House Edge and BS questions

[NewbieCC]

At the risk of raising the ire of zg, these questions arose from looking into on-line bj play. They are legitimate questions based on blackjack theory, so hopefully, I am safe. (just kidding with you, zg)

QUESTION 1: House edge
For Microgaming casinos, single hand games have the following rules, as per the Wizard of Odds web site:
- One deck
- Dealer stands on soft 17
- Double on 9 to 11 only
- No doubling after splitting
- No resplitting
- Player may draw to split aces
- No surrender
- Full no peek (player loses total amount bet against dealer blackjack)
- Insurance not resolved until end of hand

The Wizard of Odds Site says that the edge is -0.13

Well, this didn't sound right to me so I did the following math pulling numbers from bjmath.com:

+0.040 Single Deck
-0.110 European Hole Card Rules
-0.131 DD on 9,10,11 only
-0.017 NDAS,SPL1

Which gives me -0.218. Who is right?

QUESTION 2: 7,7 vs. T
The Basic Strategy chart offered on the Wizard of Odds says to stand on this hand. The close call calculator on bjstats.com confirmed this play. This seems odd to me. Aces and 2-7 will improve your hand, that is 26 cards left in the deck. While the remaining 23 cards (8-10) will bust you. So if you take a hit, you are slightly more likely to improve your hand. With the dealers 10 upcard, if he draws an Ace or a 7-10, you lose. This represents 29 cards left in the deck. The other 20 cards will require that he take a third card, but this does not mean that he will lose the hand, either. It seems to be a margianl hand anyway, but I am curious what swings it into STAND territory?

As an aside, I am primarily interested in advantage play, but I don't have much of a bank roll right now and I've got a lot of practicing to do before I hit the tables for real. It seems that a little on-line play might help to build up the bank roll a bit and satistfy my cravings as I sharpen my counting skills.

Best,
NewbieCC

 

[Rob McGarvey]

I calc it at -.22 and will stick with that # as it is on the "safe" side. If his # is right all the more power to us. Using a few play departures takes a chunk out of that # too.

2 7's are gone so you are less likely to get another 7 to give you 21, that is the reason for standing with 7,7 v 10.

Playing online will not really help sharpen your counting skills but it will settle that craving for ca$h. In fact, you may never want to play a real game afterwards.

 

[zengrifter]

I think Wizard is right BECAUSE the right to draw to split Aces is probably worth .008 thereabouts, though I couldn't find its correct value right off.

As for the 77v10, its like 16v10 a close play, but I hate to stand on 77, makes it impossible to push or otherwise make 777. -zenpatrick

 

[NewbieCC]

>I think Wizard is right BECAUSE the right to draw to split Aces is probably
>worth .008 thereabouts, though I couldn't find its correct value right off.

Ahh, I see. I misunderstood the rule about drawing to split Aces. So this means when you split aces, you can take more that one card?

>As for the 77v10, its like 16v10 a close play, but I hate to stand on 77,
>makes it impossible to push or otherwise make 777. -zenpatrick

I agree with you. I understand what Rob McG is saying about it being 1/2 as likely to get 777, but that doesn't seem like enough of a reason to push this 14 total into Stand territory. I guess this is one of those close calls that we need a computer simulation to tell us the answer, and once we get it, we still don't really believe it!

Thanks for the info.

Best,
NewbieCC