How to play
Ban Luck is the twenty-one played at Chinese New Year gatherings in Singapore and Malaysia; in Vietnam a close cousin is called Xì Dách. It looks like blackjack, but the ace changes value as your hand grows, two aces beat everything, and five cards that stay under 22 win double. Here you play one-on-one against the dealer, who plays the banker.
The aim is to finish closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Cards 2 to 10 count their face value and Jacks, Queens and Kings count 10. The ace depends on how many cards you hold:
| Cards in the hand | An ace counts |
|---|---|
| Two | 1, 10 or 11 |
| Three | 1 or 10 |
| Four or five | 1 |
The game always picks the best value that doesn’t go over 21. So an ace and a 6 is a soft 17, but draw a 4 to it and it’s 20, not 21: with three cards the ace can only count 10.
A round:
- Choose a chip and bet between 10 and 500 credits. You need three times your bet in credits to deal, because the dealer’s Ban Ban takes three times the bet. The message shows how much.
- Press Deal. The game uses one deck, shuffled before every hand.
- When the dealer shows an ace or a 10-value card, they check for Ban Luck or Ban Ban before you play.
- Play with Hit and Stand. You can’t stand on less than 16: below that, the only move is Hit.
- The dealer draws to 17 and stands on every 17. Wins pay even money and pushes give your bet back.
There’s no doubling, splitting, surrender or insurance.
Special hands
| Hand | Pays |
|---|---|
| Ban Ban: two aces | 3 to 1 |
| Ban Luck: an ace and a 10, Jack, Queen or King | 2 to 1 |
| Five cards totalling 21 | 3 to 1 |
| Five cards totalling 20 or less | 2 to 1 |
Ban Ban and Ban Luck count only as your first two cards, and they’re paid straight away. Your hand ends as soon as it has five cards. Five cards that don’t go over 21 beat any dealer total, even the dealer’s 21.
The dealer’s special hands cost more. If the dealer turns up a Ban Luck, you lose twice your bet. If the dealer has Ban Ban, you lose three times your bet. Your own special hand can save you:
- Ban Ban against the dealer’s Ban Luck: you win 3 to 1.
- Ban Luck against the dealer’s Ban Luck: a push.
- Ban Luck against the dealer’s Ban Ban: you lose three times your bet.
Strategy
Learn the ace. An ace in two cards is the same as in blackjack. In three cards it loses a point: ace-5-2 is a soft 17, not 18. The Hint button hits that three-card soft 17 against every dealer card.
Chase the fifth card. Five cards pay 2 to 1 and beat even the dealer’s 21, so a four-card hand is worth pushing. With four cards totalling 17, the hint hits against everything except a dealer 6. With four cards on 16 or less, it hits even against a dealer 2 to 6, where blackjack strategy would stand. It stands on four cards totalling 18 or more.
Hard two-card hands play like blackjack. A 10-6 stands against a dealer 2 to 6 and hits against 7 or higher, and a hard 17 or more stands. Soft hands don’t: ace-7 hits against a dealer 2 or 4, where blackjack strategy would stand.
Keep credits for the dealer’s hand. A bet of 100 needs 300 in credits. Big bets can run you dry quickly when the dealer turns up Ban Luck.
The odds
Over four million hands played with the hint’s strategy, the house edge came out at about 1.18%, give or take 0.12%. Ban Luck came up in about 4.6% of hands, Ban Ban in about 0.45%, and five-card hands in about 3.1% (0.5% of them totalling 21).
The house edge comes from the dealer’s special hands taking two or three times the bet. At a real New Year table the banker role rotates, so over a night nobody plays the house for long. Here the dealer is always the banker.
For the British cousin with a five-card trick, play Pontoon. For the casino game, play classic Blackjack.
How this differs from a home game
Ban Luck rules vary from family to family. This table plays one common set, with three differences from a home game:
- You play alone against the dealer.
- The banker doesn’t choose which players to reveal early.
- The dealer’s five cards don’t count as a special hand.
If you enjoy Ban Luck, try Banca Francesa or Banker Bonus Baccarat next.
