New Blackjack game at Red Rock

Just wanted to get people's opinions on the new live dealer computer blackjack game at Red Rock. For those of you who haven't seen the game this is how it goes.

There is a live dealer. You give him your money and instead of chips he enters the amount into a computer on his side of the table. Where you would normally place your chips, it is now replaced with a computer touch screen where you see your chips and then you drag the digital chip into the circle for your wager.

Once everyone has placed their bets the dealer begins to deal the cards from a shoe to you. However, when the card comes out the shoe a laser reads the card and then your screen is updated with a total matching the card value. Ex. If you get a K the screen shows 10. Then the dealer deals a second card as normal. The blackjack game continues as normal. If you want to hit/stand/split/double you indicate that by pressing the icon on the computer screen on the table in front of you.

Then the dealer plays his hand as normal. Once his hand is complete the computer pays you accordingly and your screen adjusts to show your remaining value in chips.

Personal Comments:
1. It was interesting to see the card be read by the laser and look at your screen as it says BUST before the dealer can even place the card in front of you, when I hit on 16 vs the dealers K.
2. There are chips in front of the dealer, but he uses these only to pay you when you decide to leave the table. It did really make me feel like I wasn't betting money. It was just a number on a screen. With chips you can at least see your stack decreasing, but on the computer it is just a number and I could see how that benefits the casino. Its much easier to lose money if you don't actually have it in your hand.
3. I was surprised they paid you in chips though. Why not a ticket, just like you get from a slot machine. Then you could go directly from the table to the slot/vp without ever going to the cage and getting the cash back in your hand.

Let me know what you think.

Don't think I would enjoy playing this way at all. I play BJ because of the low HA. Basic strategy and money management isn't that exciting. If you have a bunch of boring people at the table, I would probably fall asleep. Having the computer keep track of my count would give me even less to do!! Not for me.

I can't see the point of this. The casino still has to have a dealer, so they're saving nothing there. Most dealers can count to 21 and handle the chips well enough, so I don't see much time savings. And the cards are still dealt, so no time or money saved there. This isn't poker, so an exact chip count on the fly isn't THAT important. And the commands aren't that hard to learn if you don't know them, so the buttons don't help.

Give me a real dealer any day. Shoot, give me one of those virtual dealers over this hybrid piece of junk.

I think I would actually bet less on this game. It isn't uncommon for me to just put a win right on top of my previous bet for the next hand. I'm assuming with this I'd have to drag another $10 or whatever onto my bet to increase it.

It eliminates lots of cheating possibilities, so it might make the dealers friendlier, being under less pressure.

I think we should eventually be moving away from chips and this would accomplish that without altering the game in anyway. I agree with the above poster who said it should pay a ticket instead of chips when you cash out.

People are used to playing with chips and, in general, people don't like change. But I think, in a few years, this technology would be embraced by players, just like slot tickets are. If you think about it, those chips are filthy (just like slot machine coins) and if we can find a way of avoiding the use of those bacteria-laden discs, then terrific! As an added bonus, it removes the chance of dealer mis-pays, the need for counting chips to figure out how money you have on the table, allows for a bit more privacy as other players can't clearly see your balance (I would even implement a "hide balance" function on the screen for total privacy), more accurate comps based on your play and finally no more annoying chip-clanging sounds from people who can't seem to stop fondling their stack.

How long before the dealer is replaced by a robot? Imagine the profit for the house with no wages, and collect the tips that the foolish leave behind.

Those are all good arguments, but the distinction between checks/chips and coins or slot tokens is the abstraction between size and value. Before cashless ticketing for slots really took off, players played with coins and they basically knew how much they were betting because they were using real nickels or quarters. But casino checks are almost all the same size and the reason for that is to remove the direct correlation between amount and physicality. I once made a few $1000 bets on the passline in the form of 10 black chips. I was in the moment and this was at the tail end of a huge winning streak -- I was shooting and I had already made 9 passes in a row. The casino had been paying me in black chips so it wasn't that much of a stretch to put down a few more. Psychologically, it would have been a very different situation if I had been required to actively indicate "Bet $1000" from a touchscreen.

Blackjack routinely offers the lowest house advantage over players as compared to all other casino games off the top. Players can enhance that inherent gambling advantages further by applying very accurate basic strategy play and insistence on playing only those games that offer player-favorable rules. There's a plethora of variation between game rule-sets and table conditions and these directly affect the mathematical player expected value which ultimately translates to enhanced winnings/minimized losses over time.

