Blackjack 5 Card Trick

  1. Does Blackjack Beat 5 Card Trick
  2. Top 5 Card Tricks
  3. Blackjack Tips And Tricks
  4. Good Card Tricks
  5. Is There A 5 Card Rule In Blackjack
blackjacklad
I appreciate a lot of you are US based so can't make use of this offer, but from a maths/Blackjack geek perspective some of you may find it as interesting as I do.
I've come across a promotion with a UK online casino in which the player is awarded an instant £25 cash prize (no wagering requirements) every time they get 5 cards and win the hand. The minimum bet for the table is £5, and if the player is betting table minimum they still qualify for the full £25 prize.
The game is live Blackjack (dealt slowly by a dealer in front of a camera, usually an Eastern European woman caked in makeup), with a house edge of 0.7%. At the lowest tier of the site membership there is £1 cashback for every £1000 wagered on Blackjack, effectively making the house edge 0.6%.
I haven't delved into the maths fully but I'm pretty sure this is an EV+ offer simply by playing Basic Strategy betting £5 a hand and hitting the £25 wins every once in a while.
To boost the EV basic strategy could be altered. The wizard has a handy altered basic strategy chart for any games with a 5 card charlie rule, however I don't think the strategy would be identical as the conditions are different here.
With a 5 card charlie, if the player gets 5 cards without busting and the dealer doesn't get Blackjack, the player has won their stake x 2. With this offer, the player can get 5 cards without busting and still lose, without the dealer getting Blackjack. Also, the payout is bigger; if the player wins with 5 cards they get their stake back x 7 (the original stake, the win from the base bet, and the £25 from the promotion).
Card counting online games is usually a fruitless endeavour with the 8 or more decks and the limited penetration, however I think it could be used in this case to identify times when the chance of getting 5 cards unbusted is much higher. For instance I could bet £5 on 1 hand, but when the true count drops below -2 then spread out to more hands. An ace side count would also be useful, as when the count is low but the number of aces remaining is disproportionately high I could really go for it and spread out across as many boxes as possible.
Any thoughts?
charliepatrick
I'm guessing if the bonus is a fixed $25 then you're better off playing $5 unless, by counting etc., you've got a +EV situation ignoring the bonus. They may be many situations where you hit 4-card hands and 3-card soft totals of 18 (except against 7). I'd also guess you hit most 3-card 12s, so it may be better to hit not double (say) 9 vs 3.
SOOPOO

Rules Of Blackjack 5 Card Trick, casino oregon washington, slot agent max online gratis, casino oficiales fuerza aerea puerto montt. 400% Bonus, up to $4,000T&C's apply Planet 7 is a top choice for Aussie players because is has some awesome games, live dealers and fast payouts. Blackjack Rules 5 Card Trick. Blackjack rules 5 card trick As a popular home game, it is played with slightly different rules. In the casino version, the house is the dealer (a permanent bank).CrapsRules Of Blackjack 5 Card Trick rules of blackjack 5 card trick Roulette tab standard - Rules of blackjack 5 card trick.

