Blackjack without the Human Touch

For some years now, Shuffle Master gaming have been producing a range of electronic table games, called "Table Master". I've played a few of these games in my time (they're only found in land based casinos), and they're actually pretty good. For me, the absence of a human dealer can be both good and bad: some dealers are great, some are lousy. At least with a computerised dealer you know what to expect. :-) And the Shuffle Master Table Master games look good too - as can be seen in this photo taken by Shuffle Master themselves:


One feature I really like with these Table Master games is that the gameplay of all seating positions is completely independent of the others. This means that no one elses decisions will ever affect your play, as your cards are coming from a separate virtual deck. This is actually BETTER than a normal blackjack game, when some idiot player sitting on 13 against a dealer picture can really screw YOUR hand.

The Table Master games can be configured by casinos to have minimum bets etc. On the games I've physically played, I found $2 - $200 bet spreads - but I know of some casinos that have a $5 minimum. In any case, the odds of the game are set by the rules that the game gets configured to for that casino. A fairly typical rule set for a Las Vegas casino might be as follows:

6 decks (shuffled after four decks)
Blackjack pays 3 to 2
Dealer hits soft 17
Double after split allowed
Double on any two cards allowed
Surrender allowed
Split to two hands only
Seven Card Charlie (un-busted hands of 7 cards automatically win)
Bet range: $2-$200

If these exact rules are configured, then the house edge on this game is around .68%. That's not too bad - but when playing you must bear in mind that there are no breaks at the end of a shoe, that the gameplay is quite fast, and that its very easy to get addicted to this type of game. From my own experience at least. Do make sure whenever you play that you are using a casino Players Card to get comps / points etc and make the most of your play.

If anyone has played this game in their local casino lately, let me know how you got on. It would be interesting to have another article on this in the near future, perhaps comparing the various game configurations that are out there in the market (and therefore helping to direct players to the casino with the best configuration set). I can be contacted (as always) at davewestlondon@yahoo.co.uk.

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Last week, Derren Brown tried to win £175,000 for a viewer of the Derren Brown's The Events series, by predicting the course of a roulette ball on the roulette wheel. But he didn't predict the number correctly - although he came close. The ball stopped one number away on the roulette wheel from the number he predicted to win. I guess that says it all - roulette is random, and hard to win on. Regardless of the system or approach you use, roulette is hard to beat in the long term (in the short term, anything is possible).

This is why I prefer games such as blackjack. They're random, but controllable. And if you can memorise and / or count cards you have a real chance to walk away a winner. Even without those skills it's a fairly even game - and you can win.

What I like about blackjack, is that by reading articles and information about the game (such as that on our Beat the Blackjack blog) you can really improve your approach and chances of winning. It's a mathematical game. That can be beaten under the right circumstances - and it certainly demands a go from a gambler like myself!

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Blackjack Cash Draw - It's on Tonight!

***Update 5 September: No win... but thank you all for your kind wishes!***

Tonight I'm in a lucky cash draw at my local casino. I've been in casino prize draws before (I even won one - once), but this one is kind of special. For the last month or so the casino has been running a blackjack promotion, giving a draw entry ticket for every true BLACK JACK (defined by the casino as a winning blackjack, with a Jack of Spades or a Jack of Clubs). As many of you who read my blogs will know, I play a LOT of blackjack, and have amassed about 120 entries. I'd estimate there's about 1500 entries in all, in the barrel.

The odds of getting one entry in the first place were not high: statistically about 1 in every 46 hands would qualify. So that means I've played somewhere in the vicinity of 120 x 46 hands = 5520 hands in the last month. That's quite a few I think, even for a "VIP Player" such as myself.

Anyway, as I understand it, there will be three draws from the barrel, with each winner getting a share of the $21,000 prize pool. If there are 1500 entries, then the odds of winning with 1 ticket are 1 in 500. With my 120 tickets or thereabouts, my odds are 120 in 500 - or close enough to 1 in 4. So I'm very hopeful of a win.

You can help - please pray / beg / chant / wish or whatever it is you do for me to have good luck tonight, and score a win! It would be a fantastic thing. And if I'm lucky and win in that draw, in return I'll give away 10 x $100 gifts to lucky readers of this blog... details will follow, if I'm lucky enough to win tonight!

I appreciate your kind thoughts, good wishes, and greetings of luck! May you also be lucky - and thank you reading the Beat the Blackjack blog!

Blackjack tips - Wordpress?

Hi, you might be wondering why my last post was back in December on this blog. Well, I haven't died - I've just been experimenting with the Wordpress platform. I did write a wordpress blog, but ***NEWS FLASH AS OF MAY 2009*** I've now decided that Wordpress is not what it's cracked up to be - so I'm back here and remaining on blogspot.com! Keep visiting! Thanks for your continued support. :-)

Happy New Blackjack Year!

It might look to be a day or so early - and it is, because I'm holidaying for the next few days - but I wanted to wish all of my blackjack playing readers a very Happy New Year! May 2009 bring you everything your heart desires, and may it be filled with luck, love, prosperity, health, and happiness.

Start your new year off well - get some Free Blackjack Cash from us here at Beat the Blackjack, before 31 January 2009! Have a very happy new year everyone!