3 Responses to “Avoiding Bad Rules”

1. jack says:

   March 17, 2012 at 9:31 pm

   Speaking of bad rules, these are the rules for my local casino, do you think its a beatable game for an efficient card counter.

   6 decks
   double on 9, 10 or 11
   dealer stands on soft 17
   split up to 2 hands including aces
   one card only on split aces
   double after split
   black jack pays 3:2
   insurance pays 2:1
   dealers black jack takes only the original bet
   first card from shoe is burnt and shown to players

   I worked out the house edge to be just over 0.53

   What do you guys think is it still beatable even though it has a couple of bad rules?
2. Kevin says:

   April 10, 2012 at 9:23 am

   I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure it depends on the penetration. i.e. if they reshuffle after 5 decks you’re in good shape, but if they reshuffle after only 2, you’re in bad shape. Anyone else want to weigh in?
3. Colin says:

   April 10, 2012 at 4:25 pm

   Kevin,

   yeah, penetration is a really huge part of a card counter’s EV. We constantly keep track and look for dealers that deal deeper into the shoe.