I am currently living in Costa Rica, which is great for me because the gambling age down here is 18. I have been to Costa Rican casinos a couple times and the closest thing they have to BlackJack here is a variation called 'Rummy 777'. The basic gameplay is the same, try to get closer to 21 than the dealer, splitting, doubling, etc.
The only major difference is that a 'blackjack' does not pay 3:2. Instead, if your first 3 cards are 3 of a kind or a straight flush, it is a 'Rummy' and pays 3:1. If the Rummy adds up to 21 (6 7 8) of the same suit or (7 7 7), you get payed 5:1. In my experience, Rummys are pretty rare but very exciting (I once got the 5:1 on a $50 bet). Also, the dealer only has one face up card and doesn't start hitting more until after every player has hit (as opposed to having one face up and one face down the whole time).
Details aside from that, early surrender is available, dealer stands on soft 17, you can hit multiple times after splitting aces, split aces multiple times, double any 2 cards, etc.
I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about this variation on BlackJack. Any particular strategies? Are the player's odds better or worse than standard BlackJack? Any thoughts at all.