I recently had the pleasure of appearing on the “Gambling with an Edge” radio show, and I spent some time talking about playing variants of blackjack. Although we talked about some of the advantages of doing this on the show, I wanted to summarize some of these advantages. Here are several reasons to play other versions of blackjack found in the casino.
To begin with, you are far less likely to be caught counting while playing a blackjack variant. Many of these games are located in carnival pits, with no blackjack games around them. Typically you are surrounded by games like War, Let It Ride, and Four Card Poker. In this situation the pit and the dealers are not likely to be looking for card counters. On top of that, your play itself is counterintuitive to most dealers. There tend to be very few of these games available in the casino, so the dealers do not know the correct plays for these games. Take for example the game of Spanish 21. This game elicits correct plays that just seem wrong to the average player. It is quite common for me to be sitting at a table, asking the dealer to give me a card, while all the other players at the table are saying “No, don’t hit!”, and the dealer is asking me “Are you sure?”. Of course, if I bust first and then the dealer busts as well, everyone else at the table gets paid and I am considered the village idiot. At this point, both the dealers and pit bosses assume my play is of no threat to the casino.
A second advantage of variants is increased payment errors. Many of these games have special rules: blackjack pays even money, or late surrender, or a slew of funny payouts for specialty hands. It is not uncommon to get paid 3 to 2 on an even money game, or to be offered even money before the dealer checks for blackjack on a game that should only pay even money after the dealer checks for blackjack. Late surrender is also a dying breed in many casinos. So, when a variant offers late surrender, many dealers don’t know the actual rule. Frequently late surrender in these games becomes early surrender because the dealers just don’t know the rule properly. The payment errors on specialty hands are random, but add significantly to your expected value.
A third advantage of playing blackjack variants is the comps. Casinos comp players based on their average bet, the time played, and the expected house value of the game. Most variants have a higher expected house value than a regular blackjack game. Therefore, casinos comp players more for playing a blackjack variant than they do for playing a regular blackjack game. This means nicer rooms, more meals, and in terms of expected value (EV), more free play opportunities. When I switched to playing more blackjack variants, the increased comps were very noticeable. The matchplay coupons that I received tended to be of much higher value and I tended to get more of them. This definitely adds to the EV of playing these games.
A final advantage to playing the variants, is that you can play longer sessions and spread your bets more. Although the theoretical expected value of playing blackjack tends to be higher than playing the variants, the practical expected value of the variants can easily beat blackjack. When the casinos see a player playing these games and they think that you are playing poorly, they pay very little attention to you. This allows for much longer playing sessions and allows you to spread your bets without worrying about heat. One of the most extreme cases of this for me was when I played at a table several years ago for over eight hours and spread my bets from $5 a hand to $400 a hand multiple times over the length of that session. There is no way that I would ever sit at a blackjack table for eight hours spreading my bets 80 to 1. The increased playing time and spreads produced an expected value that I could never hope to achieve at a regular blackjack table.
So, don’t dismiss these games because you think they’re no good. In the end, you might find them to have more value than you thought.
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Interesting piece! Thanks. Is Blackjack Switch considered a variant? No surrender, blackjacks pay even money, and dealer 22 is a push for all. IMO, lots more fun, Switch.
Re Spanish 21: I know the basic strategy is considerably different (and that the fact that playing regular basic strategy will get you killed makes this game so profitable for the house), but is there an accepted counting strategy for this game, including strategy variations? I assume that the effect of small cards coming out of the shoe is beneficial to the player, as in regular BJ, but how are bet-increase points determined? The game starts, effectively, with a true count of -4 off the top, so where does that have to go to make increased bets worthwhile?
Katarina Walker put out a book “The Pros Guide to Spanish 21”. Great book! It talks all about counting the game and includes index plays. The book is public and available on Amazon.
However, the aces are especially strong in this game. Just counting them as minus one, especially at S17 tables, significantly reduces your expected value. I spoke about how I count the game on a recent Gambling with an Edge podcast.
The best known published strategy was created by the late Katarina Walker and is based on HiLo. There are several unpublished systems for this game that I am aware of.
Using Walker’s system, most S17 games gain the advantage at -3 and most H17 games at -2. The correct optimal bets are calculated in the usual way based on your bankroll and the EV and standard deviation at each true count.
Playing an odd ball game and hope to be paid incorrectly seems odd ball. Don’t see to be GWE
Lone Wolf, you mention starting at -2 rather than Walker’s -4 for your count. Does that mean you move her index plays over two places also?
Blackjack variants keep the game fresh, and Lone Wolf’s approach is spot on! Ready for some new strategies.