The Intelligent GamblerGambler © 1995 ConJelCo, All Rights Reserved Number 3, May 1995 Street (Plaza, Golden Gate, Las Vegas PUBLISHER’S CORNER DOWNTOWN BLACKJACK Club, Pioneer, Golden Nugget, Binion’s Chuck Weinstock Anthony Curtis Horseshoe, Four Queens, Fremont, Fitzgeralds, El Cortez, and Western) and Welcome to the third issue of Con- Late last year I received a call from the those located one block north on Ogden JelCo’s The Intelligent Gambler. In this publisher of Casino Player magazine. (California, Lady Luck, and Gold issue we have articles by Anthony Curtis, The Player had just run a story naming Spike). These are the 14 casinos that are Ken Elliott, Arnold Snyder, Lee Jones, downtown Las Vegas as having the loos- banking on the success of the Fremont Lenny Frome, and Bob Wilson on every- est slots of any gambling area in Amer- Street Experience, due to open in late thing from blackjack to video poker. ica. It was a big feather in the cap of the 1995. Since the last issue has come out we’ve downtowners. So big, in fact, that they While conducting this investigation, I released the book Winning Low-Limit built a major print-media and billboard had in mind players with skill levels Hold’em, by Lee Jones. This book, advertising campaign around it. “It's offi- ranging from rank novice (no blackjack which Card Player has said is “destined cial,” the ads trumpeted. “Downtown is training at all) to high intermediate (per- to become a classic” has sold so well that loosest for slots.” fect basic strategy), because everyone in by the time you receive this issue it will The campaign was a big hit and the this group can improve results simply by be in it’s second printing. downtown casino bosses wanted more. playing in better games. What makes one They suggested to the publisher that his In this issue we’re announcing Sozobon game better than another? A lower house magazine declare downtown most liberal Poker for Windows, software to improve advantage, which is a product of the for blackjack as well. your play at both Texas Hold’em and number of decks dealt and the rules. Seven-Card Stud. See our special pre- “What do you think?” the publisher (Stanford Wong's excellent newsletter, publication offer elsewhere in this issue. asked me. “Is there a case for downtown Current Blackjack News, provided most ConJelCo’s World Wide Web site has Las Vegas being best for blackjack?” been operational since last Summer. We Interesting question. The conventional Contents are receiving over 2,000 requests for wisdom has traditionally held that gam- information per day, and have greatly bling (overall) is better downtown, but Publisher’s Corner 1 expanded the offerings to include the Las this perception hasn't carried over to Downtown Blackjack 1 Vegas Advisor Top Ten Values, and the blackjack. The reason is one bad rule: the Bets on the River 2 Best Bets from Blackjack Review. Dur- dealer hits soft 17. This rule, which The House Advantage 3 ing the 1995 World Series of Poker we requires the dealer to draw a card on Serious Blackjack Questions 4 were able to provide on-line results of totals of 17 that include an ace (i.e., A,6), Random Number Generators 5 the various events shortly after they costs the player a sizable .2% in expected Sozobon Poker for Windows 5 ended, complete with graphics of chip return and dominates the downtown The Winning Session 6 position at the final table, and the final blackjack scene (the only exception is The ConJelCo Catalog 8 hand. We expect to expand the offerings the Golden Nugget's six-deckers). further over the next several months. Blackjack downtown might be more The Intelligent Gambler is published on an This is a free service to our customers. relaxed and have lower limits than else- irregular basis by ConJelCo as a free service You can find us at: where, but most liberal? That claim to our customers. Our address is 132 Radcliff http://www.conjelco.com required investigation. Drive, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15237. We can be reached by telephone at 800-492-9210 We appreciate the many positive com- Definitions (orders only), or 412-492-9210 or by fax at ments we’ve had on prior issues of The 412-493-9031. We’re also on the Internet Intelligent Gambler. We hope you enjoy I categorize “downtown casinos” as the (URL http://www.conjelco.com.) Send e- this issue as well. ♠ casinos that are located on Fremont mail to [email protected]. ♠ Intelligent Gambler 1 of the data on table conditions