I have a rule, when a gambler says "That's where the money is at" you instatnly avoid it like the plague.

One thing about these side bets I could add which may be helpful.. I’ve been training hundreds of hours before stepping foot into a casino recently. One thing is for sure, training at home and live casino play is a huge adjustment and another hurdle in developing your advantage play. The table I played at had 2 side games that I did not play nor would I … but I noticed how much it slowed the game down. I would say as being new to live casino play, this was helpful to me in helping me keep an accurate count. After a couple of hours when I began to feel more comfortable, I didn’t like the slow pace any longer. But I would definitely say as a new counter, it was nice to have a slower paced game. But it can get old quickly.

Colin gives so much incredible info away for free. Thanks, man.

Highly informative stuff right here, love it Colin!

My mom puts 10 on her regular hand and 100 on the buster bet🙈😭 Colin, please talk some sense into her because she doesn’t care what I say lmao🤣

Hey Colin, I just wanted to say thank you for all of these videos over the years. Even though I wasn't a succesful long term, full time AP, I loved the job and I loved the experiences I gained from card counting. Thanks for this. Maybe someday I can try again. But that day is a long ways away. Cheers.

In my experience, blackjack tables with Lucky Ladies side bet are more closely scrutinized by casino personnel. You have to decide for yourself what the best course of action is.

Cvdata can sim most side bets .. just takes a bit of tinkering

Twice in my hometown Cardroom I placed $5 on the BB (buster bet) last time was more memorable cuz it was 4 relatively strangers who all bet the BB. One guy bet $20, another 15, yet another 10 and myself $5....well the lady drew a 7 card bust ..500 to 1 payouts! We were all whopping and hollering.... it did take all of about ten minutes for the management to review the tape and 👌 the payout....needles to say we all took our blk chips and headed to the cash cage!

This is the video I wanted to see, thank you!

Caesars in Las Vegas used to have under/over 13 side bets. You bet on whether or not your first 2 cards would be over or under 13, with Aces always being 11. When the count got well on the + side I would bet over , and bet under when the count got well into the - side. I was winning quite regularly ....soon I had three guys in suits watching me play. I then realized I had outed myself as a card counter. I cashed out a healthy profit and left.

Oh yeah i have been waiting for this :)

Loving your videos! I was hoping you were going to go over the Bust side bet, as I was anticipating having an edge with an accurate count

I won so much in sidebets, the main bet not even close to half of the winnings from sidebets...maybe I’m just a lucky guy

This channel is great 👍🏻

I usually don’t play the side bets but match the dealer is the one I play the most I usually set aside and extra $500 just for this particular side bet. And here in New Orleans they have the poker side bets, when there bad there bad and when there good there good having won $10k on a side bet sometimes you have to play them.

Hi Colin, I just start to follow your free content and this video generate curiosity, in my local casino, there are side bets that consist on if you get a hand of -13 you get paid 1-1 and the same for a hand that adds +13, my question is it worth to bet on those when the count correlates? Ex I have a +10 running count with 3 decks left so that’s a true 3 can I bet on a +13 hand in that case or you won’t recommended ether way ?

My local casino changed to no hole card blackjack. However if the dealer has blackjack you only loss your original bet. So you don't loss anything from splitting or doubling ect. It's intresting how many people pay attention to the no hole card but ignore the extra rules basically saying it's standard blackjack.

Thinking about it, wouldn’t a high true count be beneficial to make player/dealer pair side bets? If it’s more likely to see a lot of face cards then what are the chances you wouldn’t see a few of the same face cards? And with that in mind, if you’re seeing a table with a big negative true count, wouldn’t that be a good 21+3 bet? A lot more smaller cards meaning there’s a good chance you could end up with a 3 card straight or 3 cards totalling 21? The only downside is that you’d need a main bet to play the side bets and you wouldn’t play on a negative true count

When the count is really high or really low, a straight or pair is more likely to occur. This is what I’ve noticed not just in my experience, but with the other players at the table as well

They can be beaten, but you have to have very good memory. If you know that a certain card hasn’t come out very much the probability of 3 of a kind goes up toward the end of the shoe

I know there is a special system for counting to beat o/u13 but I can’t really do two different counts at once is there a point in the standard system I can use to accurately tell me when to play o/u13 over is fairly easy for me to estimate myself but the under seems far from that.

What's the second site he mentions after wizard of odds?

Great video Colin. In my casino there is a side bet that pays 5 to 1 when you get a "imperfect pair" which is for example a 2 red card and 2 black card, then a colour pair that pays 10 to 1 which same example a 2 and 2 but both red, so 2 of hearts and 2 of Diamond then the best one is 30 to 1 which is perfect pair and continue with the same 2, getting a 2,2 of hearts. What do you think of these side bets?

