Sands pa stadium blackjack

whats the info? pictures be nice,

countable? martingalable? same rules apply? crappy 6-5? how many seats? crowding as always??

max table bet? able to see others cards or just yours? and utlimately is it beatable??

you Aps must be keeping it down low

Quote: sidthesquid

whats the info? pictures be nice,

countable? martingalable? same rules apply? crappy 6-5? how many seats? crowding as always??

max table bet? able to see others cards or just yours? and utlimately is it beatable??

you Aps must be keeping it down low

I don't blame them.

But it was such a polite request. Who wouldn't want to help such an articulate, courteous inquiry?

Nothing is martingale-able

Quote: sidthesquid

... able to see others cards or just yours? ...

Stadium BJ uses community cards. I.E., everyone plays the same hand and makes hit/stand decisions simultaneously. Players who hit all get the same card. Etc.

Even though all players may stand, dealer continues to deal as if a phantom player hits until busted. The next card is the dealers down card. He then hits as necessary per regular rules.

The important feature is that it's a CSM arrangement, at least the two places where I have seen it. It's like you see the first cards from a freshly shuffled deck every hand. So it's not countable. The house edge is less than in a non-CSM shoe dealt by humans, but HE is constant, whereas without a CSM, HE can vary. There's the edge for counters.

There's also a cost benefit to the house. I saw 46 spots in one place, with two blackjack dealers. They had two sites with a total of 92 seats, with two blackjacks, one roulette, and one mini-bac station, each with a video camera, so you could conceivably play four games at once. Four dealers, two floors, 92 spots. Personnel costs are much less.

I'm not sure, but I think if you stand and other players hit, the next card goes to "your" dealer, while it counts in the other player's hand if they want a hit. Only when a player stands does the next card go to his dealer. The hype is that nobody is going to take a card, or not take a card, that will mess up your hand. If the player's cards are 10-6, some people might hit, some stand. The next card goes to the hitees, while it goes to the dealer for all the standees. At least that's what I've been told. I don't play it since it's a CSM game.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Stadium BJ uses community cards. I.E., everyone plays the same hand and makes hit/stand decisions simultaneously. Players who hit all get the same card. Etc.

Even though all players may stand, dealer continues to deal as if a phantom player hits until busted. The next card is the dealers down card. He then hits as necessary per regular rules.

I don't understand " a phantom player" Do you mean if all players stand, that the next card is not the dealer's second card? I think if all players stand, the next card is definitely the dealers second card.

Let's say only 2 people are players. The players have 8/8 versus a dealer 10. Player A stands, afraid of busting. Player B splits his 8's. On the first 8 gets a 4 and doubles down. He then busts with a 10. On the other 8 he gets another 8 and resplits. He gets a 10 for 18, stands and on the third 8 he gets another 4 and doubles down again, feeling due and lucky. He gets another 10 and busts. The Dealer then gets an Ace for BJ.
How much does player A win or lose and why? How much does player B win or lose and why? Both started with a $5 bet.

Quote: sixsisters

I don't understand " a phantom player" Do you mean if all players stand, that the next card is not the dealer's second card? I think if all players stand, the next card is definitely the dealers second card.

Let's say only 2 people are players. The players have 8/8 versus a dealer 10. Player A stands, afraid of busting. Player B splits his 8's. On the first 8 gets a 4 and doubles down. He then busts with a 10. On the other 8 he gets another 8 and resplits. He gets a 10 for 18, stands and on the third 8 he gets another 4 and doubles down again, feeling due and lucky. He gets another 10 and busts. The Dealer then gets an Ace for BJ.
How much does player A win or lose and why? How much does player B win or lose and why? Both started with a $5 bet.

I'm not sure how splitting works but I'm pretty sure he's saying the dealer continues hitting the community hand until it busts, but each individual gets paid based on the hand when/if they made the decision to stand.

I think the community cards are distributed based on each player's individual circumstance. Everyone starts off with the same two cards. If Player A stands, then the next card out of the shoe, in the community pile, goes to the dealer, if needed, to resolve the dealer's hand -- for Player A only. If Player B decides to hit the hand, he gets that card and, assuming he's done, the community card after that goes to the dealer -- for Player B only. If Player C takes a card, then takes another card, ok - the third community card goes to the dealer to resolve the dealer's hand for Player C only. Your play does not effect what happens to the other players and their play of the two player cards. That's what they tout as a benefit - you aren't screwed when someone takes a card they should not, since it's not part of the game between just you and the dealer.

