GameMaster's Secrets Page
The GameMaster's Secrets:
Making Side Bets for Fun and Profit - Part 2

In part 1, we covered the "Super Sevens" ™ bet which is found in quite a few casinos, both on the Internet and in the 'real' world. This time, I'd like to tell you about the Over/Under 13 (O/U13) bet which is available (as of this writing) at some Internet casinos and, I've heard, at a few 'brick-and-mortar' casinos in America, Europe and Asia.

This bet is strictly optional and does not affect the play of your Blackjack hand. It's really just a simple "proposition" bet that the first two cards of your hand will total under 13 or over 13. Aces always count as 1 and if the hand totals 13, you lose. For the non-counting player, the casino's edge is 6+% on the "over" bet and 10+% on the "under" bet, which places them in the sucker bet category.

But, you can easily see that if you are counting cards there will be times when this bet is worthwhile. Since most counting systems treat low cards and high cards differently, an excess of one or the other may make the bet profitable and it's especially welcome to have a bet on "over" when you are dealt that 15 against a dealer's 10. You would win the O/U13 bet and probably lose the Blackjack hand but a least you get some of your $$$ back.

Since counting the cards is needed for this to work, it obviously only applies to casinos where they deal into the deck(s), so most Internet casinos are excluded. But, as I mentioned earlier, a few 'real' casinos offer the bet. Under normal conditions, opportunities for the O/U 13 will be relatively rare since the bet is profitable only at a True Count of +5 for the "over" and a True Count of -6 for the "under" if one is using the Hi/Lo count.

There is a better count to use for this game, however. It's called the "Crush Count" and it's fully explained in Stanford Wong's book, "Professional Blackjack" (Pi-Yee Press, 1994). I think every serious Blackjack player should own a copy, but if you have a brick-and-mortar casino near you which offers this side bet, go order a copy via FedEx, because it's costing you serious $$$ to not play it.

If I were playing in a 'real' casino that offered the O/U13 bet, I'd have someone keep track of the cards with the Crush Count and use my usual Hi/Lo count for the play of the Blackjack hand. But if I had to make a choice, I'd play just Basic Strategy for the 'regular' hand and use the Crush Count for the O/U13 bet. That's because the edge to be gained on the O/U13 bet is much greater than that of the Blackjack hand alone.

So, keep your eyes open and you might find a casino, virtual or otherwise, that offers this bet.

See you here next time.