Frugally Vegas: Blackjack rules and their effects on house advantage and your wallet.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Blackjack rules and their effects on house advantage and your wallet.

In the previous post, we touched on the importance of learning basic strategy(BS) if you're at all serious about limiting the house odds in BJ games. Billions of computer simulation calculations have been conducted that back the mathematically correct plays that BS charts provide. Of course you can purchase one of many BJ books on the market but be certain it's by a credible author; as in any information area, there's some inaccurate BJ info as well. The Web offers countless BJ sites with tons of info (ie BJ21.com) including printable BS charts. Note that there are some slight differences in BS decisions for identical plays (your hand total vs dealer's upcard) depending on the number of decks in play (1,2,4-8 deck options) and specific rules in force. If detail isn't your forte, then you might consider a single generic basic strategy and apply it for all regular BJ games; the latter would be preferable to guessing or making decisions based on those proverbial gut feelings. Over time, you can minimize house advantage with basic strategy. Seek out the following BJ rule options/conditions/table environment for more fun and lowering house odds at BJ.
1. Avoid dreadful 6:5 or even money (worse yet) payoffs on naturals(blackjacks); insist on standard 3:2 payoff games;
2. Playing fewer decks( single,double deck games) increases player advantage; not many decent 1-deck games left in Vegas (3:2)
3. Double down options; double on any two cards(DA2) and doubling allowed after splitting(DAS) a pair (many available)
4. Surrender option offered; you can find games with the late surrender(LS) variety, but it's often not posted..ask if it's offered
5. Dealer stands on soft 17 (S17); there's a few of these left and worth hunting for; most games are H17 (dealer hits soft 17)
6. Re-splitting of aces after initial split (RSA); few and far between particularly on the strip
7. Promotional blackjack payoffs (naturals); very rarely, a casino will offer 2:1 money on a blackjack ..run to this game
8. Play at tables that fit your comfort zone; do you enjoy the company of loud,grouchy,smoking drunks?..it can affect your play
9. BJ needs to offer some enjoyment; if that aspect disappears while you're playing, go see Fab Four Mania,hit a buffet,etc.
Cheers!..Chuck60

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Mostly Useless (and approximate) Las Vegas Facts

1. Number of Las Vegas citizens 500,000

2. Number of Clark County residents 1,500,000

3. Year first casino licensed 1931

4. Number of slot machines in Vegas 200,000

5. Number of annual Vegas visitors 40,000,000 (and dropping)

6. Number of licensed gambling entities 1700

7. Hours per day average visitor gambles 4

8. Annual state gaming revenue 9 billion (and dropping)

9. Average gambling budget per trip 560 (and dropping)

10. Mean price per acre in valley 161,000.00

11. Price per acre on the Strip 11,000,000.00

12. Number of hotel rooms 137,000 +

13. Number of pillowcases washed at MGM daily 15,000

14. Number of doors at MGM 18,000

15. Annual no. toilet paper rolls used at Bally's 1 million

16. Lucky The Clown marquee sign at Circus Circus has

1232 fluorescent bulbs, 14,498 incandescent bulbs, and

3/4 mile of neon tubing light (no wonder they're replacing

it!)

17. In good times, Excalibur goes through over 44,000

Cornish game hens, 15 thousand pounds of hamburger

meat, and 4200 pounds of prime rib monthly

18. Caesar's Palace has used 2 million plus maraschino

cherries, 11 thousand ounces of caviar, 2 million ounces

of tomato juice, and close to 600 thousand ounces of

vodka yearly (bloody mary winner?)

19. Mandalay Bay has 5,300 palm trees and their wave pool

has a capacity of 1,640,270 gallons of water

20. Average nightly room rate 119.00 (and dropping)

21. Average number of Vegas weddings per day 300+

22. Number of golf courses 37

23. Miles of neon tubing on the Strip and Downtown 15,000

24. State's nationwide rank in gold production 1st

25. Cost of Nevada marriage license 35.00

26. Average cost of filing for divorce 450.00

27. Average length of stay for visitors 3.7 days

28. Number of hosted conventions annually 3750

29. The electric bill to operate the Luxor pyramid beam is

approximately 55.00 per hour.

30. Las Vegas has 17 of the world's 20 largest hotels

"WHERE'S MY WALLET , ETHEL!? "

Just a cautionary tip when in Vegas.. there are active

pickpockets all over town. I experienced this first-hand

and came within 10 seconds of losing my cash stash last July

while visiting one of those upper end joints on the strip.

I was gambling significantly at a video poker machine, unabashedly slipping C-notes in them. Somebody had been

observing my wagering behavior. I was happily winning at the time and my cautionary tendencies regarding my bankroll

money went south and out the window.

A lady approached me from behind as I played and was all aglow with my run of good luck. She initiated a conversation about nothing and anything . I was concentrating on proper VP strategy and responding to her comments with a lot of "yeah-yeahs". I was fortunate enough to get ahead on the machine again and I cashed out. I had a satchel (I normally never gamble under those conditions) with me that had assorted trip stuff in it. The satchel presence and the relatively high denomination coin-in amount collectively screamed " please rob me!" I placed my wallet in the satchel along with the machine cash-out tickets and proceeded to reconnect with my family and head to our room.

I had developed a sense of cautionary unease as I mulled over the contact with the effusively talkative woman at the VP machine. My senses told me that something about that encounter was skewed, although at the time I didn't know what it was and I wasn't bleeding profusely..yet. My group then proceeded to meander through a very crowded slot machine aisle and some other 6th, 7th, or 8th sense that vaguely detected an impersonal yet succinct encroachment into my personal space kicked in. Instinctively, I immediately dug into the satchel to locate my wallet and it was gone. I then immediately turned around and backtracked about ten feet (a matter of maybe 3 seconds, tops) as my endogenous adrenaline kicked in. I'm not sure that my hair wasn't on fire briefly.

I then spotted my wallet (and life) in a woman's hand who was playing a slot machine. I walked straight at her and demanded it post-haste in a tone that screamed seriousness. I immediately grabbed the wallet and called for security. The woman claimed she picked it up off the floor and so did the man (her accomplice) behind her, both vowing that they were planning to remit it to the security desk. My svelte ass they were.

This team of thieves including the woman who was all goony-googoo at the VP machine were pros. I have to claim part of the blame for the openly careless manner I had displayed with my money. They were held by security and the eye-in-the-sky tapes were to be reviewed.

The good thing is I didn't lose a cent because my peripheral senses kicked in immediately and they didn't have time to bury the evidence ( perhaps they weren't the best of pros?). Take heed folks..these people are everywhere in Vegas. Know where your cash is at all times; take precautions to protect it, don't flaunt it around carelessly as I did, and if you sense something is awry while gambling trust your instincts.

Distractions from one member of a team of thieves is a common MO. Store your gambling session monies in a front pants pocket or in one of those god-awful front-loaded fanny packs (pride be damned). The lesson I learned here after several years of Vegas gambling experiences turned out to be one of the most valuable for me personally.

Cheers..

Chuck60