ANY THING THE CASINO OFFERS YOU,,IS FOR THEM,,NOT THE PLAYER,,GREAT VIDEO

I do well on em. Just in the past week I've hit 4 aces 500 to 1 on lucky aces, which also paid the three of a kind on the 21+3. I wouldn't play lucky aces with real cards though. There is a new casino near me, only have digital blackjack so I play the lucky aces on it. The only side bet I will play religiously is 21+3. There are days it doesn't hardly pay off. There's been other days hit 2 or 3 straight flushes, multiple 3 of a kind and handful of straights.

The casino o deal at has the bonus that pays 9x your bet if you get a straight, flush, and three of a kind, and we also have the Super 3 bonus that pays 90x 180x and 270x your bet

I agree side bets are the biggest sucker bets out there. However idk why but I have done extremely well on dealer bust or the buster side bet. It’s total luck don’t get me wrong but playing heads up with a dealer it’s saved my butt!

What about the EZ Bust side bet. I find it to be a good reasonably side bet if the dealers up card is a 5 or 6.

Which table rules should we look for ? And which ones are not worth playing ?

You forgot one aspect which is reducing rik with one specific side bet. In the case of the side bet called "dealer blackjack" you place a bet that pays usually 19:1 in the case the dealer has a BJ. When you have a high count and you put down a large bet, this side bet would allow you to substantially reduce overall risk, because the high count does not only increase your odds of winning, but also increases the dealer's odds of having a blackjack. The implementation could be for example that on a large bet of say 100 USD you place a "dealer blackjack" of just 5 USD to "insure" yout bet in advance. Cheers.

what about the 7s sidebet? i dunno what it's called. possibly keep track of the 7s coming out of the deck? i aint smart so someone tell me why it bad. ty ty

Is it worth playing a game with side bets that can generate positive EV? Like Lucky Ladies at a true +7. Or is the table limit too low to make it worthwhile

MGM Springfield offers "In Between" bets where the dealer's up card has to be in between your up cards.

In my experience, if the count is bad, almost bad enough to trigger a ‘walk away’, then playing the side bets can be a way of hedging your bet or effectively buying insurance; without actually buying insurance. Beyond that, they are there to make the house $

I'm curious if there's a high count and dealer is showing 4-6 if the "Dealer bust" side bet can be profitable. Thanks, and love your videos!!

You forgot the over/under 13 side bet too which can be beaten by traditional counting, although it’s rarely found anymore.

I just spent the past 2 weeks travelling around using advantage play for the first time. Every casino I was at had the 21+3 game. I'm sure in the long run the side bet is a loser, but man, if I had been playing it I'd have made a fortune. At one casino a player even got irritated at me for never playing it, as I was "winning" about every 3rd or 4th hand had I played it. It was tempting to start playing, but never did. But it was hard after a while.

I've made more playing side bets than straight blackjack. A while back, another player sat there criticizing me and my friend for playing side bets. Two hands later, he was dealt two queen of hearts!

How much ev would it cost to keep a 5 on the sidebet as possible cover or would it be worth it and do you think that would provide some cover if any?

Most of the time, I never play them- my dad always tells me that they're "sucker bets", just like the Insurance part of the game.

Whit is the European Enhc black jack strategy please?

There’s a big difference between the side bets and I don’t think people should lump them in together.

Here is a question. I think that i already know the answer, but im mostly interested in the mathematical standpoint. When you talked about 2 different tables, one with better rules and one that goes faster, this is actually a rare case where you generate higher expected value but will be at a higher risk of ruin. If you increase bet size at the slow table you'll be higher expected value too, with higher risk of ruin. Should the consideration not be, which one of the two tables will give the lower risk of ruin given the same expected value per time, or which gives the higher expected value given the same risk of ruin?

I've heard people say, some of the side bets are over 25% house advantage. Worse than machines, at Nevada minimum payout.

Used to deal to multiple cats that would play MORE on the side bet than the actual BJ bet. Of course my casino allowed it! It was insane times. A person would literally get blackjack and be disappointed. Something you have to see as a dealer to believe. These gamblers are nuts.

I made a killing off buster blackjack lol, they can be traps, but they are fun , once in a while

I make more on the side bet than the main bet. I like match the dealer the bet the best though.

My casino has a side bet for natural 20s and matching the dealer. Personally i think playing the nat 20s on high runs is not a bad idea since 10s and aces are more common

I'd love a video about how to work out some of the math for things like seeing if a sidebet is beatable and what conditions you would need for something to be advantageous

What is an example in gambling world of low risk - high reward opportunity?

I was just at a black jack table in Reno Nevada, and it was free to double down, Ive never seen this before but any time you had 10 or 11 they would double it for you! Seemed crazy but cool

Are there times when the count is so lopsided that side bets are positive?