Phantom player? I made that comment based upon what I saw when watching. I wasn't playing. I don't remember the exact cards that led me to that decision. I thought that any reasonable player would have stood by then, but more cards than needed for the dealer's hand were dealt.

Maybe next time I'll ask questions and/or play...

Quote: racquet

I think the community cards are distributed based on each player's individual circumstance. Everyone starts off with the same two cards. If Player A stands, then the next card out of the shoe, in the community pile, goes to the dealer, if needed, to resolve the dealer's hand -- for Player A only. If Player B decides to hit the hand, he gets that card and, assuming he's done, the community card after that goes to the dealer -- for Player B only. If Player C takes a card, then takes another card, ok - the third community card goes to the dealer to resolve the dealer's hand for Player C only. Your play does not effect what happens to the other players and their play of the two player cards. That's what they tout as a benefit - you aren't screwed when someone takes a card they should not, since it's not part of the game between just you and the dealer.

You get partial credit. If Player A stands, the next card ALWAYS goes to the dealer. The dealer only has one up card, no hole card. That what makes my earlier question about the win or loss so tricky. That card is only the second card for the dealer versus player A.

that would be appreciated if you could, DJ Tedyy. Everything online is wrong. Noy just blogs bit even an article in BJ Insider, a usually very reliabe site. When I pointed out the errors to Henry Tamburin, the editor.he stopped in at the Venetian in Vegas. Talked to two of the SB dealer's, got 2 different stories. He then sought information from management who had no idea how it worked or what the rules actually were. Henry then met with Gabe Baron, head of electronic table games at Scientific.
On a follow up Gabe remembered it was no ENHC , but an Australian version of no hole card ( OBOB ). As for the timers, that is up in the air too. Gabe had a report of a different timing standard in Australia then programmed in USA. That is still being investigated.

Long story short. Sand invested 5 Million dollars in remodeling and installing stadium Blackjack. Scientific has a large investment and high hopes. Yet no one seems to be really explaining the benefits of SB, let alone the rules and how the hell it works.
DJ or anybody, can you ask if they have a rack card. I mean how many people know how OBOB affects basic strategy, to say nothing of counting. Don Schlesinger says is does and being a member of Blackjack Hall of Fame, I will take his word for it.

Anybody sure if player a & B won or lost in my OP. How much and why? REALLY

Went to Venetian today and half the BJ units were removed. Now it's just one dealer and ~20sih stations.

The area where the stadium BJ units used to be was tarped off and some slot machines were queued up behind the curtian.

Quote: sixsisters

that would be appreciated if you could, DJ Tedyy. Everything online is wrong. Noy just blogs bit even an article in BJ Insider, a usually very reliabe site. When I pointed out the errors to Henry Tamburin, the editor.he stopped in at the Venetian in Vegas. Talked to two of the SB dealer's, got 2 different stories. He then sought information from management who had no idea how it worked or what the rules actually were. Henry then met with Gabe Baron, head of electronic table games at Scientific.
On a follow up Gabe remembered it was no ENHC , but an Australian version of no hole card ( OBOB ). As for the timers, that is up in the air too. Gabe had a report of a different timing standard in Australia then programmed in USA. That is still being investigated.

Long story short. Sand invested 5 Million dollars in remodeling and installing stadium Blackjack. Scientific has a large investment and high hopes. Yet no one seems to be really explaining the benefits of SB, let alone the rules and how the hell it works.
DJ or anybody, can you ask if they have a rack card. I mean how many people know how OBOB affects basic strategy, to say nothing of counting. Don Schlesinger says is does and being a member of Blackjack Hall of Fame, I will take his word for it.

Anybody sure if player a & B won or lost in my OP. How much and why? REALLY

Buzz, how many screen names have you made so far?

thanks dor volunteering DJ

Even though Sands is about 80 miles from home, it is my "local" casino, and I'm there about once each week. So I'm fairly sure I'll be there in the next couple days. And I'll sit at a terminal, and ask questions, and maybe risk a couple bucks....

