$5 Blackjack Kansas City

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Blackjack is limited to a $5 maximum bet, usually with a $2 or $3 minimum bet. Multiple action blackjack is also available in Colorado. The minimum gambling age in Colorado is 21. In Black Hawk, your best bet for blackjack is the Ameristar Casino. They offer 16 blackjack tables. Can anyone recommend the best place to play $5 blackjack? Can go downtown if need be. Report inappropriate content. 11-20 of 20 replies Sorted by « 1 2 » lecc0221.

As a blackjack fanatic and occasional visitor the Jersey Shore, I’ve found myself in my fair share of Atlantic City casinos hunting down blackjack games.

I guess I’m a minor-league expert on blackjack in AC.

Even after the tumultuous past few years of casino closings and projects that failed to launch, Atlantic City is a little Mecca of blackjack. When you compare the setting of my favorite AC casinos to Las Vegas, there’s really no comparison. In South Jersey, you’ve got miles of beaches, the beautiful boardwalk, and a countryside so pastoral that the area was once covered in health spas. In Vegas, you’ve got acres of desert and miserable weather pretty much year-round.

Well I’ve finally done it. I’ve played at or at least gathered details on every blackjack game in the city. In this post, I cut right to the chase and discuss the best blackjack games in AC.

The Best Blackjack Odds

When most people hear the phrase “the best blackjack,” they think of the game that gives the house the smallest advantage. That’s a totally reasonable assumption, but I don’t think it tells the whole story. I’ll start there, since that’s what most people want to know right off the bat.

The best blackjack game in Atlantic City (in terms of odds) is at the Golden Nugget. It’s a game played with a six-deck shoe, which gives the house a smaller edge than the standard eight-deck shoe. The other rules that make it favorable to players – dealers stand on soft seventeen, and players are allowed to make a late surrender. A late surrender is a common rule available in AC which gives the player the right to forfeit and retain half his wager after the dealer checks for blackjack.

Taken all together, these rules give the casino a 0.34% advantage over players following basic strategy. The late surrender rule is worth 0.8% all by itself. What’s the catch? You have to be willing to wager at least $50 per hand. It’s a high-roller game, though $50 per bet is not exactly out-of-this-world expensive. Tables requiring $1,000 wagers per hand are common in VIP rooms in Vegas. But I imagine it’s out of the reach of most casual blackjack players.

Every other casino in the city (besides Bally’s) has a six-deck game with similar rules, available for minimum bets of $25. The reason for the cheaper bets? They don’t allow late surrender. You can even find $10 minimum six-deck shoe games during the daytime at Borgata, but no late surrender is allowed in that game, either. The house edge for these games (without the benefit of the late surrender rule) is 0.42%.

The Best Budget Game

Part of the problem people have with blackjack in Atlantic City is that they think all the games follow the same rules. I’ll admit that the majority of blackjack games in the city’s casinos are identical. They look like this: played with an eight-deck shoe, allowing double down on any first two cards, dealer hits on soft 17, you can split up to three times, and doubling after splitting is allowed. That game gives the casino an edge of about 0.67% against basic strategy.

Here’s the thing – I don’t think this is such a bad game. Look, you knew going in that blackjack in AC isn’t nearly as good as blackjack in Las Vegas, right? So when you talk about a “budget” blackjack game, you have to know that you’re not going to get great odds.

The fact that every casino in Atlantic City (except for the Borgata) offers a blackjack game as described above makes it my favorite choice for bettors on a budget. The game at the Borgata is identical, except that dealers STAND on a soft total of 17, so the house edge against basic strategy is 0.44%, slightly better than at the other casinos up and down the boardwalk.

I’ve decided that the Borgata’s basic blackjack table, with minimum bets of $10 (or even $5 during the day off-peak season) and a decent house edge of 0.44%, it’s the type of game I’ll sit at and play for an hour without paying much attention. At $25 an hour, it’s cheaper than a night at the movies, and you meet the most interesting people. Don’t forget that AC casinos are on fire for customer service right now, with their profits in the toilet. I got good free drinks all night on my last game in the cheap seats at the Borgata even though I ended up losing about $10 an hour all told.

Try and avoid any extremely low-limit games you find in Atlantic City. In the year 2011 I started seeing games that allowed wagers of just $1. Of course, there’s a catch – you have to pay a $0.25 commission fee for each hand you join. This makes every hand a sucker bet, since the player starts out an extra quarter-point in the hole to the casino.

The Worst Game in Atlantic City

The only tables I’ll never go near are now available in every single open property in the city. The dreaded single-deck blackjack game.

You should always be suspicious when a casino deals a single deck game. More than likely, the rules are such that the game can’t be profitable for even a low-level card counter. That’s definitely the case in Atlantic City. There is not one single-deck game that pays 3-to-2 for a natural blackjack. I’ve looked and I can confirm that every single-deck game (even at my beloved Borgata) pays 6-to-5. That one rule gives the house a monstrous boost in its edge – 1.58% against basic strategy.

Any single-deck game you come across (that’s not in the high-roller or VIP section) is the worst game in the city.

Conclusion

Las Vegas tables tend to have the most liberal rules in the world of blackjack. In Atlantic City, the addition of features like late surrender or stand-on-soft-17 looks nice, but you have to pay for those privileges with an increased advantage to the casino. If you find yourself in South Jersey itching for a blackjack game, make sure you know the games available at the casino you’re headed to before you leave. Most of the casinos in AC aren’t great for blackjack players – unless you have a fat bankroll.

