Let's say you always know dealer's hole card

[Ronnie]

I am a relative newbie here so please forgive me if this has been discussed before.

Let's assume that you are playing a game of blackjack where the dealer deals all cards face up, including his own.

Obviously there would be changes in playing strategy, some of them drastic.

If the dealer shows a 20 and you have a 19 you would hit that 19!

Since none of the dealer's cards would be hole cards, you evaluate the dealer hand in its entirety and with total accuracy. So you know if the dealer has a pat hand, a stiff, or a non-stiff hand of varying quality.

Insurance would not be allowed of course!

Assuming it's a six-deck game and you can double down with any cards and can split but not resplit and can double down after a split and can split aces but only get one card on each ace and surrender is allowed ..... whew .....

What would be the player's advantage in such a game?

Also .....

What happens if the rules were identical to those I have described above except that the dealer wins all ties (pushes).

Would the player still have an edge?

[shadroch]

There exists a game pretty similar to the one you describe.. Its called Double Exposure. There are some other rule changes involved that make the game unplayable.The rules as you describe without dealer winning all pushs does favor the player,but dealer winning all pushs kills it.
A very good rule of thumb to remember about almost every variation from normal BJ that is offered in a casino is that if it were good for the player,the house wouldn't offer it.

[moo321]

Well, I think if you can double on any two cards, split unlike tens, and blackjack pays 3 to 2 there's a decent edge for the player. Most double exposure games pay even money on blackjacks, restrict doubling to 9-11 and don't allow surrender. Probably 2% edge or higher.

Wizardofodds lists a game with even money blackjacks and no surrender as a house edge of .26%. Are you sure the game is EXACTLY as you describe it? If so, I'll be there tomorrow.

[dacium]

If the dealer wins ties, they have the house advantage, by alot. A tie is about 7% of the time. So the house edge goes from being 0.5% to 7.5% if you play like normal blackjack. But then you see both cards and you can bring the edge down to about 3 - 4% I believe, still much worse than blackjack.

This game does allow you to make ALOT of money. Picture this: pat 20 vs a dealer hand of 16. You split, and if you are lucky to land another 10, split again and again until you have max hands.

[shadroch]

Originally Posted by dacium

If the dealer wins ties, they have the house advantage, by alot. A tie is about 7% of the time. So the house edge goes from being 0.5% to 7.5% if you play like normal blackjack. But then you see both cards and you can bring the edge down to about 3 - 4% I believe, still much worse than blackjack.

This game does allow you to make ALOT of money. Picture this: pat 20 vs a dealer hand of 16. You split, and if you are lucky to land another 10, split again and again until you have max hands.

What happens when you end up with max hands out and the dealer pulls the inevitable 5?

[EasyRhino]

Yep Ronnie, you've just described two different games.

1) A game where the dealer is accidentally exposing his holecard. This gives you probably the biggest legal advantage you'd find at a blackjack table. (But don't hit your hard 18, you'll just give yourself away)

2) Double Exposure Blackjack. The house edge is larger than regular blackjack:
http://wizardofodds.com/doubleexposure

I just skimmed through Wong's Professional Blackjack, and it seemed to imply that Double Exposure was still beatable with counting. But there was an awful lot of numbers in there, and no available game nearby, so I kind of glossed over it.

[moo321]

But double exposure games NEVER have surrender, and they almost always pay even money for blackjacks. If the game is as described, it's a lucrative double exposure game. Is this a home game, or something?