Quote: TheoHuxtable

Went to Venetian today and half the BJ units were removed. Now it's just one dealer and ~20sih stations.

The area where the stadium BJ units used to be was tarped off and some slot machines were queued up behind the curtian.

So they TOOK OUT the stadium seats? The whole thing is done, or just reduced? Wow. It looks like a big investment to put those things in. Not like a regular blackjack side bet where they might need to put down new felt and can back out fairly easily.

I recall that where I saw it they had some startup issues - something about the bandwidth or distance issues between the two sites where it was installed - too far apart.

But it's still up and running. Looks like a lot of individual players sitting at glorified slot machines. Not a lot of player interaction - with the dealer who's at the front of the class, or even between the players. But they can advertise "5$ blackjack", such as it is.

Quote: sixsisters

You get partial credit. If Player A stands, the next card ALWAYS goes to the dealer. The dealer only has one up card, no hole card. That what makes my earlier question about the win or loss so tricky. That card is only the second card for the dealer versus player A.

I'll do some more research, but I think that each player has his own outcome with regard to any cards after the first four ((maybe the first three if, as you say, the dealer's second card doesn't get dealt at the beginning). I do recall people saying that other people's play does not effect what happens to you - so it would make sense that if you stand, the next card goes to the dealer, but if the guy at the next station takes a hit, he gets that card and the dealer gets the card after that. I think "community cards" are for everyone in the community, including the dealer.

They lose me at "CSM." At the end of the round, maybe six or seven cards have come out of the shoe. They go back in the hopper for the next round. I don't even know how many cards are in that shoe. Since they're never going to need more than a dozen cards or so, absolute max, there's no point in keeping count.

In a human-staffed CSM situation, how many decks are continually being shuffled? Can't be just one, right?

Quote: racquet

So they TOOK OUT the stadium seats? The whole thing is done, or just reduced? Wow. It looks like a big investment to put those things in. Not like a regular blackjack side bet where they might need to put down new felt and can back out fairly easily.

I recall that where I saw it they had some startup issues - something about the bandwidth or distance issues between the two sites where it was installed - too far apart.

But it's still up and running. Looks like a lot of individual players sitting at glorified slot machines. Not a lot of player interaction - with the dealer who's at the front of the class, or even between the players. But they can advertise "5$ blackjack", such as it is.

The took out half the stadium seats. So now its down to one dealer and ~20 seats. To be clear, this is at Venetian in Las Vegas where they originally had 2 dealers and ~40 seats - not the massive set up in PA that the thread is focused on.

And as a disclaimer - the units are indeed physically off the floor right now, but the area is tarped off. This could mean they're just redoing carpet or something and had to temporarily pull the units. But from my peek behind the curtain it does look like new slots are going in.

This Sands page gives some information, but some of us will have to investigate further. I will be there within a week.

Quote: Sands brochure

As players stand or bust, the dealer’s hand is completed as a result of each player’s decision. For example, while one player might stand, sending the subsequent cards to the dealer’s hand, another might hit and receive those cards toward his or her total - leaving each hand to the player’s discretion.

In other words, if one player hits while another stands, the next card goes to the player that hits while it also goes to the dealer for the player that stood.

A casual observer, looking at the big monitor over the dealer's head (as I did the other day), would not see what is actually going on. But on the individual terminals, I assume, the hands are displayed and play out as expected.

The Sands page is WRONG. " If the
dealer ends up with Blackjack, your initial wager loses
while your INSURANCE wager pays 2 to 1. All other
actions including SPLITS or DOUBLE DOWNS will be
returned to the player."

OBOB IS THE RULE. SPLIT AND THEN BUST ON THE SPLIT HAND, NOT THE ORIGINAL HAND AND YOU WILL LOSE THAT BET. SPLIT 3 TIMES, GET 4 CARD 21 ON FIRST HAND, SPLIT 3 TIMES, BUST ON ALL THREE OF THOSE, LOSE ALL 4 BETS TO A DEALER BLACKJACK.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Even though all players may stand, dealer continues to deal as if a phantom player hits until the hand is 21 or busted. The next card is the dealers down card. He then hits as necessary per regular rules.

This Rule (Continuation Cards) was my invention for my Common-Hand Blackjack® ©2006. http://buff.ly/2r3S2Yo

The First Unlimited-Players Blackjack (Common-Hand Blackjack®. A Common Players-Hand is dealt which all Players share) was Invented by Stephen Au-Yeung ©2006.

*Today Stephen has a New and Better variation of Unlimited-Players Blackjack (Stephen's Auto-Split Blackjack™). Going Live Soon as a Live-Dealer game.

Suitable for: Live-Dealer Online, Live-Dealer ETG, Live-Dealer Stadiums, Live-Dealer Studios, Live-Dealer Terminals and Others.

Quote: sixsisters

The Sands page is WRONG. " If the
dealer ends up with Blackjack, your initial wager loses
while your INSURANCE wager pays 2 to 1. All other
actions including SPLITS or DOUBLE DOWNS will be
returned to the player."

OBOB IS THE RULE. SPLIT AND THEN BUST ON THE SPLIT HAND, NOT THE ORIGINAL HAND AND YOU WILL LOSE THAT BET. SPLIT 3 TIMES, GET 4 CARD 21 ON FIRST HAND, SPLIT 3 TIMES, BUST ON ALL THREE OF THOSE, LOSE ALL 4 BETS TO A DEALER BLACKJACK.

Now Sand and I have something in common We are both wrong. It is not OBOB It is BB+1

Does anybody know if you can resplit or just once. It's only once in Australia Fusion SB, only once in USA Interblock SB, and this fron Sands How to play
" Press “SPLIT” to split your first two cards"

ttps:///content/dam/bethlehem/pasands/en/main/home/gaming/StadiumGaming/Blackjack Stadium Gaming Rack Card.pdf

Quote: DJTeddyBear

In other words, if one player hits while another stands, the next card goes to the player that hits while it also goes to the dealer for the player that stood.

A casual observer, looking at the big monitor over the dealer's head (as I did the other day), would not see what is actually going on. But on the individual terminals, I assume, the hands are displayed and play out as expected.

Upon further review...

You have it right.

The overhead video display shows the "table" with all of the cards after the first three being "community" cards.

The individual display at each player's seat shows the first three cards - two for you, one for the dealer. If YOU take a hit, the next community card goes to you. If the GUY NEXT TO YOU stands, that card goes to the dealer.

I'm not sure if the dealer gets a hole card at the start of a round or if he gets the next community card after your hand is finished. (Another reconnoiter needed...)

But in any event, there is no difference between this game and a human one regarding insurance and dealer blackjack - you can take insurance and you only lose your original bet with a dealer BJ - no loss of double or split wagers. Thinking this out, it would make sense that the dealer gets two cards at the outset - otherwise whether the dealer gets a natural would vary depending on how each player hits or stands. One player takes the 10 that would go under the dealer's ace, while another player might stand on his hand, letting that 10 go to the dealer.

The software could allow for either option, and the designers would be smart enough to allow all of the possible rules that a prospective client casino has in place at inception. So I would imagine that we all may be seeing different implementations based on how each casino sets it up.

Another tweak are the side bets. Originally I don't think there were any, but now there are a couple of match-the-dealer options, or maybe even a progressive. (Longer stop for research next time....) Again, I would think these would also be under File...Options...Setup on the master operator console.

Quote: sixsisters

Now Sand and I have something in common We are both wrong. It is not OBOB It is BB+1

Does anybody know if you can resplit or just once. It's only once in Australia Fusion SB, only once in USA Interblock SB, and this fron Sands How to play
" Press “SPLIT” to split your first two cards"

ttps:///content/dam/bethlehem/pasands/en/main/home/gaming/StadiumGaming/Blackjack Stadium Gaming Rack Card.pdf

"OBOB"? "BB+1"?

Sorry. I can't even remember whether ENHC is European- or Enhanced- NoHoleCard.

Quote: racquet

... Thinking this out, it would make sense that the dealer gets two cards at the outset - otherwise whether the dealer gets a natural would vary depending on how each player hits or stands. ...

Correct, until you think about game protection.

The various methods of letting the dealer check his hole cards all have drawbacks. Add the raised stage, and close up cameras, it's just easier to go with a No Hole Card format.

