Mega Blackjack

Introduction

Mega Blackjack is a blackjack variant by AGS. It made its Nevada debut at the Monte Carlo on February 16, 2017.

Rules

Mega Blackjack follows standard blackjack rules, which I assume the reader is familiar with, with these details and exceptions:

1. Six decks of cards are used.
2. The dealer shall follow the American rule of peeking for blackjack.
3. Dealer hits a soft 17.
4. Double after a split is allowed.
5. Player may re-split to four hands, including aces.
6. Surrender is not allowed.
7. Winning player blackjack shall pay at least 3 to 1 odds. Different pay tables for winning blackjacks are available from the distributor, as shown in table 1.
8. If the player has a winning suited ace-king blackjack, then it shall pay 5 to 1.
9. All other winning player blackjacks shall pay 3 to 1.
10. As in conventional blackjack, a player blackjack shall be paid immediately, unless the dealer also has a blackjack, which shall result in a push.
11. If the dealer busts with with four or more cards, then all remaining player bets shall push.
12. Otherwise, if the player draws or doubles to 21, then the player's total wager shall be paid 3-2 odds. This includes after splitting.
13. Otherwise, all player wins with 20 or less shall pay 1 to 1.
14. Finally, the Buster Blackjack side bet is a recommended pairing with this game. Two known pay tables are shown below.

Following are the three known pay tables for Mega Blackjack. All wins are on a "to one" basis.

Following are the two known pay tables of the Buster Blackjack side bet for use in Mega Blackjack. All wins are on a "to one" basis.

Strategy

The following table shows the basic strategy for Mega Blackjack.

Main Game Analysis

Following is the house edge by version number, assuming six decks of cards. The house edge using eight decks is 0.02% higher. The Monte Carlo follows the version 1 rules.

• Version 1: 1.34%
• Version 2: 0.89%
• Version 3: 0.82%

The probability the dealer busts with four or more cards is 11.27%, or 1 in 8.9 hands.

Buster Blackjkack Analysis

Game literature mentions two pay tables for Buster Blackjack. Both are analyzed below. The preceding link will take you to a page for Buster Blackjack for use in ordinary blackjack.

Version 1 of Buster Blackjack has a pay table that pays for any busted dealer hand of four or more cards. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 9.29%. The Monte Carlo uses version 1.

Version 2 of Buster Blackjack has a pay table that pays for any busted dealer hand of three or more cards. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 13.79%.

External Links

• Demo game at PlayAGS.com.
• Discussion about Mega Blackjack at my Wizard of Vegas forum.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the game distributor, AGS, for providing me the math report. It saved me a lot of time had I analyzed the game myself.