About Straight Jack
Straight Jack is played on a standard blackjack table with a standard English deck of 52 cards and no jokers or wild cards, although some casinos offer the game with a six or eight deck shoe.
All of the regular wagers are available on the game, some of which include the SHFL bonus bet of Lucky Ladies. However, Straight Jack includes a progressive jackpot that usually starts at $1,000 and is paid on any player hand of five consecutive straight cards.
To play Straight Jack a player must first make a standard blackjack wager. Then, the player may bet from $1 to $25 on the Straight Jack bonus spot. Any two starting cards that form a straight such as 7-8, Ace-King, or 2-3 qualify, and as the player takes additional cards they can form a larger straight of 3, 4 or 5 cards. Each hit card must continue the straight. When the player receives a card that leaves a gap in the straight (such as 2-3-4 and then 6) the bonus is paid and the straight is done.
Bonus Payouts
- Two Card Straight Pays 2 to 1
- Three Card Straight Pays 10 to 1
- Four Card Straight Pays 50 to 1
- Five Card Straight Pays 200 to 1 Plus the Progressive Meter Jackpot
There are only two possible straights that can win the progressive: Ace-2-3-4-5 and 2-3-4-5-6.
In addition to the progressive jackpot, each of the two winning five-card straights also are paid 200-to-1. The reason only two hands qualify for the jackpot is because when a player busts (goes over 21) the last card does not count towards any straight, so a player with 7-8 has a two card straight and if they catch a 6 on the next card they have a three-card straight and are paid 10-1. If they catch a 9, making 7-8-9, they are paid for a two-card straight at 2-1.
In addition to the busted hand rule above, when the dealer receives a blackjack the player's hand is over, so no additional cards can be drawn to improve a two-card straight, although it still pays 2-1. Also, if a pair of 10's is split (such as Queen-Jack) then the payoff is 2-1 and the straight can not be improved. However, a player blackjack of Ace-King is a 2-1 straight winner and the player may elect to try to improve to a three-card straight by doubling down or hitting their blackjack and giving up the guaranteed 1.5-1 payoff for a natural. When a player doubles-down on a 2-card straight they can improve to a 3-card straight.
Blackjack Strategy Changes
If you play at a table with the Straight Jack bonus you may see players making some strange decisions about how to play their hands compared to the optimal way when following basic strategy. That's alright. There are no perfect odds for changing your play because your decision depends on the size of your blackjack wager and the size of your Straight Jack wager.
To begin with, a player will receive two consecutive straight cards 15.75 percent of the time, so you can expect to be working (and paid) on a straight about once every six or seven hands. The chances of improving to a three-card open-ended straight are about the same (8 cards out of 50 will help) at 16 percent. If you have a closed-end straight (Ace-King or Ace-deuce) the chances of improving are only 4 in 50, or 8 percent. The odds of improving a three-card straight or a four-card straight are slightly better.
Now suppose you are dealt an Ace-King blackjack. If the dealer does not also have a blackjack you are guaranteed 1.5 on your standard wager and 2-1 on your Straight Jack wager. However, you can draw (or double down) to your 11 and hope for a Queen, improving your straight payoff from 2-1 up to 10-1. If your blackjack wager was $5 and your Straight Jack wager was $1, you are guaranteed $9.50 or can hit and try to improve to win $15. Since you are going to win just an extra $5.50 the trade off is poor, don't do it.
On the other hand, if you had a $5 blackjack wager and a $5 Straight Jack wager and could improve from $17.50 to $55, you might risk the hit knowing the worst you can do is lose the blackjack bet and pickup $10 on the two-card straight. The higher your Straight Jack wager compared to your blackjack wager, the more tempting it will be to hit (or double down) and try to improve.
Players have the same decisions to make when hitting a two-card straight against a dealer up-card of 2 through 6. Basic strategy says stand, but improving from a 2-1 straight to a 10-1 paying straight changes your decision. A double down on 6-5 might also be switched to a hit, because hitting allows that small chance that you might improve to a 6-5-4-3-2 and grab that progressive jackpot and a 200-1 payoff on your Straight Jack wager.
What are the odds of that happening? You will have to catch the 4, 3, 2 in that order, so with no knowledge of any other cards and single-deck math, you will improve 134 times out of 1838 hands, but only make the four or five card straight bonus 13 times. That puts the odds slightly worse for hitting than doubling, but if you are playing Straight Jack you'll probably want to hit and shoot for the stars (and the progressive jackpot), it's your choice! Note: the progressive meter may result in a taxable jackpot since it is likely to be 300-1 or higher than your wager and over $600. Of course with a hand of 5-4-3 you will always want to hit again.