Blackjack Lucky 8

admin  4/13/2022
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Note: players must place a stake on the ‘normal’ blackjack hand if they want to participate in any side bets. In the blackjack rules section, two common side bets are explained, Perfect Pairs and Luck Lucky, however variations of these side bets plus countless other special ones exist, some exclusive to certain casinos only. Keeping a side count of 6,7,8,A was ideal but too difficult so I concentrated on the 2 most valuable cards - 7 & 8. I found tracking these with the clock/chip method to be quite doable. I would then make the lucky lucky bet when the shoe was rich in 7's and/or 8's.

  1. Blackjack Lucky Lucky
  2. Blackjack Lucky Lucky Odds
Payout
  • Appendices
  • Miscellaneous
  • External Links

Introduction

Lucky Ladies is one of the most popular blackjack side bets ever. It started in Washington state and now can be found in casinos all over the place. The idea is that any player 20-point hand wins something. Certain twenties, especially those involving two queens pay more. I've seen various versions through the years, which I label as A, B, C, D, and E. There is also a progressive version called Bonus Lucky Ladies.

A word about terminology. A 'matched pair' means the same card in both rank and suit.

Lucky Ladies — Pay Tables A and B

HandTable ATable B
Q of hearts pair & dealer has BJ1000 to 11000 to 1
Q of hearts pair125 to 1200 to 1
Matched 2019 to 125 to 1
Suited 209 to 110 to 1
Unsuited 204 to 14 to 1

Lucky Ladies — Pay Table C

HandTable C
Pair of queens with dealer BJ250 to 1
Pair of queens25 to 1
Ranked 209 to 1
Suited 206 to 1
Any 203 to 1

Lucky Ladies — Pay Table D

HandPays
Queen of hearts pair100 to 1
Matched 2030 to 1
Suited 2010 to 1
Any 203 to 1
One queen1 to 1

Lucky Ladies — Pay Table E

HandPays
Queen of hearts pair100
Matched 2025
Suited 2010
Any 203
Queen of hearts2
Any other queen1

Analysis of Pay Table A

The next table is an analysis of pay table A with six decks. The lower right cell shows a return of 75.29%, or a house edge of 24.71%.

Lucky Ladies Pay Table A — 6 decks

HandPermutationsProbabilityPaysReturn
Q of hearts pair & dealer has BJ1353600.0000151000 to 10.014563
Q of hearts pair27383400.000295125 to 10.036827
Matched 20 (same rank and suit)431055000.00463819 to 10.088115
Suited 201931126400.0207779 to 10.186990
Unsuited 207448630400.0801394 to 10.320554
Non-2083107404000.894138Loss-0.894138
Total92946952801.000000-0.247089

Analysis of Pay Table B

The next table is an analysis of pay table B with six decks. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 17.64%.

Lucky Ladies Pay Table B — 6 decks

Blackjack Lucky Lucky

HandPermutationsProbabilityPaysReturn
Q of hearts pair & dealer has BJ1,000135,3600.0000150.014563
Q of hearts pair2002,738,3400.0002950.058923
Matched 20 (same rank and suit)2543,105,5000.0046380.115941
Suited 2010193,112,6400.0207770.207767
Unsuited 204744,863,0400.0801390.320554
Non-20-18,310,740,4000.894138-0.894138
Total9,294,695,2801.000000-0.176391

Analysis of Pay Table C

The next table is an analysis of pay table C with one deck, which is what pay table C was designed for. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 29.89% (ouch!).

Lucky Ladies Pay Table C — 1 deck

HandPermutationsProbabilityPaysReturn
Pair of queens with dealer BJ13440.000207250 to 10.051713
Pair of queens280560.00431825 to 10.107951
Ranked 20882000.0135759 to 10.122172
Suited 201372000.0211166 to 10.126697
Any 204116000.0633483 to 10.190045
Non-2058310000.897436Loss-0.897436
Total64974001-0.298858

Blackjack Lucky Lucky Odds

Analysis of Pay Table D

The next table is an analysis of pay table D with six decks. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 13.34%.

Lucky Ladies Pay Table D — 6 decks

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Queen of hearts pair100150.0003090.030918
Matched 20302250.0046380.139129
Suited 20101,0080.0207770.207767
Any 2033,8880.0801390.240416
One queen15,1840.1068510.106851
Loser-138,1960.787287-0.787287
Total48,5161.000000-0.062206

Analysis of Pay Table E

Following is my analysis of pay table E, based on six decks.

Lucky Ladies Pay Table E — 6 decks

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Queen of hearts pair100150.0003090.030918
Matched 20252250.0046380.115941
Suited 20101,0080.0207770.207767
Any 2033,8880.0801390.240416
Queen of hearts21,2960.0267130.053426
Any other queen13,8880.0801390.080139
Loser-138,1960.787287-0.787287
Total48,5161.000000-0.058682

House Edge Summary

The next table summarizes the house edge for versions A through D for one to eight decks.

Lucky Ladies — Summary

DecksPay Table APay Table BPay Table CPay Table DPay Table E
129.89%
230.05%24.94%25.51%12.66%11.37%
426.04%19.46%23.35%7.82%7.24%
525.24%18.37%22.92%6.86%6.42%
624.71%17.64%22.64%6.22%5.87%
824.05%16.73%22.28%5.42%5.19%

Bonus Lucky Ladies

Lucky

Bonus Lucky Ladies is a $1 progressive side bet. I first noticed it on June 5, 2015 at the Palace Casino in La Center, Washington. Following is the pay table table. All wins are on a 'for one' basis, meaning the player does not get his original wager returned on a win.

Bonus Lucky Ladies — Pay Table

PlayerDealerPays
Queen of hearts pairDealer BJ in hearts100% of Jackpot
Queen of hearts pairDealer suited BJ (not hearts)25% of Jackpot
Queen of hearts pairDealer BJ (not suited)5% of Jackpot
Queen of hearts pairAnything else$125
Matched 20Anything$19
Suited 20Anything$9

The next table shows the probability and return of each event, based on six decks. A question mark means a variable win, depending on the jackpot size.

Bonus Lucky Ladies — Return TableExpand

PlayerDealerPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Queen of hearts pairDealer BJ in hearts?1,9800.0000009?
Queen of hearts pairDealer suited BJ (not hearts)?6,4800.0000028?
Queen of hearts pairDealer BJ (not suited)?25,3800.0000109?
Queen of hearts pairAnything else$125684,5850.00029460.0368267
Matched 20Anything$1910,776,3750.00463760.0881153
Suited 20Anything$948,278,1600.02077670.1869899
Loser$02,263,900,8600.97427650.0000000
Total2,263,900,8601.00000000.3119318

The table above shows the fixed wins return 31.19%. Each $10,000 in the meter will add 2.13% to the return. To reach break-even the jackpot would need to reach $328,372.59.
Written by: Michael Shackleford