Now I have this friend who is adamant that standard blackjack rules say that for the dealer, aces are always counted as 11 when determining when to hit. For example, if the dealer has an 8, 4, and ace, they would stand, despite the hand total being a hard 13 with the ace being counted as a 1. My question for anyone good at math is: assuming all other rules are standard/good for the player, what would the house edge be for a game like this?
It's irrelevant. Your friend is wrong and the game does not exist. If it did exist, the rule would be advantageous to the player due to an increase in the frequency of the dealer busting (as in your example above where (s)he would have 23). Basic strategy would also be altered to take advantage of this.
This game actually does exist which is why I'm wondering if the player actually has the advantage. Also I believe you misunderstood, the ace would only be counted as 11 when determining whether to hit or not. In the example, the 13 hand would be considered 23 when determining to hit, so it would stand, but still counted as 13 when calculating who wins. This would make the dealer bust less but also lower their chance of getting to/near a 21. I know these rules are nonsensical, but that's how it is.
Gronbog is right. This is a gambling site for edges and profits. It’s not a math puzzle site. If you can define your rules a little bit better, I can estimate it though.
Email: [email protected]
It looks like you are saying that dealer stands on any soft teens?Originally Posted by aceside
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
A soft 12 is AA.
A soft 13 is A2.
A soft 14 is A3; AA2.
A soft 15 is A4; A22; AA3.
A soft 16 is A5; A23; AAAAAA.
you hit only these soft hands? Actually there more
Email: [email protected]
Basically your rule is not very different from this simple rule of dealer stands on all hands containing an Ace, because soft 12 to 16s are rare. This gives a large disadvantage to the dealer.
Email: [email protected]
You started things off in the wrong direction when you said
Your friend is wrong about this. It is not standard blackjack rules.
If you had started by saying, "I know of a blackjack variant where ...", then I would not have been so quick to dismiss your question. So yes, the dealer will bust less often, but (s)he will also make fewer hands totalling 17 or more. Basic strategy changes would be in order because of this. A more complete description of the rules and a CA analysis or simulation would be needed in order to compute the house edge.
With this strange rule, the dealer gives up about 0.1% of the house edge. Just an estimate.
Email: [email protected]
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks