Dumb move, but good fun...

At a casino near Picadilly in London the other day, I saw a guy ask if he could double on his eleven. Thing is, it was a Queen + Ace !

This guy wasn't a complete newbie, I'd seen him play in another casino the week before, quite competently. He wasn't even drunk- just well ahead for the night and wanted to have fun - the dealer showed a five and he said he wanted to get paid on a double rather than the guaranteed 3:2 that was coming to him. Dealer looked rather confused but asked a pitboss who asked someone else, the answer came back No.

Is there anwhere around the world that will let you treat a natural 21 as a natural 11 and keep going? Sounds like fun if you like risks (in other words a fun way to lose) - but it would be great if you doubled and caught a 10 as the dealer drew to 17-20 or bust!

Yes, there are some places that will allow you to double down on a Natural.

Indiana Casinos will not let you double down on a Snapper, but Illinois Casinos will.

I decided not to keep track of which casinos had this option when I was editor of Trackjack after I had a discussion with Don Schlesinger, Norm Wattenberger, and Cacarulo about it.

Cacarulo determined that
using the HiLo Count, the Maximizing Indices would be:

BJ vs 6 = +28
BJ vs 5 = +27
BJ vs 4 = +34

There are no Risk Adverse Indices, so you should never actually
double down on a Blackjack.

MB/-T-

I tried doubling down on BJ a few times (*just for fun*)
when the BJ payoff was 6:5. (It's actually less than 6:5
since the payoff is truncated at the dollar level. For example,
if you bet 9 bucks and get a BJ, you are only paid $10.)

Every time I did that, the dealer called for the pit boss,
but *every time* and *in every casino* I tried this (in Reno
and LV), I was allowed to double down on BJs. (I *really*
don't see why not. It's just soft 21, and if you are allowed
to DD on 11 then you should be allowed to DD on soft 21.)

I know it's low EV move (even when the payoff is even money),
but I suspect that the indices shouln't be that big for
dealer's 5 or 6. Does anybody have numbers, say, when BJ is paid
1:1 or 6:5?

~BlackJack in the Box.

You are correct, that you would not need nearly as high a TC to reach a point when it would be advantageous to double down on it.

In the same discussion, Wattenberger calculated that for a 1:1 payout, such as for a soft 21 after having split tens, the TC would need to be +8 against a 5 or 6.

But, why would you play a 6:5 game? You can't overcome the disadvantage, and you are supporting the casinos' ploy.

MB/-T-

[1] I wanted to donate some of my hard-earned money
to poor casinos, most of which incidentally "hit jackpots"
only five or six nights a week.
[2] a cute dealer happened to be dealing at the table.
[3] some cute players were playing at the table.
[4] I *really* needed to look dumb (as a cover).
[5] I was drunk.
[6] I didn't see the small sign that says "BJ pays 6:5"
when I sat down on the table.
[7] et cetra, et cetra...
Millions of reason. ;-)

~Blackjack in the Box

The highest expectation for doubling an A,10 is against a six. In an S17 game, it is .682. The expectation in a 6:5 game for a natural is 1.2. By doubling down, you lose nearly half the gain in a 6:5 game. Of course, this begs the question that has already been asked in this thread.