I played this game a little when I was in Vegas this fall, and found it boring, and weird. I don't resent playing with a machine all that much (if at all), but this "cyborg"-like creature did not make me want to stay at all.
To be honest, perhaps, at least a part of my repulsive feeling had to do with the fact that the dealer got three blackjacks in a row right after I sat down, and after that I won hand, lost five in a row, and left down $100 after ten minutes.

Quote: SONBP2

1. It was interesting to see the card be read by the laser and look at your screen as it says BUST before the dealer can even place the card in front of you, when I hit on 16 vs the dealers K.

"Interesting"? I would call it "annoying". What's the point of showing you the card at all if the computer already told you that you busted? Verification? Change the program so it either waits 1/4 second to update your screen.

Quote: SONBP2

3. I was surprised they paid you in chips though. Why not a ticket, just like you get from a slot machine. Then you could go directly from the table to the slot/vp without ever going to the cage and getting the cash back in your hand.

Just a guess, but that would mean the table is classified as a slot machine for reporting purposes.

Quote: fremont4ever

I can't see the point of this. The casino still has to have a dealer, so they're saving nothing there. Most dealers can count to 21 and handle the chips well enough, so I don't see much time savings. And the cards are still dealt, so no time or money saved there. This isn't poker, so an exact chip count on the fly isn't THAT important. And the commands aren't that hard to learn if you don't know them, so the buttons don't help.

I see time savings at every step where you don't.

Dealers do take losing bets quickly, and pay winners quickly, but it still takes time that would be saved with this system.

While dealers can accurately count, many players (myself included), when sitting at a BJ table, suddenly can't do simple addition. Have you ever noticed a player that is staring at his cards, then a second or two later the dealer tells him the total, and the player then immediately makes the hit/stand decision? Having the total on the screen will save a lot of time.

Paying once, when you're leaving, makes for a simple transaction that doesn't require a color-up.


I can see this system saving enough time that the hands per hour increases significantly. And that would be huge to the casino.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I can see this system saving enough time that the hands per hour increases significantly. And that would be huge to the casino.

It might save some time, but if nobody plays it, what difference does it make? It would be interesting to know how many people play these, as opposed to RR's regular tables.

I'm actually a fan of technology and gambling, but I don't think this system is going to work. We shall see.

Perhaps I don't quite follow. It certainly seems to be a strange hybrid.

Now as to paying chips rather than a Ticket... they probably feel you are more likely to gamble the chips whereas you might go to a machine and cash-in the ticket.

Does this increase speed of play or simply decrease dealer mistakes and discourage card marking?

Everbody should buy into these new games, then they can get rid of all the dealers, when you look back and ask what happened to the dealers, and only have machines to play think about how you made it possible by playing these type of games!

If the casinos had their way you all would be playing video black jack!

Then you have no chips in front of you when you are playing these game, somewhere along the line when you are playing them you forget that its money you are playing with! They took away the chips for a reason to speed up the game and take your money faster!

That is one reason the casinos love the new ticket machines, once you put your money in them you are no longer thinking about it as money, they are just credits!

If I wanted to play a video game I would stay at home and save my money!

Then think about all you card counters out there, the computer would just shut down you screen, with these words “ Sorry you are counting cards, please cash-out we no longer want you play here”

So go ahead and buy-into these new type of games, and see how you like the brave new world of the casinos in a few years from now!

Just think how many jobs they can do away with, come to think about it wouldn't, it be great not to have some dealer with a bad attitude standing across from you.

I know that most of them don't want to be there any way all the can talk about on the craps tables is getting an early out, and when the player walks away what a piece of crap the player that just left the table was because he didn't tip them for giving the player a hard time!

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Quote: stinsonsmart

Blackjack routinely offers the lowest house advantage over players as compared to all other casino games off the top. Players can enhance that inherent gambling advantages further by applying very accurate basic strategy play and insistence on playing only those games that offer player-favorable rules. There's a plethora of variation between game rule-sets and table conditions and these directly affect the mathematical player expected value which ultimately translates to enhanced winnings/minimized losses over time.

Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino is a resort spa and casino owned by Station Casinos on 70 acres located in the Summerlin village of Summerlin Centre in Summerlin, Nevada. Red Rock is located far off the Las Vegas Strip; it is known as a local's casino. Located on Charleston Boulevard............sorry, I just discovered Wikipedia.