So in last nights The Amazing Race, the teams were given an option of playing blackjack to continue the race. Here are the rules:
All 4 players must play
In one hand, all four players must beat the dealer(or the dealer busts) to get a chip.
After 3 chips you finish and can continue the race.
So here’s my GQ. What’s the best strategy to finish as quickly as possible? Basic strategy, or would it be better to avoid the dealers 10s by just standing on everything. Obviously if you know basic strategy then decisions come quickly, but let’s assume that players when deciding to play may take ‘some’ time to make hit/stand decisions.
My other thought is to tell everyone to not hit 12 or more on any occasion. It’s a quick decision that any player can make.
The easiest strategt was to stay on everything, although a simple modification would be to hit only if you had 11 or less. The rationale is that you would win everytime the delaer busted, which would be often enough that you wouldn’t have to wait too long. This is different than standard blackjack due of course to the presence of a bankroll making the fact that losses count against you.
Provided that you have an unlimited number of hands to play (that is, you don’t have to post a bet to play or have a limited number of chips to start with) then you simply have everyone stand on every hand and wait for the dealer to bust 3 times. The deal has to hit on 16 and stay on 17, right?
Dag Otto, yes, dealer is playing with normal house rules.
I agree that the easiest solution is to wait for the dealer to bust 3 times. So I guess hitting on hands under 12 is of no consequence. Therefore to finish as quickly as possible you probably shouldn’t hit at all. Agree?
It was kind of a weird game, but you could see in some of the hands they played that people were playing as individuals, and not as a team ie. people were going over 21.
I figure the easiest option is for everyone to stay on whatever they have provided one team member has 18 or more, and the only people who should draw are those with 11 or less.
Hitting on hands of less than 12 is not exactly of no consequence although it is probably of limited consequence. The four players could still win even if the dealer didn’t bust out as long as they held better hands, so hitting on less than 12 would increase the odds of that occurring without any additional risk.
True, the players could draw on 11 or less and end up with hands of 18+, which would let them win if the dealer stands at 17. This is a little unlikely, though, and if speed was a factor, I’d just stand on my first two cards no matter what and encourage others to do the same.
The game gets disrupted when the players start getting competitive with the dealer and each other.