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Hello everybody,
In Holland Casino there is a new type of Blackjack, called Blackjack Switch. You play 2 hands and can switch the cards.
These are the rules:
Dealer stands on soft 17
Blackjack pays 1:1
21 after a switch is just a normal '21' and does not count as a natural BJ.
DAS is allowed.
Double down only on 9,10,11 with first 2 cards.
Double down after switch is allowed
You can split as many times as you want.
Splitting after switch is also allowed.
Splitting aces is allowed
Hit splitted aces is NOT allowed.
No hole card (european style).
No surrender
Dealers 22 is a 'push'
Also here we use a 6-deck with automatic shuffler after each round.
Can somebody give me the exact house edge?
And is there an alternative basic strategy?
Please let me know and thanx!

Sounds a lot like the game available in Vegas, namely Casino Royale. The Wizard has the game deconstructed here.

Game is available online at many places.

'Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe.' -Rig Veda 10.34.4

Donald Trump is a fucking criminal

Hi Ramond,
I asked Holland Casino for the house edge. They mailed me the following:
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Hartelijk dank voor uw bericht aan Holland Casino.
Bij een optimale spelstrategie is het theoretische uitkeringspercentage 99.39% bij de Black Jack Switch.
Wij hopen hiermee uw vraag beantwoordt te hebben.
Met vriendelijke groet,
Customer Services
Holland Casino
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This means a house edge of 0,61%, which I am absolutely sure that this is not right and is much lower.
See also:
You can also find the basic strategy AFTER the switch decision. You can find a switch decision calculator onbased on the Wizard of Odds. There is also a Iphone app available. Know that due to the no hole card rule the decisions in the app are not right all the time when the dealer has a ten or an ace. I made a decision calculator for myself in Excel which is more exact (also based on the numbers of the Wizard). You can have the Excel-sheet if you want to.
The basic strategy is different from the normal basic strategy due to the 22 push rule. The differences are:
- Buy with 13 against a dealer's 2
- Buy with 12 against a 4
- Do not double down 9 against a 3 and 4
- Do not double down 10 against 9
- Only split 2/3's against 5, 6 and 7
- Do not split 4's
- Only split 6's against 4, 5 and 6
- Only split 7's against 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7
- Only split 9's against 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9
- The rest of the basic strategy is exactly the same.
Use the switch decision calculator to practice in an online casino and be aware of the differences between the rules between Holland Casino and the casino! For example: A switched blackjack counts as 21 and not as a blackjack.
There are some important rule of thumbs when you play this game in Holland Casino:
- Never switch a natural blackjack when dealer has a 2-6, 10 or 11
- 19 in one hand is better than 11 in the other hand (except formed with A/8), sometimes against a 6 you should take the 11 and double down.
- 11 or 10 in one hand is better than 18 in the other hand (except against a 7).
The Wizard has calculated a house edge of 0,58%.
If dealer stands on soft 17 you can substract 0,30% which results in 0,28%.
The differences between the Vegas rules and the Holland Casino rules are the following:
- No hole card.
Tis means no splitting aces against a ace. Impact is 0,016% on the house edge if we assume that switches do not impact the number of appearances (AA against A) in the game. However the impact is lower I think, because I expect that the ace will be switched a lot of times, especially when 19, 20 or 21 can be formed, and there is not really a reason to switch to AA for the same reason.
- No doubling down on soft hands.
Impact is 0,018% on the house edge if we assume the switches do not impact the number of appearances (soft hands which should be doubled according to basic strategy).
- Resplit aces is alllowed, but not in Las Vegas (as far as I know)
Impact is a decrease in the house edge of 0,08% in normal blackjack according to Wizard of odds. However due to the 22-push rule the expected value of the splitted aces is much lower and some AA-combinations will be switched to a better 'total combination' of the two hands you play. So the decrease in house edge is lower than 0,08%.
Let's say that it is 0,034% (the same as the previous two increases in house edge).
Then we can say that the house edge is approximately 0,28% and maybe even 0,26% due to fact that resplitting aces is allowed.
This is lower than the 0,5% in regular BlackJack in Holland Casino.
Holland Casino Eindhoven also offers the game with minimum bets of € 10 per box instead of € 20 in Rotterdam.
And only play this game if you have learned the strategies, or the casino will have a much higher house edge! And don't care about the other players when you buy with 12 against a 4. It is statistically better..

That's quite a comprehensive post Tino and contains some useful information.
When I calculated the house edge for the UK, (which is the same as Holland), I got a figure of 0.28%, for re-splitting Aces and 0.31% for not allowing Aces to be re-split. So I would agree with your calculations in your post.
Have you seen the game at Rotterdam? If so then is it getting much action from the players?

I have seen the game in Rotterdam, only on the evening when the game started. People were interested. I play it now regularly in Eindhoven. It is very popular yes.

Thank you Tino!!
People of Holland Casino never know the exact house edges for games. A lot of people and croupiers don't even know about basic strategy (even with normal BJ).
But thank you! I'm going to play the game in Rotterdam tomorrow. I see there is only 1 table. Is it very busy? Do I need to be there when the table gets open?
How many players can sit on the table?
And a house edge around 0,28%. woooww! thats amazing.
I got something for you (I posted it earlier). Go to Belgium, Middelkerke Casino. THERE IS NO HOUSE EDGE ON BLACKJACK.
Surrender against 10 is allowed.
Double down on any 2 cards allowed.
Hit splitted aces allowed.
5 cards win pays 3:2
6 cards win pays 2:1
7 cards win pays 5:1.
All t he other rules are the same as in Holland Casino (S17, BJ pays 3:2, DAS Allowed etc etc etc).