Why You Should Never Play Blackjack 6 to 5

Welcome to today’s article about playing 6 to 5 blackjack. Is playing a 6 to 5 blackjack game a good idea?

It’s a truism that many land-based casinos are adopting the 6 to 5 payout for a blackjack – but what does that do to you as a player, and why are they doing it?

After you’ve read this article, you will know what effect the 6 to 5 vs 3 to 2 payout has on the game, why casinos may be changing the payout from 3 to 2 to 6 to 5, and whether you should do anything about it.

The difference between 6 to 5 Blackjack and 3 to 2 Blackjack

It used to be that all casinos paid 3 to 2 on every blackjack game.  

At 3 to 2, a $10 blackjack gets paid $15.  $50 gets paid $75, and so on.

At 6 to 5, the $10 bet now gets paid $12, and the $50 bet gets paid $60.

What that does in the big picture is increase the House Advantage on that game by 1.39%.  And for a game that typically holds about 0.75%, that’s a huge increase.  

It takes the 0.75% HA to 2.14%.  Which is a massive HA to try and play against.  It’s virtually impossible to win against an HA that high.

Nowadays, many casinos have a 6 to 5 payout on their retail floor (and by retail, they mean low limit).  Even on a retail double deck, the casino pays 6 to 5 on their low-limit games.

In the High Limit room, you will find a 3 to 2 payout on blackjack, but probably with a $50 minimum bet.

Once you add the other rules, you can get a clearer picture of whether the HA is too high to play against.   

For example, do they hit or stand on a Soft 17? 

Hitting vs standing on Soft 17 increases the HA against you by 0.22%. 

Read the full article on the Soft 17 rule in blackjack to understand what the implications of changing that rule are.

Imagine if they hit a Soft 17 and pay 6 to 5 for a blackjack.  

Now the HA against you is 2.36%.  Ouch!

Do they allow you to double down on any two cards, or only with a 10 or an 11?

All these rules make a difference to the HA and can add up to a very high HA.

Why are casinos adding the 6 to 5 payout to Blackjack?

Here’s how I made that decision at a large casino where I was the head of the Casino Operations department.

I was getting a lot of requests from our retail players for a $5 minimum game all day, every day.  

Which is difficult to agree to, because a $5 game isn’t so profitable when I can easily run all my retail games with a $10 or $15 minimum on Swing (night) shift and on Saturdays and Sundays.

I was also getting many requests for a single deck game. 

A single deck game with a 3 to 2 blackjack payout and standard other rules is a dangerous game for a casino.

Why?  Because it’s such a ‘close-to-even’ game it attracts the most knowledgable players and has to be watched very closely for advantage players by the casino.

So I decided to add a single deck with a 6 to 5 payout. 

The additional HA is enough to keep the advantage players at bay.

I thought ‘let’s put it on the floor and see if they’ll play it with a 6 to 5 blackjack payout’.  

And I was amazed that the game became ‘standing room only’ within a couple of days.

I spent time around the game, talking to the players about how they felt about the game, and asking the dealers how the players were reacting to the game.  

And also just watching the game myself – it’s called management by walking around.

And the players loved it!

They weren’t just playing the $5 minimum – which is what I suspected was going to happen.  

I’d set it up with $5 to $500 limits.

I was shocked to see $15 to $20 bets all over it, and some up to $50 and occasionally more.

On the first Saturday night, I had a woman playing first base flat betting $100 and betting the $200 back when she won.

For hours.

It was amazing.  And really eye-opening for me.

So I did!

And then the numbers started coming in.  

In that market, a regular double deck blackjack game paying 3 to 2 was holding about 14% - 16% - which means for every $1,000 in the drop box, the game would win about $150.

This game was consistently holding $230 or so per $1,000 in the drop box!  

So a hold of 23%.  Almost double the other retail games.  Wow!

And that’s why you’re seeing the 6 to 5 payout on blackjack – because it’s simply more profitable for the casino.  For me, it was about meeting requested needs for the players, and the extra win was just a bonus.  

6 to 5 Blackjack Payouts

The simplest way to calculate how much a bet pays at 6 to 5 is to add 20% (that’s 1/5th) to the initial bet.  

Okay – think of it in chips.  

$1 chips get paid even money until you get to $5 because the casino doesn’t have 20-cent chips to pay the breakage.

So a $1 white chip pays $1, $2 pays $2 and so on.

A $5 red chip gets a red chip and a white chip.

2 $5 red chips get 2 red chips and 2 white chips.

3 red chips gets 3 red chips and 3 white chips.

A green $25 chip get a green and a red chip.

2 green chips get 2 green chips and 2 red chips.

A $100 black chip gets a black chip and $20.

2 black chips gets 2 black chips and $40.

3 black chips gets 3 black chips and $60

A purple $500 chip get a purple chip and a black chip.

Easier that way, isn’t it?

Expert Advice / Tips

The most obvious one is don’t play any game that has a 6 to 5 payout for blackjack.  There is a significant disadvantage to playing that game, and it is just a way for the casino to take your money faster.

Where can you find good 3 to 2 games?  

Most online casinos will offer 3 to 2 because they don’t have the bricks and mortar casino’s monthly expenses to pay. 

You will find that many of the land-based casinos have all gone to the 6 to 5 blackjack on their retail floors, reserving the better 3 to 2 game for their High Limit rooms.  

I made a few phone calls and found that the locals places in Las Vegas, like the Station Casinos and The Boyd Group, plus those properties on the north end of the Strip – for example, The Strat Casino, all offer 3 to 2 on their retail blackjack games.

I also noted that Treasure Island at the corner of the Strip and Spring Mountain Road offers an old-school double deck game. 
 
Standard Strip rules, plus 3 to 2 double deck blackjack on their retail games. They do hit on a Soft 17 though, so they’re still not giving the store away.