House Edge
The following table lists the Pontoon house edges for all known rule sets. The house edge is equivalent to the house advantage over a player who is following the basic strategy tabulated above. (The figures were obtained from 10-billion hand simulations and have a standard error of 0.001%. The super bonus is averaged out to a 100:1 payout.) . (SPL3 = can split three times to form four hands, SPL2 = can split twice to form three hands, SPL1 = can split once only, SPA1 = no Ace resplits, NLC = not last chance doubling, D9 = doubling on 9–11 only)
| Pontoon Rules | Decks | House Edge |
|---|---|---|
| OBBO, SPL2, NLC | 8 | 0.34% |
| BB+1, SPL3, SPA1, NLC | 4 | 0.31% |
| BB+1, SPL1, NLC | 6 | 0.41% |
| BB+1, SPL1, NLC | 8 | 0.38% |
| BB+1, SPL2, SPA1, NLC | 8 | 0.40% |
| SPL2, SPA1, D9 | 8 | 0.62% |
| OBBO, SPL2, SPA1 | 8 | 0.50% |
As all Australian casino Blackjack games have house edges greater than 0.5%, Pontoon is the superior of the two games. In general, casino staff and Blackjack players erroneously believe that Pontoon has a higher house edge than Blackjack, because the removal of the ten-spot cards creates a 2% disadvantage for the player. In Pontoon, the player can draw to "21" and win against a dealer Blackjack; this combined with "not-last-chance" doubling, forfeit, player "21" always wins, player Blackjacks always get paid at 3:2, and bonuses on certain hands, actually overcompensates for the 2% disadvantage. The result is that Pontoon, on average, has about two-thirds the house edge of Australian Blackjack, which due to no surrender, hole card, and limitations on soft doubling, has some of the highest house edges for regular Blackjack in the world.
Read more about this topic: Pontoon (card Game)
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