Blackjack Dealer Hit Soft 17 Odds

SONBP2
I know that the math says you should play at a table where the dealer stands on a soft 17, but sometimes those tables are difficult to find in Vegas anymore.
My question is this: If I am playing at a table where the dealer hits a soft 17, but during my play for however long, the situation never arises where the dealer has a soft 17, does that mean the percentages are the same as when a dealer stands on soft 17? So in other words, at a table where the dealer hits on a soft 17 those percentages are actually the same as where the dealer stands on a soft 17, until the situation arises where the dealer actually does hit on a soft 17?
The reason I ask is that many times when I play where the dealer hits a soft 17 the situation never actually arises. Therefore, I was wondering when those percentages and how you are 'suppose' to play the hands may or may not change depending on if the situation actually arises where the dealer does hit the soft 17.
If you have any thoughts or insight please let me know.

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boymimbo

I know that the math says you should play at a table where the dealer stands on a soft 17, but sometimes those tables are difficult to find in Vegas anymore.
My question is this: If I am playing at a table where the dealer hits a soft 17, but during my play for however long, the situation never arises where the dealer has a soft 17, does that mean the percentages are the same as when a dealer stands on soft 17? So in other words, at a table where the dealer hits on a soft 17 those percentages are actually the same as where the dealer stands on a soft 17, until the situation arises where the dealer actually does hit on a soft 17?
The reason I ask is that many times when I play where the dealer hits a soft 17 the situation never actually arises. Therefore, I was wondering when those percentages and how you are 'suppose' to play the hands may or may not change depending on if the situation actually arises where the dealer does hit the soft 17.
If you have any thoughts or insight please let me know.


The dealer will be dealt a soft 17 in 2 of 169 situations or 1.18% of the time. There will be other situations where the dealer gets to a soft 17 (A-2-4, A-3-3, A-5-A, etc) about another 1.11% of the time. This means that the soft 17 should come into play about 2.3% of the time or once in 43 1/2 hands, or a couple of times per hour.
The fact that you don't see it often is just a function of the cards played. You should never alter the calculated strategy just because you don't see the soft 17 because it's out there. Hit
I am not sure what the strategy 'cost' is by following the stand on 17 vs the hit on 17 basic strategy tables.
----- You want the truth! You can't handle the truth!
Greasyjohn


I am not sure what the strategy 'cost' is by following the stand on 17 vs the hit on 17 basic strategy tables.


The difference between H17 and S17 is .2 % of your action. But if we're talking about the difference between playing BS in a S17 game using a H17 strategy, then the cost is negligible, as any strategy changes are very borderline, if I'm not mistaken.
OzzyOsbourne
To answer your question, no it doesn't matter if the situation actually comes up.
If you play a 6:5 BJ game with (I believe) 2% disadvantage and never get a BJ. You were still playing at a 2% disadvantage, just because you never got a BJ is irrelevant.

Blackjack Dealer Soft 17

Or if you play in a game where you can't double after split the house edge is still higher, just because you don't get the chance to do it in a given session also does not matter.
casino's money disappears the execs worry when the wizard is near He turns tears into joy Everyone's happy when the wizard walks by
Romes

If you play a 6:5 BJ game with (I believe) 2% disadvantage and never get a BJ. You were still playing at a 2% disadvantage, just because you never got a BJ is irrelevant.


Hit1.39%, for the Wizards benchmark rules ;)
To give a bit more reason as to why... The house edge is determined off of the math of the game with no hands, or infinite hands pending how you want to look at it. You are a 2% disadvantage. If you play for 2 hours and don't have a blackjack, you were still a 2% disadvantage because over the 'long run' of the game it will balance out to the predetermined math. I don't like to say this specifically, but for simplistic sake... If you have no BJ's for 10 sessions in a row it doesn't matter because by the time you reach 10,000 sessions you will have come closer to the average amount of blackjacks (law of averages) you should theoretically reach in that time frame. Meaning the 6/5 did hurt you all the same even though you didn't specifically see it in the first 10 sessions of your play.
Playing it correctly means you've already won.
LoquaciousMoFW

The difference between H17 and S17 is .2 % of your action. But if we're talking about the difference between playing BS in a S17 game using a H17 strategy, then the cost is negligible, as any strategy changes are very borderline, if I'm not mistaken.

The Wizard says on the WoO blackjack BS page:
Quote:

If you play a mixture of six-deck games, some where the dealer hits a soft 17, and some where he stands, and you only wish to memorize one strategy, I would recommend you memorize the one where the dealer stands on soft 17. The cost in errors due to playing the wrong strategy is 2.3 times higher playing a stand on soft 17 game, with the hit on 17 strategy, than vise versa.

1BB
There are six changes if surrender is offered, three if it is not. That's not a lot to learn.
H17 is not a deal breaker on a six deck game. Penetration and rules determine how playable the game is. Is anyone counting? The 0.22% increase in the house edge that H17 gives is at a count of zero. As the count rises, that percentage dwindles and that's when you have the money out.
It's about evaluating the game. It's not unheard of for a counter to bypass a S17 game in favor of H17. There was some talk of 6:5 in this thread but I'm referring to 3:2 only. I don't have a lot to say about 6:5 however there are those who say even that can be beaten.
Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth. - Mahatma Ghandi
Dieter
Blackjack odds of dealer busting

Blackjack Dealer Hit Soft 17

how you are 'suppose' to play the hands may or may not change depending on if the situation actually arises where the dealer does hit the soft 17.


The only time the dealer wouldn't hit their soft 17 on a H17 table would be when all the player hands are already settled (due to busts or naturals).
The noticeable change is doubling (vs stand) A-8 vs 6.
As to how you're supposed to play your hand, you're supposed to play the way that's likely to win. That's following the right strategy chart, unless you have extra information.
May the cards fall in your favor.
BleedingChipsSlowly

The noticeable change is doubling (vs stand) A-8 vs 6.

For the casino I play, also doubling 11 v. A and A7 v. 2 changes. 15, 17 and 88 v. A change to surrender.
Edit: Changed A6 v. 2 to A7 v. 2. I tip my hat to 1BB for catching my mistake.
“You don’t bring a bone saw to a negotiation.” - Robert Jordan, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia
BleedingChipsSlowly
If the unfavorable rules don't impact your particular play session, you were just lucky. Keep playing that game and they will. Eventually.

Blackjack Odds Of Dealer Busting

“You don’t bring a bone saw to a negotiation.” - Robert Jordan, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia