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Okay, on with the show.
I was playing Blackjack the other day. I lost about 40 bucks, no big deal. But I got to talking with the Pit Boss and that's what this week's blog is about. Our conversation, that is.
I asked the Pit Boss if there were any 6 to 5 games in town, here in Reno. (For those of you that don't know, 6 to 5 games refer to Blackjack games that don't pay out 3 to 2 if a player gets a blackjack, but only payout 6 to 5. These are horrible games, and you should avoid them like the plague.)
She didn't really snswer, but said that 6 to 5 games were a reaction by some casinos to the fact that they felt like they were losing money on their Royal Match games. Well, I know better. 6 to 5 games are just another attempt by the corporate casinos to increase their hold (profit). They're just like charging a resort fee, or charging for parking, or surge pricing at bars on holiday weekends. They're away for a greedy casino operator to act greedier.
Anyway, her point was that these side Bet Blackjack games were having payouts that were cutting into the hold percentage of those games. Most of you know what Royal Match and Pair Square games are, but for those of you who don't i will explain it.
These bets are a side bet that you make in addition to your regular bet on a hand of blackjack. When it's a Royal Match game, you're trying to get your first two cards to match each other in the same suit, with an added bonus if it's the king and queen of the same suit. When it's a Pair Square game, you're trying to get two cards of the same value.If you don't have a matching pair you lose the bet. the payoffs and odds on both types of games are exactly the same.
When they first introduced this back in the 80s the payoff was bad, but it's gotten worse. It used to be 3 to 1 payouts, now most places have dropped it to 2.5 to 1. On the Royal match games you will get paid anywhere from 10 to 50 to 1, depending on House Rules, if you got a king and queen of the same suit.
Well those of you who are good at doing math in your head can already see where this is going. This is a terrific house advantage. Your odds of drawing a second card that matches either the suit or value of your first card are, drum roll please, 4 to 1. So you're getting paid 2.5 to 1 on what is essentially a 4 to 1 bet.
This is a huge disadvantage to the player, and you should never, ever make this side bet. Not if you're serious about preserving your bankroll, that is. Players that count cards, and use basic strategy, are trying to shave mere percentage points off the house advantage. Why would you want to give any of that away by making a side bet that is very disadvantageous to the player?
Even the Royal match payout is a rip-off. Once you've drawn a king or queen of a suit, then the odds of drawing the matching king or queen in that suit are, roughly 51 to 1, since there's only one other card in the 52 card deck they can give you the match. Once in a great while you will find a casino that will pay the Royal match at 50 to 1, but not very often. Most places pay either 25 to 1 or less.
So, in review, let me just state that side bets are bad. You've got enough on your plate already, what with seeing and counting all the cards accurately, without making it look obvious that you are doing so. Plus you have to keep track of the running count, convert it to true count if necessary, adjust your bet(s) accordingly and track Aces. And then you have to use basic strategy perfectly for your hit and stand decisions. Why mess with a side bet that doesn't pay anywhere close to true odds?
Good luck, everyone.
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