the regular pay out of 3:2 for a natural blackjack, there are also bonuses for having sevens in your hand. A single 7 pays 5:1 and a pair that does not match in suit pays 25:1. A pair that has the same suit pays out 50:1 and a triple 7 has different payouts depending on the house rules. A triple 7 diamond is the best hand of all and if you have that you hit the jackpot, which is a different amount depending on how many people are playing the game.

Because the house edge on this side bet is so high, it’s hard to recommend playing triple 7s blackjack. However, like progressive slots, which have a very high house edge, there is considerable potential reward to go along with the risk of this bet. It’s all a question of how much money you want to risk and what kinds of odds you are comfortable with.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »