bACEball

Introduction

I first heard about bACEball from one of my readers in late 2016. It is a table game found at the Star City casino in Sydney, Australia. It is easy to play and requires no strategy.

Rules

1. The game is played with six 52-card decks.
2. Cards in the range of 2-10 count as pip value, all face cards are 10 points, and aces are 11 points.
3. After bets have been made, the player and dealer will each receive three cards.
4. If the player has three aces it is referred to as a "home run."
5. If the player has any three 10-point cards, it is referred to as a "strike out."
6. The main wager is called the "bet." The rules of that are as follows.
    
   • If the player has a Home Run, he automatically wins and the Bet shall pay 10 to 1.
   • Otherwise, if the player has a Strike Out, then he shall automatically lose.
   • Otherwise, the total points of the player and dealer shall be compared, the higher total wins.
   • If the player has the higher total, then the Bet shall pay 1 to 1.
   • If the dealer has the higher total, then the Bet shall lose.
   • If the point totals are equal, then the Bet shall push.
7. The First Strike wager shall be based on the players first card. The rules of that are as follows.
    
   • If the card is any 10-point card, then the First Strike shall pay 2 to 1.
   • Otherwise, the First Strike Bet shall lose.
   
   It is worth nothing that this bet is exactly the same as the insurance bet in blackjack.
8. There is also a Second Strike bet based on the second card and Third Strike bet based on the third card. Both follow the same rules as the First Strike bet above.
9. The Strike Out wager shall be based on all three player cards. The rules of that are as follows.
    
   • If all three cards are worth 10 points, then the Strike Out bet shall pay 30 to 1.
   • Otherwise, the Strike Out bet shall lose.
10. Finally, there is a Jackpot bet, based on any aces in the player hand. I don't have enough details on this bet so I'm omitting further mention of it on this analysis until I do.

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Analysis

The following table shows my analysis of the "Bet" wager. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 5.07%.

The following table shows my analysis of each Strike wager. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 7.69%.

The following table shows my analysis of the Home Run wager. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 11.65%.

External Links

• Official rules — From the New South Wales Liquor & Gaming Authority.
• Discussion about bACEball in my forum at Wizard of Vegas.

Written by: Michael Shackleford