Let's Save Blackjack
Gambling Times Magazine
by Bobby Singer
In the Winter 2001 edition of Gambling Times, I wrote about
my personal passion for playing winning Blackjack. In that article I
wrote about some of my favorite casinos around the world and why I
was so fond of those particular casinos. Now I would like to share
some personal interesting moments from the world of casinos; some
funny, some not so funny and what we can all do today to save our
favorite game.
My all-time favorite casino was in the Royal Haitian Hotel in Port
Au Prince, Haiti. Over the years I exceeded fifty trips to Haiti and
have the most wonderful memories. First, I never had a losing trip.
One of the owners of the casino would play tennis with me almost
every day and then watch me take his money every night. He, as well
as his other floor executives, were very aware of my skills. I often
refer to these memories as “the good old days.”
A typical day for me in Haiti during the seventies was waking to
enjoy a lovely breakfast followed by a healthy walk. Then the owner
of the casino and I would play tennis. After napping in the
afternoon I would enjoy a wonderful gourmet dinner, usually at a
fine French restaurant in Petionville, a small town in the
mountains. Then, it was off to the casino where the fun began!
The casino actually had stands erected where locals would come to
watch me play. My play would generally last from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m.
My range of bets ran from $100 as a low bet to the most I had ever
wagered on a single hand, $12,000! The rules in the casino included
surrender and were extremely liberal. They dealt four decks, never
cutting off more than a quarter to a half of a deck. I played at the
table with three of my closest friends. One was an executive with
General Motors. One was in the printing business in California and
one was a head and neck cancer surgeon from Michigan who just
recently published a very funny book called Silverware Grew in Her
Garden. Everyone always referred to us as “The Fearsome
Foursome.” We were the ultimate Damon Runyon characters, as were
the two brothers who owned the casino. Prior to Haiti, they were in
the casino business in Cuba.
On trips to Haiti during a holiday season my wife and kids would
join me. My kids would actually sit and play Roulette. The rule in
the casino was it didn’t matter how old you were as long as you
didn’t hold up a game. After the kids would lose their chips they
would come over to me and I would reach into the dealers tray and
give them a black $100 chip. Yes, you read that correctly, I would
give them the casinos chips to gamble with. On several occasions
during my trips to Haiti, after several hours of play, I would get
up and go to the dealer’s side of the table, move the dealer aside
and proceed to deal to my friends as well as myself. I would
actually root for the casino while I was the dealer.
What is all this nonsense about? Giving chips from the dealer’s
tray (with the casino’s permission) to my kids? Dealing to myself
and to my friends as if I worked for the casino? Well, it’s about
having fun, being relaxed, laughing and enjoying the game as it was
in the good old days. It’s about what it was then and what it is
now.
Although the casinos in Las Vegas didn’t allow the same freedom as
I enjoyed in places like Haiti, they certainly were Runyonesque,
fair and exciting. The rules were liberal and gave those players
willing to really learn the game of Blackjack a more than
respectable advantage. The average casino strip dealt three and a
quarter of four decks, allowed double down after splits and the
dealer had to stand on all seventeens. Some casinos like Caesars
Palace even had surrender. Now, let’s look at today’s Las Vegas
strip casinos and what they are attempting to do to the game to
cause the neophyte player to lose more and faster.
Frankly, the changes that are being made are really not in the best
interest of the game or the casino. Blackjack saw its massive growth
beginning in the late sixties. The reason it has grown so large and
surpassed the other table games is precisely because it can be
beaten. Unfortunately for the typical player, less than one percent
of players possess the discipline to learn the game properly. This
is the prime reason casinos make money offering Blackjack. When a
casino tries to squeeze every last dollar out of the game by
changing the rules, the net effect has always been to eventually
ruin the game. Witness the American Roulette wheel with an extra
zero. Most players don’t even know why they don’t like the
game—it’s because they lose too fast. This is despite the fact
that roulette is the most popular game in Europe; where there is
only one zero on the wheel, and the player’s money lasts longer.
To save the casinos from their own bad judgment, we must fight back!
I’ve been playing Blackjack professionally for almost forty years
since Beat the Dealer was first published. I’ve seen the
casinos’ attitude toward the good Blackjack player change over the
years from very little concern to today’s very alarming attack on
the core of his intelligence, and the game. Most of the casinos
today are dealing six decks, instead of four. If they offer a
two-deck game, they don’t allow surrender. Many casinos have
introduced constant shuffling machines on many of their Blackjack
tables. Dealers now hit soft seventeen on most tables with the
possible exception of high limit areas, and even these are rapidly
disappearing.
Blackjack can be played as a game of skill unlike other casino games
that can only be played as games of chance. The casinos have been
aware of this for almost forty years but I believe that we are today
at the crossroads of this fabulous game. A few misguided casinos are
trying to take us into the twilight zone. Last year, Las Vegas alone
entertained almost 35 million visitors.
In addition millions more entered casinos in Atlantic City,
Mississippi, and the more than 600 gambling establishments in almost
thirty-five states. The number of people who are willing to learn to
count cards and therefore win consistently from casinos is
outrageously small compared to the many millions who lose fortunes
at Blackjack tables around the world. Yet the casino accountants
appear unsatisfied. They want it all. If they could, they would
eliminate card counting, the only way a knowledgeable player can
have an edge over the casino. If they succeed at this, blackjack
will become as unpopular as American Roulette.
What steps can we take? Don’t play in games with bad rules, and be
vocal about it! If you’ve learned to master the game and count
cards, play only in those casinos with liberal rules and where the
dealer stands on all seventeens. If you don’t count cards but can
play perfect basic strategy, don’t play at tables where they hit
soft seventeen. When in a casino where soft seventeens are hit, ask
a floor person to show you the tables where they stand on all
seventeens. If you’re in a casino where they only have tables
hitting Ace, 6, find one that doesn’t. If you see Blackjack tables
with constant shuffling machines, don’t play! If they cut off two
of six decks, don’t play! And let them know why you won’t play!
Be tough! Be stubborn! We must all stick together if we’re going
to keep Blackjack the only casino game mathematically beatable. In
the end we will save not only the game, but also the casinos that
offer it.
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