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Caribbean Blackjack
Introduction
I first saw Caribbean Blackjack at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas on August 1, 2015. It should not be confused with the Realtime Gaming blackjack variant Caribbean 21. The concept is that the player makes two blackjack bets and an optional poker-based side bet. Standard, but stingy, rules are followed on the blackjack bets. The twist is that the four initial player cards and the dealer's up card are used to determine the outcome of the Poker side bet.
I debated with myself whether to classify Caribbean Blackjack as a unique game or a blackjack side bet. In the end, I marginally decided to call it a unique game because the signage calls it "Caribbean Blackjack" and the element of making two blackjack bets per player changes the dynamic of the game somewhat.
Rules
Standard blackjack rules are followed with the following specifics.
- A single 52-card deck is used, which is shuffled after every round.
- Blackjack pays 6-5 (Oy!)
- Player may double on any two cards.
- Player may not double after a split.
- Player may re-split to four hands, except split aces get one card each.
- Surrender is not allowed.
- The Poker Bet pays according to the following table. The "Action Bonuses" refer to what the player and dealer will receive if another player gets a paying hand. To qualify for an Action Bonus, a $5 minimum bet is required on the Poker Bet.
Poker Bet Pay Table
| Hand | Pays to Player | Action Bonus to Player |
Action Bonus to Dealer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 to 1 | $250 | $50 |
| Straight flush | 150 to 1 | $100 | $20 |
| Four of a kind | 50 to 1 | $50 | $10 |
| Full house | 25 to 1 | $25 | $5 |
| Flush | 7 to 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Straight | 4 to 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Three of a kind | 3 to 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Two pair | 2 to 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Pair A-10 | 1 to 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Pair 9-2 | Push | $0 | $0 |
Basic Strategy
The following table shows the basic strategy for Caribbean Blackjack.
As a reminder, you can get the proper basic strategy for any standard set of blackjack rules with my blackjack strategy calculator.
House Edge
The house edge is 1.58%. If another casino should deal this game with a cut card, the house edge would jump to 1.70%.
Poker Side Bet
The following table shows the probability and return for each possible outcome of the Poker side bet. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 10.02%, before considering the Action Bonus.
Poker Side Bet
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 4 | 0.000002 | 0.000385 |
| Straight flush | 150 | 36 | 0.000014 | 0.002078 |
| Four of a kind | 50 | 624 | 0.000240 | 0.012005 |
| Full house | 25 | 3,744 | 0.001441 | 0.036014 |
| Flush | 7 | 5,108 | 0.001965 | 0.013758 |
| Straight | 4 | 10,200 | 0.003925 | 0.015699 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 54,912 | 0.021128 | 0.063385 |
| Two pair | 2 | 123,552 | 0.047539 | 0.095078 |
| Pair A-10 | 1 | 422,400 | 0.162527 | 0.162527 |
| Pair 9-2 | 0 | 675,840 | 0.260042 | 0.000000 |
| All other | -1 | 1,302,540 | 0.501177 | -0.501177 |
| Total | 2,598,960 | 1.000000 | -0.100249 |
For a $5 bet, the Action Bonus will reduce the house edge by 1.00% for each additional player at the table. Plus, the value of the dealer's Action Bonus is 0.20%. These values should be divided by b/5 for any Poker bets over $5, where b is the amount of the bet.
The following table shows the overall house edge according to the total number of players (including yourself). The "generous player" is one who takes pleasure in the dealer's Action Bonus equal to the pleasure he would receive if he received the money himself. The "stingy player" cares only about his own win.
Poker Bet Pay Table
| Total Players |
Stingy Player |
Generous Player |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | 4.05% | 3.85% |
| 6 | 5.05% | 4.85% |
| 5 | 6.04% | 5.84% |
| 4 | 7.04% | 6.84% |
| 3 | 8.03% | 7.83% |
| 2 | 9.03% | 8.83% |
| 1 | 10.02% | 9.83% |
Video
Links
Discussion about Caribbean Blackjack at Wizard of Vegas.