Many people think that games like Spanish 21 are a recent addition to the gaming floor. In fact, there have been MANY Blackjack specialty games and side-bets; one of the earliest being Double Exposure, which was first introduced by Vegas World (now the Stratosphere) back in 1979, along with Crapless Craps. Last I visited there, the Stratosphere was still offering the two games, along with a couple of 10-seat Blackjack tables. Other than the Stratosphere, Double Exposure has pretty much left Nevada, residing mostly in Atlantic City (last I saw at the Trump Taj Mahal) and occasionally popping up in other venues around the country.
Recently several people have written me regarding Double Exposure, so I decided to address the topic. This article (Part I of a Series) will introduce you to the Double Exposure game, its rules and some general thoughts about surviving in a Double Exposure game. My thoughts here summarize other sources on Double Exposure play
Next I will present an accepted "Basic Strategy" for Double Exposure that is a composite for 5, 6 & 8 Deck games. I make no warranties (implied or expressed) that this strategy is as accurate as the purveyors of it component parts would lead us to believe - I leave that up to you to determine for yourself.
To begin with, you may be suprised to discover that like Spanish 21, a Basic Strategy variation exists for Double Exposure which can reduce the house edge to around 0,55% (assumes "perfect" play, whatever that means - your mileage may vary). Of course, the 0.55% figure assumes a random shuffle of the cards, which has yet to occur in a casino-shuffled multi-deck shoe game.
I would surmise that a card-counting strategy can be (and probably has been) devised to swing the advantage ever so slightly towards the counting player. I know a couple of Clump-Track players who are studying the potential for card-reading along with card-counting to beat this game. Luckily, in Double Exposure the Holecard-read is 100%!!
Needless to say, the "Basic Strategy" for beating this game is noticeably different from conventional Basic Strategy (or other system play), in much the same way that the Basic Strategy for beating Spanish 21 differs from that for conventional Blackjack (with or w/o a count).
However, before you go making any significant modifications to this strategy, I recommend you thoroughly study each play, becoming conversant with the logic behind it. Like we found with the Basic Strategy for Spanish 21, there may INDEED be a method to the seeming madness behind the approach to this game as well. Using the Boris for Blackjack Simulation Software can assist you in evaluating the efficacy of any method for playing the Double Exposure game.
In a future article I will offer a theoretical approach to this game from the card-counting standpoint, as well as from the view of a Clump-tracker. Because the dealer takes pushes in this game, I would think that many play decisions would have to be made more agressively.
The above suggests there is an added psychological component to the game of Double Exposure, as well as Multi-Action Blackjack or Spanish 21. Don't be suprised to find we have a handle on that one in five years. As a therapist, I am "duty bound" to study psychological-components of gambling. What I have seen thus far is quite fascinating...
But I'm getting
ahead of myself.....
First, let's
examine the Rules of Double Exposure.
|
The Rules of Double Exposure |
|
Dealer Exposes BOTH Cards |
|
Dealer Hits Soft-17 |
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Double Down on 9, 10 or 11 ONLY. |
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Players may Split Pairs only ONCE --- no Double-after-Split. |
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Dealer Wins ALL Ties - Except Blackjack |
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Jack & Ace of SPADES pays 2 : 1. |
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Blackjack Pays 1 : 1. - (Even Money) - Player Wins all Blackjack Ties. |
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The "Licensed" game is dealt using 5 Decks - 6 & 8 Deck games may also be found. |
Summary: In exchange for being able to see BOTH the dealer's cards, you sacrifice all ties (except Blackjack), agree to restricted doubling and splitting and a typical Blackjack payoff of Even-money. As bizarre as it my seem or feel, when faced with a 20 against a dealer's 20, you HAVE to Hit. It is possible to actually LOSE with a (non-natural) 21 versus a dealer's multi-card 21 - such as: 8 - 6 - 7.
In Double Exposure, you will hit hands you would normally stand on and double on hands you would never have thought of considering for double before. For example, because Blackjack pays Even-money, it has been suggested that you consider the hand as an 11 and DOUBLE-Down. I might do this if I were in a count-favorable or clump-favorable section of the game.
BLINDLY playing Double Exposure, you are up against a most HIDEOUS House PC as shown in Boris' House-Advantage-Calculator Utility:
The Purist will
note that the above calculation does not take into account the Player
Winning a Blackjack-push and being paid 2:1 for a Blackjack in Spades
- my apologies. I don't have the EXACT number's on these two options,
but I can imagine that accounting 0.5% for each, the "blind"
House Advantage is STILL around 11%!!
It's going to
take some carefully designed card play to whittle this down.
