5 Card Charlie

[Buddy_Cat]

I saw a similar post from back in February, but had a further question about this:

If a player at a $5 table that pays $25 for a five hand total between 17 and 21, win or lose, actually be able to overcome the disadvantage they are in playing during low counts? Is there information I'm not taking into account?

Thanks!

[RS]

There are different types of "5 card Charlie" rules.

Is it paid even money? Does it have to be 17-21 (if player busts on 5'th card, lose)? What are the rules to the actual BJ game you play (decks, doubling rules, etc.)?

[southduck]

Buddy_Cat this is a good game during the promo. if it is the same store I am thinking of. Many people have abused there previous promotions but the casino has limted there downside risk with the $25 payout only for special hours. You may want to also consider playing 2 hands @$10 min during the promotion to take a advantage. Also consider travel expenses as you may not have enough advantage to make the trip.

[Buddy_Cat]

Buddy_Cat this is a good game during the promo. if it is the same store I am thinking of. Many people have abused there previous promotions but the casino has limted there downside risk with the $25 payout only for special hours. You may want to also consider playing 2 hands @$10 min during the promotion to take a advantage. Also consider travel expenses as you may not have enough advantage to make the trip.

Great points. Thank you!

[Buddy_Cat]

There are different types of "5 card Charlie" rules.

Is it paid even money? Does it have to be 17-21 (if player busts on 5'th card, lose)? What are the rules to the actual BJ game you play (decks, doubling rules, etc.)?

It pays a flat $25. If the player busts on the fifth card, they lose. 6D H17 DAS RSA 4.5/6 pen

[ZenMaster_Flash]

NOTE:

To properly play this game your 4 card hands of 18 or less will almost universally be HIT;

although hitting a against a dealer 5 or 6 perhaps not. Help ! I am floundering here.

We need a sim of this !

[Nyne]

I'm assuming it pays $25 bonus as soon as you hit the 5 card 17-21, and your hand still plays against the dealer, meaning if you also win, you'd get paid for that too. This seems most likely as some players may be betting more than $25. In this case, we need the bonus EV from the hit to exceed the drop in EV when hitting compared the the basic strategy move of standing. The EV we gain from hitting is easy to compute. For hitting an 18, the EV of the 5 card charlie bonus is 3/13*$25=$5.77. The bonus EV for hitting 19 is 2/13*$25=$3.85, and for hitting 20 is 1/13*$25=$1.92. The Wizard of Odds has tables that are useful for these kinds of comparisons, but it's not the exact rules you are playing against. It's a good ballpark estimate though. To get the real answer, you'd need to compute the EV of hitting once vs. standing for the correct rule set. But using the rules the Wizard's tables are based on, hitting 18v6 costs 89%, so for a $5 bet, the EV gain on the bonus exceeds the cost of hitting 18v6. With a bet of $6.50 or more, standing is correct. Hitting 19v6 costs about 122%, so the EV gain on the bonus does not justify the hit. This should always be a stand. Hitting 19vT is about the best case scenario you'll find for hitting a 19, and it costs 79%, so 19 will always be a stand. I'll leave the rest as an exercise for the reader, but taking the difference in EV between a hit and a stand, then multiplying by bet size, will tell you the cost of the hit. Compare that to the bonus EV I listed above and determine if the hit is correct.