Florida Blackjack- Not Seminoles

WABJ11

Well-Known Member
#1
Mardi Gras Gaming- New "Classic BlackJack"

Mardi Gras Gaming recently unveiled "Classic Blackjack." It has a real dealer present to play with you, but everything else (cards, shoe) is electronic to circumvent the silly gaming laws. It's 6 decks with very liberal rules including surrender and S17.

I assumed when it was unveiled that each hand would be from a fresh shuffled deck, just like every other electronic game. But I was pleasantly surprised to learn that each card is actually discarded and not dealt again until the "shuffle." When I asked the dealer how many decks are cut off he was quick to tell me 1.5.

The limits are $5-$475. This game is much better than any live Seminole blackjack game you will find down here, have fun people!
 
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HockeXpert

Well-Known Member
#2
southAP said:
This is the first I'm hearing of this, but its nice to know that there are going to be some land based non seminole games. I assume you would need an unbalanced count since there is no discard tray?
No need for an unbalanced count. You can see the electronic representation of the "shoe" (and the cut card) and you can easily tell how many cards have NOT been dealt. You could also count rounds and multiply by 2.7 X # of hands.

The saddest part of the whole thing is that the place is always a ghost town. The first 2 months they had the tables, almost no one played them (hard to bc). If you go just a few miles down the road you will find about 60 tables filled to the gills with mostly $25/50+ mins, H17, 8d, crappy pen and no surrender. And, the air is smoky enough to make your eyes water. Go figure!:laugh: Mardi Gras is non-smoking but the scenery is not very attractive.:rolleyes:

I was told that the Isle will be next with the machines followed by Gulfstream and Calder but that was the first night they had them and before they had to pay about 10 dealers nightly to stand at the tables by themselves. ROI is a huge - number so far.
 
#3
HockeXpert said:
No need for an unbalanced count. You can see the electronic representation of the "shoe" (and the cut card) and you can easily tell how many cards have NOT been dealt. You could also count rounds and multiply by 2.7 X # of hands.

The saddest part of the whole thing is that the place is always a ghost town. The first 2 months they had the tables, almost no one played them (hard to bc). If you go just a few miles down the road you will find about 60 tables filled to the gills with mostly $25/50+ mins, H17, 8d, crappy pen and no surrender. And, the air is smoky enough to make your eyes water. Go figure!:laugh: Mardi Gras is non-smoking but the scenery is not very attractive.:rolleyes:

I was told that the Isle will be next with the machines followed by Gulfstream and Calder but that was the first night they had them and before they had to pay about 10 dealers nightly to stand at the tables by themselves. ROI is a huge - number so far.
Is there a formula for adjusting the 2.7 depending on the TC? If the TC is negative the 2.7 cards/hand would be an over estimate and if the TC is positive it would be an underestimate. The 2.7 cards/hand is an average of all situations. Is this effect significant enough to take into consideration?
 

WABJ11

Well-Known Member
#4
There was no discard tray. And its hard to tell how many cards are left by that electronic shoe. I think you have to go with an unbalanced count.

And in defense of the smoky Seminoles, they did just open a non-smoking pit inside the Hard Rock. The Hard Rock is packed to the gills every night, its amazing how many people they draw on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. Quite frankly I'm surprised they haven't gone all 6 to 5. It's not like you have anywhere else you can play live blackjack, where are ploppies gonna go?
 
#5
nice... but it isn't blackjack.

Regardless of what the uneducated dealer told you, there is not 4 decks, 6 decks or even a 1 in 13 chance of drawing a card. This is the same slot machine style crap they have always had. They set the hold at whatever percent they choose that day.

Might as well play a slot machine
 

WABJ11

Well-Known Member
#6
bigrack21 said:
nice... but it isn't blackjack.

Regardless of what the uneducated dealer told you, there is not 4 decks, 6 decks or even a 1 in 13 chance of drawing a card. This is the same slot machine style crap they have always had. They set the hold at whatever percent they choose that day.

Might as well play a slot machine
These machines are programmed to make it as real of a BJ game as possible. The cards are random and the ratios of high to low cards do fluctuate. I don't know where your getting your information but this is not a slot machine, and there is no program to "set the hold." Believe what you want it makes no difference to me.
 

FLASH1296

Well-Known Member
#7
I trust that these are not "fake" machines, like I have seen for Video Poker, where the fate of your money is decided via a "video-lottery" system.

What I do not fathom is why there are (human) dealers wasting their times at these machines as WABJ11 states.

Are they there to see that you do not use a "mobile device" to count down the shoes?
 

Machinist

Well-Known Member
#9
Hustle

Flash, basically it looks like to me the dealers are there to hustle you for tips and to keep the game fun and exciting,,,,,remember when casinos were fun and exciting?
Hoosier Park in indiana has these type machines. Big joke there.
Crap pen and rules, at least that's what Sagefrog deduced.
Machinist
 

WABJ11

Well-Known Member
#10
Its obvious why the dealers are there: to make it as real of a blackjack game as possible. Any gambler will tell you they'd rather play with a live dealer than some machine by themselves. It's purely a marketing ploy and to make the game as fun and realistic as possible. Talk about the epitome of how screwed up the gaming laws in Florida are.

And yeah, these dealers who stand there, press buttons, and don't smile do try to hustle you for tips so you've been warned.

Also an interesting side point: these machines tell you the correct basic strategy move at every point during the play of your hand. The only incorrect advice was a 3 card 16 against a dealer 10 which you should stay on, but the computer says hit. I thought that was interesting to note since I always assumed casinos depended on some players not following BS to achieve a higher house edge.
 
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