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Perfect Pairs

Introduction

I'm aware of two side bets calling themselves Perfect Pair or Perfect Pairs. I'll divide them into a version 1 and version 2.

Version 1

Version 1 goes by the plural name Perfect Pairs. It may be found in casinos in Australia, Macau, and London. It pays if the player's first two cards are a pair. The following table shows the specifics. A "perfect pair" is two identical cards (like two ace of spades). A "colored pair" is two cards of the same rank and color (like the ace of spades and ace of clubs). There are four pay tables that I am aware of, which are referred to as A to D below. The following four tables show how the odds of each pay table.

Internet casinos using live dealer studios by Evolution Gaming the following pay table.

 

Pay Table A — 8 decks

Hand Pays Combinations Probability Return
Perfect pair 25 1456 0.016867 0.421687
Colored pair 12 1664 0.019277 0.231325
Red/black pair 6 3328 0.038554 0.231325
Non-pair -1 79872 0.925301 -0.925301
Total   86320 1 -0.040964

 

Pay Table B — 8 decks

Hand Pays Combintions Probability Return
Perfect pair 30 1456 0.016867 0.506024
Colored pair 10 1664 0.019277 0.192771
Red/black pair 5 3328 0.038554 0.192771
Non-pair -1 79872 0.925301 -0.925301
Total   86320 1 -0.033735

 

 

Pay Table C — 8 decks

Hand Pays Combintions Probability Return
Perfect pair 25 1456 0.016867 0.421687
Colored pair 12 1664 0.019277 0.231325
Red/black pair 5 3328 0.038554 0.192771
Non-pair -1 79872 0.925301 -0.925301
Total   86320 1 -0.079518

 

 

Pay Table D — 8 decks

Hand Pays Combintions Probability Return
Perfect pair 25 1456 0.016867 0.421687
Colored pair 15 1664 0.019277 0.289157
Red/black pair 5 3328 0.038554 0.192771
Non-pair -1 79872 0.925301 -0.925301
Total   86320 1 -0.021687

 

The next table shows the expected return under all four pay tables, according to the number of decks.

 

Perfect Pairs Expected Returns

Decks Pay Table A Pay Table B Pay Table C Pay Table D
2 -0.223301 -0.252427 -0.262136 -0.203883
4 -0.101449 -0.106280 -0.140097 -0.082126
5 -0.077220 -0.077220 -0.115830 -0.057915
6 -0.061093 -0.057878 -0.099678 -0.041801
8 -0.040964 -0.033735 -0.079518 -0.021687

Version 2

Version 2 goes by the singular name Perfect Pair. It can be found at Internet casinos using live dealer software by Evolution Gaming. Despite the singular title, it pays for one or two Perfect Pairs. A Perfect Pair is defined by the player's or dealer's initial two cards matching in both rank and suit.

Evolution uses eight decks in the blackjack game, so I am basing this return table on eight decks. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 8.05%.

Version 2 — 8 Decks

Event Pays Combinations Probability Return
Two perfect pairs 200 2,101,008 0.000285 0.056941
One perfect pair 25 244,747,776 0.033166 0.829138
Zero perfect pairs -1 7,132,734,336 0.966550 -0.966550
Total   7,379,583,120 1.000000 -0.080470

Next, here is the house edge for 2, 4, 6, and 8 decks.

Version 2 House Edge

Decks House Edge
2 48.08%
4 21.50%
6 12.54%
8 8.05%

There is another version of version 2 that pays 25 to 1 for one or two perfect pairs. The house edge on that, assuming eight decks, is 13.03%. This side bet is also seen in baccarat, where I have a separate page for it.