One establishment deals from six decks, shuffling after three. I'm almost embarassed to tell you the penetration, though. The tables I play don't shuffle after every hand - they are configured to have a 'virtual shoe' that shows cards remaining. And, english major that I am, I have no clue how to evaluate this. Thus far I've had good results betting like this, but I'm also aware it could just as easily be due to random variance rather than valid math. Acting on this theory, I up my bet on this side bet when the count is low. Given that a low count means there are more low cards in the deck, it seems more likely that the dealer will draw more cards before busting. I'm also curious to know how the count impacts the dealer's likelihood of busting. My question is whether anyone knows of any way to calculate the dealer bust frequency, or can direct me to any table showing percentages.
A 3 or 4 card bust pays 2x, up to 250x for an 8 card bust.
One is the 'blackjack buster' side bet, which pays when the dealer busts. The main blackjack is the DigiDeal 'Classic Blackjack'. Here in central Indiana I'm a couple of hours away from the 'real' casinos that deal by hand, but we do have two racinos in the area that offer e-table games.
I've only been playing the game for a few months, but am enjoying it immensely. I've been lurking for a while but decided to jump in on the fun.