DEAL ME IN
The Single Deck is Back in Town, but…
Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark: After a five year absence, the local casino where I play reintroduced single deck blackjack. Are these single deck games always a better play for the player than multiple deck games they also offer?

Howard M.

Typically, Howard, compared to a single deck game, the two-decker handicaps your play by 0.35%, with four decks it's 0.48%, six decks 0.54%, and eight decks 0.58%. So, given the choice, I would normally recommend playing on a game with the smallest number of decks.

Furthermore, Howard, blackjacks, which pay 3 for 2 (a payoff of $3 for every $2 wagered), occur more frequently on single deck games than on multi-deck games. To illustrate this, let's say your first card is an Ace. On a single deck game, 16 of the remaining 51 cards, or 31.37 percent, are the face or 10-value cards that would complete your blackjack. On a six-deck game, 96 of the remaining 311 cards, or 30.87 percent, would give you your blackjack.

So, the casual blackjack player who reads what I just penned thinks they're getting a bargain when they happen upon a single deck blackjack game. If Pilarski said that a single deck blackjack game offers the best odds for the player, it's gotta be true.

Oops, there's itsy bitsy fine print to read first. The above statement is simply NOT always true, especially when it comes to a 6 to 5 game (a payoff of $6 for every $5 wagered). I'm pot heavy figuring that there's a snowball's chance that this game the casino reintroduced is anything but. Watch.

The house advantage on a normal single deck game is 0.18%, ("normal" meaning getting the maximum value for a blackjack, i.e. a game that pays 3 to 2). The 6 to 5 game has a house advantage of 1.45%, more than eight times the advantage the casino has on a normal single deck game, plus, it's almost triple the house edge the casino carries on an eight deck shoe.

The arithmetic affecting your wallet concurs. If the player gets paid 3/2 on a blackjack on a $20 bet, the player gets paid $30. If the player gets paid 6 to 5 on a $20 bet, he gets paid only $24 for a blackjack.

Although a decreased payout of $6 per blackjack might seem bearable to some, with play at normal speed you can see as many as five blackjacks per hour. So being shorted $30 an hour is more moolah gone bye-bye that I'm ever willing to live with.

Dear Mark: In blackjack, why are the small cards good for the dealer?

Tony T.

It's because the dealer has to follow rigid rules regarding hitting, one being that he or she must hit a hand of less than 17. Thus, by being forced to hit these hands, guess what ends up being the most important card in the deck for the dealer. The five, Tony, as it will make at least 17 out of any stiff hand the dealer has.

Dear Mark: I am curious as to what are the odds of getting a royal flush in a 7-card game like Hold'em? I got one for the first time the other night.

Kevin M.

With five cards dealt either to you or on the board, in combination with any two other cards, the probability is 1 in 30,940 of an always-elusive five-card royal.

Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.

~Vannevar Bush,

the Godfather of the wired age

Got a question about gambling? Write to: Deal Me In, P.O. Box 1234, Traverse City, Michigan 49685 - e-mail: pilarski@markpilarski.com + To order Mark Pilarski's "Hooked on Winning" audio cassettes-laminated win cards package ($12.95 plus $2 S&H) call 1-800-WINNERS.