Wizardに尋ねる #307

There is a blackjack game called Hot Action Blackjack being played at the California Grand Casino in San Francisco. The rules of the game are as follows:

  • Six decks in a continuous shuffler with an additional 18 jokers with a face value of 2.
  • Dealer hits soft 17.
  • Double on any first 2 cards.
  • Re-split up to four hands.
  • No drawing to or re-splitting aces.
  • No surrender.
  • Blackjack pays 6 to 5.
  • If the player's first two cards are jokers, then he gets a 4 to 1 bonus.
  • If the player's first two cards are suited aces, then he gets a 5 to 1 bonus.
  • Player must pay a 5% commission to play.

What is the basic strategy and house edge?

JPClav

First, here is my basic strategy under these rules:

All things considered, I show a house edge of 6.01% (ouch!) based on the initial wager. In other words, if the player bet $100, not counting the $5 commission, then he could expect to lose $6.01. It goes to show why I would stay away from player-banked games in California, unless you're the one banking.

This question is raised and discussed in my forum at Wizard of Vegas.