Basic Strategy for Double Exposure
For every Blackjack game variation, there is an accepted way to play the cards in the absence of any card-count or clump-track information. This is usually known as a Basic Strategy. As it turns out, even Double Exposure has a Basic Strategy; although as it rurns out, there are actually two variations: (1) The Mark Estes method (1st published in Ken Uston's Million Dollar Blackjack & (2) The Julian Method (from Julian's No-Nonsense Guide to Winning Blackjack.
(Ironically, all of the Blackjack books which make any mention of the Double Exposure game at all, all refer to Julian's book and essentially duplicate his "Basic Strategy". For your efficacy these books are listed at the end of this article.)
In this article, because it is more compact, I offer you a more readable/readily-applicable representation of the Estes method. As with the Basic Strategy for Spanish 21, I make no warranties herein. I am simply offering up the following strategy as a reporter offering up discovered facts. A future article in this series will allow me to actually run multi-million round Blind-Simulations with Boris to discover the "exact" house percentage against casino shuffles - the answer(s) may suprise you.
ENJOY!!
A Basic Strategy for Double Exposure Blackjack
|
Dealer's Total |
Hard-hit Until: |
Soft-hit Until |
Hard-Double |
Soft-Double |
Split Pairs |
|
Any 20 |
21 |
21 |
|||
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Any 19 |
20 |
20 |
|||
|
HARD 18 |
19 |
19 |
9 |
||
|
HARD 17 |
18 |
18 |
2, 3, 6, 7 & 8. |
||
|
HARD 16 |
12 |
18 |
5 - 11 |
A-2 - A-9 |
A-4, 6-10 |
|
HARD 15 |
12 |
18 |
5 - 11 |
A-2 - A-9 |
A-4, 6-10 |
|
HARD 14 |
12 |
18 |
5 - 11 |
A-2 - A-9 |
A-4, 6-10 |
|
HARD 13 |
12 |
18 |
7 - 11 |
A-2 - A-9 |
A-4, 6-10 |
|
HARD 12 |
12 |
18 |
8 - 11 |
A-2 - A-8 |
A-4, 6-9 |
|
HARD 11 |
14 |
19 |
|||
|
HARD 10 |
15 |
19 |
A |
||
|
HARD 9 |
16 |
19 |
11 |
A |
|
|
HARD 8 |
16 |
19 |
10, 11 |
A, 8, 9 |
|
|
HARD 7 |
17 |
18 |
10, 11 |
A-3 - A-7 |
A, 8 |
|
HARD 6 |
12 |
18 |
9,10, 11 |
A-5 - A-7 |
A-3, 6-9 |
|
HARD 5 |
12 |
18 |
9,10, 11 |
A-3, 6-9 |
|
|
HARD 4 |
12 |
18 |
10, 11 |
A-7 |
A, 6-9 |
|
A-7 |
19 |
19 |
|||
|
A-6 |
18 |
18 |
11 |
A, 8 |
|
|
A-5 |
12 |
19 |
10, 11 |
A, 8,9 |
|
|
A-4 |
12 |
19 |
10, 11 |
A, 9 |
|
|
A-3 |
12 |
19 |
10, 11 |
A |
|
|
A-2 |
13 |
19 |
11 |
A |
|
|
A-A |
13 |
19 |
A |
As with Spanish 21, in studying the above chart, I have some SERIOUS concerns with many of the recommended plays. For example, in today's shoe games, we know that blindly Splitting A's and 8's can often be deadly. That is why I toned down these plays in Boris' Basic Strategy II approach to the shoe game. Because the dealer has less chance of breaking, I would think that these plays should be made more conservatively, yet assertively.
HOWEVER, until such modifications are exhaustively studied against ACCURATE simulations of the shoe game, I recommend playing by the above chart. In the future, I will re-configure Boris' Blackjack Simulation Software to track detailed-statistics on this game variation. When that is complete, I will publish the results on Boris' Website.
Misc. Thoughts Re: Double Exposure Blackjack
If you've read the article on Spanish 21, you have an idea why I keep relating it to Double Exposure. While it is true, that the Spanish deck has been "shorted" to make the game self-unique, in Double Exposure, the "shorting" comes in the even-money Blackjack payoff and the Push-Lose rules of the game. Additional "shorting" comes in the restricted double-down policy (9, 10 & 11).
There is much more to say about this game, but for now, I will leave it to you to study it on your own. I would be interested in hearing your findings on how to beat this game. Possibly you can contribute an article to this section of the website - I would enjoy showcasing it.
I've an Atlantic City trip coming up this fall. During my casino scout activities you can be sure I will keep an eye out for the latest Double Exposure happenings. As I learn more about this game, I will will write it up here.
Stay Tuned!
