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Red Flex
Introduction
The Red Flex is a blackjack side bet reported to be seen at the Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino in California. It is based on the number of consecutive red cards in the dealer's hand, starting with the first one, and including the bust card, if there was one. If every player busts, then the dealer will continue drawing cards as necessary to adjudicate the side bet.
Rules
I'm told they use five decks and the dealer hits a soft 17 where this side bet appears. The following table shows the return under these rules. The lower right cell reflects a house edge of 5.47%.
Red Flex — Five Decks — Dealer Hits Soft 17
| Reds | Pays | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 or more | 200 | 0.00000230011 | 0.00046002216 |
| 6 | 100 | 0.00006438572 | 0.00643857156 |
| 5 | 50 | 0.00115421980 | 0.05771099013 |
| 4 | 10 | 0.01220995252 | 0.12209952522 |
| 3 | 5 | 0.06849517726 | 0.34247588632 |
| 2 | 1 | 0.16710871362 | 0.16710871362 |
| 1 or less | -1 | 0.75096525097 | -0.75096525097 |
| Total | 1.00000000000 | -0.05467154196 |
If you find this side bet, with the same pay table, with any other number of decks, or where the dealer stands on soft 17, you can use the following table to get the expected return.
Red Flex — Expected Return
| Decks | Stand Soft 17 | Hit Soft 17 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | -0.114336 | -0.102910 |
| 2 | -0.085823 | -0.073163 |
| 3 | -0.076052 | -0.062951 |
| 4 | -0.071114 | -0.057788 |
| 5 | -0.068136 | -0.054672 |
| 6 | -0.066143 | -0.052586 |
| 7 | -0.064716 | -0.051093 |
| 8 | -0.063644 | -0.049971 |