Where to cash in on player-friendly blackjack games, and how to avoid the bad ones
Basic strategy is the best way to play a blackjack hand on the first round after a shuffle, assuming you see no cards other than your own and the dealer’s upcard. For a person who does not count cards, basic strategy is the best way to play every hand. The rules of blackjack are simple. You are dealt cards, which have the face value shown on them. You need to get a hand with a score of as close to 21 as possible, without going over it.
by Henry Tamburin
The 6-5 payoff rule increases the house edge by almost 1.4 percent. If you’re a $10 bettor, playing a 6-5 game will cost you $3 each time you get a blackjack (and you’ll average roughly four blackjacks per hour), which comes to $12 that you are forking over to the casino bosses every hour.
This month, my column is going to accomplish four things:
- Provide you with a convenient list of casinos that offer a single-deck blackjack game that pays 3-2 for a blackjack (also known as a “natural”)
- Give you an accurate single-deck basic playing strategy that you can use to play this terrific game
- Summarize the casinos in and around Las Vegas that offer the abominable 6-5 single-deck games (so you can avoid them)
- Give you some advice on how you can help eradicate the awful 6-5 games, which have been spreading like a cancer in casinos throughout the U.S.
Note: The information on which casinos offer single-deck games and the corresponding rules and house edges mentioned in this article were obtained from Current Blackjack News (CBJN), with their permission (www.bj21.com). Casinos can change the rules at any time, so check CBJN for the latest rules and playing conditions in casinos across the country.
In the March 2008 issue of Casino Player magazine, I wrote a detailed column about why the 6-5 single-deck game is bad news for players. Without rehashing all the points that I made back then, let me briefly summarize why this game should be avoided like the plague. The 6-5 payoff rule increases the house edge by almost 1.4 percent (no, that’s not a typo). If you’re a $10 bettor, playing a 6-5 game will cost you $3 each time you get a blackjack (and you’ll average roughly four blackjacks per hour), which comes to $12 that you are forking over to the casino bosses every hour.
That is an atrocity, which is why a smart blackjack player would never play this game.
If you talk to casino bosses about their 6-5 games (which I‘ve done), you get this sort of universal response from them: we know players don’t like the 6-5 games, but as long as they keep playing them, we’d be crazy not to offer them. In a moment, I will give you some tips on how you can help us eradicate the 6-5 games from casinos everywhere. But first, let me discuss the single-deck game that I am encouraging you to play; namely, the game that pays the traditional 3-2 for a natural. It’s available, and I’ll show you where.
The house edge against a basic strategy player in a 3-2 single-deck game is a function of the mix of playing rules. The best single-deck games have h17 (dealer hits soft 17), and allow players to resplit aces. The house edge in this game is a meager 0.13%. Second best is an h17 game without resplit aces (house edge: only 0.18%).
The following chart summarizes the relationship of the rules and the house edge for a basic strategy player in a 3-2 single-deck game. You’d be hard-pressed to find a multi-deck game with these low house edges.
Playing Rules | House Edge (%) |
h17, rsa | 0.13 |
h17 | 0.18 |
s17, d10 | 0.29 |
h17, d9 | 0.32 |
h17, d10 | 0.44 |
Where would you guess is the most likely place to find a 3-2 single-deck game? If you said Las Vegas, you’d be dead wrong. According to CBJN, there are only four casinos that offer a 3-2 single-deck game in Las Vegas (and unfortunately, 44 casinos in and around Vegas that offer the dastardly 6-5 single-deck games, making Las Vegas the #1 gambling destination with the most 6-5 games).
Table 1 lists the casinos in Las Vegas that offer 3-2 single-deck games. Table 2 is the list of Las Vegas casinos that offer the 6-5 game. Be smart—on your next trip to Vegas, play the juicy 3-2 single-deck game and avoid the terrible 6-5 game in the casinos listed in Table 2.
The areas of the country where the concentration of 3-2 single-deck games is the greatest are Tunica and Vicksburg, MS, and Reno/Lake Tahoe/Wendover, in Nevada. You’ll be delighted to find many casinos in these cities that offer the fair 3-2 single-deck game. (See Table 3 for the list of these casinos.)
Now that you know where to find 3-2 single-deck games, you need to learn the basic playing strategy for them. Table 4 summarizes the strategy where the dealer hits soft 17 (which is the case in the majority of casinos that offer a single-deck game). You should become familiar with this playing strategy, because it’s slightly different than the basic strategy for multi-deck games. If this is your first time playing a single-deck game, I would also recommend that you bring a strategy card with you to avoid making playing mistakes. It’s perfectly legal to refer to a card before you play your hand.
Best Blackjack Rules Vegas
Table 1
Las Vegas Casinos That Offer
3-2 Single-Deck Games
h17 = dealer hits soft 17
d10 = double down only on two-card ten or eleven
rsa = aces may be resplit
Casino | Rules | House Edge |
Binion’s | h17, d10 | 0.44% |
El Cortez | h17 (dealt from a shoe) | 0.18% |
Four Queens | h17, d10 | 0.44% |
Hooters | h17, d10 | 0.44% |
Silverton | h17, d10 | 0.44% |
Note: I’ve had friends in the past play the single-deck games at Binion’s and Four Queens, and they claimed they had a good time. However, Al Rogers, manager at bj21.com, had this to say about the single-deck games at both casinos: “Anyone showing the slightest degree of brain usage at reasonable stakes will not be allowed to play the 3-2 single-deck games at either casino.”
Table 2
The Hall Of Shame:
Las Vegas Area Casinos That Offer
6-5 Single-Deck Games