How to play
Ochko (Russian for “point”) is the Russian home game of twenty-one. It uses a short 36-card deck and gives the picture cards small values, so a hand is built very differently from blackjack. One player holds the bank and the others play against it. Here you sit with three bots, and the bank moves around the table.
The aim is to finish closer to 21 than the banker without going over.
| Card | Counts |
|---|---|
| 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | face value |
| Jack | 2 |
| Queen | 3 |
| King | 4 |
| Ace | 11 |
There are no 2s to 5s in the deck. The ace always counts 11, so two aces make 22. But two aces are a special hand, the “golden point”: they count as 21 and win.
A round:
- Press Deal. Everyone gets one card. You see yours; the others stay face down.
- Starting from the player after the banker, each player looks at their card and stakes 10 to 500 credits. Tap chips to build your stake, then press Stake.
- Everyone, the banker too, gets a second card.
- Players take turns to Draw or Stand. Going over 21 loses your stake straight away.
- The banker plays last, then settles with everyone still standing.
The deck is shuffled before every round.
Winning and losing
- Higher total than the banker: the banker pays your stake.
- Same total or lower: you pay the banker. Ties go to the bank.
- Banker goes over 21: the banker pays everyone still standing.
- Ochko (21 with your first two cards: an ace and a 10, or two aces) wins even money and ends your turn.
- The banker’s Ochko ends the round at once and wins from every player, except a player who also has one: that’s a draw.
All wins pay even money: one stake for one stake.
The bank
The bank stays with one player for up to five rounds, then moves to the next seat. When you’re the banker you play against all three bots at once. You see who stands and who busts, but not the totals of the players still standing. Then you Draw or Stand, and win or pay each of them.
Credits. Only your credits count; the bots never run out. As a player you can stake up to your credits. As the banker, the bots’ stakes together can’t be more than your credits. A bot that finds nothing left to cover sits the round out.
Strategy
Hold the bank. Ties go to the banker, and the banker sees every bust before deciding. With every seat played by the bots’ rules in two runs of 400,000 rounds, the bank won about 6.8% of all money staked against it. Your seat holds the bank for about a quarter of the rounds, which balances what you give away as a player.
Count the small pictures. A King is only 4 and a Jack only 2, so a hand of 10 and King is 14, not 20. Big hands come from aces, 10s and the middle cards.
Use the bust chance. On your turn the message says how often one more card would take you over 21. It counts only the cards you can see: your own, and any shown by busted players or Ochkos. With a 36-card deck, every card you see changes the odds a lot.
Stake on your first card. You choose the stake after seeing one card. An ace is the best start: it’s 11 on its own, a 10 makes Ochko, and a second ace makes the golden point.
The bots play by fixed rules. They stake more on aces and 10s, draw below 16, and as the banker draw to 17.
Where it comes from
Ochko belongs to the twenty-one family, with Vingt-et-un, Pontoon and casino Blackjack. Its 36-card deck is the one used for most Russian card games, such as Durak. House rules vary: in some games the ace may also count 1, and the banker puts up a “bank” that players can stake against, up to all of it (“va-bank”). Here the ace is always 11 and stakes have fixed limits.
If you enjoy Ochko, try Omaha Hi-Lo or Omaha Sit & Go next.
