Side Bet Stories

[JohnGalt007]

What are some of the most unlikely side bets you've either seen someone at your table hit or you yourself have hit while playing blackjack? What was the probability of hitting those side bets?

I'll start: once I played a red chip on the pair square at my wife's insistence and got dealt two 5 of spades, got paid out $125. Another time the guy next to me was playing the pair square, "match the dealer", and royal match all at once in addition to his hand. He got dealt two 8 of clubs and the dealer's upcard was also the 8 of clubs. Pit decreed he be paid off the maximum on all three of these bets, got maybe $600 total. Both of these happened during double-deck games, so the probability of the first event was 1/103 = 0.0097 and the probability of the second event was 1/3502 = 0.0002856. I'm sure weirder things have happened at the tables, however.

[Freightman]

Suited 7’s - my first 2 cards and dealer upcard. Pays 200-1. I’ve had 4 or 5 over the years - I had money on 2 of them. Forget the exact odds but roughly 65000-1.6 deck shoes

Many instances of not playing the side bet throwing a nickel or dime out hitting 30-1 (same side bet as above) - get looked at a bit.

Getting a blackjack payoff with 2 nickels casually throwing the d8me out (same side as above) grabbing 3 -7’s non suited for 50-1.

Threw my first dime out on Kings Bounty in a higher count getting suited kings for either 20-1 payout (I think)

Again, Kings Bounty, had 2 spade kings with a dealer blackjack - mediocre count with no money down

[Freightman]

Entertainment value
A store which had contributed quite nicely to my personal relief fund gave me I can play any game but speech.

Went back after a few years when play was once again allowed during Covid. My benefactors, annoyed with me for my 13 or 14-1 (Covid) record discreetly watched my play likely hoping that I would suffer some negative variance so they could bounce me while down.

I wasn’t cooperating up maybe 1k when I randomly threw my first dime on the side bet scoring a suited 21 for a 15-1 payout. The dealer said - how did you know? A few minutes later, this rude dude and his mystic sycophants demanded my ID. Thanks, but no thanks.

They wanted to escort me to the cage - I preferred the front door and bonused my wife to later cash out for me.

[marriedputter]

Entertainment value

I wasn’t cooperating up maybe 1k when I randomly threw my first dime on the side bet scoring a suited 21 for a 15-1 payout. The dealer said - how did you know? A few minutes later, this rude dude and his mystic sycophants demanded my ID. Thanks, but no thanks.

I was once side counting some filthy side bet for hours and never got a good enough count to lay a bet. This has been more than a decade ago so I do not remember what I was counting. When I finally got the opportunity, I finally put the bet out and hit it with one try. Everybody else had been playing the bet at the table so by this time the dealer basically had muscle memory on whose bets to take and whose to pay. Since I had a sudden win, the dealer didn't communicate with words but she didn't need to. Her face said everything. She looked me in the eye and told me with her eye shape and pupils that she knew I had to be up to something so I laid off it after that. It was fun, but looking back I see it as not very smart for longevity.

[LugiaLvl138]

I don't play this bet, but Wendover offers the Royal Match side bet. Single deck pay table is any two suited cards on your initial hand pays 3 to 1, a suited King/Queen combo pays 10 to 1. I saw someone hit the suited King/Queen at least once, odds are roughly 1 in 330 hands.