How Effective Is Blackjack Basic Strategy When Naturals Pay 6-5?

How effective is blackjack basic strategy when naturals pay 6-5? Is there ever a good time to play blackjack when it pays 6-5? How can a game be called "6-5 blackjack" when at least at a table game, a casino doesn't pay off with 20-cent chips (since the pay for a natural is actually $1.20 per $1 bet)?

[Editor's Note: Our man in the blackjack trenches, Arnold Snyder, tackles all of today's questions.

Let’s start with your first question: How effective is basic strategy on a 6-5 game?

This payout, in fact, doesn’t change basic strategy at all. The 6-5 payout affects only card-counters’ betting strategies, essentially by requiring counters to place fewer big bets as they must wait for a higher count for the advantage to shift from the house to the player. Because of this, most counters avoid 6-5 games.

The 6-5 payout on blackjack s increases the house edge by 1.4% over what it would be with the standard 3-2 payout. This means that in a typical shoe game where the player expects to buck a house advantage of about 0.5%, 6:5 gives the house closer to a full 2% advantage.

Is there ever a good time to play blackjack when it pays 6-5? If by “a good time to play” you mean a “profitable” time for an advantage player to take a seat at the table, the answer is yes, but again, not so much for card counters. Many hole-card players loved seeing the 6-5 games take over the blackjack pits, as this trend greatly increased the number of hand-held single and double-deck games, which increased the number of poorly trained and sloppy dealers flashing their hole cards.

How can a game be called "6-5 blackjack" when casinos don't pay off with 20-cent chips? When bets in "off numbers/amounts" are made (such as $6, $7, $8, $9, $13), the return rates drop from 1.20-to-1 to anywhere between 1.166666-to-1 to 1.111111-to-1, which is even worse for the player than 1.20-1, and much worse than the 1.50-to-1 on 3-to-2. Still, the game can be called 6-5 blackjack, even when the payouts on many bets are less than 6-5, simply because state gaming regulators allow casinos to do so. The reasoning on this isn't so much devious as it is practical: Requiring casinos to “correctly” pay off bets using pennies, nickels, and dimes as needed would be a nightmare.

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Rick Sanchez Oct-19-2022

The Basics

The Basic Strategy on 6:5 BJ is don't play it.

Kevin Lewis Oct-20-2022

The actual question...

...didn't really get answered. The answer is that BS has the same value at 6:5 as it does at 3:2: it minimizes the house's advantage. If you're gonna play 6:5, learning BS benefits you exactly as much as it would when playing a 3:2 game.

David Miller Oct-20-2022

The question was answered

  "This payout, in fact, doesn’t change basic strategy at all".

David Oct-20-2022

Correct pay

“Regarding casinos to correctly pay off bets … would be a nightmare”. My bank, grocery store, convenience store, gas station, etc. all seem to have no problem correctly paying my change. Don’t be such a shill for the business - the real reason casinos don’t pay off correctly is because they are all slaves to their shareholders. Customers and employees don’t matter.

Lotel Oct-20-2022

Is "hole-card' cheating

 "hole-card players loved seeing the 6-5 games" Is that cheating, you have to see the dealers hole card by having  someone else behind the table signaling you what they have?

[email protected] Oct-20-2022

Correct Payoff

While I would never play 6:5 blackjack, to get the correct payoff all the player has to do is bet in $5 increments.  Since you'll virtually never see a table minimum of less than $5, that isn't hard to do.  It just like always betting in $6 increments when placing the 6 or 8 in craps.  Always betting in increments of the denominator assures correct payoffs.

Bob Nelson Oct-20-2022

Correct pay and hole carding

Even if you put pennies on a table players can make bets that can’t be paid properly.  It has always been the player’s responsibility to make bets that can be paid properly given the chips available at the table for games like blackjack and craps.

In Nevada courts have consistently told casinos it is up to them to protect their games by training their staff properly or whatever other measures.  Unless you are colluding with a dealer you may get read the trespass act and told to leave but shouldn’t be in danger of prosecution.  Of course different states or countries could have different laws and interpretations.

Doozey Oct-20-2022

BS

Best Strategy or what the bull leaves behind?

gaattc2001 Oct-20-2022

Here's a relatively simple analysis:

Assume you're playing $5 six-to-five. Each time you get a Blackjack, you get paid $6 when in the three-to-two game you would get $7.50. Thus, each Blackjack costs you $1.50. 
According to several authorities, perhaps even including Mr. Snyder, Blackjack frequency is about one hand in twenty. Divide the $1.50 loss per Blackjack by 20 and you get a loss of seven and one-half cents per hand. The exact figure is a little less because of Blackjack pushes, about one Blackjack in twenty or one hand in 400; but it's close enough. 
Seven and one-half cents is one and one-half percent of your $5 bet; so add 1.5% to the house advantage over the otherwise identical three-to-two game. A house advantage of 0.5% has now become 2%. Even the best card-counters can attain no more than about a 2% advantage, so counting is dead in the water in six-t0-five games. 
That's one reason I've mostly switched from Blackjack to tournament poker, which unfortunately is also on the decline in Nevada.

Raymond Oct-20-2022

Hole Card Play

My understanding, which may not be current, is that if YOU see the dealer's hole card while you're playing, it's legal to change your playing strategy.  If SOMEONE ELSE sees the hole card and signals you, that is illegal.

If you're a lawyer who knows this area and I'm wrong, please correct me.

Personally, I don't sit until I know the table rules, and if it's 6-5, I play by Rick Sanchez' basic strategy--I don't play.

Question of the Day - 20 October 2022

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