Blackjack Press

Anyone here have any info on a new version called Blackjack Press. The game involves placing 3 equal bets; 1 on each of 2 hands and a third bet that can be placed on either of the other 2 hands. Blackjacks pay even money and if all of your first 4 cards of the 2 original hands are the same color, the press bet is lost. I'm guessing a very serious house advantage on this.

From the Shufflemaster website:

To begin, players make equal wagers on both blackjack hands and the Press bet. Players receive two cards on each hand face up. The dealer receives two cards, one face up and one face down. If the players' initial four cards are all the same color, the Press bet loses. Otherwise, players decide where to place their Press bet - on their first blackjack hand or their second. The dealer then follows standard house rules for blackjack. If a player's hand beats the dealer's, their standard blackjack wager and their Press bet wagers win. Blackjack pays 1 to 1.

I'm not impressed.

Regards,
drumz1

Do you have a strategy or bet spread to beat this game?

It sounds to me like you are dismissing it out of hand ?

The rule that allows you to Press the better of your two hands is very favorable. It more than offsets the even money BJ rules. Early in September, when the Press bet first came out, SW and I went back and forth trying to analyze the BS advantage. For a while, there was some thought that it was even off the top.

Some of my notes on this were destroyed when my old laptop melted down later this fall. I still have the code and could re-run it if necessary.

Looking at what output I have , it looks like the raw Press bet, if you could apply it every hand, adds about 18% to your EV. However, they throw in this rule about losing 1/8 of the time, which lowers it to about 3% . This is not enough to overcome the even money BJs on two hands.

It depends a little on whether you use a simple Press strategy that is the same against all up-cards, or if you vary your press decisions by up-cards.

I did not do a card-counting analysis, but it seems reasonable that the bet would be favorable in high counts. Maybe sometime I will get around to doing that. If I do, I would not post my results on the Free Pages.

The rule that allows you to Press the better of your two hands is very favorable. It more than offsets the even money BJ rules.

The first thing I noticed was the even money payoff on bj's, which prompted my remarks. I'm not that familiar with the game, and have not seen any sims on it, so there is a possiblility I may have overlooked something.

If you happen to do a card-counting analysis, by all means, please do post them on the Green Chip page - I would be interested in your comments.

Thanks,
drumz1

number of decks, S17, DAS, LS, etc.

6 decks (possibly 8), H17, DAS, no LS, betting limit was $5-500

Suppose one of your hands is a 74 vs the dealer Six. Can you press that bet, then double down (i.e., effectively quadruple down)?

Yes, all splits and doubles apply to 'Pressed' bets.

Also, if a player and dealer both have a 'Blackjack', the player can still 'Press' the 'Blackjack' and get paid out as well.

So if both you and the dealer have a blackjack, you win your bet(s)? Sorry if this seems dense :>)

Thanks in advance for response.

Abe

Yes, if both the player and dealer have 'Blackjack' then the player wins. Furthermore, the player can 'Press' the 'Blackjack', before the dealer checks, so will receive the double payout (provided that the players cards are not all the same color).