The new casino in Hanover, Md has some electronic blackjack tables that I've played several times. They play like conventional blackjack in that players sit around a table, but the cards are dealt virtually to each player and u put in money as if it were a slot machine and receive vouchers when you cash out. Anyway, these games are very popular (you can hardly get a seat - almost very table is 15 min, but there are 25s as well). I've found them entertaining, but curious if anyone knows more about them - some observations:

- supposedly it plays "just like" real blackjack with the same odds
- the rules say it is played with a six deck shoe, shuffled two-thirds of the way through the shoe (but they don't show you when the shuffle takes place)
- from what people say, it plays like real blackjack in that the whole table is playing off the same shoe (ie what they do affects what card you receive). I believe in other places each person is playing off their own deck (in constant reshuffle games). Anyone know how this really works?
- the rules seems pretty good for this type of environment - dealer stands on all 17s, surrender available, splitting available, double on any two cards and double after split. Only bad Rule is no resplitting. Does the house edge Against perfect basic strategy here mirror what you'd see on s live table? Or am I missing something?
- the average player plays much, much worse on these than live tables (tons of hunch plays, stand on 14 or 15 vs dealer ten or ace, stand on soft 15, etc). They must have huge edge over average player
- there is no way to clear bets, and it's pretty easy to accidentally bet more than planned. Also once you make your playing selection, you can't fix it. I've seen people stand on seven, hit 19 etc.
- they have the royal match and progressive pool which many dump money in

Anyway, curious if others have played these or know how they work/have thoughts on then overall.

Jeff

There would be no advantage from counting, but it would be interesting to see if it actually stayed close to zero or trended in one direction. It should stay close to zero, just as a CSM should.

With perfect play, the house edge is 0.38%

I've been playing these, and I wonder how big the jackpot on the Royal Match progressive would have to get for the game to be +EV? Probably astronomical, right?

You are talking about the Aruze game? The one with the same annoying "dealer" as in Shoot To Win Craps??

I bet $1 and it announced, "Checks Play"

Lets' assume when you sit down, it is the beginning of the shoe, and you count the cards and bet accordingly to your bet spread. After 4 decks you begin your count again.

In the long run, and I stress in the long run would you still get an edge?

I have CVdata but can't get the simulator to run a BJ game this way.

Does anyone else have a simulator that might be able to run this game? I'm very curious. I think the variance would be horrendous, but still think you can get an edge albeit a small one and probably not worth it.

Wizard of Odds actually has the answer, it's $53-$56k depending on the number of other players.