Best Blackjack Odds In Vegas

• Games With the Best Odds in Vegas 1. Blackjack – House edge 1% – 2%. Image: ‘Blackjack board' is licensed under Wikimedia Commons. Blackjack is a game of chance – for you and for the.
• Las Vegas - Best blackjack in Vegas? - Kind of a dumb question, I suppose, but I made a day trip last year into LAS (flying from SFO in the morning, and onto LAX in the evening). Went to Caesar's.

1. Best Craps Odds In Vegas Survey
2. Best Odds Gambling In Vegas
3. Best Blackjack Odds In Vegas 2019
4. Best Table Odds In Vegas

Best Casinos to Play Blackjack in Vegas. If you find yourself in Sin City, one of the best Las Vegas casinos to play blackjack in is the Aria. It offers games from mid-range players to high-rollers. You can sit at $100 tables that stand on all 17s, and some games have a house edge as low as 0.2553%.

Where to cash in on player-friendly blackjack games, and how to avoid the bad ones

by Henry Tamburin

The 6-5 payoff rule increases the house edge by almost 1.4 percent. If you're a $10 bettor, playing a 6-5 game will cost you $3 each time you get a blackjack (and you'll average roughly four blackjacks per hour), which comes to $12 that you are forking over to the casino bosses every hour.

This month, my column is going to accomplish four things:

1. Provide you with a convenient list of casinos that offer a single-deck blackjack game that pays 3-2 for a blackjack (also known as a 'natural')
2. Give you an accurate single-deck basic playing strategy that you can use to play this terrific game
3. Summarize the casinos in and around Las Vegas that offer the abominable 6-5 single-deck games (so you can avoid them)
4. Give you some advice on how you can help eradicate the awful 6-5 games, which have been spreading like a cancer in casinos throughout the U.S.

Note: The information on which casinos offer single-deck games and the corresponding rules and house edges mentioned in this article were obtained from Current Blackjack News (CBJN), with their permission (www.bj21.com). Casinos can change the rules at any time, so check CBJN for the latest rules and playing conditions in casinos across the country.

In the March 2008 issue of Casino Player magazine, I wrote a detailed column about why the 6-5 single-deck game is bad news for players. Without rehashing all the points that I made back then, let me briefly summarize why this game should be avoided like the plague. The 6-5 payoff rule increases the house edge by almost 1.4 percent (no, that's not a typo). If you're a $10 bettor, playing a 6-5 game will cost you $3 each time you get a blackjack (and you'll average roughly four blackjacks per hour), which comes to $12 that you are forking over to the casino bosses every hour.

Best Craps Odds In Vegas Survey

That is an atrocity, which is why a smart blackjack player would never play this game.

If you talk to casino bosses about their 6-5 games (which I‘ve done), you get this sort of universal response from them: we know players don't like the 6-5 games, but as long as they keep playing them, we'd be crazy not to offer them. In a moment, I will give you some tips on how you can help us eradicate the 6-5 games from casinos everywhere. But first, let me discuss the single-deck game that I am encouraging you to play; namely, the game that pays the traditional 3-2 for a natural. It's available, and I'll show you where.

The house edge against a basic strategy player in a 3-2 single-deck game is a function of the mix of playing rules. The best single-deck games have h17 (dealer hits soft 17), and allow players to resplit aces. The house edge in this game is a meager 0.13%. Second best is an h17 game without resplit aces (house edge: only 0.18%).

The following chart summarizes the relationship of the rules and the house edge for a basic strategy player in a 3-2 single-deck game. You'd be hard-pressed to find a multi-deck game with these low house edges.

Where would you guess is the most likely place to find a 3-2 single-deck game? If you said Las Vegas, you'd be dead wrong. According to CBJN, there are only four casinos that offer a 3-2 single-deck game in Las Vegas (and unfortunately, 44 casinos in and around Vegas that offer the dastardly 6-5 single-deck games, making Las Vegas the #1 gambling destination with the most 6-5 games).

Table 1 lists the casinos in Las Vegas that offer 3-2 single-deck games. Table 2 is the list of Las Vegas casinos that offer the 6-5 game. Be smart—on your next trip to Vegas, play the juicy 3-2 single-deck game and avoid the terrible 6-5 game in the casinos listed in Table 2.

The areas of the country where the concentration of 3-2 single-deck games is the greatest are Tunica and Vicksburg, MS, and Reno/Lake Tahoe/Wendover, in Nevada. You'll be delighted to find many casinos in these cities that offer the fair 3-2 single-deck game. (See Table 3 for the list of these casinos.)