BB+1 (Busted Bets Plus One): at this situation, the dealer will take all busted bets, plus one more unit from everything else the player may have bet from doubling and/or splitting. That is, In BB+1, you will lose one bet per box to dealer BJ, regardless how many times you doubled or split.

Basically you will lose your original bet plus busted hands.
Example you split 8's against a dealers 10.
get a 3 and double down first 8 and get a 10 for 21, on the second 8 you get a 5 and hit with a 10 and bust. $5 bets
now dealer rolls over an Ace. You will lose only $5 on the double down. If you had stayed on 13 on the second 8 , that $5 would be returned to you. BUT you busted so now your total lost in $10.
TRUST ME I have this right Per Elliott Frome Gabriel Baron and Don Schlesinger.

DJ do not accept anything a dealer at Sands Tells you. Henry Tamburin had it wrong in Casino Player Magazine. When I pointed it out he went to Venetian and asked two dealers and got 2 different versions. Management was no help. Even Gabe, head of EYG at SG had it wrong at first.
I think maybe you can only spilt the first 2 cards. It's that way with Interblock Stadium Blackjack. Looks like that on Sands website.

ANYBODY ever tried to resplit at Sands ? I will reimbures if you invest $5 and try to split 10's. I got a feeling that split button will be dark after that first spllt ??????

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Correct, until you think about game protection.

The various methods of letting the dealer check his hole cards all have drawbacks. Add the raised stage, and close up cameras, it's just easier to go with a No Hole Card format.

THE DEALER GETS NO HOLE CARD , THAT'S WHY BB-1 IS USED.

Amazingly when you talk to anyone in Scientific Gaming, it's like " well, that a usual format in Australia". Yeah, like no need to educate the consumer. And as I stated before, The Sands website would lead you to think that busted 2nd 8 would retirn your bet. Not gonna happen.

https://netimegambling.com/2017/05/23/mohegan-sun-stadium-table-games/

Called Mohegan Sun and of course it's just like REGULAR BLACKJACK. They were pretty sure it had no hole card, were unsure if you could split more than once. Well, found a review on line for Mohegan and it is SG Stadium Blackjack.

" or example, the usual procedure of receive a card, see the dealer’s up card, then receive a second card is still true. However, after that, to stand or hit, surrender, double or split, remains the personal players decision. Then, “community cards” are dealt, one at a time until all players decisions are made. Finally, the dealer plays out his hand as the rules allow."

NOT true. The dealers hand may have already been played out for several players long before all player decisions are made.

"Splitting, surrender and doubling rules are typical and match the casino rules. Three side bets are included. Undesirable rules includes: 1) dealer hits on Soft 17. 2) no double after splitting. "

MATCH THE CASINO RULES ? no double after split

FINAL CONCLUSION : Maybe everything can be set by casino Wheher OBO or BB+!, split more than once, no double after split.
No racj cards on each table, but rules should be on a help screen ???

ANYBODY " Next time can you check out help screen , maybe photograph ???????

Sixsisters hate to be a Buzzkill,but you need to get out to one of these places that have it so you can get to the bottom of this.
I know of one place that the dealer takes a holecard,so rules probably vary by casino.

THE REAL DEAL

SG STADIUM BLACKJACK IS BB+!

YOU CAN SPLIT TO 3 HANDS MAX I THINK IT CAN ALSO BE SET TO SPLIT ONLY THE FIRST 2 CARDS

WHY ???? . Reason is because the player interface screen doesn't have enough space to show all the cards for a fourth split.

what ????

ANYBODY IF YOU GET A SCREENSHOT OF HELP OR RULES SCREEN, PLEASE POST

I'm gonna be at the Sands tonight 7-10ish.

Although I'll be spending most of my time at poker and craps, I WILL be playing stadium BJ, and hopefully will have a detailed report tomorrow.

i was there last night

IT IS CSM!!!!!

unbeatable!!

min bet 5$

regular shoe 8 decker 25 smackers min bet (ouch!) crowding as always

its funny i was watching this dude win almost every hand he was betting 2-4 units a pop and 1st base was betting min losing his butt off! (on the 8 deckers)

after i saw it was CSM i didnt bother to look at max bet, it dude seem semi busy , about size of 4-6 tables kinda small compared to the bacarat section

i wonder what the house edge is ?

move along now!

