I was wondering is it correct if I treat burnt cards as if they were behind the cut card? This would effectively make the penetration even worse. For example if an online game has 50% penetration (bad I know) and they burn a card prior to every round, playing head on would mean approximately 33 burnt cards before cut card, making the penetration only less than 3.5 decks out of 8. Am I thinking this the right way?
All unseen cards should be treated the same as the cards behind the cut. This includes cards that you couldn't see before being scooped up, burn cards or if you missed the first round. The Pen in that game is terrible and unplayable.
DM
Need much more info to make that determination
Well, the game is 8 decks, cut 50%, burn 1 card before each round, DAS, S17, Double any 2 cards, re-split aces, no hit on split aces, when doubling and dealer gets BJ lose both if A upcard, double bet returned if ten upcard.
Another game has: 8 decks, cut 50%, no burning of cards, noDAS, S17, Double any 2 cards, no re-split of aces, no hit on split aces and on doubling lose both bets.
Which would you say is the better game?
Obviously these are online games and, what it's worth, you can keep perfect count and even use pen and paper to do it if you want, because it's quite slow.
1st game is obviously better, but I doubt it has resplit of aces. It reminds me of Playtech Live BJ. As I remember the house edge without resplit of aces is 0.52%. But there is a better game by Playtech �Unlimited BJ. The house edge here is 0.42%. In this game one can early surrender the following pairs:
6, 6 vs 2; 8, 8 vs 9; 8, 8 vs 10; 8, 8 vs A; A, A vs A ;
and lose only 20% of his original bet.
Well, if resplit of aces is allowed, this lessen the house edge by 0.08%.
The house edge for the 2nd game is 0.71%.
But no pro would play these games not only for the bad pen, but because of the very slow play.
But you could find advantageous situations if you could abuse, as casino people say, the bonus system.
Apologies for my English.
Blackjack Rookie
I'm obviously no pro and since in my country brick and mortar casinos are owned by the government and in blackjack house wins ties, that pretty much destroys the game. I'm left with online live games to enjoy.
One more question about rule compositions though:
Is it better to have 6 decks, double 9-11 only , re-split to 4 hands or 8 decks, double any 2, no re-splits?
If the 1st game has re-split of aces then it has a smaller house edge by about 0.05%. If this is not the case then the 2nd game house edge is smaller by about 0.03%. So, the games are almost identical. But rules are not everything. Penetration is the most important thing for the card counter. Play the game with the better penetration. If all things are equal, then stick with the 6-decker (the less decks the better). 8-deck games are usually hardly beaten by straight counting.
BTW, a lot of online live games (all Playtech casinos) have comp points; usually you are given back a unit for 1000 units wagered. This lessens, additionally, the house edge by 0.1%.
Hope this helps!
Blackjack Rookie
