The
final outcome of your blackjack hand has no bearing
on this side wager, since the matched hand is
paid immediately, well before the standard blackjack
hand is played out.
The
casino’s advantage on a Royal Match bet depends
on the number of decks used. Surprisingly, the
more decks in play, the better the odds for the
player. If playing on a six-deck shoe game, the
casino advantage is 6.67%. On an eight-deck game,
the house edge is slightly lower at 6.46%. For
the player, it gets progressively worse the fewer
decks there are in the game. For four decks, the
house advantage is 7.08%, for two decks it climbs
to 8.33%, and on a single deck game it’s
10.86%. You can lower the casino advantage on
the single deck game considerably if you find
a paytable where a non-royal match pays 4 to 1
versus 5 to 2, but you’ll take a bit of a
hit on an elusive royal match that pays lower,
like10 to 1. The casino’s advantage with
these rules is 3.77%.
Here’s
the deal, EW. You’ll never find a side bet
offered by the casino that is a better bet than
the basic game it decorates. These pseudo-whoopee
side bets typically carry a house edge that ranges
anywhere from 3 to as high as 76%.
True,
EW, the Royal Match bet has a casino advantage
lower than many of the side wagers offered by
the casino, but it’s still a bad bet, being
that it’s well over this columnist’s
mandated two percent tops house edge on any casino
bet you make.
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