Wait, what? Even the $50-$100 BJ tables are 6:5 nowadays??

Sooga,

I'm not sure about the $50+ tables, but most of the people I go with don't want to bet higher than $25, and most of the $25 tables at the places we usually gamble are 6:5 now. It's terrible.

El Cortez has $25 single deck 3:2 just fyi.

I play at the Palazzo for the most part and I think 3:2 is $200 min for double deck and $100 for 6 deck. The strip sucks for any and all pay tables...No matter the game. For example, I think Wynn dropped 3x, 4x, 5x for craps and went 2x across the board. Gotta slum it or go downtown for odds.

LOL that's good, as a former craps degen I can (sort of) identify with you. It sounds like we're the same sort of degen- craps and BJ in the past, but looking for something new. I'd (obv) recommend VP- I'd much rather lose bit by bit and then smash something out of nowhere, than craps/BJ win even money or close to even money bets all the time, but never have a chance of really making a huge score (short of making insane-sized bets).

One warning though, and I'm sure you know this already- the swings are vicious. Although I think my avg loss is right around theoretical, I've had so many trips with a -10k downswing or more. Even this last trip which was great, I think day 2 I had an 8k downswing. Of course, I play a high variance game.

What a great post.

Of course as you stated you cant have 24k scores in 1/2 pushes w/o some days of -8k

The other good thing is there's solid accounting for your play. You don't have to worry that some inattentive floor boss has under-credited you (screwed on comps) or over-credited you (screwed on taxes).

Zackly, and it's high variance not by a little bit.

Leon, hit the quad 2's with an Ace on my free slot play for $1600 on a DDB machine.

Thanks to you for convincing us to play DDB. I usually play Dueces Wild or JoB.

FYI the Cosmo had a couple $25 3/2 last time I was there, and the Bellagio has one next to the high limit room. Definitely tough to find at that level though.

Granted, I'm not familiar with what Vegas has to offer, but I've found that $50 blackjack can be a best of all worlds. You avoid the crowding and unfavorable rules that are sometimes found at $25 tables, plus encounter less of the entitled folks you'll often see at $100 tables.

It's TRIPLE double bonus friend, not DDB. I only play DDB when there's no other option. 4 2's w/kicker in TDB woulda been 4k Nice hit in any case!

You have a point about the accounting, but I think overall that is the biggest downside to VP or slots vs table games- since the W2Gs are reported, you HAVE to submit net loss to deduct those off your taxes. Contrast that with table games- theoretically, net winner OR loser, you don't really have to make a declaration since the IRS is blind to the whole thing- thus freeing you to use deductions for other things. I use up all my allotment for deductions each year simply from gambling.

In other words, my tax burden could be less if I didn't take deductions for gambling, but I have to take those deductions bc if I didn't I have millions in "income" which I'd then have to pay tax on. Table games, no issue (unless you want to play totally fair with the IRS and self-report).

El D, the above may be an oversimplification but you may want to consider that before switching to machines. I'd stay in the pit, but I just don't find it fun anymore.

Frantically searching for that game at my local joint 😊

As I said, it was a free play, so was happy with the extra dough.

Not to question your expertise, isn't the hand AAA45 on a 5 play machine (day 2 of your report) a TDB machine?

I thought I saw 4 2's w/A,2,3,4 as 2000. Am I looking at a wrong game?

I see. I've never played table games with a players card. I thought they gave you a win/loss statement like you get playing machines.

That is TDB. 4 2's w/kicker is 2000 credits. If you were playing at a 2$ machine that'd be 2000 x 2 = 4000$, no? I assumed you were at a 2$ machine bc you said you were playing DDB and won 1600$. At that game, 2$ x 800 = 1600.

Never in my experience. I always made sure to play with a card for rating, comps, etc. Win/loss was always negative at the end of the year, but I never reported it bc they don't report wins to the IRS, so there was nothing to offset. I've never quite understood why they don't (since they clearly track how much you start with and can have a pretty good idea how you do each individual session), but it's good they don't.

I suspect casinos wouldn't report slots/VP either if they weren't required to by law. Better for the customer that way and no worse for them.

Got it.

It was weird. It is a game king (multi game multi denom machine). At 25c the max bet is 5.

At $1 denomination the max bet was 10. Didn't realize till that hand played out.

OK so you were playing TDB after all, just bet 10 credits at 1$ level. I've seen machines like that (always single line) where one can bet more than 5 credits/hand. Every time, the paytable seems to scale appropriately.

EDIT: I'm still confused. Did you bet 1$ credits, 4 credits total? That's one way to get to 1600 (4 2's w/kicker pays 1600 at 4 credits). Or was it DDB, and you bet 1$ credit x double credits (10) x 800 (for 4 2's w/kicker) = 1600?

"Or was it DDB, and you bet 1$ credit x double credits (10) x 800 (for 4 2's w/kicker) = 1600?"

It was at a double double bonus for sure, I was playing $1 denomination. It might have been double credits as you mentioned.

Now apparently this list is over a year old, but Wizard of Vegas's Blackjack Survey shows $25 3:2 games at virtually all of the major strip casinos. Or is this super out of date?

Old. MGM and Venetian are determined to destroy 3:2 blackjack. Best of luck finding even a $25 game at their properties.

Damn, that's a shame. It's been a long time since I've gamed on the strip - closest I've been to the strip in recent years is the Orleans and the Palms, and as far as I know, those places are still offering lower-limit 3:2. I guess it'll get to a point where you'll have to venture out into the locals' casinos if you want any 3:2 at all. Sad.

But then again, I suppose I should have known the gaming conditions on the strip would be getting even more horrible after casinos started charging for parking.

Please don't tard up this awesome video poker thread with blackjack..