Some casinos offer six-deck shoe games as well as five-deck continuous shufflers. The five-deck game is already slightly better than the six-deck game, but the automatic, continuous shuffler offers odds similar to off-the-deck shuffles, so the game is even stronger. Jul 24, 2015 Single Deck 6/5 Blackjack. In a one-deck game, if two Aces or seven 'ten-cards' have been dealt, then you can keep track of what's been used and bet according. To stack the odds in their favor again, casinos began adding more decks to the game. Most casinos use either 6-decks or 8-decks per game these days. Certain cards taken out of the deck and increase or decrease your blackjack odds percentage and the house edge. This is very important for card counting. If you want the absolute perfect odds in card counting, you have to acount for each small change in the odds whenever a card is dealt. Many casinos now offer blackjack games in which blackjacks pay off at odds of 6-5 rather than the traditional 3-2 that is, $6 for a $5 bet rather than $7.50 for a $5 bet. The difference between 3:2 blackjack and 6:5 blackjack is simple. If you have a winning blackjack hand, you get paid 3 dollars for every 2 that you bet, or 1.5:1 odds. In 6:5 you get paid $6 for every $5 you bet, which is 1.2:1 odds. It may seem like a small difference but.
Multiple Deck Blackjack Rules & Odds In modern times, the most common versions of blackjack are played with 6 or 8 decks of cards. In Las Vegas, for example, 6-deck Blackjack is most common (thoughmore and more are starting to use 8 decks). Jul 30, 2007 Accounting for the chance of a push simultaneous player and dealer blackjacks this factor alone cuts edge by 0.0029 percent more in a six- than an eight-deck game. All of which explains, incidentally, why a one-deck game with a 6-to-5 blackjack payoff a paltry 20 percent bonus is a bum deal.
On This Page
Introduction
To use the basic strategy, look up your hand along the left vertical edge and the dealer's up card along the top. In both cases an A stands for ace. From top to bottom are the hard totals, soft totals, and splittable hands. There are two charts depending on whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17.
Other basic strategy rules.
- Never take insurance or 'even money.'
- If there is no row for splitting (fives and tens), then look up your hand as a hard total (10 or 20).
- If you can't split because of a limit on re-splitting, then look up your hand as a hard total.
If you play a mixture of six-deck games, some where the dealer hits a soft 17, and some where he stands, and you only wish to memorize one strategy, I would recommend you memorize the one where the dealer stands on soft 17. The cost in errors due to playing the wrong strategy is 2.3 times higher playing a stand on soft 17 game, with the hit on 17 strategy, than vise versa.
Basic Strategy in Text
For the benefit of my blind readers, here is the above strategy in text form, when the dealer stands on soft 17 and surrender is allowed. To use the strategy, start at the top, and follow the first rule that applies.
Surrender
- Surrender hard 16 (but not a pair of 8s) vs. dealer 9, 10, or A, and hard 15 vs. dealer 10.
Split
- Always split aces and 8s.
- Never split 5s and 10s.
- Split 2s and 3s against a dealer 4-7, and against a 2 or 3 if DAS is allowed.
- Split 4s only if DAS is allowed and the dealer shows a 5 or 6.
- Split 6s against a dealer 3-6, and against a 2 if DAS is allowed.
- Split 7s against a dealer 2-7.
- Split 9s against a dealer 2-6 or 8-9.
6 Deck Blackjack Rules
Double
- Double hard 9 vs. dealer 3-6.
- Double hard 10 except against a dealer 10 or A.
- Double hard 11 except against a dealer A.
- Double soft 13 or 14 vs. dealer 5-6.
- Double soft 15 or 16 vs. dealer 4-6.
- Double soft 17 or 18 vs. dealer 3-6.
Hit or Stand
- Always hit hard 11 or less.
- Stand on hard 12 against a dealer 4-6, otherwise hit.
