Atlantic City: The best game in town is a six-deck shoe game at the Borgata (www.theborgata.com) with double down on any first two cards, dealers stand on soft 17, pairs split up to three times, and doubling after splitting, and a house edge of .42%.
Chicagoland: All games in the Chicago area use either six or eight decks but have as yet embraced the 6-5 payoffs of the Las Vegas Strip. Table minimums are high, especially in Illinois, where anything under $15 a hand is rare. In Indiana there are $5 tables available at Trump (www.trumpindiana.com) and Majestic Star (www.majesticstar.com ).
Harrah’s Joliet (www.harrahs.com) is the only casino that allows players to resplit Aces. On most six deck games the dealer stands on all 17s, doubles after splits and resplits Aces. House edge is 0.36%.
Tunica: The blackjack games in Tunica are similar to those in Downtown Las Vegas. Every casino offers both single and double-deck games, as well as 6-deck shoe games. All Tunica dealers hit soft 17, except for the 6-deck game at the Grand Casino (www.grandtunica.com). The best single-deck games are at the Horseshoe (www.horseshoe.com) and Hollywood Casino (www.hollywoodtunica.com), which allows doubling down on any first two cards, but no doubling after splitting, and allows resplitting of pairs, including Aces. The house edge is .15%. Bally’s (www.ballystunica.com), Fitzgerald’s (www.fitzgeraldtunica.com), Gold Strike (www.goldstrikemississippi.com), Grand, Hollywood, Horseshoe and Sheraton (www.caesars.com/Sheraton/Tunica)are the best places to play double-deck as they allow double down on any first two cards, resplit any pair, and double down after split. There is a casino edge of .35%.
Kansas City: All Missouri games hit soft 17 (ace and six). The only single deck blackjack game is offered at the Argosy (www.argosycasinos.com) and pays 6-to-5, resulting in a casino edge of over 1.5%. The Argosy and Isle of Capri (www.isleofcapricasino.com) offer the best two-deck game with a .35% casino advantage, dealer hits soft 17, double down on any two cards, split and re-split any pair, and double allowed after splitting.
Las Vegas: the best single-deck games can be found at Binion’s (www.binions.com), El Cortez (www.elcortezhotelcasino.com), Four Queens (www.fourqueens.com), Vegas Club (www.vegasclubcasino.com), Railroad Pass, Tuscany (www.tuscanylasvegas.com), and The Western (www.westernhotelcasino.com). All have dealers hit soft 17, double down on 1st two cards, split any pair, re-split any pair (except aces), and no doubling after splitting, with a .18% advantage. The best double-deck game is offered downtown at the Plaza (www.plazahotelcasino.com) with dealer stands on soft 17, doubles down on any 2 first cards, re-splits any pair and doubling allowed after splitting with a casino edge of .14%. The minimum bet at the Plaza is $5.
Reno/Lake Tahoe: The only casino in the area where the dealer stands on soft 17 is the six-deck shoe game at Caesars in Lake Tahoe (www.caesars.com). Split any pair, resplit any pair, and double down after splitting are allowed with a $25 minimum. The casino edge is .26%. |
