BJ house edge with UK rules

[gfkostas]

Wizardofodds states that the european BJ has 0.62% house edge while at almost all london casinos leaflets state 0.55%. Who is right here? Am not sure if wizard takes under consideration that you can split as many times as you want in the UK.

[GrandMaster]

Wizardofodds states that the european BJ has 0.62% house edge while at almost all london casinos leaflets state 0.55%. Who is right here? Am not sure if wizard takes under consideration that you can split as many times as you want in the UK.

How many decks? 0.62% is for 6 decks, while casinos in the UK tend to use 4 decks, this should account for most of the difference. Unlimited splitting is not a big advantage, being able to split to 4 hands instead of 3 only reduces the house edge by 0.007%, I guess that the effect of being able to split to 5 hands instead of 4 would be in the range of 0.001%. Don't forget that not being able to split 4's adds 0.003% to the house edge.

As a general principle, I would trust the Wizard over any casino in mathematical matters.

[Mut3]

About trusting the Wizard more than the casinos:
Just keep in mind that casinos also give out basic strategy with 5-6 errors most of the time. Would you trust them about the house edge they say their game has?

I wouldn't. Not that 0.01% differences in the edge are going to affect you anyway.

[gfkostas]

Grandmaster the leaflet states: 0.55% for 6 decks and 0.51% for 4 decks.

[caruso]

How many decks? 0.62% is for 6 decks, while casinos in the UK tend to use 4 decks

??

Not at any I've visited - where do you get that from? 4 deck is an extreme rarity. It's either six decks dealt or CSM. I've seen one four deck and heard of another.

[GrandMaster]

Grandmaster the leaflet states: 0.55% for 6 decks and 0.51% for 4 decks.

Can you double on any 2 initial cards? The Wizard's calculations assume that you can only double on hard 9-11.

Not at any I've visited - where do you get that from? 4 deck is an extreme rarity. It's either six decks dealt or CSM. I've seen one four deck and heard of another.

4 decks and CSM is what I have seen, too, but the CSM does not affect the house edge.

[gfkostas]

Only 2-3 casinos in London use 4decks and that always with the shuffle machine.6 decks is the standard.

GM you can double on 9-11 only.

[caruso]

I was curious to know where you'd seen sufficient four deck games to say that our casinos "tend to use 4 decks", since to the best of my knowledge the four deck game is all but non-existent in this country. There are one or two in London, but no more than that and nowhere else as far as I know.

Re. the question: If you include resplit aces you get near enough the published figure of -0.55%. This would account for the discrepancy, and MS wouldn't have taken this into consideration as it's an addition to standard "Euro BJ".

EDIT: Yup, he doesn't list RSA, so that's it.

[GrandMaster]

Around here 4 deck CSM is standard, I saw a 6 deck hand-shuffled game once, maybe the CSM was broken.

[gfkostas]

Re. the question: If you include resplit aces you get near enough the published figure of -0.55%. This would account for the discrepancy, and MS wouldn't have taken this into consideration as it's an addition to standard "Euro BJ".

EDIT: Yup, he doesn't list RSA, so that's it.

Yup you are right caruso.I forgot about resplitting aces.For your information as far as I remember Hard Rock casino,Gala in bayswater and Napoleons are the only casinos with 4 decks...they are also the only ones with 3 pounds minimum at BJ before 8pm.Gala in tottenham court road used to have a sweet minimum on roulette of 50p but not anymore