I don't think 8 decks fit into a CSM. Hence the name "One to Six."

Thanks teddy I am no programmer, but only allow split to 3 hands total because of screen size BULLSHIT. I played Digital 21 17 years ago and at that time the hand display font shrank in size to accommodate 4 hands. I emailled Digital 21 as the font was so small, and they changed it to shrink as needed.
Check how many you can split. Pretty sure it's BB+1 against a dealer BJ. If you can clock time for actions or hands per hour that would be sweet.

OK. You asked for it. Here's my report/review for Bethlehem Sands Stadium BlackJack.

There have been reports in various media outlets that the Stadium BJ is part of / integrated into, the already existing Stadium gaming system at Sands. That's not the case. Elsewhere on the floor is a Stadium system with about 100 terminals, playing Roulette and Baccarat, with two dealers for each, and each dealer dealing two games. I.E. 8 games total. The Stadium BJ system has 2 games total.

The Stadium BJ 'pit' contains 2 dealer stations, back-to-back, one with green felt, one with blue. There are 22 player terminals on each side. Just to make things simpler for a novice, I assume that after some inactivity the terminal defaults to being set on the side for the dealer you're looking at. I.E. It appeared to me that all the idle terminals on the green side were set to the green dealer, and the idle on the blue side were on the blue dealer.

Stepping up to the terminal, this is the typical layout. The 20 on the left side is the time I have to place my bets. The 6 in the blue box is the time I have to switch tables and place bets on the blue dealer's table.

Note the help button towards the top left. I hit it and started to scan, then wondered if I could get away with taking pictures.

I don't know if it was because I was playing with the terminal and not sitting, or because I whipped out my phone, but a floorperson came to me pretty quickly to offer help.

I explained that I was going to play later, but that I was heading to poker first, and wanted to read the rules while sitting at poker. (Poker can be boring when not in a hand.) So can I take pictures of the help screens? No problem.

So here they are, in order. I'm not sure if this is the best order they could have come up with, or not.
















My wife was playing next to me. On her first hand, she bet $5, and tried to bet $1 on each side bet. When the hand started, a big X appeared on the side bets. I looked over and immediately told her those are $5 minimums. As it turns out, she would have been paid 50:1 on the Royal Match and was PISSED.

The floorperson came over to find out what was going on, listened to the story, then walked over to talk to another floorperson. They really seemed to bet having a head-scratcher. She eventually came back and said she didn't understand why that happened, and started to say that she could file a report to get to the bottom of it, etc.

I couldn't take it anymore and said that it was a $1 bet, but a $5 minimum. I then showed the floorperson the help screen showing the min/max bets. It seemed like she hadn't seen it before, even asking me how I got that screen to appear!

Mind you this wasn't a mere dealer, but a floorperson who is there to help both BJ novices and answer stadium BJ questions, one would assume, that they had training for the job. Apparently not.



While I DID split tens a few times, and had a couple double-down situations, I never got the chance to split aces, so here's one of my split tens:

I guess they're maintaining the real table feel of going right to left by having me play the hand on the right first. I stood on 17 then got another ten on the other hand. As you can see, I can't split again (despite there being PLENTY of screen space available), but I CAN double down. I stood. Then the dealer proceeded to draw to a bust. The dealer then looked and pointed at me, saying "You split those tens? Nice job!" I guess dealing the extra cards told him that some idiot had done it. And my smiling laughter as I took the picture told him it was me. Obviously, photos are not an issue.

Note the big 7 on the screen is my action clock. I've got 7 seconds left before it defaults to stand as per the rules.

I then looked at my wife's screen. She didn't have the balls to split. Sure enough, as described earlier in this thread, on her screen the dealer took the 3, 4, Q to bust. She won one unit while I won two.

I wonder if I had hit on my 17 taking that Queen to bust, then hit on hand two, taking the 4, 2, 9 to bust, would the dealer then have continued to turn over cards to 'fill' the dealer hand on my screen? I DID notice at one point on another had that there were so many community cards up that he started a second row. Sorry I didn't get a picture.