Now that you know where to find 3-2 single-deck games, you need to learn the basic playing strategy for them. Table 4 summarizes the strategy where the dealer hits soft 17 (which is the case in the majority of casinos that offer a single-deck game). You should become familiar with this playing strategy, because it's slightly different than the basic strategy for multi-deck games. If this is your first time playing a single-deck game, I would also recommend that you bring a strategy card with you to avoid making playing mistakes. It's perfectly legal to refer to a card before you play your hand.

Table 1

Las Vegas Casinos That Offer

Best Odds Gambling In Vegas

3-2 Single-Deck Games

h17 = dealer hits soft 17

d10 = double down only on two-card ten or eleven

rsa = aces may be resplit

Note: I've had friends in the past play the single-deck games at Binion's and Four Queens, and they claimed they had a good time. However, Al Rogers, manager at bj21.com, had this to say about the single-deck games at both casinos: 'Anyone showing the slightest degree of brain usage at reasonable stakes will not be allowed to play the 3-2 single-deck games at either casino.'

Table 2

The Hall Of Shame:

Las Vegas Area Casinos That Offer

6-5 Single-Deck Games

*Binion's and Four Queens offer 3-2 and 6-5 single-deck games, which is why they appear in both Tables 1 and 2.

Table 3

MS and Laughlin/Reno/Wendover, NV Casinos

With 3-2 Single-Deck Games

Note: The Isle Casino in Biloxi, MS, and L'Auberge du Lac casino in Lake Charles, LA also offer 3-2 single-deck blackjack games.

Table 4

Single-Deck Basic Strategy

Dealer Hits Soft 17, No DAS

Best Blackjack Odds In Vegas 2019

Note: Hard hands are hands that either don't contain an ace, or if one (or more) aces are present in the hand, they count as 1 (e.g., 10-7; 8-4-Ace-4; 3-Ace-Ace-10).

Best Table Odds In Vegas

Soft hands are hands that contain an ace counted as 11 (e.g., Ace-7; 3-4-Ace; Ace-7-Ace).

If the rules do not allow doubling on soft hands, then you should always hit soft hands from 13 through 17, and always stand with soft 19 through 21. Likewise, if you are not allowed to double down on hard 8 through 11, then hit.

stand if dealer has 2, 7, or 8A-8Double if dealer has 6; otherwise standA-9; A-10Always stand Pairs 2sSplit if dealer has 3 through 7; otherwise hit3sSplit if dealer has 4 through 7; otherwise hit4sNever split; double if dealer has 5 or 6; otherwise hit5sNever split; double if dealer has 9 or less; otherwise hit6sSplit if dealer has 2 through 6; otherwise hit7sSplit if dealer has 2 through 7; stand if dealer has a 10; hit if dealer has 8, 9, or ace8sAlways split9sSplit if dealer has 2 through 6, and 8 or 9; stand if dealer has 7, 10, or ace.10sNever split; always standAcesAlways split

If the 6-5 game continues to proliferate, it will ultimately ruin blackjack. Here's what you can do to help eradicate this game.

1. Refuse to play any 6-5 blackjack games. Instead, only play blackjack games that pay 3-2 for a natural.
2. If you come across a 6-5 game, voice your displeasure to a casino supervisor, your casino host, and even the casino manager (better yet, email the casino manager). Be sure to also tell them you are taking your business to casinos that don't offer this wretched game.
3. Warn your friends and family members who play blackjack about this outrageous game, and do not play it.

I can promise you this: If enough players say NO to 6-5 blackjack games, casinos will eliminate them. Collectively, we can make a difference.

Tamburin's Tip of the Month

The 6-5 rule isn't just confined to single-deck games. For example, as I was writing this article, the Las Vegas Advisor reported that the new Margaritaville casino (located inside the Flamingo casino in Las Vegas) opened with eight-deck games with h17, and almost all of them pay 6-5 for a natural. Even though the rules allow you to double down after pair splitting, resplit aces, and surrender, collectively these player-friendly rules are not nearly enough to offset the dreaded 6-5 rule, resulting in a ridiculously high house edge of 1.85% against a basic strategy player. Therefore, even if you play a multi-deck game, it pays to double-check the payout for a natural to be sure it's 3-2.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

Henry Tamburin is the editor of Blackjack Insider Newsletter (www.bjinsider.com), Lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack Course (www.goldentouchblackjack.com), and host of www.smartgaming.com. For a free three-month subscription to his blackjack newsletter, go to www.bjinsider.com/freetrial.com. To receive his free Casino Gambling Catalog, call 1-888-353-3234 or visit www.smartgaming.com.

