Pick 'Em Blackjack
Question 1 - [00:04]
Mike: Hi. This is Mike Shackleford with the Wizard of Odds website. I'm at the 2014 Raving Table Games show at the Paris Casino in Las Vegas. We're here with Daniel Hofstein, and he's with the game Pick 'Em Blackjack. Can you tell me a little bit more about it?
Daniel: Of course. Pick 'Em Blackjack is where you get to pick your starting hand. As you see on the table, we have three different hands available to you. You can start with a 17, an 18 or 19, and/or play as standard hand of blackjack for normal play.
Here we have Elliot and Michael both playing all four bets on the table. You can play any combination you like, and what's happening is, they actually have four separate bets going on, all versus me, the dealer.
As an example, you can take your wager, put it right on the 18, and then I would deal myself a hand, because you already have an 18, and I would just play out as normal. I would get a 19 versus an 18, the 18 would lose, and we’d move on to the next hand. You can choose whichever starting hands you want to start with -- 18 pays even money, 17 pays three to two like blackjack, and the 19 would pay one to two because it's a much stronger starting hand. If you like, you can play any combination of these hands. You could play a standard hand of blackjack, or you could play all four hands at once. It's up to you.
For demonstration purposes only, we're going to take a 16, and then bust with additional 10 for 26. Your 17 is versus my hand, which busted, and you get paid three to two. Your 18 also wins, pays even money, and the 19 wins one to two.
Mike: Nice and simple. I've seen the game Instant 18 before but this is like Instant 17, 18, or 19, the player's choice.
Daniel: Exactly. We expanded on Instant 18, that was also our game.
Mike: It's a very simple idea. I like that. Thanks, Daniel.