Interesting. It sounds off the cuff that if you bet $5 per hand and occasionally win and extra $25 which is a huge bonus even if it happens just once every 100 hands, the game would be extremely +EV. If I am misguessing and this situation will come up far less than 1 in a hundred then you need to know the denominator. But even if it is 1 in 250 it may be enough to turn the game to +EV.
I guess one of the smarter math guys can make a guess as to how much the bonus is worth, it might not be exact because you would need to change basic strategy..... you are definitely hitting a 4 card 12 against a 6 as an example....
gordonm888
Is this 'no peek' European BJ?
Without any basic strategy changes: You should get a 5-card hand about 2% of the time . Such hands will tend to be evenly distributed between 17-21 and will have a win rate vs dealer in teh ballpark of 40%. So, roughly, this bonus is worth an average of $0.20 on a $5 wager without any strategy changes. (please forgive the U.S. currency units.) That's approximately a 4% EV bump to player.
However, as charliepatrick says, there are some changes to basic strategy to allow you to win this bonus more frequently.
1. Hitting any 4-card hand that is <18 and some 4-card 18s.
2. Hitting all 3 card 12s vs 4-6 and 3-card 13s vs 2-6.
3. Standing on most/all 5 card hands totalling 16 or less.
4. Not doubling on some soft hands (and some hard hands) that you would normally double on.
5. Not splitting A-A and instead hitting it in some situations.
6. Hitting (not splitting) 2-2 or 3-3 in some situations. (Or vice versa - splitting some pairs that you would normally hit, lol.)
So, this is a lucrative bonus. Played optimally and with minimum table stakes, I imagine that player will have >5% advantage on the house.
I could do a more precise infinite deck calculation but I think that some forumites have better tools than me and can do this calc more efficiently than I can.
So many better men, a few of them friends, are dead. And a thousand thousand slimy things live on, and so do I.
Ace
I ran a Markov chain to see how many hands would go to 5+ cards and win and it was 0.00604, or about 1 in 165.
So that would be a 3% bump to EV (5 unit bonus every 165 hands).
This is a decent but ballpark estimate since:
1) No adjustments to basic strategy
2) Did not account for splits/doubles . Overcounted 5+ hands so this probably cancels #1 more or less
3) Used infinite deck
4) Assumed all 5 card hands are vs dealer upcard >6. Only about 1 in 1000 hands go to > 4 cards when basic strategy says not to hit stiff hands (dealer upcard <7). Dealer upcard of 2/3 vs 12 would be immaterial
As with most Blackjack variations, simulation is probably the only way to get a precise number.
blackjacklad

Is this 'no peek' European BJ?
Without any basic strategy changes: You should get a 5-card hand about 2% of the time . Such hands will tend to be evenly distributed between 17-21 and will have a win rate vs dealer in teh ballpark of 40%. So, roughly, this bonus is worth an average of $0.20 on a $5 wager without any strategy changes. (please forgive the U.S. currency units.) That's approximately a 4% EV bump to player.
However, as charliepatrick says, there are some changes to basic strategy to allow you to win this bonus more frequently.
1. Hitting any 4-card hand that is <18 and some 4-card 18s.
2. Hitting all 3 card 12s vs 4-6 and 3-card 13s vs 2-6.
3. Standing on most/all 5 card hands totalling 16 or less.
4. Not doubling on some soft hands (and some hard hands) that you would normally double on.
5. Not splitting A-A and instead hitting it in some situations.
6. Hitting (not splitting) 2-2 or 3-3 in some situations. (Or vice versa - splitting some pairs that you would normally hit, lol.)
So, this is a lucrative bonus. Played optimally and with minimum table stakes, I imagine that player will have >5% advantage on the house.
I could do a more precise infinite deck calculation but I think that some forumites have better tools than me and can do this calc more efficiently than I can.


Thanks for that Gordon. Yes it's no hole card. Specifically the rules are:
8 decks.
No resplits.
Only 1 card to split aces.
DAS allowed.

Does Blackjack Beat 5 Card Trick


Dealer stands on soft 17.
No surrender.
If the dealer is showing a 10-value card and gets blackjack, any money the player has placed on a double they get back.
I'm thinking that when the count is +1 or higher I can increase my bet size by spreading £5 a box across several boxes, rather than increasing the amount wagered on just 1 box. That way I also increase the chance of hitting a 5 card hand.
Without being able to calculate a precise basic strategy I will be following the kinds of rules you have suggested. I'd be very surprised if on proper examination any of them turned out to be incorrect plays. By altering BS in this way the expected loss on my base bet will increase, but not to the point that it makes the offer negative EV.
I usually don't do offers online unless I am 100% sure of the maths in advance. However with this one being uncapped and likely being one of the few online offers that other UK advantage players won't touch I'm definitely going to milk it.
blackjacklad
Thanks Ace that's really interesting. As you suggest, the offer is definitely EV+ before making any adjustments for BS changes. With some of the more obvious changes being made the EV should be higher, though how much higher I don't know.
Romes

...I'm thinking that when the count is +1 or higher I can increase my bet size by spreading £5 a box across several boxes, rather than increasing the amount wagered on just 1 box. That way I also increase the chance of hitting a 5 card hand....