Roulette wheel | Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Spending a weekend gambling in Vegas may be fun, though you'll probably have an even better time if you win big at the tables. If you're hoping to beat the odds at the casino, the game you choose to play matters. You're more likely to come home a little bit richer if you sit down at the blackjack table rather than settling in with the gray-haired set at the slots.

It all comes down to math. Amateur gamblers may hope luck is on their side when they walk through the doors of the Bellagio or Caesars Palace, but what they really need to think about are the odds of winning at different games. While the house always has an edge, it's much bigger in some situations than in others. That's why you never see smart gamblers wasting their time playing keno or wheel of fortune – games where you're almost guaranteed to lose money.

Casino games with the best odds

Savvy gamblers are going to cluster around the blackjack tables, where the casino's edge is usually between 0.5% to 1%, though the number varies depending on the number of decks and other rule variations. You can calculate the house edge on a particular game of blackjack using the Wizard of Odds online calculator. Those numbers also assume you're playing with what's known as basic strategy, or making the best possible decision based on the cards you've been dealt. For the average player who's going to make some mistakes, the house's edge increases to 2%, according to the University of Nevada's Center for Gaming Research.

Blackjack table | Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

'Blackjack is one of our easiest games to play,' Jay Bean, a floor manager at Caesar's, told Cleveland's Newsnet5. 'You're just looking for a number that beats the dealer's number without going over 21.'

'You are somewhere between 44% to 48% in every single hand of winning,' Michael Magazine, a professor of analytics at the University of Cincinnati, said of blackjack.

1. Provide you with a convenient list of casinos that offer a single-deck blackjack game that pays 3-2 for a blackjack (also known as a 'natural')
2. Give you an accurate single-deck basic playing strategy that you can use to play this terrific game
3. Summarize the casinos in and around Las Vegas that offer the abominable 6-5 single-deck games (so you can avoid them)
4. Give you some advice on how you can help eradicate the awful 6-5 games, which have been spreading like a cancer in casinos throughout the U.S.

Note: The information on which casinos offer single-deck games and the corresponding rules and house edges mentioned in this article were obtained from Current Blackjack News (CBJN), with their permission (www.bj21.com). Casinos can change the rules at any time, so check CBJN for the latest rules and playing conditions in casinos across the country.

In the March 2008 issue of Casino Player magazine, I wrote a detailed column about why the 6-5 single-deck game is bad news for players. Without rehashing all the points that I made back then, let me briefly summarize why this game should be avoided like the plague. The 6-5 payoff rule increases the house edge by almost 1.4 percent (no, that's not a typo). If you're a $10 bettor, playing a 6-5 game will cost you $3 each time you get a blackjack (and you'll average roughly four blackjacks per hour), which comes to $12 that you are forking over to the casino bosses every hour.

Best Craps Odds In Vegas Survey

That is an atrocity, which is why a smart blackjack player would never play this game.

If you talk to casino bosses about their 6-5 games (which I‘ve done), you get this sort of universal response from them: we know players don't like the 6-5 games, but as long as they keep playing them, we'd be crazy not to offer them. In a moment, I will give you some tips on how you can help us eradicate the 6-5 games from casinos everywhere. But first, let me discuss the single-deck game that I am encouraging you to play; namely, the game that pays the traditional 3-2 for a natural. It's available, and I'll show you where.

The house edge against a basic strategy player in a 3-2 single-deck game is a function of the mix of playing rules. The best single-deck games have h17 (dealer hits soft 17), and allow players to resplit aces. The house edge in this game is a meager 0.13%. Second best is an h17 game without resplit aces (house edge: only 0.18%).

The following chart summarizes the relationship of the rules and the house edge for a basic strategy player in a 3-2 single-deck game. You'd be hard-pressed to find a multi-deck game with these low house edges.

Where would you guess is the most likely place to find a 3-2 single-deck game? If you said Las Vegas, you'd be dead wrong. According to CBJN, there are only four casinos that offer a 3-2 single-deck game in Las Vegas (and unfortunately, 44 casinos in and around Vegas that offer the dastardly 6-5 single-deck games, making Las Vegas the #1 gambling destination with the most 6-5 games).

