Blackjack in Brisbane Australia
July 2nd, 2011 at 7:36:28 AM
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I have been trying blackjack lately. I live in Australia and read up on blackjack and followed the advice on wizardofodds.com regarding basic strategy. I used the calculator to calculate the rules for the casino in my city. There is only one casino in Brisbane (and it is the 3rd largest city in Australia). The next casino is at the Gold Coast which can be up to an hour drive away. Those two casinos have the same rules for blackjack. They appear somewhat negative in light of other gaming rules. However, there are positive elements. It would be nice to see if this is a relatively "fair game" in the opinion of people who know more than I do. They are:
Six decks, $15 minimum bet is the lowest table, your choice of machine card shuffler or manual shuffling as tables exist for both
No surrender
No re-splitting aces
No hole card (European rules)
Only one card extra after split aces is allowed and if you get a picture it counts as 21 and not blackjack
You can double down on a split
Double down on 9, 10, 11 only (including soft hands)
Dealer stands on soft 17
Blackjack pays 3-2
If you double down and the dealer gets blackjack you only lose your original bet. This includes split bets so you keep your double down on both hands.
The only side bet is perfect pairs and while a lot of drunks waste their money on it, at least only one side bet stops them betting everything... there is insurance but after 6 hours of playing last night even the most drunk people didn't purchase insurance and the dealers almost never bother to try to push it on people (since they probably know it is a sucker bet so they don't want to feel bad pressuring drunks).
Additionally, tipping is never expected and almost no one tips the dealer unless they are over the moon with a huge win... it increases your winnings in the long run. They get 4 - 5 times the hourly rate of American employees though.
One thing I do is because the minimum bet is $15 and you get a $2.50 chip with that when you get a blackjack is to always put my $2.50 on perfect pairs. I don't think it is a good bet per se, but the only other thing I would do with that chip is to cash it in for coins which is just annoying (In Australia there are no $1 bills and tipping is never expected so no point carrying around lots of small change).
I should also add that the casino states that the house edge for skilled players is lower than 0.50%. While beside the point, the house edge for Spanish 21 is 1.25% due to the dealer hitting soft 17. It is called treasury 21 in Brisbane and not pontoon as wizardofodds.com suggests.
Six decks, $15 minimum bet is the lowest table, your choice of machine card shuffler or manual shuffling as tables exist for both
No surrender
No re-splitting aces
No hole card (European rules)
Only one card extra after split aces is allowed and if you get a picture it counts as 21 and not blackjack
You can double down on a split
Double down on 9, 10, 11 only (including soft hands)
Dealer stands on soft 17
Blackjack pays 3-2
If you double down and the dealer gets blackjack you only lose your original bet. This includes split bets so you keep your double down on both hands.
The only side bet is perfect pairs and while a lot of drunks waste their money on it, at least only one side bet stops them betting everything... there is insurance but after 6 hours of playing last night even the most drunk people didn't purchase insurance and the dealers almost never bother to try to push it on people (since they probably know it is a sucker bet so they don't want to feel bad pressuring drunks).
Additionally, tipping is never expected and almost no one tips the dealer unless they are over the moon with a huge win... it increases your winnings in the long run. They get 4 - 5 times the hourly rate of American employees though.
One thing I do is because the minimum bet is $15 and you get a $2.50 chip with that when you get a blackjack is to always put my $2.50 on perfect pairs. I don't think it is a good bet per se, but the only other thing I would do with that chip is to cash it in for coins which is just annoying (In Australia there are no $1 bills and tipping is never expected so no point carrying around lots of small change).
I should also add that the casino states that the house edge for skilled players is lower than 0.50%. While beside the point, the house edge for Spanish 21 is 1.25% due to the dealer hitting soft 17. It is called treasury 21 in Brisbane and not pontoon as wizardofodds.com suggests.
July 2nd, 2011 at 8:47:37 AM
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I wonder what the house edge is for their average player. Also, do casinos in Australia provide free drinks to gamblers? If so, that "skill level" may deteriorate markedly.Quote: RavzarI should also add that the casino states that the house edge for skilled players is lower than 0.50%.
July 2nd, 2011 at 9:14:49 AM
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Quote: FleaStiffI wonder what the house edge is for their average player. Also, do casinos in Australia provide free drinks to gamblers? If so, that "skill level" may deteriorate markedly.
They say on their website that the skilled player can get a house edge under 0.50% but obviously an unskilled player will face a greater house edge. I don't know exactly what that would be. However, some guy looked ready to hit me and very upset because I stood on a 12 vs dealer showing 4. However, I won the hand. A lot of people were placing backbets on me (with more money than I had!) when I just started playing this recently. Made me a bit nervous that they would be annoyed if I made a mistake but they were watching me for a while. Some of those Asians bet $200 backbets to my $15. It does annoy me when they profit from my skill and not their own but I can't stop them back betting as the casino allows 3 back bets. I think the skill level in Australia is generally quite low due to low exposure to table games. Australians all play slots mostly because slots are available everywhere including in normal pubs and clubs.
In regards to free drinks, casinos in major cities have rewards cards in which you earn "casino dollars" which is exchanged for comps. You put your card into the slots/give to the dealer at the table and they base it on some kind of formula... for slots it is money put in but for table games I believe it is time spend at the table placing the minimum bet (the computer system records what table you're at and rewards accordingly so the high rollers stay in their own back rooms away from us common folk). This can be from 2 free drinks at the lowest entry tier per day up to unlimited free drinks for yourself and a partner on the highest tiers. I haven't signed up yet but since I plan to play more often now, I am going to so I can get my comps. Casino dollars can be exchanged for meals like steak dinners and things like that too.
