Pennsylvania gambling column

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has started a weekly gambling column. It says Pennsylvania's blackjack rules have less than a 0.4 percent house edge, according to the Wizard's blackjack edge calculator. Rules include: Stand on soft 17, DAS, late surrender. Here's the link: Players Advantage Column

Quote: Bluechip

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has started a weekly gambling column. It says Pennsylvania's blackjack rules have less than a 0.4 percent house edge, according to the Wizard's blackjack edge calculator. Rules include: Stand on soft 17, DAS, late surrender. Here's the link: Players Advantage Column

It's nice to see the Wizard get attribution. Normally people just take his information as if it's public knowledge. This column should be entertaining, though it clearly be more Western PA focused.

An intelligent well-written column rather than a re-hash of some casino's public relations handout. How refreshing!

And for those who are worried about Las Vegas rebounding one might pause to reflect just how many Pennsylvanians will abandon 3:2 Blackjack and trek all the way to Vegas to play 6:5 blackjack?

Damn, you guys beat me to breaking the news. I didn't see it until late today (was at a Tea Party all morning and afternoon.)

Note that PA looks like it will not allow one casino to get a "rule-advantage" over another. At least they are giving the players good rules.

As a side note, in class they had generic layouts for practice. I asked an instructor anout S17 as it was on that layout. He kind of didn't want to make any kind of deal about it at all. But the whold time they did say they were waiting for the state to rule on the rules.

Interesting that PA has decided to regulate that specifically (surrender, how many re-splits, etc...) sees as though there will be zero variation in any games offered. I assume its the same for the other games? Craps (field bets?), TCP (Pair plus bet?), rake on poker room? What about single or double-deck games, are these even offered?

Indiana has none of this. They just state what games are allowed in general, and let the casinos offer whatever rules they want. I wish the casinos here were mandated to offer games this good. Of course, the downside could be less low-limit games as they simply aren't profitable enough to justify.

The rules don't specify a number of decks other than "at least one." For now, everything must be dealt from a shoe, regardless of number of decks in play.

Quote: Bluechip

The rules don't specify a number of decks other than "at least one." For now, everything must be dealt from a shoe, regardless of number of decks in play.

I would assume then that single/double deck games are out of the question. I'm sure they'll make tweaks to the regs over the coming years.

You don't, by chance, have a link to all their regulations do you?

Here it is: PA table game rules

GCB told me they'll make the final rules after a few months.

I'm the author of the column, and I appreciate what people have said so far. If anyone has any ideas/questions/comments, please e-mail me at: players@tribweb.com.

Quote: Bluechip

Here it is: PA table game rules

GCB told me they'll make the final rules after a few months.

I'm the author of the column, and I appreciate what people have said so far. If anyone has any ideas/questions/comments, please e-mail me at: players@tribweb.com.

Ah...well welcome to the forum. You'll probably find an endless supply of column topic from the threads on here.

Thanks. I've been playing blackjack for years, and now I have a chance to write about it. I hope to help new players like other folks helped me.

Looks as though all PA casinos will be required to offer 10x odds, but at the same time pay 2x on both the 2/12 on the field.

Quote: Bluechip

The rules don't specify a number of decks other than "at least one." For now, everything must be dealt from a shoe, regardless of number of decks in play.

Before I missed the cut in training they said they would like to eventually offer a hand-dealt, 2-deck game. In fact, to prepare for this (and to speed things up) dealers were required to be able to shuffle 2 decks at once in case the auto-shuffle broke.

One thing stressed to us was that in every state besides NV the GCB was set up to portect the players while in NV it was more of/by/for the casinios. While I don't buy that completely, PA bans the scourge of 6:5 BJ. NJ bans the Big 6/8. NV just seems to require a square game no matter what the rules.

There is sometimes a benefit to letting the marketplace determine some things and to encouraging technological change by an absence of trying to use regulations that are all encompassing. Some places mandate the size and materials in Drop Boxes, some merely say clear or see-through.

Mandating that the Field bet be a certain return and not anything else is probably unwise. A casino should be able to have some flexibility in marketing itself. A regulation that provides for no less than 10x at the craps table is better than a regulation that attempts to fix the odds factor at a particular sum.

Requiring a certain 3:2 payout is a historically valid requirement, but some casinos are sure to complain of being locked into a historical situation that is not relevant to the current market. Still, I'd rather see 3:2 mandated than leave everything to the "marketplace" particularly when the marketplace is a monopoly.

Quote: ruascott

Looks as though all PA casinos will be required to offer 10x odds, but at the same time pay 2x on both the 2/12 on the field.

I read that as "not to exceed" 10X odds