About some Asian rules

Hi there,

I come across a casino implying some Asian rules � multiple card surrender and surrendering after doubling down.

I�m interested to know how to play my hands properly under these rules and what an effect the Asian rules will have on the house edge. About playing strategy, I took a look in �Professional Blackjack�, and there my blackjack idol Stanford Wong throws a light on this matter. As to impact of these rules, maybe I have to buy Wong�s �Basic Blackjack�. I could try to calculate the problem manually, but it will be a hard and time consuming work, and there is a danger of mistakes. Perhaps, if somebody, like Dog Hand, is kind enough to run a simulation for me it will do fine.

The house rules are as follows: 6D, S17, DA2, DAS, ES10, ENHC, resplit to 4 hands including Aces. Under these rules the house advantage is optimally (perfect composition dependant strategy and dealer shuffling after every hand) about 0.2% and realistically (total dependent basic strategy and the use of a cut card) � 0.24%.
Here are the extra rules: multiple cards ES10, ES any 16 (2 or more cards) versus Ace, ES after doubling down. Of course, one may surrender any number of cards versus dealer�s 2-9.

I�m wondering if the new Asian rules will help the player overcome the house edge.

Thanks for any suggestion.

Apologies for my English.

Blackjack Rookie

Stanford Wong's book Blackjack In Asia will answer all your questions and gives strategy charts for all those rules including the 5-card rule. The player has an advantage off the top with some of these rules. The book is out of print but you might be able to find it somewhere. Maybe ask Al.

... Even the UNLV Special Collections Library doesn't have a copy. Personally, I have never seen the book. According to the linked article below, it is one of the "rarest gambling books" and is priced at $2,000.

Cobbson

but not 12-15 vs A???
u want to know the house edge n what else?

SCAA71,

Thanks for your attention.

Yes, ES only 16 (2 or more cards) vs A.

I�d like to know the house edge alone. To win one has to know his enemy.

I made some calculations of my one. I� m not quite sure about them (especially about multiple card ES10 and ES 16 (3 or more cards) vs A) because I had to use some approximations to find the frequencies. I took use of simulation data in Wong�s PB. I had to modify Wong�s data to adapt them to my rules. Just in case, I was slightly conservative in calculating the effect of the above two rules. Maybe the most accurate among my numbers are those about surrendering after doubling down. I calculated them taking in account that in ENHC surrender is a good buy when after doubling a player gets 16 or less vs 8 and 9.

Here are my results:

Rule, Effect

Multiple card ES10, 0.001507
ES 16 (initial hand) vs A, 0.000542
ES 16 (3 or more cards) vs A, 0.000798
Surrender after doubling, 0.000284

Total, 0.003131.

Thus, the extra rules give 0.3% advantage to the player. If initial house edge is 0.2-0.24%, I�d venture to guess that the BS player will enjoy a slight edge over the dealer of about 0.06-0.1%.

Maybe the effect 0.000798 being bigger than 0.000542 is a little bit strange, but who knows, perhaps 16 of multiple cards vs Ace is met more frequently than 16 of 2 cards vs Ace.

All revisions of my numbers are welcome.

Blackjack Rookie

They used to have these rules in Macau some 30 years ago. Really wonder where they are so generous now.