KANSAS CITY BLACKJACK REPORT

IS IT WORTH PLAYING?

By JPB

JPB has been playing blackjack and counting cards part-time since 1996.He plays throughout the country but primarily in Missouri. He has been a Green Chip member ofBJ21.com for four years and one-time winner of thePost-of-the-Month. JPB is a professional engineer with three engineering degrees and works as a consulting engineer.

Introduction

Skilled blackjack players that are tired of being harassed, backed-off, and read the trespass act (or worse) may find solace in the Kansas City casinos where a card counter cannot be barred. Nor can the casinos enforce a betting limit that is applied unilaterally to a card counter (the limit must apply to the entire table). Both Harrah’s and Ameristar were fined for trying to impose such limits.

The casinos in Kansas City are, however, allowed to reduce table limits, reduce penetration, and even preferential shuffle (although only Ameristar uses the preferential shuffle), but these countermeasures are generally applied infrequently and inconsistently. In addition, pit bosses are not particularly skilled or driven to identify and harass card counters as in Las Vegas.

Logistics

There are four casinos in the greater Kansas City area: Harrah’s, Ameristar, Argosy, and Isle of Capri, plus the Frontier Casino in St. Joseph, which is about 50 miles north of Kansas City. The Kansas City casinos are all located in the north side of the K.C. metro area and all within about 15 miles of each other. No two casinos are within 3 miles of each other so that casino hopping is possible, but the logistics are not like Las Vegas or Atlantic City where one can find a casino next door.

Missouri Casino Blackjack Rules

1. Entrance to the casino requires a player’s card. Obtaining a player’s card requires a driver’s license or equivalent identification. I am not aware of the casinos sharing information regarding card counters with other casinos or with anti-card counter organizations such as Griffin. If you are concerned about withholding your identity, use your player’s card to gain entrance, buy your chips at the cage, and then decline the pit bosses offer to rate your play. Your play at the table will then be anonymous.
2. Casino patrons are allowed a $500.00 maximum buy-in every two-hour block of time. Blocks are on the even hours (6-8, 8-10, 10-12, etc.) This buy-in limit can prove a formidable handicap for the basic strategy player and card counter alike. Get a pair of 8s against a dealer 6, and obviously the correct play is to split. But not if you have already bought in for $500 and do not have any chips left. It does not matter how many Benjamin’s you have crammed into your pockets. Money play is prohibited. The buy-in limit is even more problematic for the card counter trying to use a healthy bet spread (say $25-250). The monster count finally comes along, and you only have $300 in chips left (you should keep enough chips for a possible double down, split, or double after split) so you can only justify a $100.00 bet. High-stakes players need to horde chips!
3. Finally, unlike any other commission, the Missouri Gaming Commission has unambiguously legislated that card counting, not involving a mechanical device, is not illegal, and that the casinos cannot prohibit a skilled card counter from playing blackjack. Do not lose any sleep on behalf of the casinos. The combination of the buy-in limit, generally crowded tables, and mediocre rules effectively deters most of the high-stakes, skilled players. Furthermore, counters that are used to using a modest spread (8:1 on 2 deck) to avoid heat, are able to only gain a small advantage over the house due to the conditions described.

Kansas City Casino Blackjack Conditions

2-deck table minimums are generally $10 or $25 with maximums of $500 or $1000. 6- deck table minimums range from $5-25 with a typical $500 maximum. Other pertinent conditions are summarized in the table below.

All 2-deck games are no mid-shoe entry. Penetration varies by dealer somewhat at each casino, but other than the 2d at Harrah’s, one should not expect to ever see exceptional penetration.

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Notes:

H17= Dealer hits on soft 17.

D8+= Doubling only allowed on 8-11. No note means double allowed on any 2 cards.

DAS= Double after split.

RSA= Resplit Aces

LSR= Late surrender

Conservative spread = 8:1 or less for 2 deck; 10:1 or less for 6 deck

Aggressive spread = 12:1 or greater for 2 deck; 20 or greater for 6 deck and/or 'wonging' on negative counts.

Penetration= number of undealt decks located behind the shuffle determining card

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R of 6= 2 rounds to 4 players; 3 rounds to 3 players; 4 rounds to 2 players; etc

RFB (Room, Food, and Beverage) & Other Non BJ Considerations

Newcomers will notice that unlike most gaming markets, alcoholic beverages at the table are not free (they are not even discounted). This shortcoming can be a big negative for some players but should be less of a problem to the card counter who typically drinks lightly or not at all at the tables. All of the casinos have hotels except Isle of Capri. Each casino has a buffet with Argosy and Ameristar being the best. Ameristar is the biggest casino with movie theaters, a concert/show theater, a kids play place, and multiple fast-food and full-service restaurants. Comps at Ameristar, Argosy, and Harrah’s are all banked. Comps appear to be slightly more generous than in most casino markets. Harrah’s leads the group in promotional offers and give-aways. All four casinos offer decent cash back coupons by mail to regular players.

$5 Blackjack Kansas City Poker

Conclusion

The conventional wisdom among the card counting circles is that the level of heat is proportional to the quality of the game. Using this adage, the Kansas City casinos should have the worst blackjack in the country. Not true. Although the Kansas City blackjack games have mediocre rules and penetration, the games are more attractive when taking into account the fact that a more aggressive bet spread can be used due to the lack of heat. Be forewarned, however, that the aggressive spread will increase your expected win rate but not without a cost – increased risk. Lots of money can be lost in the short run. But at least the card counter does not have to worry about being barred or backroomed!

$5 Blackjack Kansas City Concerts

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