Break even for 750 ish hours (8 months of full time play). Lost $46,000 in less than 100 hours, getting treated like a criminal, etc. Run while you can.

Sidebets are great. I do understand that if you play real live in casino it will cost time. However, online it mostly safe me from a bigger loss. I lose my hand but i got a flush or a pair I just got my money back as its a draw. So I dont think its a disadvantage. I play alot of blackjack and sidebets really saved me alot of times. I get alot of x26 x13 x11 x7 x6. Big X are rare but still me and others make alot of those sidebets

3:30 - I had that exact experience when I went to play Blackjack recently in a big casino. I've arrived early during the afternoon and they only had the Free Bet table open (yes, I know Free Bet sucks). Initially I was doing well up to a certain point, until more jokers started arriving and everyone was wasting their money doing the side-bets, thinking they were genius gamblers. I eventually left the table the moment when I dropped down to my buy-in chips since it was frustrating to me and noticed that the next table was opened and it just happened to have real Blackjack at a slightly higher minimum. In a matter of hours, I managed to raise my chips to almost 9 times my buy-in, just using basic strategy.

I've been thinking about this - what's the EV on playing perfect basic strategy BUT ALSO including deviations BUT WITHOUT changing bet sizes - seems like possible cover, but is it costly? Or ~0EV

Unfortunately I play based to win on the sides bets. Cause there's two at the casino I go to. Genuine +3 if you and the dealer makes a 3 card flush, straight etc. but they have another one (top 3) where 3 of a kind, straight flush, suited trips it pays 90, 180, and 270 to 1 so yeah I play 10 on main and then 5 or 10 on plus 3 and 5 (max) on the top 3 and sure if I win the hand but no side bets I break even and if I lose on all 3 I can lose $200 easily and it happened last night but luckily later on I hit two 3 of a kinds in 4 hands so it saved me and brought me to profit. I don't have the mentality of trying to bet $40 even $50 on just the main bet and winning. Just me I guess.

Hey Colin, I read an article ablut beating Bj without csrd counting. They listened two methods, 1) Hole Carding (Identifying the dealers hole card) and 2) Front loading (Predicting the next card). I am not sure what to think about it, can you make a Video about it please. I think this is very interessting. Keep up your great content!

One of my favorite insurance conversations was at my local place. Dealer was a seasoned vet and very good at his job. Very personable and I’m pretty sure knew I was an AP but didn’t care. [Dealer has an Ace up] Dealer: “Insurance? Insurance anyone?” Casual player: “So is insurance worth it?” Dealer: “If I have blackjack it is!” [Table laughs] Casual player: “No like what’s the odds behind it?” Dealer: “Think about it this way. Do we have to offer insurance on these games?” Other player: “No” Dealer: “Correct. But we do anyway. What would that tell you?” [Casual player sits dumbfounded] Dealer: “Are you staying in the hotel?” Casual player: “Yes tonight and tomorrow” Dealer: “Is it nice?” Casual player: “Very” Dealer: “Do you think we are able to do that because we offer bets that lose money?” Casual player: “So don’t take insurance?” [Everyone passes on insurance - dealer checks & no blackjack] Casual player: “I knew you didn’t have it” Dealer just smiles and glances at me. I smile back. Like our own private joke that nobody else at the table would even understand.

Push 10 to 1, is a good sidebet if you play it correctly. Only play it with a bet that is 10 percent your wager, and only start playing it if you push with dealer at the beginning of the shoe. Ironically pushes come again if you get one, but if you never get one for half a shoe, don't sidebet it.

I just won a couple grand on a side bet called "push your luck" where the pay out was 10 to 1 and couldn't exceed more the half of your main bet. I was bet $50 hands and $25 on the side bet. Only time I was aiming for pushes over beating the dealer just cus I was getting paid $250 a hand

Hey where can I get deviations chart for UK blackjack?

If the true count was -4 or higher, wouldnt buster blackjack seem relatively advantageous?

A house I play has the Kings Bounty. I watched this video and have been putting out a bet at true 7. Happens a few time a week. I have been about 25% on hitting on it. I get comments from my players around me like, "wait, you don't play that bet!" I cringe and say I had a feeling. I get a side eye out of the dealer. Just rolling with it. Also, since it is a advantage play are you keeping this money in your EV tracker or are you taking it out? I hit a 75:1 KKss for $1875 the other day but don't know if I should count it as it will skew my numbers BUT it derived from an AP play...so....??

Four decks in the discard pile?

I played a few hands of side bets and then didn’t. The time I didn’t I had pocket 7s suited (spade) and the dealer flipped over a 7spade would have had $1300 all because I didn’t put a $5 chip out (that one friggin time)

What about over under 13 sidebet??

