# Let's argue about Blackjack! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-argue-about-blackjack/347547 "2006-03-08T15:47:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-argue-about-blackjack/347547/21 "2006-03-09T16:03:33Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I wouldn’t take a side bet like that. Now, if I was playing the game I was talking about, it’d mostly be to kill time, so we’re talking about a two-dollar blackjack bet and a one-dollar side bet. The house edge is 24.71%, In what game? Straight blackjack? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-argue-about-blackjack/347547/22 "2006-03-09T16:32:46Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > In what game? > > Straight blackjack? The house edge on the sidebet is 24.71% I believe it’s generally called “Lucky Ladies”. Straight blackjack, the house edge of course depends on the exact rules, the number of decks, the use of a shoe versus a continual shuffler, and so on, but it’s generally around 0.5-0.6%. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-argue-about-blackjack/347547/23 "2006-03-09T16:42:55Z")
As long as we are arguing about BJ, let’s talk _Face Up_ Blackjack. In this, you get to see the dealer’s hole card. Blackjack, however, only pays even money, and dealer wins a push. How are the odds here compared to basic blackjack? I know I did much better at the Face Up table, but I don’t know whether it was just chance or better odds. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-argue-about-blackjack/347547/24 "2006-03-09T18:30:35Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > which one do you prefer? i haven’t ventured to the new one on the american side, but i’ve gont to casino niagara a bunch of times. > > as a college student at wonderful canisius, i love me some blackjack. > > yes, the correlation between college student and gambler is close. A Golden Griffon. I thought I was the only Buffalo area doper. Howdy neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-argue-about-blackjack/347547/25 "2006-03-10T02:09:07Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > As long as we are arguing about BJ, let’s talk _Face Up_ Blackjack. In this, you get to see the dealer’s hole card. Blackjack, however, only pays even money, and dealer wins a push. > > How are the odds here compared to basic blackjack? I know I did much better at the Face Up table, but I don’t know whether it was just chance or better odds. It depends on the exact rules. Do you remember what the splitting, doubling, and other rules were? I’d guess that the house edge is somewhere from about 0.7% to 1%, depending on the exact rules. Two good blackjack variants, if you can find them, are Pontoon and Spanish 21. Pontoon can be thought of as a restricted version of blackjack and the house edge is only 0.17% if getting A-T after splitting aces is a pontoon (same as blackjack.) I’ve generally only seen it played that way, so the only question is that you have to have the bankroll to handle the variance. Spanish 21 pulls all the tens (the cards of rank 10, not all cards with that value) out of the deck and compensates for giving lots of bonuses and other rules favorable to the player, so that the house edge can be as low as 0.38% or 0.40% or as high as 0.76%, dependent, of course, on the rules. Caribbean 21 has a house edge of only 0.19%, but I’ve never really liked the game. Super Fun 21 has a house edge of anywhere from 0.75% to 1.16% depending on the rules, and once again, I don’t really like the game. Blackjack Switch is fun, but hard to find as well. The house edge is anywhere from 0.18% to 0.02%. The hardest part is memorizing the switches (as you are playing two hand simultaneously) in cases where it’s not immediately obvious. Ties Win Blackjack is currently not available, but I’ve played the inventor’s Java version of the game. The house edge is about 0.5%, depending on the rules. What’s neat about this is that pushes pay 1:2, but you can’t split or double. I’ve never played Extreme 21, but I’m told the way it’s played in Vegas it has a house edge of 1.16%. That’s all the variants I know or can find. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-argue-about-blackjack/347547/26 "2006-03-10T03:10:14Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > which one do you prefer? i haven’t ventured to the new one on the american side, but i’ve gont to casino niagara a bunch of times. > > as a college student at wonderful canisius, i love me some blackjack. > > yes, the correlation between college student and gambler is close. While I’m not **Hodge** , I’ll chime in. I like the American side better. The dealers are nicer. There are more tables open. And they have a better spread of opening bets. It’s a sure bet there’ll be at least one $5 table. It’ll be hard to get into, but it’s there. At Casino Niagara I’ve never been able to get in on anything lower than a $15 CDN table. And the dealers are pricks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-argue-about-blackjack/347547.md?page=1)