presented Why Fewer are Better below.) We've all heard that fewer decks are better. Here's why. As the number of decks is Single-Deck Density reduced: The most important consideration when • You are slightly more likely to get a natural. looking for a good blackjack game is the • You are slightly more likely to get an untied natural. number of decks dealt. Fewer is better • The favorability of proper doubling down is increased. and one is best. Downtown is a bastion of • The favorability of standing on stiffs vs. dealer 2-6 is increased. single-deck blackjack: 10 of its 14 casi- nos deal at least one single-deck game. The last two are related to the “effects of removal.” The impact of the removal of cer- Ten Las Vegas Strip casinos also deal tain consequential cards is greater when fewer decks are in play. Example: You hold single-deck, but that's out of a total of 33 6,5 and double. One 6 and one 5, either of which would be an undesirable draw to your casinos. In terms of density, downtown is 11, no longer remain in the deck to be drawn. The effect of removing these cards is superior. Directly in the heart of Glitter diminished as more decks are introduced—the 6 and 5 are two cards of 52 in a single Gulch is the heaviest concentration of deck, but only two of 312 in six decks. single decks anywhere in the U.S.: 69 Also important: Fewer decks usually means more shuffling, which means fewer hands tables at Binion's Horseshoe and the played and a lower expected loss. Golden Nugget combined. Nice pickin’s. Reno has more casinos with single decks choose a slot machine with a high pay- an embattled indicator of late, but the and Laughlin has a higher level of den- back percentage. measurement is useful in an analysis sity, but the rules in both of these places To get a handle on the average player's such as this. If my conclusion about are generally more restrictive (usually chances of stumbling onto a good game, downtown was correct, the hold percent- with regard to doubling down). we'll compare the number of tables with age statistics would be expected to sup- liberal rules in a given gambling area port it. And they did: the official figures with the total number of tables that might indicate that downtown casinos do be picked for play. For example, of indeed win a significantly lower percent- approximately 1,100 blackjack tables (at age of the money tendered by gamblers last count) on the Las Vegas Strip, about at their 21 tables. Best blackjack? Down- 120 of them have an edge below our cut- town Las Vegas. off. Thus, about 11% of the games on the © 1995, Huntington Press. Anthony Strip meet our definition of liberal. In Curtis is an accomplished gambler most of the other major gambling areas, and the publisher of the Las Vegas the percentages are similar, in the 10%- Advisor, a monthly newsletter of 20% range. Some are higher—Laughlin Las Vegas values. Huntington Press The Proof of the Pudding runs close to 25% liberal games (remem- also publishes highly recommend Locating single-deck tables is only the ber the single-deck density). Some are books including Comp City, Bar- first step in finding a good blackjack lower—Atlantic City barely registers. gain City, and The Theory of Black- ♠ game. Finding good rules is the second. The winner? Downtown Las Vegas by a jack, all available from ConJelCo. By taking decks and rules into consider- rout, coming in at a whopping 40%! This ation, it's possible to compute the casino means that two out of five blackjack INTERESTING HANDS, TELLS, edge against a perfect basic-strategy players downtown are likely to sit down AND BETS ON THE RIVER player. This advantage typically falls at a game with a casino edge of .25% or Lee Jones within a range of 0% (no advantage) to lower. And that's not all. As it turns out, A couple of nights ago, I was in a $6-$12 about 1%. What I would term a liberal the only bad thing about the downtown Hold’em game, and it went like this: I blackjack game has a casino edge of only single-deck game is the soft-17 rule. limped in late position with JT behind .25% (one quarter of one percent) or less. Conclusion? If you restrict your play to two callers. The button called, big blind This is a low fee to pay for a gambling single-deck only in downtown Las checked, and we were off. Flop comes experience, and a slim margin to over- Vegas, you have a 100% chance of play- Jh-Td-8h. I've flopped top two pair, but come for expert players seeking to gain ing the best game possible.