An Englishman in...

I'm a UK AP looking to visit the east coast of America and mix some business and pleasure. I'm wanting to go somewhere with plenty of non-CSM Blackjack games with good rules.

A couple of airlines are having a price war on UK/US prices right now and they have return flights to New York, Orlando or Miami for less than £250 so I'm hoping to snap one up ASAP.

Can anybody give me any pointers on where would be best for me to visit for my Blackjack needs? I'd hate to go all that way and find I've picked the wrong state!

I’m not sure what you are looking for in terms of attractions, but Pennsylvania has the BJ rules you are looking for.

If you stayed in Philadelphia, you would have 2 PA casino’s in the immediate vicinity. Then if you wanted to visit NYC or DC, they are both within 2 hrs driving distance. And Atlantic City is only 1hr away. You could also take the train to any of those.

I wouldn’t exactly call PA the greatest tourist attraction (although there are things to see/do).... but it might give you the best bang for your buck depending on how much you want to travel once you land.

Your options are limited if you fly into Florida. I believe that Hard Rock has the only live blackjack in the state. The Hard Rock Hollywood is about a 40 minute drive from the Miami airport, and Tampa Hard Rock is about 2 hours from the Orlando airport.

You would want to have a rental car to get to either of these. There may be rail/bus options, but they will not be simple nor convenient.

It's been a couple of years since I have been to either one. I'm not sure of the rules or proliferation of CSM's, but I want to say decks were hand-shuffled last time I was there.

Fly into New York and you are 2-3 hours from plenty of the PA and AAtlantic City casinos with the rules you want. You can rent a car or take a train for the trips. And you will be in NYC for the pleasure part of the trips.

All the Seminole Tribe owned casinos in Florida do offer blackjack but under various circumstances. most common are the lower limit tables in very crowded pits where it is plainly marked at 6:5 and plainly marked dealer hits soft 17. The higher limit tables do often pay 3:2 and if you play at the 300.00 per hand rate you will be able to arrange a private table.

Drink policies vary since the tribe only has ONE liquor license. Dealer attire varies also. The 6:5 pit is obviously not going to offer any scantily clad dealers. The 3:2 pits claim to offer 'dealertainers' but its really just a more scantily designed costume than anything else and more frequent cocktails.

I would NOT recommend Florida other than the twice a day Gambling Ship out of Port Canaveral a few hours north of Miami.

I think you would be best off heeding the advice of previous posters and going to Pennsylvania.

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If you fly into NY and are willing to rent a car Foxwoods & Mohegan Sun are a couple hours away. Foxwoods is a huge property by anyones standard. As far as gaming rules are better than vegas strip but not Bolder Hwy.

Quote: JimmyChips

If you fly into NY and are willing to rent a car Foxwoods & Mohegan Sun are a couple hours away. Foxwoods is a huge property by anyones standard. As far as gaming rules are better than vegas strip but not Bolder Hwy.

The airlines often consider "Islip, NY" and an airport in Connecticut whose name I can't recall off-hand to be "New York" so you would be really closer to Foxwoods if you landed in Connecticut, however I've heard increased "grumbling" about Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun and see no reason to favor them in any way.

Boulder Highway in Vegas has some local casinos that offer no glitz or glamor and so have to offer good rules. Some other local casinos in Vegas can be bargains but watch out for some of these "four blackjack tables but only in the afternoons" situations at the really small casinos that just offer what they have to so as to keep their licenses.

Since BJ isn't my game of choice, I don't pay a huge amount of attention to the various casinos offerings but all the tables I have seen both at Mohegan and in AC use CSM for all card games.

Quote: TumblingBones

Since BJ isn't my game of choice, I don't pay a huge amount of attention to the various casinos offerings but all the tables I have seen both at Mohegan and in AC use CSM for all card games.

Is this correct?

Like I said, I'm not really focused on BJ (I prefer craps) but I like to wander around the casino floor and check out all the games and people playing them. I was at Mohegan last week and was observing the action for Spanish 21, Baccarat, and PG Poker. As I recall, all had CSMs. Same at a BJ table that had been reserved for some high roller.

Quote: TumblingBones

Like I said, I'm not really focused on BJ (I prefer craps) but I like to wander around the casino floor and check out all the games and people playing them. I was at Mohegan last week and was observing the action for Spanish 21, Baccarat, and PG Poker. As I recall, all had CSMs. Same at a BJ table that had been reserved for some high roller.

Are you sure you're not confusing CSM with an autoshuffler? I can't see any reason to have a CSM for PG Poker -- it would be an unnecessary expense and would slow down the game.

Quote: Joeman

Are you sure you're not confusing CSM with an autoshuffler? I can't see any reason to have a CSM for PG Poker -- it would be an unnecessary expense and would slow down the game.

That's what I'm thinking.

Quote: Joeman

Are you sure you're not confusing CSM with an autoshuffler?

You may be right. I googled for images for both CSM and autoshuffler and what I saw at Mohegan wasn't an exact match for anything in the search results but I will admit it looked closer to an autoshuffler than a CSM.

Apology for any confusion.

Thanks for your advice everyone, much appreciated!

From NYC, there are numerous bus opportunities for you. Sands, AC ,Foxwoods or Mohican Sun all have subsidized bus runs you can use. The drawback is hotels are ridiculously priced.