At the top left is a Tip The Dealer button. Unlike some systems (Rapid Craps? Rapid Roulette?) where it's easy to accidentally tip/overtip, and once you tip the dealer, it's locked in, here you're given a confirmation option.

Also note that my $2 tip looks like a single black chip, but with different edge stripes than a $100 chip. Not sure why they didn't just stack chips like every other system does. I noticed the same thing on the base bet. Although I stayed with $5 bets, my wife got a little aggressive by going to $6 where it was a pinkish colored ship, and then pressing all the way to, gasp, $7 for a single orange chip. Kinda weird.

At the start of the hand, the dealer did get my attention to thank me.

You'll notice towards the top right there's a blue area. That's where you can switch tables. When doing so, the main screen area also turns blue. I DID play a couple hands on both tables at once, but it got a little nuts going back and forth, trying to keep up. Mind you, the regular pace of the game isn't too fast, but two tables at once was too much for me. Maybe if I play longer and get more experience. But that's unlikely.

Anyway, after about 1/2 hour, I turned my $100 into $150.50. Considering I split tens three times to get 5 wins and one push, not to mention my other winning hands, I'd say fortune was on my side, but that doesn't influence my review or desire to play it again.

Overall, I thought it was OK. Yeah, I wish it would allow re-splitting, but I doubt that would be the tipping point for most people.

THANK YOU THANK YOU

" or an outcome determination has started " Can any lawyer explain what that means. Seems like some sort of boiler plate ?

I agree DJ, might not turn players away, but sure will l;eave a bad taste in some players mouths. The guy who hated the 3rd baseman taking the dealers bust card will now complain about busting a split hand while the dealer had a BJ the whole time HaHa
And will surely like splitting 8's against a 7, and on that second hand getting another 8, Forget all those dreams of resplitting or doubling down. Now you have 16 and some genius will tell you the BOOK says you have to take a hit.

the whole idea of Stadium Blackjack according to Kathy McCracken, Marketing at Sands who testified at gaming hearing is to attract millenials and also convert table game players to playing slots also. Love her target audience which she described as MIKE, a 25-35
male. I hate Ploppy so I now use BOB for a babyboomer.
Sure think splitting to 4 hands and OBO instead of BB+1 would be beneficial. Hell , hit soft 17 and the HE will go up, even with 4 split and OBO.

ANYWAY THANKS DJTEDDYBEAR

I am a semi-regular BJ player at the Sands and Parx. I have had unusually fantastic luck on the stadium games both at Parx and the new setup at the Sands. This past Sunday alone I took home over $1300 on a $400 buy-in in 2 hours and am up ~ $2K in my last 5 sessions. Parx only has 1 dealer and one row of seats and you can bet $1 on side bets after the initial $5 buy-in.

I like the fact that I can get the next card in the shoe by playing BS and the beginning player next to me can get a different deal by hitting their 14 against a 5. I also like the fact that at a stadium game I don't have the critical stares or comments like at a regular table game when I play BS and hit my 12v2 or hit my A7v10 and "ruin the hand". I do enjoy the comradarie at a good BJ table but sometimes I'd just rather fly solo.

I can answer any more ? If anyone has any or take pics next visit.

First off, thank you to DJTeddyBear for all of that information. I just moved to the Lehigh Valley and saw the billboard and wanted more information, and that was plenty!

Also, Hill44, I know exactly what you're talking about! I had a guy in a huff after hitting my 12 v2. An hour and a half later the same thing happened with the same guy at another table and he had the same reaction. I told him, " you saw me hit the 12 against the 2 at the other table and you still sat here. I'm going to continue hitting the 12 against the 2 so if you don't like it find another table".

Same thing with the A7 v 10 when I have to explain that 18 is crap and of course I'm going to try to improve my hand if possible.

It sounds like, despite it's drawbacks such as limited splitting, I might enjoy this stadium playing.

MerpMerp, in my limited experience with the new setup at the Sands, the dealers seem very high energy and cheer you on. There are a lot of tables though so expect all sorts of weird splits, doubles and hits the greater # of players at your session.

More info on (Stadium Blackjack) Sep/4/2017: Stadium Blackjack.

BTW, TCS-JohnHuxley with Novomatic has similar game (Parallel Blackjack) 19/Oct/2009: Parallel Blackjack.

