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Ten Twenty
Introduction
Ten Twenty is a side bet in blackjack that pays out if the sum of the player’s first two cards equals 10 or 20. I first encountered it at the Macau Entertainment Complex located in Cork, Ireland.
Rules
In the case of the Ten Twenty side bet, card values are treated like traditional blackjack, with aces always counted as 11. Wins are determined by the values of the player’s first two cards, as follows:
- Pair of fives: pays 22 to 1.
- All other two-card totals of 10: 10 to 1.
- Any two-card combination totaling 20 (including ace-9) pays out at 3 to 1.
Analysis
The following table presents my findings related to six-deck games, with the lower right cell indicating a house edge of 5.39%.
Ten Twenty — Six Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
5-5 | 22 | 276 | 0.005689 | 0.125155 |
Other total of 10 | 10 | 1,728 | 0.035617 | 0.356171 |
Total of 20 | 3 | 5,136 | 0.105862 | 0.317586 |
All other | -1 | 41,376 | 0.852832 | -0.852832 |
Total | 48,516 | 1.000000 | -0.053920 |
Here is the house edge associated with different numbers of decks in play.
Ten Twenty — House Edge Summary
Decks | House Edge |
---|---|
1 | 8.75% |
2 | 6.72% |
4 | 5.72% |
6 | 5.39% |
8 | 5.23% |