Re: Blackjack question
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What would be a player's expected return in blackjack if they knew both the dealer's cards?
[/ QUOTE ]I don't know of any blackjack game where both dealer's cards are hidden - so I assume you simply refer to knowing the dealer's hole card.
You want to know your edge when knowing every time the dealer's hole card -- the dealer in such cases being called, in the hole card mafias' lingo, a superstar -- because she blinds you with her super luminous flash, see? This depends on whether or not you are using that information perfectly or not.
"Perfectly" means hitting your hard 19 when the dealer shows a 9 and you know that the hole card is an Ace. Playing perfectly gives you, of course, the highest possible edge, which is something like 13.4% in 6d S17 DOA DAS. Of course, the exact edge depends on the rules, e.g. LS increases that edge by 1.26%.
But hitting hard 19 will bring you immediately under close scrutiny by the pit and the eye. And when the dealer starts turning over those 20s and 19s, after you are hit hard 19s and hard 18s, your lifespan at that particular casino will almost certainly be a very short one.
Therefore, you would be advised to use that knowledge sparingly and under pretense, which means gritting your teeth and taking the loss when having hard 18 against dealer paint. Your "non-optimal" play reduces Edge Per Hand but compensates by prolonging playing hours, i.e. number of hands, and thus increasing Edge Per Hand*Number Of Hands. I assume you'd rather play 500 Hands with an edge of 6% than 20 hands with 13.4%.
For more on this subject, you should look up "Beyond Counting" (currently our of print).
Mickey Brausch
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