What is the house edge for the following rules ?

Hi all,

I was just wondering what the house edge is at Casino de Montreal and if you can make an okay profit by counting. Is it worth it or not? Personally I think this Casino is the last place you would want to play BJ but hey its the only one close to where I live, all other casinos are at least 2hr drive.

Here are the rules:

- 8 decks.
- Dealer hits on Soft 17 and stands on Hard 17.
- Split any pair up to 4 times except for Aces (only once).
**When you split Aces you only get one card on each.
- DAS is allowed on any 2 cards.
- Dealer checks the hole card everytime he is showing a picture OR an
Ace, if he has blackjack, game ends right away (I am not sure if
you win, push or lose if you were dealt a blackjack in this situation)
**Of course insurance is offered when dealer is showing an Ace.
- Penetration is around 65%.
- You are allowed to play behind someone else but he makes the calls, maybe this is good when back counting and when table is full? not sure ..

If anybody can calculate the house edge for me, I'd appreciate it.
Do you guys think its worth couting/playing here ?

Thanks
Thomas

I am no expert here and cannot give you the direct answer. I wonder if late surrender is allowed. A casino near where I live (in LA) offers almost the same game rule and no surrender is allowed. I played there once for 3 hours and won very little. So I no longer play there. But if late surrender is allowed, the game may be much more appealing.

8 decks? 65% pen? only backcounting will work but your EV will be so small ( how often will count jump high enough to be worth playing).
starting disadv.: 8 decks.... -0.57

H 17...-0.21

DAS.....+0.14

total:-0.64

If you have BBiB check Snyder's profit index based on more specific conditions and still.... you'll see your game isn't profitable and if you change some factors extremely(1-50 spread or so), it will maybe be playable but only marginaly.

Okay, assuming backcounting is the only way to go at this casino and that I am willing to be patient enough to wait for a high count ... there is another problem, the 15$ tables are almost allways full.
So when backcounting and the count goes high, an open seat will most likely not be available. Thus, the only thing you can do when the count is high is to play behind someone else. This interesting option is available at this Casino.

Now I'm wondering, is it recommended/profitable to play behind someone else? assuming that person does play according to basic strategy but does not vary his/her strategy since he/she is not counting (I am counting behind him/her).

I'm just trying to see if there is a way to beat the game at this casino, even if its a small edge, by playing the 15$ tables.

Oh and there is no surrender, sry I forgot to mention that in the rules.

Any advice is appreciated :)
Thanks
Thomas