Macau (8-deck, S17): blackjack house edge & basic strategy

Standard Macau game — the world's biggest blackjack market. 8 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, no hole card, double on 9/10/11, double after split, no surrender, blackjack pays 3:2. On a dealer blackjack you lose your full wager, including doubled and split money.

House edge

0.73% per initial bet with perfect basic strategy (win 43.3% / push 8.9% / lose 47.8% of rounds). Derived by seeded Monte Carlo simulation of 300,000 rounds under the exact rules below.

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Table rules

Decks8
Shuffleshoe, ~75% penetration
Dealer soft 17dealer stands (S17)
Dealer 22busts normally
Hole cardEuropean no-hole-card
Blackjack pays3:2
Free Betnot offered
Double downtotals 9–11 only
Double after splitallowed
Splittingup to 4 hands; no resplitting aces, one card on split aces
Surrendernot offered

Basic strategy chart

H Hit · S Stand · D Double · P Split · R Surrender. Rows are your hand, columns the dealer upcard (A = Ace).

Hard totals

Hard totals: rows are your hand, columns the dealer upcard
2345678910A
5HHHHHHHHHH
6HHHHHHHHHH
7HHHHHHHHHH
8HHHHHHHHHH
9DDDDDHHHHH
10DDDDDDDDHH
11DDDDDDDDHH
12HHSSSHHHHH
13SSSSSHHHHH
14SSSSSHHHHH
15SSSSSHHHHH
16SSSSSHHHHH
17SSSSSSSSSS
18SSSSSSSSSS
19SSSSSSSSSS
20SSSSSSSSSS

Soft totals

Soft totals: rows are your hand, columns the dealer upcard
2345678910A
A,2HHHHHHHHHH
A,3HHHHHHHHHH
A,4HHHHHHHHHH
A,5HHHHHHHHHH
A,6HHHHHHHHHH
A,7SSSSSSSHHH
A,8SSSSSSSSSS
A,9SSSSSSSSSS

Pairs

Pairs: rows are your hand, columns the dealer upcard
2345678910A
2,2PPPPPPHHHH
3,3HHPPPPHHHH
4,4HHPPPHHHHH
5,5DDDDDDDDHH
6,6HPPPPHHHHH
7,7PPPPPPPHHH
8,8PPPPPPPPHH
9,9PPPPPSPPSS
10,10SSSSSSSSSS
A,APPPPPPPPPH

Dealer outcome odds

Probability of each dealer final result, by upcard:

Dealer final-total probabilities by upcard (BJ = blackjack)
Upcard1718192021BJBust
214.2%13.0%13.2%12.4%11.8%0.0%35.5%
313.5%12.9%12.7%12.0%11.5%0.0%37.3%
412.9%12.8%12.1%11.7%11.3%0.0%39.2%
512.1%12.1%11.8%11.7%10.8%0.0%41.4%
616.7%10.9%10.4%10.2%9.7%0.0%42.1%
737.1%13.9%7.9%7.9%7.2%0.0%25.9%
812.7%35.9%13.0%7.0%7.1%0.0%24.4%
912.2%12.0%34.7%11.9%6.3%0.0%22.9%
1011.1%11.1%11.2%34.1%3.4%7.9%21.2%
A13.0%12.7%13.1%13.0%5.3%31.3%11.7%

Frequently asked questions

What is the house edge at Macau (8-deck, S17)?

With perfect basic strategy the edge is about 0.73% in favour of the house, per initial bet. Derived by Monte Carlo simulation of 300,000 rounds under these exact rules.

Does the dealer hit or stand on soft 17 at Macau (8-deck, S17)?

The dealer stands on all 17s (S17), which is the more player-friendly rule.

How often does the dealer bust with a 6 showing?

Under these rules the dealer busts 42.1% of the time with a 6 up — the weakest dealer upcard.

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