ONLINE GAMBLING AND CASINO GUIDE

This was meant to be a post about the evils of 6:5 Black, until yesterday afternoon.

What changed yesterday afternoon?

After playing poker at the Excalibur poker room, I encountered something that I rarely see in Las Vegas.

A 7:5 Blackjack table.

Great, yet another bastardized version of the game.

I realized that a post about the evils of 6:5 Blackjack would be lacking. It now has to be about the evils of “anything other than 3:2” Blackjack.

Some people insist that anything other than 3:2 should not be called “Blackjack” at all.

I think it should, because the gameplay is exactly the same. Video Poker is Video Poker no matter what the paytable.

That doesn’t mean all variations should be played, though.

I consider myself to be a fan of Blackjack. It’s an easy game to master, but there is still enough strategy to keep it interesting for a few hours each month.

Some of you may laugh, but one of my favorite games in this town used to be $1 Blackjack at the Sahara. That game was removed a couple of years ago, but I used to love the $1 tables. I would spread my bets from anywhere from $1 to $20 per hand. It offered tremendous bankroll flexibility. I could sit down with $100 and play for 3 hours.

Despite the insanely low limit of that game … it still paid 3:2 on Blackjack.

All Blackjack in Vegas (and the world) has traditionally been 3:2, and people liked it. There is a reason that it became the most popular casino game in the world. 3:2 Blackjack provided reasonable value for the gambling dollar, and it became “THE” casino game which drove all other games in the house. Hell, at some points in time, it was not wholly uncommon to see 2:1 payouts on Blackjack, but 3:2 has been the overwhelming standard for the last 100 years.

Until recently, there was a thrill to getting dealt a natural 21. Why? Because it paid 50% more than drawing a winning hand. This is why people congratulated each other at the table when they were dealt a natural. It was a significantly better win than was a “regular” win.

These days, getting dealt a “Blackjack” means very little. It pays about the same as any other winning hand. Hell, most people tip when being dealt a natural, so if you are one of these people, you probably make no more on a Blackjack than you do if you stand on 12 and the dealer draws a bust.

Let’s face it, only Las Vegas could take the fun out of gambling. The mob knew how to run a casino … shareholders don’t know shit.

If you don’t believe me, pull up a stock chart for most any Las Vegas gaming stock. What you find will be so ugly, it will make you want to slap your momma.

Blackjack has been the bread and butter of casinos for decades. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

But “fix” it they did … for the worse.

When I walk into a casino and see people crowded around a 6:5 table, it saddens me. The reason it saddens me is because people who play 6:5 beget more tables to become 6:5. Corporate casinos will push every disadvantage that a player is willing to accept.

If tourists keep playing this game, it’s only a matter of time until we see 10:9 Blackjack.

In my opinion, when you play 6:5, you are actually contributing to the destruction of gambling in Las Vegas as a whole. For every idiot that plops down at a $10 6:5 table, there may be two people who don’t bother hopping on a plane at all.

Casino managers love to see their 6:5 tables full, but it’s penny-wise, pound-autistic.

They are sacrificing the long run for the short, and bad news travels faster than good.

All things being the same, 6:5 BJ adds 1.39% to the house advantage over 3:2.

This doesn’t seem like much, but at a $10 single deck game, a player will lose five times as much money after 100 hands if he is playing 6:5 vs. 3:2.

So, what to make of this “other” variation of BJ … 7:5?

Is it really less evil than 6:5?

I did some looking around, and from what I could ascertain, under common circumstances, 7:5 BJ adds .46% to the house edge over 3:2.

So, it is considerably less evil than 6:5 … but in my opinion, it’s still not cool.

6:5 Blackjack did not start rearing its ugly head in Las Vegas until 2003.

Why 2003?

Because Las Vegas was in a huge boom period. Ultra-lounges and bottle service started cropping up, and Vegas was the “hip” place to be. Vegas casinos could have used dog turds for casino chips in 2003 and people would have embraced them as the next great thing.

If we have learned anything the past couple of years, it was that Las Vegas itself grossly overplayed its own hand in the early 2000’s, but they are reluctant to admit and correct their mistakes.

I refuse, and I mean REFUSE to play hand-dealt Blackjack at anything less than 3:2. You don’t have to be a seasoned gamer to look upon this game with disdain, nobody that considers themselves even a casual or recreational gambler would play this game under any circumstances.

So why do people play 6:5 and 7:5?

It’s simple.

Alcohol.

The average tourist comes to Vegas to get shitfaced drunk and they could not care less about the details of the game they are playing. They just want to PLAY SOMETHING.

This being the case, I think a special “I Don’t Care Pit” should be set up in every casino. If someone is there simply for entertainment without regards to odds, direct them to this pit and ply them with drinks. Change the game so that the player actually receives less money from a Blackjack than a normal bet. Maybe pay them 2:3 … half as much as their original bet. Penalize them for getting a natural. Hell, they won’t care. They’re having fun!

And that’s all well and good. If that’s what they want, give it to them.

Since the house will be robbing these people blind, they can afford to give the rest of us full-play Blackjack. Hell, I don’t need drink service. I NEVER drink alcohol while I am gambling. I’ll bring my bottled water, and be fine.

There are a couple of us left that actually enjoy gambling for the potential rewards instead of using it as something to pass the time as the alcohol finds its way from our stomach to our brain.

As long as people keep playing these games, these games are going to spread to more and more places, and to more and more betting limits.

Please, for the sake of gambling, and for the sake of the survival of Las Vegas …

Just say no to 6:5 Blackjack, or any variation of the game that does not pay at least 3:2.

If you play these games, then you are not part of the problem, you ARE the problem.

Please cease doing so at once.

Five years down the road when we all have our game back, and gambling-oriented tourists flock back to the city, you will thank me.

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