East Coast Gambler

A little more research for my trip to Las Vegas brings me to blackjack.

Blackjack on the Las Vegas strip over the past couple of years has gone from paying out 3:2 to 6:5 for blackjack in many casinos.  For example; the Harrah’s properties seem to exclusively only pay out 6:5 on blackjack.

I look for any advantage I can get so I look for 3:2 blackjack.

On a small scale this isn’t much of a big deal, but the house edge increases about 1.5% when only paying out 6:5.  One of the reasons people play blackjack is that the house edge is so small that money lasts for a while.

You can check house edge based on different rules with the calculator on Wizard of Odds.

Sometimes to offset a 3:2 blackjack game casinos will use a continuous shuffling machine (CSM).  I don’t like playing these kind of tables because every hand is like the first hand being dealt from a shoe.  There is no counting cards with a CSM and no predictability of the upcoming cards.  I don’t count cards, but I pay attention to face cards and usually know when the deck is heavy or light with face cards.

Until this research I thought the CSM decreased player odds a lot.  I never looked at the math behind a CSM.  The CSM actually decreases house advantage. This surprised me, but it’s hard to argue with the math.  This only changes my mind a little.  I still don’t want to play a game with a CMS, but with this knowledge I hate it a little less.

On to my research for my house casino(s) – Palazzo and Venetian.  I found that they both have plenty of blackjack that is hand hand shuffled and dealt from a shoe and pays 3:2.  After my last trip where I saw only 6:5 games at Caesars Palace this is nice to see.  I didn’t play any blackjack on that trip.  Onward and upward!

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Wizard of Odds posted an update to their simple blackjack strategy.  I’m all for simple strategy and will sometimes modify perfect strategies to be a little more simple.  While I try to play perfect strategy, I have a short attention span and usually drink when I gamble so perfect strategy sometimes goes out the door.

Read the rest of this entry →

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I have been on the hunt for the past few weeks to find infomation on Las Vegas blackjack payouts by casino.  While that information has showed me some new resources that search has also led me to many dead ends.

It seems as if the Las Vegas blackjack community is loud, but not as organized as the video poker players I’ve met.  So what have I learned from my search?

17′s:  Almost every table in Las Vegas seems to be where the dealer hits on soft 17.  This is to the advantage of the casino.  All tables in Atlantic City have dealers hiting on soft 17, so I’m used to this.

Payouts:   Blackjack pays both 6:5 and 3:2 in most casinos.  It seems as if 6:5 is taking over and the game most easily available.  3:2 blackjack games are supposedly hidden.

Shoe vs. Single Deck:  6:5 blackjack increases the house advantage by 1.39% when playing with a shoe.  House advantage with single deck goes from .2% to 1.6%.

Best reference found:  BJ21.com.  This was the best reference I was able to find.  For more details on 6:5 odds take a look at this post.

Best community:  The Las Vegas Trip Advisor forum had many willing voices.  While the Atlantic City forum has more video poker advice, Las Vegas’ forum had more people that played a wider variety of games.

What did I learn?  Not too much.  I really learned the difference between 6:5 payouts vs. 3:2 payouts.  I knew a little, but I feel much more well versed.  As long as I keep my wits about me I should be able to find a 3:2 blackjack game.  I’m not sure that will happen, but at least I know.

If you have any more references, please email me or comment below to share with everyone.

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…continued…

After a nice long night of sleep and a shower I headed down to Reflections Cafe for breakfast.  There were more than a few people on the line for Diamond members but it moved fairly quickly.   Our waiter was very nice and personable.  I started my recovery with orange juice, (much) coffee and a bacon and cheddar cheese omelet.  It was a nice long breakfast while I waited for a friend to show up.  While he had a quick bite I enjoyed a 2nd pot of coffee.

After breakfast we headed to the tables.  The day started with blackjack.  Blackjack still pays 3:2 when dealt from a shoe.  It was a slow grind, but after a while I left the table with a loss of $200.  I didn’t even notice until my last hand that the person sitting to my right was staying on 15 and 16.  I can’t believe that people that play blackjack don’t know the most basic rules.

While walking around the casino I dropped $100 into a 9 line Top Dollar slot machine.  I love these kind of games with a bonus game.  After about 20 minutes I walked away up $400.  My first win of the weekend!

The casino was becoming crowded at this point and I found a 3:2 single deck blackjack table with two open spots.  I lasted a while here too, but I think I walked away down $100 after a while.  This table had many jerks in and out of the table.  It was comical to watch.  Not comical was losing again.

After walking away from the table I looked for my other friend who went off to play 3 card poker.  As it turns out he walked away a huge winner up $2000+!

We all took a walk to the diamond lounge for a beer and snack.  There was a small line to get in, but the wait wasn’t too long.  We sat at the bar and watched college basketball for a while.  My menu included a couple of Corona’s, a couple slices of pizza and a slice of pecan pie.  Not bad.

I took another shot at the tables.  This time was 3 card poker.  It was awful.  There are times when I love this game, but this felt a little forced and a reason just to hang out with some friends.  I walked away, pretty quickly, down $400.

What a horrible morning and early afternoon of gambling.  I decided to head back to the room to relax for a little while.  Empire Strikes Back was on in HD.  I tried to nap, but all I needed was a few minutes to shut my eyes.

Saturday afternoon and evening to be continued…

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An Australian company, webtopia, has created an application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch to help people to count cards in blackjack.

I usually play blackjack socially so I’m not much into card counting.  I’d rather focus on drinking beer or vodka while hanging with good friends.  I’m not afraid of finding a tool like this to make me a better gambler, but I’m not sure I could never get away using this at a table.  I already get yelled at…a lot…by dealers and pit bosses for using my blackberry.

There is video on the webtopia site.  My flash player isn’t being nice so I’m not going to post it here.  If you’re into this, please comment with feedback.

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