Slim Pickens these days. Casino only offers 6:5 black jack, H17, 8 decks, but penetration is fantastic. Was wondering if the game was beatable for a counter? If so under what circumstances (Bet spread etc.)?
Thanks
Are you talking 7/8 or 7.5/8. Is surrender offered? Wouldn’t play it if it’s not. What spread can you get away with? No sense playing without it. Should be able to use large spread since it is 6:5.
Yes, it’s beatable. Normally, I prefer heads up on 6 deck, but on 8 deck would like one other player to help absorb lousy counts and where I can spread to 2 in nice counts. I would tend to use low spreads in first part of shoe - the extra 2 decks creating huge additional wild permutations of cards. Spread steadily increases further you go into the shoe. Make sure your huge super max bet is still low ror on bank roll. Make sure your trip roll is much bigger than normal.
With surrender and 6:5, you’re getting close to 2% house edge - over 2% if no surrender. Also, since you’re likely flat betting usually first half of shoe, house will know your counting once you start ramping - shouldn’t bother them.
I would prefer 4/6 6 deck with surrender and 3:2 plus a few other goodies. Please note I haven’t simmed my comments - off the cuff observation.
8 deck is pretty hard to beat. If the pen is really good, you might be able to get a SCORE of $20 back-counting it, or spreading min to max with full indexes. Goes positive at about +4 H17 DAS no surrender.
Zen count generally gives you a lot better results. Roughly 25% better. Goes positive at about +7 true.
The Cash Cow.
Damn house still has an edge of 2.5%??? But then still got to subtract basic strategy and other variables to the game correct? Yes surrender is offered. I will spread 1-15 and even more as I don't care about this Casino, it's just on my way to somewhere else.
Thanks for your input Freightman!!
Initial house advantage isn't as important with 6:5. It's more about pen, number of decks, and being able to spread a lot. You need at least two of these to be favorable to get an edge. If you get all three, you can have a great game.
S17, DAS, RSA, LS aren't going to make a 6:5 game playable if there's a deck and a half cut off.
The Cash Cow.
You get a BJ on average every 21 hands or close to 4 times per hour, say 100 hands.
If you flat bet $100 you'll get paid about $600 (3:2) instead of $480 (6:5)
On a game with 0.5% HE, where you are suppose to lose on average $50/100 rounds (this of course includes the BJ payments), you are now giving away an additional $120 for a net loss of $170
Now, how can anyone with half a brain come to this conclusion: well how often do you get blackjack anyway? Although we get them, but not sure when we sit down and play we rely on them specifically.
PS. I was very conservative here, we should consider 5 BJ/hour more than 4 and you would add $150 to the theo loss.
Should not be doing 4 things at the same time...
Last edited by G Man; 03-29-2024 at 12:22 PM.
G Man
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