Table 1 lists the casinos in Las Vegas that offer 3-2 single-deck games. Table 2 is the list of Las Vegas casinos that offer the 6-5 game. Be smart—on your next trip to Vegas, play the juicy 3-2 single-deck game and avoid the terrible 6-5 game in the casinos listed in Table 2.

The areas of the country where the concentration of 3-2 single-deck games is the greatest are Tunica and Vicksburg, MS, and Reno/Lake Tahoe/Wendover, in Nevada. You'll be delighted to find many casinos in these cities that offer the fair 3-2 single-deck game. (See Table 3 for the list of these casinos.)

Now that you know where to find 3-2 single-deck games, you need to learn the basic playing strategy for them. Table 4 summarizes the strategy where the dealer hits soft 17 (which is the case in the majority of casinos that offer a single-deck game). You should become familiar with this playing strategy, because it's slightly different than the basic strategy for multi-deck games. If this is your first time playing a single-deck game, I would also recommend that you bring a strategy card with you to avoid making playing mistakes. It's perfectly legal to refer to a card before you play your hand.

Table 1

Las Vegas Casinos That Offer

Best Odds Gambling In Vegas

3-2 Single-Deck Games

h17 = dealer hits soft 17

d10 = double down only on two-card ten or eleven

rsa = aces may be resplit

Note: I've had friends in the past play the single-deck games at Binion's and Four Queens, and they claimed they had a good time. However, Al Rogers, manager at bj21.com, had this to say about the single-deck games at both casinos: 'Anyone showing the slightest degree of brain usage at reasonable stakes will not be allowed to play the 3-2 single-deck games at either casino.'

Table 2

The Hall Of Shame:

Las Vegas Area Casinos That Offer

6-5 Single-Deck Games

*Binion's and Four Queens offer 3-2 and 6-5 single-deck games, which is why they appear in both Tables 1 and 2.

Table 3

MS and Laughlin/Reno/Wendover, NV Casinos

With 3-2 Single-Deck Games

Note: The Isle Casino in Biloxi, MS, and L'Auberge du Lac casino in Lake Charles, LA also offer 3-2 single-deck blackjack games.

Table 4

Single-Deck Basic Strategy

Dealer Hits Soft 17, No DAS

Best Blackjack Odds In Vegas 2019

Note: Hard hands are hands that either don't contain an ace, or if one (or more) aces are present in the hand, they count as 1 (e.g., 10-7; 8-4-Ace-4; 3-Ace-Ace-10).

Best Table Odds In Vegas

Soft hands are hands that contain an ace counted as 11 (e.g., Ace-7; 3-4-Ace; Ace-7-Ace).

If the rules do not allow doubling on soft hands, then you should always hit soft hands from 13 through 17, and always stand with soft 19 through 21. Likewise, if you are not allowed to double down on hard 8 through 11, then hit.

stand if dealer has 2, 7, or 8A-8Double if dealer has 6; otherwise standA-9; A-10Always stand Pairs 2sSplit if dealer has 3 through 7; otherwise hit3sSplit if dealer has 4 through 7; otherwise hit4sNever split; double if dealer has 5 or 6; otherwise hit5sNever split; double if dealer has 9 or less; otherwise hit6sSplit if dealer has 2 through 6; otherwise hit7sSplit if dealer has 2 through 7; stand if dealer has a 10; hit if dealer has 8, 9, or ace8sAlways split9sSplit if dealer has 2 through 6, and 8 or 9; stand if dealer has 7, 10, or ace.10sNever split; always standAcesAlways split

If the 6-5 game continues to proliferate, it will ultimately ruin blackjack. Here's what you can do to help eradicate this game.

1. Refuse to play any 6-5 blackjack games. Instead, only play blackjack games that pay 3-2 for a natural.
2. If you come across a 6-5 game, voice your displeasure to a casino supervisor, your casino host, and even the casino manager (better yet, email the casino manager). Be sure to also tell them you are taking your business to casinos that don't offer this wretched game.
3. Warn your friends and family members who play blackjack about this outrageous game, and do not play it.

I can promise you this: If enough players say NO to 6-5 blackjack games, casinos will eliminate them. Collectively, we can make a difference.