Both Stadium-Blackjack and Parallel-Blackjack use Common-Draw Flop-Cards.

I have (Common-Hand Blackjack®) it doesn't use Common-Draw Cards, invented 2006. Common-Hand Blackjack®.

I found a casino that has stadium blackjack but deals it from a shoe. I have never counted cards before but I figured I would try this out. I played it for a few hours the other day and it seems like it would work. My question is do these machines have some sort of software alerting someone if they are spreading their bets? I mean I don't see how they couldn't, I'm just wondering. I wasn't planning on doing anything crazy, maybe going from 1x$5 to 3x$25. The casino that it's at I would probably rate at an 8 out of 10 on the sweaty scale. I really don't feel like getting any more taps on the shoulder.

It must be doing good business.

PA Sands took out a couple poker tables to make room for about 20 more BJ terminals.

This is not a good sign.

One dealer can deal to hundreds of terminals. Labor costs are miniscule compared to staffing pits of live tables.

It's a CSM, so it's uncountable. Oversight is minimal. No need to apply sweat.

There are no chips. Deposit cash in a slot, receive a coupon to be redeemed at the cage. No fills. No floor approval of buy-ins or cash-outs.

OK, there are significant hardware costs in installing the terminals. But how much did you pay for your last laptop?

Want to institute a new side-bet? No felts to replace, no dealer training. The dealers are robots. (And how long before that is LITERALLY true?)

Finally, the demographics of all table games is trending older every day. Analog games like craps and blackjack are not drawing the younger crowd, who have grown up using a digital device / video to interact with the outside world for every interaction there is.

We're doomed.

Quote: racquet

There are no chips. Deposit cash in a slot, receive a coupon to be redeemed at the cage. No fills. No floor approval of buy-ins or cash-outs.

Want to institute a new side-bet? No felts to replace, no dealer training. The dealers are robots. (And how long before that is LITERALLY true?)

Finally, the demographics of all table games is trending older every day. Analog games like craps and blackjack are not drawing the younger crowd, who have grown up using a digital device / video to interact with the outside world for every interaction there is.

Crotchety member of the younger crowd checking in.

So I gave this a shot at the Venetian recently and have severely mixed feelings. Rules there are 5$min, 6:5, CSM, DAS, NRSA but I'm fairly certain you can split other cards up to four hands, includes Royal Match and Pair Plus (or some extremely similar variant) sidebets. Was pretty much nice and quiet (frankly, reminded me of that old Downtown Grand thread where people were discussing 'slogans' they could use...) in the daytime hours; primetime... less so, if you sat in front of a bunch of stereotypical British footballers (think English fratboys). Daytime dealer was sedate; nighttime tried to incorporate an energetic group atmosphere. Machines are equipped with USB chargers and drink service was fairly prompt. (Based on her tray, people playing those machines are nigh nonexistent tippers.)

There's a live camera feed that you can view the dealt cards from on a larger screen or in the corner of your terminal... and I have to say, that people play insanely here. One hand, which particularly stuck out as memorable to me, involved 44vT... tracing the dealt cards backwards, somebody actually split that to three hands, and, given the order of cards, that was the only way to win.

What leaves me really mixed on this is that, despite the fairly bad rules (...about as bad as you can get, really. What else can they do, D10/11 only, BJ-even money, ties lose?), I actually rather like the plodding pace and that nobody* cares that I'm sitting there reading on my phone while everybody else does their own thing. Admittedly, the positive feelings are augmented by the fact that it's the only expletive game of BJ I've been able to win on all week (how on earth do you end up down 60 units in two and a half hours flatbetting a 3:2 DD S17 game?). As a result, I learned that there is actually a limit to the amount of money you can keep on the machine before a floor manager has to come by (and, in this case, actually be like 'What did you do!?'), so... cash out early. Unfortunately, the sedate atmosphere I prefer runs contrary to the intended design so take it with a grain of salt.

Just a note as I just returned from the Sands. Tonight was my second visit to the stadium BJ. The dealers were particularly interactive as I took a seat closest to them. They were also “helpful”! Early in the hole a few 100 then regained and came out with a 400 finish. From the floor to 400 in two hours. I used flat betting and a modified Martin. system. Both visits were positive, fun and profitable.