BlackJack Variation (VanLak)

Hello All,

I am an intermediate player, understand BS well and learning to count. I am from the US but my job has relocated me to a country in the middle of the Indian Ocean called Mauritius. Although majority Hindu population here, they love gambling (especially the horses). They have quite a few casinos here and they offer regular style blackjack and a blackjack variation called VanLak. Both of them have very good playing conditions, but I am unsure which one is better based on different rules and I was hoping that someone could help me to determine which game has the best odds for me and I should pursue. I will first the list the rules for regular blackjack and then for VanLak (you will love them). I have just purchased the Casino BlackJack software from this site and I am loving it but am struggling to input all of the rules for this VanLak game.

Regular BlackJack
6 Decks, Burn 3 Cards at the start of the shoe, penetration varies but about 70%.
BJ pays 3 to 2, Insurance 2 to 1, Double any 9, 10, 11.
Resplit any number of times (have personally split 6 hands before, a couple of times) double on split, again 9, 10, 11.
Dealer Stay all 17's
No Surrender

VanLakHave fune with this one. lol
4 decks, burn 5 cards at start of shoe, penetration about 80-85%. Insurance 2:1, Surrender on the first 2 Cards (but not against an A)
Regular Blackjack (they call it a VanLak) pays 1:1
Suited BJ (they call special VanLak) pays 3:2
Two AA pays 2 to 1
3 7's (777) pays 3:1
5 unbusted cards beats a 21 but not a blackjack 1:1 payout.
Double 9,10, 11 (but I need to check doubling on a A8, A9)
Only split once but can double after split
Dealer stays all 17's
Here's where it gets a little strange
Ace Values: 2 cards Ace value is 1 or 11
3 Cards Ace Value is 1 or 10
>=4 Cards Ace Value is 1
If any player has 5 unbusted cards then dealer must stay with 2 cards at 15 and with 3 cards at 16 (I have not seen this happen yet, so I could be wrong on it, but that is what the rules said).

My initial view is that with all of the extra bonuses and the penetration is that the VanLak game has better odds, however the blackjack payout being 1:1 and only 3:2 on suited hurts the odds I know. Also the other game offers unlimited splits whereas VanLak only allows to split once.

Look forward to hearing if the experts have any comments.

Bob

I feel like at least for counting purposes the first game might be better. You may even need an altered basic strategy for the 2nd game. Even though 5 card charlie is a GREAT rule for a player, it is tough to overcome blackjack pays 1 to 1.


Blackjacks pay 1 to 1 -2.27%
Player cannot resplit aces -.08


777 pays 3 to 1 automatically +0.05%
Five card Charlie* +1.46%

Also, the fact that blackjack pays 3-2 is pretty important to most counts. The effect of burning the 3 cards on the 6 deck is very small. Thats weird that the penetrations very so much from each game, ~2 decks cut off of the 6 deck is pretty poor. However I think the six deck would be more valuable as you may have to develop a new playing strategy on your own for that crazy game and overcoming the blackjack pay out is difficult (this is why 6-5 single deck games are generally avoided).

Thanks for the information this really helps me out. One quick question. You mention that your odds reduce by -2.27% when BJ only pays 1:1 but does this increase slightly since it still pays 3:2 for a suited BJ? Just trying to see with the odds increased because of the 5 card Charlie if it evens the odds more.

Also the AA pays 2 to 1 straight away, when you split (and since you can only split once) doesn't this increase your odds since if you split Aces you are not guaranteed that you will get blackjack and it only counts as 21 and not BJ.

The Ace changing values with more cards is a little different but after a while you get used to it, it has helped me and hindered me both when it goes to a 10 value after 3 cards are played as for just a 1 value after 4 cards it seems that most of the time after this number of cards you are counting the value as 1 anyway (and it helps on the 5 card charlie).

Thanks for the information this really helps me out. One quick question. You mention that your odds reduce by -2.27% when BJ only pays 1:1 but does this increase slightly since it still pays 3:2 for a suited BJ? Just trying to see with the odds increased because of the 5 card Charlie if it evens the odds more.

Also the AA pays 2 to 1 straight away, when you split (and since you can only split once) doesn't this increase your odds since if you split Aces you are not guaranteed that you will get blackjack and it only counts as 21 and not BJ.

The Ace changing values with more cards is a little different but after a while you get used to it, it has helped me and hindered me both when it goes to a 10 value after 3 cards are played as for just a 1 value after 4 cards it seems that most of the time after this number of cards you are counting the value as 1 anyway (and it helps on the 5 card charlie).

Yes I think the effective change would be -2.27% + .57% (Due to suited blackjacks paying an additional .5 unit) = -1.7%

Any 2 aces paying 2 to 1 is actually much better than I thought it would be. If I figured it out right (which is unlikely lol I have a limited statistics background:cry: ) ....

Since its a 4 deck game theres 16 aces. And since order doesn't matter the number of ways to get to get 2 aces = 16C2 = 120. And there are 208C2 different possible starting hands.

So 120/21528 = .5574136% of the time you will get AA to start. Assuming you get your 2-1 pay out regardless of dealer blackjack, .5574136% of the time you will receive an extra TWO units = +1.1148%

I'd have somebody else check out the math, though. I usually look at online sources to help figure things out. I don't even know if that ace value changing is good or bad or any real effect? It doesn't change the five ball charlie, but I'm not sure what effect it has on making a hand.

EDIT: I just realized I figured out the suited 3/2 effect for a 6 deck game, not a four deck game. It should be close anyways.