Worst blackjack ever?

Quote: Wizard

I had a nice dinner with Charles Mousseau (hope he doesn't mind the name drop) yesterday. He drew my attention to a bar-top game at Binion's with some awful rules. Afterward, we went over and I can confirm the rules were:

• Single deck
• Dealer stands on soft 17
• All wins, including blackjack pay even money (or 2 for 1)
• Player may never double or split
• Player and dealer must automatically stop on six cards.

My blackjack programs don't even support such awful rules so I asked expert Norm Wattenberger for the bottom line. He said the house edge was 4.30%. Benny Binion must be rolling over in his grave. I wish I could put copper wire and magnets in it to generate electricity.

Still, in all fairness, it isn't as bad as Blackjack Plus, with a house edge of 6.36%.

I'd like to thank Norm for his help on this. Please check out his blackjack software Casino Verite.

That's pretty standard these days. Maybe a third of bar video blackjack machines offer splits or limited doubling. Most only allow you to split queens, not a queen and a Jack.
On the plus side, you can play for a dollar a hand and drink more than your expected loss and vbj is eligible for slot points ,especially on multiplier days. It often is a better option than the 7-5 JOB many places offer.

Quote: billryan

That's pretty standard these days.

Shows you what I know. Pretty sad. Still a much better bet than reeled slots.

Quote: Wizard

Shows you what I know. Pretty sad. Still a much better bet than reeled slots.

Does that mean that the new fancy slots are better than the old reel slots?

Quote: VCUSkyhawk

Does that mean that the new fancy slots are better than the old reel slots?

No, they are worse.

By all means, name drop away. It was a very good dinner. Some of the best veal I ever had, to be honest.

And yeah, really the big benefit of that game was that it was a 25 cent minimum. Compare that to, say, the MGM's Bar Top which has doubles and splits allowed but has a $2 minimum.

But agreed with the Benny Binion spinning in his grave, massive electromagnet theory. They don't even have the token $25 min full pay single deck game anymore. 6-5 on every blackjack game in the joint. Oh Benny, what have they done to you?

Quote: CharlesMousseau

Oh Benny, what have they done to you?

Yep, ironic that Binions has become exactly the opposite of what Benny stood for. If I had twenty million to burn I'd buy a small downtown property, have the best odds in Vegas on every game, and I'm sure run it into the ground within a few years.

Quote: Wizard

Yep, ironic that Binions has become exactly the opposite of what Benny stood for. If I had twenty million to burn I'd buy a small downtown property, have the best odds in Vegas on every game, and I'm sure run it into the ground within a few years.

Let's do it. I'm in for 5%.

Quote: Wizard

Yep, ironic that Binions has become exactly the opposite of what Benny stood for. If I had twenty million to burn I'd buy a small downtown property, have the best odds in Vegas on every game, and I'm sure run it into the ground within a few years.

I would almost do that.

I would have Video Poker that was all in the 99+% range on half of my machines, except Video Poker would not earn points and there wouldn't even be a place to put your player's club card in for it. I would have several 100%+ games on VP, but they would all be single line for either nickels or dimes.

I would have 3:2 Blackjack, but most other rules would positively suck. Some players know that 3:2 is good and 6:5 is bad, but I imagine a good percentage of those players don't know what else to look for.

-Eight Decks
-Six-Card Charlie (Fun and doesn't affect much, I also think people would go after it too aggressively)
-Double on Any Number of Cards, but total must be 9-11. (Doesn't add much)
-Split only to two hands.
-No RSA or HSA
-No Surrender
-Hit Soft 17
-No Double After Split

You're looking at about .9355% HE with Basic, before you knock a wee little off of that for my Six Card Charlie and Double on Any Number of cards (except after split) rule. I think I'm giving back roughly .39-.4% with my Six-Card Charlie and Double on Any Number of Cards (before Splitting only), so that's an overall HE of about .53-.54% with Basic on a semi-complicated rule set with lots of opportunity to make errors. Still not a bad HE, really.

All the tables would be electronic with physically dealt cards. Comps would be 5% of theoretical loss.

Anyway, I would advertise the hell out of, "We have 3:2 Blackjack and ALWAYS will!"

Quote: CharlesMousseau

Some of the best veal I ever had, to be honest.

I'll be in Vegas next week. Where's more of that veal to be found, if I may ask.

Quote: racquet

I'll be in Vegas next week. Where's more of that veal to be found, if I may ask.

That was at the Golden Nugget. I recommend a table with a view of the pool.