mg's pontoon

**happygobrokey** · 30th September 2006, 08:57 AM

i have just signed up at some mg casinos and of course was drawn to the new pontoon gold game. it had a realistic feel like the gold series lauds, but it bugged me because the card has a ghost up to 25% of the draws.

i mean it flashes a different card (usually suicide king of hearts) before showing what was actually dealt. this happens to the dealer and me, but doesn't do anything but annoy me. it makes me think either me or dealer busts for instance, only to reveal the true card a split second later. anyone else seen this?

not really a major comlaint, so maybe this belongs in the general casinos forum. but it's a slight glitch they might want to look into, though it doesn't change any outcomes. unless it's just me that's getting that. um. yeah. cool?

**bossplayer** · 30th September 2006, 07:37 PM

Yes, I saw it too. Is pretty darn annoying. Anyone know what the HA is on this variant since you cant hit split aces?

**happygobrokey** · 30th September 2006, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by bossplayer

Yes, I saw it too. Is pretty darn annoying. Anyone know what the HA is on this variant since you cant hit split aces?

is that true? iirc you could, but i'm sure i was autoplaying and/or my brain was turned off so i might be mistaken.

**bossplayer** · 1st October 2006, 07:08 AM

Nah, you cant, look at the strategy chart in the software. It is even set up to NOT split the aces, which IS probably more beneficial not to... and hope for a 5 car trick.

**vinylweatherman** · 1st October 2006, 10:30 AM

I have seen this ghosting in all the Gold series games.
I am not sure what the HA is, but for the version on the Wizards site it is 0.17%, the MG version seems better by the dealer not hitting soft 17, however not being able to hit split aces would reduce this.

I wonder if the strategy chart is right though, as a ten card on a split ace is Pontoon, and not just 21, so pays 2:1, and this contributes to shaving over 0.4% off the house edge. If keeping a pair of aces in the hope of the 5 card trick is better than this, the chart is OK.
I have not found the working out for the calculation for Pontoon on the wizard's site, so cannot have a go at simply working out the effect of the two differences in MG. Since they allow autoplay, I expect the HA is similar to Vegas Strip BJ rather than Classic BJ.