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Highest Hand Bet
Introduction
The Highest Hand Bet is a side bet available in the Jackpot blackjack game by Dragonfish, a provider of software to Internet casinos. The player may play up to three hands. If he bets on at least two hands, then he can bet on which one will have the higher/highest total after two cards.
Rules
- If the player has at least two hands, then he may make the highest hand bet on one specific hand.
- For purposes of this side bet, all cards are scored as in blackjack. Aces shall be scored as 11 points, except two aces form a total of 12 points.
- If the player has exactly two hands, then the Highest Hand bet will pay 2 to 1 if the chosen hand is a blackjack and 1 to 1 if it has the higher total of the two hands.
- If the player has exactly three hands, then the highest hand bet will pay 7 to 2 if the chosen hand is a blackjack and 2 to 1 if it has the higher total of the three hands.
- The Highest Hand bet will lose on any any tie other than a blackjack tie.
In the game I found by Dragonfish, four decks are used.
Analysis — Two Hands
The following table shows my analysis of Highest Hand bet, assuming two hands and four decks. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 1.73%.
Highest Hand — Two Hands
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | 2 | 86,487,040 | 0.047566 | 0.095132 |
| Higher hand | 1 | 763,631,616 | 0.419981 | 0.419981 |
| Lose | -1 | 968,136,224 | 0.532454 | -0.532454 |
| Total | 1,818,254,880 | 1.000000 | -0.017341 |
The next pay table shows the house edge only for various numbers of decks.
House Edge Table — Two Hands
| Decks | House Edge |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.36% |
| 2 | 1.61% |
| 3 | 1.69% |
| 4 | 1.73% |
| 5 | 1.76% |
| 6 | 1.78% |
| 7 | 1.79% |
| 8 | 1.80% |
Analysis — Three Hands
The following table shows my analysis of Highest Hand bet, assuming three hands and four decks. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.49%.
Highest Hand — Three Hands
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | 3.5 | 3,581,601,300,480 | 0.047566 | 0.166481 |
| Higher hand | 2 | 19,102,412,746,752 | 0.253692 | 0.507385 |
| Lose | -1 | 52,613,557,043,328 | 0.698742 | -0.698742 |
| Total | 75,297,571,090,560 | 1.000000 | -0.024876 |
The next pay table shows the house edge only for various numbers of decks.
House Edge Table — Three Hands
| Decks | House Edge |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.86% |
| 2 | 2.28% |
| 3 | 2.42% |
| 4 | 2.49% |
| 5 | 2.53% |
| 6 | 2.56% |
| 7 | 2.58% |
| 8 | 2.59% |