- Stand on hard 13-16 against a dealer 2-6, otherwise hit.
- Always stand on hard 17 or more.
- Always hit soft 17 or less.
- Stand on soft 18 except hit against a dealer 9, 10, or A.
- Always stand on soft 19 or more.
As I've said many times, the above strategy will be fine under any set of rules. However, for you perfectionists out there, here are the modifications to make if the dealer hits a soft 17.
6 Deck Blackjack Practice
- Surrender 15, a pair of 8s, and 17 vs. dealer A.
- Double 11 vs. dealer A.
- Double soft 18 vs. dealer 2.
- Double soft 19 vs. dealer 6.
My thanks to Kelly for putting together the above text strategy.
By Henry Tamburin
There's an awful blackjack game that is spreading like wildfire in casinos throughout the US. The game is played with a single deck of cards (that’s the come-on) and when a player gets a blackjack, he is paid at 6-to-5 instead of the traditional 3-to-2. That change in blackjack payoff increases the house edge by about 700% (Yikes!). Let me show you in dollars and cents what a 6-to-5 blackjack payoff costs you.
If you bet $10 and get a blackjack in a traditional game (3-to-2 payoff on blackjack) you will win $15. In a 6-to-5 game that same $10 bet will net you only $12. So you're out $3 for every blackjack hand that you get. On average you'll get four blackjacks per hour so for every hour you play a 6-to-5 single deck game, it costs you $12. Do you want to hand over to the casino $12 per hour for the privilege of playing blackjack? Of course you wouldn't but that is exactly what you do when you play the 6-to-5 single deck game at a $10 minimum bet.
When this game was first introduced at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas several years ago I thought it didn't have a chance because I mistakenly believed that players weren't going to stand for the reduced payoff. But unfortunately I was dead wrong as uneducated players are flocking to play these 6-to-5 single deck games to the delight of casino operators. The game has since spread to casinos in the south, mid-west, and east coast so be wary.
Why is the public enamored with this terrible game? I believe it's because the majority of players have heard for years that 'single deck blackjack games offer better odds.' That's a fact and the smart basic strategy player can virtually eliminate the house edge in a traditional single deck game where blackjacks pay 3-to-2. The problem is that the traditional single deck blackjack game is hard to find these days so marketing the 'new' 6-to-5 single deck games to the gullible public has been very easy.
The 6-to-5 game has these additional pitfalls:
1. The 6-to-5 payout rule hurts all players. That means the tourists will be adversely affected by this rule as well as the more skilled basic strategy players and card counters.
2. If you wager an amount that is not divisible by 5, your payoff for a blackjack gets worse. Suppose you wagered $8 and get a blackjack. In a 6-to-5 game you'll get paid $6 for the first $5 of your wager and even money for the remaining $3. In other words you get paid a net of $9 which is $3 less than what you would have gotten paid in a traditional 3-to-2 game. The reason for this is that a 6-to-5 payoff can only be paid out at the correct odds if the player wagers in multiples of $5.
3. Dealers are also impacted by the 6-to-5 payout. If you make a $1 tip bet for the dealer in a traditional 3-2 payout game and get blackjack, the $1 tip bet would earn the dealer $1.50. But in a 6-to-5 game, they only get even money because of the difficulty in paying off in small change (a $1 bet in a 6-to-5 game would pay $1.20).
4. Because the math doesn't work out with the 6-to-5 payoff, the even money option when a player is dealt a blackjack and the dealer shows an ace is prohibited. Most novice players and low rollers like to take the sure even money when they get a blackjack and in a 6-to-5 game they can't.
5. For the most part card counting is not profitable on a 6-to-5 game unless you can get away with a very big bet spread.
6. You'll not find a 6-to-5 single deck game on high limit tables. The reason is that high rollers wouldn't stand for a 6-to-5 payout (the per hourly added cost for a black chip player playing heads up against the dealer in a 6-to-5 game is about $180).
It's painfully obvious that this game is being marketed to tourists and amateur players that know very little about blackjack. So be forewarned and do not play any blackjack game where player blackjacks pay 6-to-5 (or worse: even money).
There's an awful blackjack game that is spreading like wildfire in casinos throughout the US. The game is played with a single deck of cards (that’s the come-on) and when a player gets a blackjack, he is paid at 6-to-5 instead of the traditional 3-to-2. That change in blackjack payoff increases the house edge by about 700% (Yikes!). Let me show you in dollars and cents what a 6-to-5 blackjack payoff costs you.
If you bet $10 and get a blackjack in a traditional game (3-to-2 payoff on blackjack) you will win $15. In a 6-to-5 game that same $10 bet will net you only $12. So you're out $3 for every blackjack hand that you get. On average you'll get four blackjacks per hour so for every hour you play a 6-to-5 single deck game, it costs you $12. Do you want to hand over to the casino $12 per hour for the privilege of playing blackjack? Of course you wouldn't but that is exactly what you do when you play the 6-to-5 single deck game at a $10 minimum bet.
When this game was first introduced at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas several years ago I thought it didn't have a chance because I mistakenly believed that players weren't going to stand for the reduced payoff. But unfortunately I was dead wrong as uneducated players are flocking to play these 6-to-5 single deck games to the delight of casino operators. The game has since spread to casinos in the south, mid-west, and east coast so be wary.
Why is the public enamored with this terrible game? I believe it's because the majority of players have heard for years that 'single deck blackjack games offer better odds.' That's a fact and the smart basic strategy player can virtually eliminate the house edge in a traditional single deck game where blackjacks pay 3-to-2. The problem is that the traditional single deck blackjack game is hard to find these days so marketing the 'new' 6-to-5 single deck games to the gullible public has been very easy.
The 6-to-5 game has these additional pitfalls:
1. The 6-to-5 payout rule hurts all players. That means the tourists will be adversely affected by this rule as well as the more skilled basic strategy players and card counters.
2. If you wager an amount that is not divisible by 5, your payoff for a blackjack gets worse. Suppose you wagered $8 and get a blackjack. In a 6-to-5 game you'll get paid $6 for the first $5 of your wager and even money for the remaining $3. In other words you get paid a net of $9 which is $3 less than what you would have gotten paid in a traditional 3-to-2 game. The reason for this is that a 6-to-5 payoff can only be paid out at the correct odds if the player wagers in multiples of $5.
3. Dealers are also impacted by the 6-to-5 payout. If you make a $1 tip bet for the dealer in a traditional 3-2 payout game and get blackjack, the $1 tip bet would earn the dealer $1.50. But in a 6-to-5 game, they only get even money because of the difficulty in paying off in small change (a $1 bet in a 6-to-5 game would pay $1.20).
4. Because the math doesn't work out with the 6-to-5 payoff, the even money option when a player is dealt a blackjack and the dealer shows an ace is prohibited. Most novice players and low rollers like to take the sure even money when they get a blackjack and in a 6-to-5 game they can't.
5. For the most part card counting is not profitable on a 6-to-5 game unless you can get away with a very big bet spread.
6. You'll not find a 6-to-5 single deck game on high limit tables. The reason is that high rollers wouldn't stand for a 6-to-5 payout (the per hourly added cost for a black chip player playing heads up against the dealer in a 6-to-5 game is about $180).
It's painfully obvious that this game is being marketed to tourists and amateur players that know very little about blackjack. So be forewarned and do not play any blackjack game where player blackjacks pay 6-to-5 (or worse: even money).
6 Deck Blackjack Game
Henry Tamburin has been a respected casino gambling writer for the past 50 years. He is the author of the Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide and was editor of the Blackjack Insider newsletter. You can read his latest articles on blackjack, video poker, and his personal playing experiences at https://www.888casino.com/blog/writers/henry-tamburin