The super rare hand

Do you ever think about super rare blackjack hands? Probably not, and that’s fine. It’s not like it affects card-counting or strategy much, but every once in a while it can be fun to step back and see how crazy the combinations of hands can get in this game.

The rarest of the rare would have to be the 5-card 21 in a single deck game – hold on, not done – where all 5’s make an appearance. The first thing I know I’d do is probably kick myself for not getting it during a poker hand, but after that I’d collect my winnings (hopefully) and just move along to the next hand.

But think about it, not only is it incredibly rare to see four of a kind in a single-deck hand, but the conditions to even get to that point would have to be a perfect storm.

From the player’s perspective, you’d have to start out with 5, 5. Since you’d always hit that hand, the next card would half to be the third 5. With a hand of 15, you’re going to hit against any dealer card 7 or high. However, backing up one step, the dealer would have to have a 10 or an Ace or it’s a likely assumption the player would just double down on the 10. So let’s say the dealer has a 10. The player hits again, catches the ace (for a hand of 16) then hits one final time, catches the 5 and wins the hand with 21.

Even under those conditions, a player with 16 isn’t ALWAYS going to hit. That’s just the way it is. So taking all that into account, I read that someone figured it would take one player 24 years of average playing to see this occur. Which may be true, but I’m sure it’s happening once a week or once a month somewhere in the world.

See, once you start thinking about this, it’s fun to go back and talk war stories of all the weird hands (win or lose) that you or the dealer had during a session. Seeing things happen the same over and over in single or double-deck games is another eyebrow-raiser. Hell, anytime I see the dealer get the same value hand twice in a row (usually it’s blackjack since you’re seeing the second card), it makes me shake my head in disbelief. Deep down, you know the game isn’t rigged, but it makes you remember the hands, that’s for sure.

To that point, I can remember a dealer’s 6-card 21 that put me out of the game one night more vividly than I can remember my multiple winning sessions during that same year of hundreds of dollars each or more.