I play the $100 minimum tables at WinStar. I usually get up anywhere from $1000 to $1500 and walk. I’ll take $100 of that and I’ll go to the $10 minimum tables and play the $5 progressive bet until I run out of that $100 or until I’m tired and leave. The way I see it, it’s a scratch off ticket. I’ve seen that Jackpot as high as $200,000. Highest I’ve hit is 3 Kings for $1800 just once. But I’ll pay $5 for $200,000. Why not?

1:55 is literally all of casinos in one sentence

A local card casino has a reds side bet, they payout based on the dealers consecutive red cards. There’s gotta be a way to beat that

what is the meaning of ev

done.

I won close to $3700 on a $12.50, 4 card straight side bet. They removed all those tables eventually. And just last week I hit several suited matches on match the dealer side bets. Max bet on thise are $15 for me. Pays nicely.

I missed out on a 1k side bet despite the fact that I was playing the bet for several hours, so frustrating but it happens

See Arnold Snyder's Big Book of Blackjack for a ton of info, including beating side bets and some pseudo-blackjack variant games. In reality, he admits most of them aren't worth the effort, but are still, technically, beatable.

Me personally I love the side bet especially 21+3

$5 side bet in the Casino in 29 palms casino in California is absolutely worth it, pay a $5 side bet and if you get a blackjack, you spin a wheel of fortune where at the very minimum is a win of $50. Wish I knew how to count cards when I was in Cali, seemed like a great place to count thinking back on it

Ever heard of Push 22?

I only play lucky ladies after the true count is above a 7 that’s the only side bets I trust I hit them a lot too even when the count is low I feel like every time is sit at a table someone is upset at me because I don’t play them lol

what's everyones thoughts on a hitter? are they trolls? are the literally making honest mistakes? or are they hired help to throw a count off.. for instance say 98% of a table stands on a basic strat hand, but that 1 or 2% that hits on say a 20? this is a big flaw I've seen w online cards. your thoughts please.

Im wondering how many casinos you are allowed to enter now?

I like playing "Buster bet" (California) when the count is negative(rare that i play it because I'm usually wonging out of that shoe if its a neg count). I think "Buster bet" is self explanatory but if you need an explanation lmk.

Long way from home CVG

Hi colin I am afraid of the future of Blackjack. In swizterland, where i come from, there is only CSM. I coun`t find any casino without a CSM. What is your prediction about the CSM. Could you make a video about this ? My prediction is : In the fueture there will be only CSM on blackjack table and it will be extremmly hard for card counter. Are you agree?

As a black Jack only player, never playing side bets. But there was time I would have won a progressive side bet of $98,000 if I had played it. Ouch!

On a freshly shuffled hand tens have a very good chance of winning pairs. Bet the first few hand that way, once you see the tens used up stop. A rule of law, if the house offers it, it is to their advantage. You never buy insurance and you never surrender. ALSO; Take advantage of the dealer offering you insurance when the house shows an ace. The dealer checks his down card, you now know it is not a ten. You will win 67% of the time on that one bet, as long as you play correctly.

People always get upset when I dont bet the side bet and end up hitting it.

At the casino I always play blackjack in, they have a Royal Match side bet. So if my first two cards are suited, it pays more than a blackjack equivalent to the bet. I usually put my spare change on it, and it has often saved me from some bad stiffs and unexpected dealer 21s. I think Side bets are acceptable as long as you treat them like you would a slot machine. Only your chump change and never your main bankroll.

Many rookies just like extra action, and when it pays off once in a while, they get stoked thinking that is the way.

OK this may be anecdotal and not mathematical, but if you start doing match the dealer side bets when you’re at a true four and you win a lot of them you will get heat LOL

In a short run a side bet can be a blessing imagine is you hit a perfect pair and is paying over your hand, then you can easy make a double or a split and either way you won that round

There's a mnemonic technique for cards. So, I think there's a way to *win* side bets. Trusting simulations is key though. We're all part of a simulation. And that's my point, there's people out there that's can literally memorize many decks of cards. They've proven it in this overall "simulation" that we're in

Only side bet I find advantageous as an AP is buster blackjack

What does EV stand for?

What about the progressive ones? Some have like must hit by $500

Just last week at a kings bounty table I placed $10 on the side bet at a true 3 and hit two kings of spade! (100 to 1 payout) I’m just starting out so I wasn’t aware of the odds with this particular side bet but understood there was a correlation with Hi-Lo. This has been my biggest payout yet :D

Bro I hit suited 777 like 2 hours ago in Grovner casino in london .. and guess what it was 270 to 1 + 30 to 1 + 20 to 1 + jackpot .. total is 48k £ dm to show you prove 🤣😊

When is the new bj trainer app coming out for android?

Wow