House
edge, burn cards and multiple deck blackjack
10 November 2006
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark: For the lowest casino advantage,
which game do you recommend that I play, craps,
baccarat or single deck blackjack? Ray L.
There are oodles of variables, Ray, but with
only finite space to hash over them, here's the
bottom line, life preserver attached: It depends
on how the games are played, and which bets you
make on those games.
To illustrate, take craps. The house edge on
this game can be anywhere from 0.18% to 16.1%.
Optimal strategy would be betting on the pass
line and taking 10X odds. You've now reduced the
house edge to 0.18%. With 5X odds the casino
advantage is only 0.32%, which is still a far
better than a bet on the bank hand in baccarat
which carries a casino advantage of 1.17%, or a
slightly lower 1.06% if you can find a game that
offers only a 4% commission on that wager.
Single deck blackjack with favorable rules,
along with employing perfect basic strategy does
put the house edge under 1%, but still, unless
you are a sophisticated card counter, a pass
line bet with full odds would be the "best bet"
of the three.
Dear Mark: I was recently in a home game when we
had an argument about burning a card. I have
looked and looked and I don't see any rules in
the contrary. The situation was this. Two
players were all in. One of the players said we
should deal the cards without burning before the
fourth and fifth card as that rule was only to
protect against card marking. So we dealt the
board out without the burns. After that hand we
argued whether or not we should be burning the
cards. We called the local casino and they told
the person that asked for no burn that it was
proper dealer etiquette to not burn a card. I
still don't think that is right. Can you clear
this up for me? Shane P.
For starters, Shane, whom did you call, the
hostess in the casino coffee shop?
Two, you stated "One of the players said we
should deal the cards without burning before the
fourth and fifth card," but it seems you all
agreed, then spit up sour grapes, and finally
you wrote me.
Well, it's tough to referee after the fact an
issue at someone else's kitchen table, but
here's the deal, pun intended.
When it comes to burning cards, it is the
function of the poker dealer is to burn a card
after each betting round ends and before the
community draw cards (the flop, the turn, and
the river) are distributed. It's commonplace in
all casinos and card rooms that I have ever
worked or played in and it is done to prevent
cheating.
Dear Mark: I have a question for you regarding
blackjack odds. Can you tell me the house edge
in each of the following types of blackjack
games – single deck versus two-deck, four-deck,
six and eight-deck shoe and continuous shuffle
machines? Seth S.
The house edge rises as the number of decks
increases, all other rules being equal. So,
Compared to a single deck, a two-deck game
handicaps your play 0.35%, four decks, 0.48%,
six decks, 0.54% and eight decks 0.58%. As you
can see, it is always to your advantage to play
on a game that offers the fewest decks. Also
note, the house edge goes up substantially when
you go from one deck to two, but the change is
less dramatic as you add more decks.
As for a Continuous Shuffling Machine (CSM), it
does lowers the house edge a miniscule amount
compared to a cut card six-deck game, but that
slight decline in the house edge will cost you
more money. What? How's that? It's because the
speed of the game increases by about 20 percent
when a casino uses a CSM. If the dealer never
stops to shuffle, you are going to be seeing a
lot more hands per hour, and with that
additional exposure of your hard-earned money,
expect to lose more than any cut card game.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Here is the
terrible truth. I get more pure happiness
winning twenty grand at the casino crap table
than when I receive a check for many times that
amount as the result of honest hard work on my
book." --Mario Puzo
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