In blackjack, the house’s hypothetical edge is affected by small changes in its rules. What may seem like small differences in games may actually be taking a toll on how much you win or lose in an hour. Many casinos take advantage of the fact that few people know how certain rules affect gameplay. Some rules are in place simply to make money; others are there to protect games from professional card counters. Different regions have accepted rule standards that are important to know before you play.
Most people know that games with fewer decks give the house a lower house edge. With perfect basic strategy and very liberal rules, you can get the house edge down to roughly 0.13 percent in a single-deck game. Realistically, you will never see rules that liberal in a single-deck game. Since most games have six decks, your objective should typically be to play games that have house edges closer to 0.6 percent than 1 percent. As a general rule, you should avoid playing games that pay out diminished blackjacks instead of those that pay out at 150 percent (3 to 2) of your bet. While it would be nice if all casinos offered surrender in their blackjack games, most do not.
Las Vegas
Games in Las Vegas tend to mostly use six decks in order to get in more hands per hour and dissuade counters from playing. The dealers are faster than in most places, but they aren’t as fast as those on cruise ships. Almost all games hit on soft 17. Most of the tables now use automatic shuffling machines so that the six-deck shoes can be immediately swapped out. You will not see much variation in playing conditions within Las Vegas.
Atlantic City
Atlantic City can be more challenging than other locations. The pit bosses are very wary of card counters, so they take numerous measures to increase the house edge. Some measures include only using 50 percent shoe penetration before reshuffling. You may not be allowed to sit down in the middle of a shoe—a rule to counteract advantage players who jump into games when the high-value card counts are favorable. Furthermore, due to the heightened awareness, players are more likely to be suspected as a card counters when playing perfect basic strategy.
Europe
Many of the games in Europe use no-hole-card rules, which are the same as in normal blackjack, but the hole card (the dealer’s face-down card) is drawn after all of the players act. This is disadvantageous to players because the dealer may take all of their money from splits, doubles and so forth before checking for a blackjack. Before playing, ask if a casino only takes your initial bet upon getting a blackjack. Averaged out over time, no-hole-card games don’t add to the house edge as much as smaller blackjacks or other handicaps, but you may find yourself inclined to play more carefully when the dealer shows a 10-value card or an Ace. Ironically enough, second-guessing your basic strategy moves in no-hole-card games only increases the house’s edge. Always stick to the basic strategy.
Bahamas and Netherland Antilles
The Bahamas and Netherland Antilles are great places to play. Both have their pros and cons. The primary places to play are Nassau and Aruba, but St. Maarten and Curacao also have some decent casinos. Casinos in all of the islands tend to have a lot of locals and tourists, so weekends and evenings are far busier than weekdays.
The Bahamas tend to be more wary of advantage players, and the dealers are slower, but Nassau does have one very large casino that is often an attraction. Unlike other places, Nassau is busy during the day because of all the cruise ship passengers who offload during business hours, so you may find that it is more relaxing to play in the evenings.
Overall, Aruba has the best playing conditions and the most variety. Most of the major hotels have casinos, and there are a few very large ones. As long as you are friendly toward everyone and as easy going as the local players, you can get great comps and do quite well here.
Asia and the Middle East
Blackjack is very popular in Asia and can be found throughout the majority of casinos. In the Middle East, however, blackjack is harder to find since it can still be considered a game of skill, not luck which can be considered taboo there. The Middle East continues to change rapidly, though, and laws and customs are adjusting accordingly. The casinos that do offer blackjack in the Middle East are frequented by the rich sheiks as well as tourists.
In terms of playing conditions, in Asia, dealers can be extremely fast because of the popularity of and familiarity with the game in the region. Dealers in Asia are very fast and impatient at the table, which is something to be aware of. Once the cards are dealt, dealers expect players to make a prompt response so they can move on to the next player. Little help is given along the way as they believe it is up to each person to learn the game before sitting down. Alternatively, in the Middle East, since the game is not as well known, the dealers typically have less experience dealing blackjack and are slower. Players can expect to have time to decide their next move, although similar to Asia, they shouldn’t expect assistance with their hand.
There are generally no rule differences in blackjack in either the Middle East or Asia and table setups are standard. In Southeast Asia, it is common to find a variation being played called Chinese Blackjack. This variant usually contains two decks of cards, anyone can be the dealer (thus each round can be dealt by another player), and Aces can have values additional values. Chinese blackjack, or other variants should be obviously marked for players, but they aren’t players only need to ask a dealer for specifics of what is being played at the table.