The higher the TC gets the less likely you are to draw out a 5 card hand. You should ignore counting, unless you want to count and spread to more hands when the TC goes negative, then some will argue you're card eating all the bad counts, etc, etc, etc.
You need to quantify the amount of the promotion. I saw above ~3%. If the game is -.7% off the top, then you have approximately till TC -4 before the added hand -EV over-weighs the positive EV return from the hand due to the promotion.

Top 5 Card Tricks

i.e.
TC < -3 = 1 hand, or sit out
TC = -2 = 2 hands
TC = -1 = 2 hands

Blackjack Tips And Tricks

TC = 0 = 2 hands
TC >= +1 = 1 hand
Some finer simulations/etc could tell you whether or not to play more than one hand in slightly positive territory.
Playing it correctly means you've already won.
charliepatrick

I ran a Markov chain to see how many hands would go to 5+ cards and win and it was 0.00604, or about 1 in 165....

I ran a very quick simulation using UK rules (i.e. allows resplits). The normal House Edge came out at 0.52% and 248269 out of 39.7m hands (1m shoes) used 5 cards or more and won. This comes out at 1 hand in 160 so corresponds with your figure.
Ace

I ran a very quick simulation using UK rules (i.e. allows resplits). The normal House Edge came out at 0.52% and 248269 out of 39.7m hands (1m shoes) used 5 cards or more and won. This comes out at 1 hand in 160 so corresponds with your figure.

Does 21 beat a 5 card trickGlad to hear that. That’s closer than I expected.
So with a 5 unit bonus per 160 hands, it’s a 3.125 % boost to the player before making any strategy changes. I can only make an educated guess that those changes would add about another 1%.
All this indicates that the player has about a 3.5 % advantage, with an N0 of only about 1300 hands (estimate standard deviation of 1.25). I assume you could easily play 200 hands per hour, so you could be confident of a profit even in the short term.
The only problem is that you can bet only £5 per hand to get the maximum % boost. Despite that, it’s still £35 per hour EV. If I could find this game in Vegas it would pay for my hotel room.
Last edited by: Ace on May 24, 2018

US Players and Credit Card, BitCoin Deposits Accepted!

How to Play Pontoon

Pontoon is a British card game that is very similar to conventional American blackjack where players are trying to get closest to 21, without going over. The game is originally derived from the French card game Vingt-et-un.

This game can be played with two or more players, but 5-8 players are generally recommended for premium play. The game uses a standard 52 card deck of playing cards (using 2 decks is recommended for games with more than 8 players). Players will also need either money or chips, to place their wagers.

How to Deal Pontoon

Good Card Tricks

Before the game begins, one player is chosen to be the banker. The banker has an advantage in Pontoon so the first banker is usually chosen by having all players cut for a high card. The player with the highest card becomes the initial banker. The minimum and maximum bets are usually also decided before the game begins.

Is There A 5 Card Rule In Blackjack

To begin the game, the banker deals one card face down to each player. The banker should start by dealing to the player to the left of the dealer and should end on the dealer. All players, besides the banker, can look at their card.

Starting with the player to the left of the dealer and going around the table clockwise, each player (other than the banker) places their initial bets within the agreed upon betting limits. After all bets have been placed, the dealer will deal each player a second face down card, which all players can look at. Each player should now have two face down cards.

How to Score Pontoon

The scoring of Pontoon is almost identical to the game of blackjack. All numbered cards are worth their face value in points. For example, the 6 of diamonds is worth 6 points. All paint cards (Jacks, Queens, and Kings) are worth 10 points each. The final card, the Ace, is worth either 1 point or 11 points, at the decision of the card holder.

