bigplayer is a long-time, high-stakes professional player.
- Best Blackjack In Reno
- Best Blackjack Games In Reno
- Reno Blackjack Conditions
- $2 Blackjack In Reno
- Reno Blackjack Rules
- Best Casino For Blackjack In Reno
The best casinos for playing blackjack are the El Cortez in Las Vegas, the Boomtown and Western Village casinos in the Reno/Tahoe area, the Peppermill and We.
Questions: Coming back from a card-counting trip to Reno during which I incurred backoffs at about half of casinos I played, I’m seeking advice on where to play and what to play.
I play heads up at single-deck blackjack for most of the time in Reno with a $25 to $200 bet spread. I don’t like the restrictive Reno D10 doubling-down rules, but am able to achieve on average about 180 hands per hour using the Omega II count and Illustrious 18 index numbers. The conservatively-calculated EV is $120 per 100 hands, resulting in an expectation of about $216 per hour. However, during my last trip, though my partner and I played over 70 hours of quality play, we barely broke even after expenses. I understand the bankroll swings of blackjack but haven’t enjoyed positive variance on several of my recent trips. Even though I am used to it, over 200 hours of play with hardly more than a break-even result is frustrating.
Other than Las Vegas, I can play at convenient northern California venues that offer double-deck games with good penetration and no restrictions on doubling down. One of them also has six-deck games at which it’s comfortable to spread to two hands of $175 -- the best part is some dealers offer very deep penetration. The bad part is the h17 rule.
This place is kind of smokey and caters to a blue collar crowd. They have five dollar blackjack and plenty of poker,slot machines, and even a sports book. The diner has pretty good food at very reasonable prices. If I come to Reno. Nearby Lake Tahoe makes Reno an attractive destination even for those who aren’t interested in gambling. Popular Blackjack Casinos in Reno Atlantis. The Atlantis Casino Resort has one of the. Exclusive Welcome Deposit Bonus 200% - €/$100 & 50 Best Blackjack In Reno Free Spins. Free Spins available on Starburst only. Free Spins expire after 7 days. Bonus expiration: 14 days. Minimum qualifying deposit is €/$20. Maximum bonus bet limit: €/$5. All deposit bonuses have a wager of 50 x bonus. Free spins have a wager of 50 x winnings.
About how long should I wait before returning to the places that backed me off?
Are the Reno rules single-deck games really worth playing?
Which games should I play and what strategy should I use?
bigplayer: How fast you can recycle any casino anywhere depends on how well they knew you, what you look like (are you unique or do you blend in?), and how memorable your backoff was to the staff, most importantly the pit critters. Some places have a very long memory, much longer than you might ever have imagined. Some casinos back off so many players that they soon may not remember you at all. You'll have to try to think about each incident and how it happened, and also whether the other shifts might remember you, as well as the one on which you got the boot.
The difference between single-deck h17 and single-deck h17 with doubling restrictions basically means you need either a bit bigger spread (at least 1-4 instead of 1-3 as a minimum) to beat the game or the same spread with better penetration. If you're spreading $25-$200, you should be pounding the Reno games without much issue, but it's no wonder you're getting backed off so much if you're not using appropriate cover. Usually for single deck, I spread 1-6 or so, using completely random off-the-top betting (or off-the-top wagers that depend on my last bet of the previous shuffle), and then go up or down from that.
As to which games to play, there is playable blackjack all around northern California. Fire away. Take some trips to the north and south in between.
Related information: Counting Cards in Reno (Updated February 2019)
Originally published on bj21.com Green Chip, edited for this format.
Originally published on bj21.com Green Chip, edited for this format.
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Best Blackjack In Reno
Where to cash in on player-friendly blackjack games, and how to avoid the bad ones
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.
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
Colossal reels slots free online. rsa = aces may be resplit
Best Blackjack Games In Reno
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