Vegas Double Down Madness (6-deck): blackjack house edge & basic strategy

Las Vegas-style double-every-card game: the player starts with one card and may keep doubling until choosing Hit; after a Hit, only Hit or Stand remain. The dealer hits soft 17 and dealer 22 pushes active hands. This profile uses 6 decks, a US hole card, no splitting, no surrender, and a flat 3:2 blackjack payout.

House edge

3.17% per initial bet with perfect basic strategy (win 36.8% / push 14.3% / lose 48.9% of rounds). Derived by seeded Monte Carlo simulation of 300,000 rounds under the exact rules below.

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Table rules

Decks6
Shuffleshoe, ~75% penetration
Dealer soft 17dealer hits (H17)
Dealer 22pushes active hands
Hole cardUS style — dealer peeks for blackjack
Blackjack pays3:2
Free Betnot offered
Double downone-card start; repeatable doubles until choosing Hit; then Hit or Stand only; a lone Ace receives one card only
Double after splitnot allowed
Splittingup to 1 hands; no resplitting aces, one card on split aces
Surrendernot offered with one-card starts

Basic strategy chart

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

First card

First card: rows are your hand, columns the dealer upcard
2345678910A
2HHDHDDHHHH
3HHHDHHHHHH
4HHHHDHHHHH
5HHHHHHHHHH
6HHHHDHHHHH
7HHHHHHHHHH
8HHHDDDHHHH
9HDDDDDDHHH
10DDDDDDDDDD
ADDDDDDDDDD

After hit — hard totals

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

After hit — soft totals

After hit — 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

Hard totals

Hard totals: rows are your hand, columns the dealer upcard
2345678910A
5HHHHHHHHHH
6HHDHDHHHHH
7HHHDDHHHHH
8HHHDDDHHHH
9HDDDDDDHHH
10DDDDDDDDHD
11DDDDDDDDDD
12HHHHSHHHHH
13HSSSSHHHHH
14SSSSSHHHHH
15SSSSSHHHHH
16SSSSSHHHHH
17SSSSSSSSSS
18SSSSSSSSSS
19SSSSSSSSSS
20SSSSSSSSSS

Soft totals

Soft totals: rows are your hand, columns the dealer upcard
2345678910A
A,2HHDDDDDHHH
A,3HHDHDDHHHH
A,4HDHHDDHHHH
A,5HHHHHDHHHH
A,6HHHHDHHHHH
A,7SSSDDSSHHH
A,8SSSSSSSSSS
A,9SSSSSSSSSS

Pairs

Pairs: rows are your hand, columns the dealer upcard
2345678910A
2,2HHHHHPHHHH
3,3HHDHDHHHHH
4,4HHHDDDHHHH
5,5DDDDDDDDHD
6,6HHPHPHHHHH
7,7SSPPPPHHHH
8,8PPPPPPPPHH
9,9SSSPPSPPSS
10,10SSSSSSSSSS
A,APPPPPPPPPP

Dealer outcome odds

Probability of each dealer final result, by upcard:

Dealer final-total probabilities by upcard (BJ = blackjack)
Upcard1718192021BJ22 PushBust
213.2%13.2%13.3%12.6%11.9%0.0%15.6%20.1%
312.6%13.1%12.8%12.2%11.7%0.0%10.0%27.7%
412.1%12.9%12.2%11.9%11.5%0.0%9.4%30.0%
511.7%12.2%11.9%11.8%10.9%0.0%9.3%32.2%
611.5%11.7%11.3%11.1%10.6%0.0%9.1%34.7%
737.0%13.9%7.9%7.9%7.2%0.0%6.4%19.6%
812.6%35.9%13.0%7.0%7.1%0.0%5.9%18.5%
912.2%12.1%34.7%11.9%6.3%0.0%5.7%17.1%
1011.1%11.0%11.1%34.2%3.4%7.9%5.1%16.3%
A5.7%14.1%14.4%14.2%6.5%31.0%3.9%10.3%

Frequently asked questions

What is the house edge at Vegas Double Down Madness (6-deck)?

With perfect basic strategy the edge is about 3.17% 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 Vegas Double Down Madness (6-deck)?

The dealer hits soft 17 (H17), which adds roughly 0.2% to the house edge compared with standing.

How often does the dealer bust with a 6 showing?

Under these rules the dealer busts 34.7% of the time with a 6 up — the weakest dealer upcard.

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