Tamburin's Tip of the Month

The 6-5 rule isn't just confined to single-deck games. For example, as I was writing this article, the Las Vegas Advisor reported that the new Margaritaville casino (located inside the Flamingo casino in Las Vegas) opened with eight-deck games with h17, and almost all of them pay 6-5 for a natural. Even though the rules allow you to double down after pair splitting, resplit aces, and surrender, collectively these player-friendly rules are not nearly enough to offset the dreaded 6-5 rule, resulting in a ridiculously high house edge of 1.85% against a basic strategy player. Therefore, even if you play a multi-deck game, it pays to double-check the payout for a natural to be sure it's 3-2.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

Henry Tamburin is the editor of Blackjack Insider Newsletter (www.bjinsider.com), Lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack Course (www.goldentouchblackjack.com), and host of www.smartgaming.com. For a free three-month subscription to his blackjack newsletter, go to www.bjinsider.com/freetrial.com. To receive his free Casino Gambling Catalog, call 1-888-353-3234 or visit www.smartgaming.com.

Roulette wheel | Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Spending a weekend gambling in Vegas may be fun, though you'll probably have an even better time if you win big at the tables. If you're hoping to beat the odds at the casino, the game you choose to play matters. You're more likely to come home a little bit richer if you sit down at the blackjack table rather than settling in with the gray-haired set at the slots.

It all comes down to math. Amateur gamblers may hope luck is on their side when they walk through the doors of the Bellagio or Caesars Palace, but what they really need to think about are the odds of winning at different games. While the house always has an edge, it's much bigger in some situations than in others. That's why you never see smart gamblers wasting their time playing keno or wheel of fortune – games where you're almost guaranteed to lose money.

Casino games with the best odds

Savvy gamblers are going to cluster around the blackjack tables, where the casino's edge is usually between 0.5% to 1%, though the number varies depending on the number of decks and other rule variations. You can calculate the house edge on a particular game of blackjack using the Wizard of Odds online calculator. Those numbers also assume you're playing with what's known as basic strategy, or making the best possible decision based on the cards you've been dealt. For the average player who's going to make some mistakes, the house's edge increases to 2%, according to the University of Nevada's Center for Gaming Research.

Blackjack table | Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

'Blackjack is one of our easiest games to play,' Jay Bean, a floor manager at Caesar's, told Cleveland's Newsnet5. 'You're just looking for a number that beats the dealer's number without going over 21.'

'You are somewhere between 44% to 48% in every single hand of winning,' Michael Magazine, a professor of analytics at the University of Cincinnati, said of blackjack.

After blackjack, the games with the best odds are baccarat and craps. In baccarat, which is a game of chance rather than skill, the odds are close to 50/50, though your chances are slightly better if you bet on the banker rather than the player. At the craps table, the house edge on a pass line bet is 1.4%.

Roulette is one of the easiest casino games to play, and the odds are also fairly good. If you only bet on red or black or evens or odds (as opposed to a specific number) the house edge is 5.26%, assuming you're playing in an American casino with double zeros on the wheel. Your odds of winning are better in a European casino with a single-zero wheel.

Video poker is another game with fairly good odds for players. 'For video poker the statistical advantage varies depending on the particular machine, but generally this game can be very player friendly — house edge less than 3% is not uncommon and some are less than 1% — if played with expert strategy,' per the Center for Gaming Research.

Casino games with the worst odds

Slots may be less intimidating to novice gamblers than table games like blackjack, but the house is more likely to take you for a ride. Each slot machine is different, but the Wizard of Odds estimates the house edge for penny slots at between 6% and 15%. If you can't resist the slots, chose a higher-denomination machine, since these tend to have a higher payout percentage than lower-denomination slots.

'The average slot machine is probably two, three times more costly to players than the table games,' Bill Zender, a former professional gambler, told Mental Floss.

Even worse than slots are 'sucker games' like wheel of fortune and keno. The house advantage on keno averages 27%, according to the Center for Gaming. For wheel of fortune games (which also go by names like 'big six' and 'lucky wheel'), the house edge ranges from 11% to 24%, depending on your bet.

Whether you choose to take a chance on the wheel of fortune or are a high-roller playing baccarat, understanding how the game is played will put you ahead of most other players.

'Ninety percent of the people who walk into a casino have no idea of the odds stacked against them,' Zender said.

Also keep this in mind: The more you gamble, the likelier you are to lose. An analysis of online gamblers found that those who bet the least also had the highest winning percentage. Las vegas online slot machines. But even then, the numbers weren't great. Seventeen percent of the lightest gamblers ended up in the black over a two-year period. Only 5.4% of the heaviest gamblers came out ahead.

'[T]he average person doesn't understand the math' of the multiplier effect, Jim Kilby, who has written books on casino management, told the Wall Street Journal. 'Casino games are nibbling machines, and the more nibbles you have, the bigger your losses.'

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