Fernley Nugget blackjack experience

I usually try to spend at least part of a day out of Vegas on each trip to town. So, on Sunday, I drove to Fernley to visit the Fernley Nugget. I now have a chip from every currently operating casino with table games in Nevada. I think that will remain true until Downtown Grand opens (or until Terrible's gets their new chips).

When I visited the Fernley Nugget last fall, they were just putting in the BJ and Roulette tables. I'd missed the poker game, which meant they couldn't give me a chip at that time. So I returned this weekend. It was a much longer drive than I'd anticipated. I'm not sure where that leak came from. Google Maps and my Garmin agreed that it would be a 6 hour and 10 minute drive. I sped like a madman and still took 6 hours and 30 minutes to traverse the distance each way. That made miss some activities back in Vegas on Sunday night.

The Fernley Nugget is a cute little casino. They try to make it feel like (or maybe it just IS) a homey little place. The self-serve soda machine has real glasses next to it. There's no smoking. There's a diner. The cashier is also the drink station attendant. It's pretty great. But, it has what might be the worse 3:2 BJ game I've ever seen. 6 decks, 60% pen, no DAS, no resplit, double on 10 or 11 only. $2 to $50 limits, with 6 green chips in the tray. And what may be the worst house rule I've ever seen - when the dealer's BJ indicator fails (which is a common thing) her hand plays as a 21 AFTER the players have acted. I doubled 11 and pulled a 9, dealer plays as 21, I lose both bets. Kid next to me split 8s against a K, got two faces. Lost. I pushed the floor on the rule, and he said that all players had a chance play their hands and win. I asked how they were going to win against 21. He said everybody's action is the same as it would have been. I said no, we wouldn't have bet extra money against a dealer's blackjack. He just stammered about how it was a common house rule. I guess that might be true, but I've played in a lot of houses - about 600 - and, while this is a very rare situation, I'd never seen it handled this way before. And I'm not sure how rare or accidental it is at Fernley, either, I guess. It happened 3 times in the hour I was there, and the house made an extra $25 from this "malfunction" over that time.

Quote: rdw4potus

And what may be the worst house rule I've ever seen - when the dealer's BJ indicator fails (which is a common thing) her hand plays as a 21 AFTER the players have acted. I doubled 11 and pulled a 9, dealer plays as 21, I lose both bets. Kid next to me split 8s against a K, got two faces. Lost. I pushed the floor on the rule, and he said that all players had a chance play their hands and win. I asked how they were going to win against 21. He said everybody's action is the same as it would have been. I said no, we wouldn't have bet extra money against a dealer's blackjack. He just stammered about how it was a common house rule. I guess that might be true, but I've played in a lot of houses - about 600 - and, while this is a very rare situation, I'd never seen it handled this way before. And I'm not sure how rare or accidental it is at Fernley, either, I guess. It happened 3 times in the hour I was there, and the house made an extra $25 from this "malfunction" over that time.

Ouch. I don't know what I would have done if this happened to me. Probably not play after the first time.

Quote: miplet

Ouch. I don't know what I would have done if this happened to me. Probably not play after the first time.

I wonder how long the wait would be if you called Gaming and requested an agent to investigate the dispute? I imagine the Cashier would take off her apron, put on a coat, and take a "Gaming Agent" I.D. card out of her pocket and pin it to her lapel...

But, besides, that... Congratulations on completing your collections RDW! That is an impressive achievement.

I actually had a discussion about something like this at Silverton over the weekend, chatting at the table about South Point's no-peek rule.

According to the Silverton dealer, only the initial bet is taken on a dealer BJ, regardless of splits, doubles, or if a non-BJ 21 was made. However, he did disclaim it by saying that other places might have their own policy. (Personally, I find the stated policy to be the "right" action, though I wish that a non-BJ 21 would push it...)

Edit; just slipping a largely irrelevant reply to the below post in: Yeah, it works out to be the same as though there was a peek, though it stings all the more when you not only push on a 21, but it turns out you LOST.

Quote: Venthus

I actually had a discussion about something like this at Silverton over the weekend, chatting at the table about South Point's no-peek rule.

According to the Silverton dealer, only the initial bet is taken on a dealer BJ, regardless of splits, doubles, or if a non-BJ 21 was made. However, he did disclaim it by saying that other places might have their own policy. (Personally, I find the stated policy to be the "right" action, though I wish that a non-BJ 21 would push it...)

If a non BJ 21 doesn't push it, it is the same as if they "peeked." The reason to do this would be to avoid renting the peeking device. They could still do a manual peek, but it could expose them to hole carding from the players. BTW, the peeking device is patented by the inventor/owner and can only be used if they rent/lease it from him/them. The device is not available for purchase.

In the Fernley case, they seem to be trying to increase the house edge of the game by not peeking for a BJ. I would guess that it affects the house edge so significantly that no one else uses this approach because a significant number of players would refuse to play. Fortunately for the casino in Fernley, they have the only game in Fernley and the closest competition is 30 miles away in Sparks, NV, and they are making the most of it.

In Fernley, if they are using the indicator (peeking device) instead of just flipping the cards over, they would still be renting the device for no reason unless this is just a temporary experimental situation or something.

Quote: skrbornevrymin

In Fernley, if they are using the indicator (peeking device) instead of just flipping the cards over, they would still be renting the device for no reason unless this is just a temporary experimental situation or something.

They use an older model of the device. Most use a mirror to display the marking on the down-card to the dealer. This one is the red-light/green-light variety that has gone out of favor on a larger scale. It's a new table - installed 7 months ago - but that's a very old peeking system.

I'd be fine with them not peeking (and only taking the original bets on BJ), or with them peaking accurately. But the device had a success rate of about 80%, with several false negatives and no false positives. That seems like a very high failure rate, and all of the errors occurred in the direction that is most advantageous to the house.