Caribbean 21
Last update: September 5, 2002
Introduction
Caribbean 21 is a blackjack variant offered by Real
Time Gaming Internet casinos. The game offers the player
the ability to split any two initial cards and to hit and
redouble after doubling. Of course nothing is ever free and
the player loses all ties. There are several other rule
changes from blackjack so read carefully before playing.
Following the basic strategy below the game offers a house
edge lower than most blackjack games.
Rules
Following are the complete rules for Caribbean 21.
- I do not know if this rule is configurable by RTG, but am told by Bodog that they use 255 decks.
- All cards are valued as in blackjack, except an ace
is always one point.
- Play starts with the player making an initial
wager.
- The player shall receive two cards face up and the
dealer one card face up. The dealer does not take a hole
card.
- The player may hit, stand, double, split, or
surrender. The hit and stand option are the same as in
conventional blackjack.
- The player may double at any time with two or more
cards. This includes redoubling and doubling after a
split.
- Splitting is allowed on any two cards. Aces have no
special restrictions as in blackjack and have the same
splitting rules as other cards. After the player splits,
each single card hand in turn shall immediately get an
additional card.
- The player may surrender at any time. If the player
surrenders he forfeits half his total bet at that time.
Surrender is allowed after splitting on a hand by hand
basis.
- An ace and two 10-point cards is called a "Caribbean
21" and is ranked higher than all other 21 point hands,
including after splitting.
- The dealer shall win all ties.
- A winning player bet shall pay even money, except for
a Caribbean 21 which pays 3-2 on the initial hand
only.
- If the dealer's up card is an ace then the player may
take insurance against the dealer having a Caribbean 21.
Insurance may be taken at any time and for any amount up
to half the total bet at the time insurance is taken.
Insurance shall pay 9 to 1 if the dealer does get two
10-point cards as the second and third cards. The
insurance bet shall be adjudicated at the end of the
hand. The player may also add to the insurance bet at any
time, so that the total insurance bet does not exceed
half the total wager.
Strategy
Table 1 shows the player's strategy on the first two
cards. To use the table, look up the player's first two cards
along the left and find the dealer's up card along the
top.
Table 1
Table 2 shows the basic strategy when the option to split
is no longer available.
Table 2
Key to Tables:
- H
- Hit
- S
- Stand
- D
- Double
- P
- sPlit
- R
- Surrender
House Edge
The house edge following the basic strategy above is
0.19%. The average final bet size is 1.8 units so the
element of
risk is 0.11%. The standard deviation is 1.62.
The house edge on insurance is 5.38%.
Caribbean 21 in the Media
In late 2003, a player won $1.3 million playing Caribbean 21, mostly at Hampton Casino. Was he lucky, cheating, or playing a flawed game. MSNBC did an article on what may be the largest table game win in Internet casino history. Visit www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4449401/ for the story. (cache)
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