Pontoon is scored by adding up your total points and trying to reach 21, without going over. If you achieve more than 21 points, you have busted and lose the hand. For example, if you were dealt a Jack and a 4, you'd have a total of 14 points. The game is won by reaching a total higher than the banker, without going over 21. If a player and the banker have equal points at the end of the hand, the banker always wins.

There are a few special card combinations in Pontoon that should be mentioned. The two important combinations are Pontoons and Five Card Tricks. Aside from these special combinations mentioned below, every other hand in the game is simply scored at its numerical value.

Pontoon

Pontoon is when a player is dealt two initial cards that toal 21 points, similar to blackjack. This is the best hand in the game and can only be achieved by receiving both an Ace and a 10 point card (10, Jack, Queen, or King). Pontoon hands receive a double stake at the end of the hand. If you wagered $5 and got a Pontoon, you'd be paid $10 on top of your $5 wager.

Five Card Trick

The second best hand in this game is called a Five Card Trick. A player has a Five Card Trick when they end up with 5 cards, without going over 21 points. A Pontoon beats a Five Card Trick. A Five Card Trick beats a three or four card 21, even if the Five Card Trick is less than 21. Five Card Tricks are also paid double stake when the hand is over.

Three or Four Card 21's

The third best hand in Pontoon are hands with 3 or 4 cards, that total 21. They beat all natural totals of less than 21 but do not beat Pontoons or Five Card Tricks. The next best hand would be 20, then 19, then 18, etc.

Player's Options

If the banker does not have a Pontoon (in which all players lose immediately), each player has several options for improving their hand. You should first begin by checking to see if you have a Pontoon. If you do, place the Ace face up on top of your bottom 10 point card. This hand is an automatic winner and you have no more options.

If your total is less than 21, you have the option of getting additional cards. Your first option is to buy another card by saying 'I'll Buy One'. You must increase your stake by placing a bet 1x-2x the size of your initial wager on the table. The dealer will then deal you another card face down. You can continue to buy cards until you reach 5 cards or go over 21. The second option for increasing your cards is to twist by saying 'Twist Me One'. With this option, your stake is not affected and the dealer simply gives you an additional card, face up. You can continue to twist until you reach 5 cards or go over 21.

If the total of your cards is at least 15, you have the option to stick by saying 'Stick'. By sticking, you are opting to keep your current cards and total and you will not have the option of receiving any more cards.

The final major player option is to split. If you are dealt two cards of equal value, you have the option of splitting the cards into two separate hands. To split, you must turn over your matching cards face up on the table and place an additional bet equal to your initial wager, for your new hand. The banker will then deal a face down card to each of your two hands. You now play these hands with the same options mentioned above, including the option to split another two matching cards. Note that you cannot split a non-matching 10 point combination such as a Jack and a Queen. Both cards would have to be Jacks to be able to split this kind of hand.

Banker's Options

After all players, other than the banker, have had their turns, the banker turns his two cards face up on the table. Note that the hands of the other players still aren't visible. They are still face down unless they have busted, twisted, split, or declared a Pontoon.

The banker now has the option of adding more cards to his hand. He can continue to add face up cards to his hand until he is satisfied with his total or goes over 21 points. If the banker busts, all players are paid their winnings (even money on hands that aren't Pontoons or Five Card Tricks). If the banker ends up with a total below 21 and stays, all players will turn their cards over to determine the winners. Remember that the banker always wins in a tie situation.

The Next Hand

After all wagers have been settled, the dealer adds all of the used cards to the bottom of the deck, without shuffling them. This provides players a strategy option to remember which cards are out of play. However, if there was a Pontoon in the previous hand, the cards are then shuffled.

If a player other than the banker is dealt a Pontoon in the previous hand and the banker is not dealt a Pontoon, that player becomes the new banker and the game proceeds.

More Blackjack Related Games: