Blackjack Payout Variations to Avoid

On 06.08.11, In Blackjack Odds, By Vivi

The payout you receive for being dealt a natural blackjack is the biggest payout you can get in the game. It is what every blackjack player is hoping to be dealt at the onset of each hand. The payout is a 3-2 payout and it is the only payout you should be getting for a natural blackjack.

However there is a fad in both online blackjack and casino blackjack for blackjack variations. These variations, while having the potential to be entertaining, they have one major flaw—aside from the side bets, but that is a whole other topic. The major flaw is in the payout for a natural blackjack.

There are two main categories that blackjack variations can fall into: single deck games and side bet variations. Both of those should be self-explanatory, but in both categories players do not receive a 3-2 payout for a natural and that variation in payout hurts a player’s edge.

In single deck blackjack games, where the play is the same and there are no side bets, players receive a 6-5 payout instead of the 3-2. This causes a 1.39% loss to a player’s edge. This is because the house does not pay players as much. If you were wagering $10 a hand, a 3-2 payout would yield $15 while a 6-5 payout would only yield $12. Get into larger wagers and the difference becomes harder and harder to put up with. Safe to say you are paying to play in a single deck game and the increase in edge gained from only having one deck is overshadowed by the decrease from the payout variation.

When it comes to side bet blackjack variations, the payout variation is worse for natural blackjacks—which is one more reason why side bet blackjack variations should be avoided. When a player is dealt a natural blackjack—the highest hand in the entire game—they are only given a 1-1 even money payout. So if you wager $10 you would only receive $10. The blackjack player’s odds are hit for a loss of 2.27%.

Neither hit to a player’s odds is desirable and so such payout variations should be avoided, and by extension, such blackjack variations.

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About Online Blackjack Games and Variations

On 08.13.10, In Blackjack Rules, Blackjack Strategy, Online Blackjack, By Vivi

Those who play online blackjack are bound to see blackjack variations from time to time. They crop up everywhere, in the majority of online casinos. They are out there—Face Up 21, Super Fun 21, Blackjack Switch and more. The problem is that not all novice online blackjack players truly understand these blackjack variations and the impact their rules have on their blackjack odds.

One of the biggest hits to a player’s blackjack odds comes from the payouts offered by these blackjack variations. Whereas in regular online blackjack games, a natural blackjack receives a 3-2 payout, in the majority of variations the blackjack payout is an even money payout.

And an even money blackjack game will take 2.27% off of a player’s blackjack odds. If you are playing according to basic strategy, the house’s edge will go from 0.5% back up to 2.77%. Playing in a game with an even money payout like that is only handing your edge right back to the house.

Another common rule found in blackjack variations pertains to doubling down. Many variations only allow players to double down on 9s, 10s or 11s. This impacts the player’s blackjack odds in a negative way again, taking 0.18% away from the player’s odds.

Typically doubling down can take 1.6% from the house’s edge. That is a big hit to their edge. And that is why many blackjack variations will only allow doubling down on 9s, 10s and 11s only.

The key thing to understand about blackjack variations is that they were created to take players’ money faster. And while they can be fun to play from time to time, they should only be played for fun in practice modes so as not to risk losing any money; or to play blackjack variations at low stakes. That is how you handle your blackjack strategy in regards to blackjack variations.

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About Single Deck Blackjack Games

On 07.23.10, In Blackjack Rules, Blackjack Strategy, By Vivi

While playing blackjack online is fun—not to mention convenient—there will be times when novice blackjack players will find themselves in a brick and mortar casino. Naturally they would want to play blackjack.

Now these are good students of blackjack. They know that the more decks there are in play at a table the more the blackjack odds tip towards the dealer. Naturally these students of blackjack will seek out the single deck games that have made a comeback in brick and mortar casinos.

But they are back with a twist.

The twist is the payout. In many—not all but many—of the single deck blackjack games to be found in casinos do not offer the usual 3-2 payout. Instead many single deck blackjack games offer a 6-5 payout.

Unfortunately many novice blackjack players do not quite understand what a 6-5 payout does to their odds.

Not only does a 6-5 payout meant that the player is receiving less for his blackjack in terms of the payout, a 6-5 payout also has a negative impact on a player’s blackjack odds.

Blackjack odds are based on your opportunity to make a profit from the game. When a house rule makes it harder for the dealer to win, it increases the player’s blackjack odds because that rule decreases the dealer’s chances of winning, which conversely increases the player’s.

In the case of the 6-5 payout, players lose some of their blackjack odds simply because they are receiving less money for a natural blackjack. Less money received in a payout means that the opportunity to profit is less, hence lowering the blackjack odds of the player.

When pulling up a chair to a 6-5 blackjack game a player is lowering their blackjack odds by 1.39%. Even playing with basic strategy cannot overcome this reduction in odds because of the payout, not because of house rules or player choices in plays.

Because of the reduction of odds—not to mention the lost money—it is best to avoid playing at 6-5 payout tables. If all of the single deck games are 6-5 payouts then play at the blackjack table with the least amount of decks.

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How Payouts Effect Your Blackjack Odds

On 07.16.10, In Blackjack Rules, By Vivi

The different kinds of payouts offered in both online blackjack and regular casino blackjack do not really seem to impact the player’s opinion of the game. As long as they are receiving a payout for their natural blackjacks they are happy.

If a player has done some research on blackjack payouts they know not to play in a game that offers a 6-5 payout. But they see it explained that they are receiving less money and that is the reason not to play in 6-5 payout games.

But there is another reason for avoiding blackjack games that do not offer players a 3-2 payout for their blackjacks: different payouts can actually reduce your blackjack odds.

Not only do you receive less money in a 6-5 payout game, it also reduces your odds by 1.89%. Just because of the change in payout alone.

For players who are fans of blackjack variations, such as games like Super 21, those games also have different blackjack payouts. Most of them, because of the potential—although it is not a great potential—to win a side bet, the payout for a natural blackjack is reduced. In most blackjack variations the payout is only 1-1, or even money, for a blackjack. A 1-1 payout reduces your odds by 2.27%.

A 1-1 payout actually has the worst impact on your blackjack odds of all of the different type of variations.

The reason a lower payout hurts your blackjack odds is because it reduces your opportunity to make money off of the game. Even though you are receiving something for your natural blackjack, it is not what you would traditionally make—that is why it reduces your odds.

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Do Not Insure You Blackjack

On 06.25.10, In Blackjack Strategy, By Vivi

In blackjack you will sometimes hear of players who insist on insuring their blackjack against a dealer’s Ace. They perceive it as guaranteeing that they will receive a payout, that in that they are saving money and their blackjack odds.

However, they will lose money and take a hit to their blackjack odds in the long run. And it is all in the math.

Part of what helps a player’s basic blackjack odds is that they receive a 3-2 payout when they are dealt a natural blackjack, while the dealer does not receive a payout when he is dealt a natural blackjack. Blackjack odds are based on a player’s opportunities to make money. The better the opportunity the more it improves your blackjack odds.

This is why receiving a 3-2 payout is so important. It is always why players should avoid blackjack games and variations that do not offer a 3-2 payout.

When you take insurance on your blackjack against a dealer’s Ace you are giving up your chance of receiving that 3-2 payout for the guaranteed even money. Players who believe in taking that even money just to make sure they are getting money feel that if they are receiving some money so they must be doing good. After all, receiving money is good right?

Actually in this case it is wrong. Taking even money, a 1-1 payout, for a natural blackjack can have a big negative impact on your blackjack odds. How big? A 1-1 payout for a blackjack hits your odds for 2.27%.

So you have a choice. You can take the even money and the 2.27% hit to your blackjack odds, or you can decline insurance and take the chance at the 3-2 payout and keep a hold of your odds.

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Playing First and Busting

On 05.28.10, In Blackjack Strategy, Online Blackjack, By Vivi

Like any casino game—does not matter if it is online or not—blackjack is constructed so that the house starts off with the edge. While the 3-2 payout helps to boost the player’s online blackjack odds, the game has two aspects that feed into the house’s edge more naturally than rules that favor the house.

Those two aspects are playing out your hand before the dealer and busting. And they can go hand in hand really.

Let’s look at an ordinary game of online blackjack. It is just you and the dealer. You are dealt your two cards and the dealer has an up card and a hole card. Once the cards are dealt you must play out your hand before the game can continue. There is no way around it.

I know, this seems so trivial. How can playing out your hand first impact your online blackjack odds?

Well, let’s say that you hit and hit again and wind up busting. At that point your wager, your money, belong to the house. And it does not matter whether or not the dealer busts. In fact, the dealer can bust when playing out its hand after you have already busted and your money will still be collected for the house.

And that is the disadvantage of playing out your hand first. And because you are playing first and could lose your money before the dealer plays out its hand, it is considered a disadvantage. Disadvantages are what lower the player’s blackjack odds, while advantages, such as doubling down, increase the player’s odds.

In a way you could consider playing first the trade-off to receiving 3-2 on a natural blackjack. But then that really is not that fair of a trade since you play first in every game while you do not receive a 3-2 payout in every game. And that is why playing first and busting feed into the house’s odds.

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