Not five-card Charlie, but Perfect Charlie!

This is the last side-bet for the time being that I have to offer you, and it just so happens that it’s by far and away the worst odds of any side-bet I’ve talked about thus far. Perhaps that in and of itself is the best illustration for why you should approach these additions to regular blackjack with caution and skepticism at all times.

OK, this side bet pays based on the combination of the first three to five cards in your hand – one hand only (or your first if you’re playing multiples). Standard six-deck game. The betting for this is usually very small, less than a dollar, so if that’s right away tells you it’s not worth your time, the odds certainly won’t turn things around for you.

Also, only your top combination wins any dollar amount, not each step along the way. And you forfeit your initial bet, it’s not returned as part of any winnings.

So now that we have the rules out of the way, let’s take a look at the payoffs and percentages. And I’ll shake things up for the last side bet and start from the bottom this time.

If your first three cards are a 2, 3 and 4 in any order of any suit, then you’re paid off 40:1. And guess what? There’s only a 0.2% chance of this hitting. And, yup, those are the best odds in the game. Go ahead, laugh.

2, 3, 4, 5 in any order of any suit bumps the payoff up to 100:1, but let’s just reflect for a second here, because you can only bet up to, say, 50 cents. So that’s 50 bucks you win back for something that has a 0.07 percent chance of taking place. Lovely.

Let’s just up about halfway and go to 2, 3, 4 suited and in order. That pays 2,000 to 1. I know, looks sexy doesn’t it? It should, since it’ll only happen about once every 50,000 hands. 2, 3, 4, 5 suited in order pays a whopping 80,000 to 1. Now that actually does translate into some serious chance, as long as you’ve been struck by lightning before – odds are 0.00005 percent. You know when you have to squint to count the zero’s, it’s pretty much a worthless wager. And finally, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 suited in order pays you 300,000:1 on your initial bet.

And as you can guess, it’ll never happen.