Are 4 decks even used anymore?

#21
Martin Gayle said:
Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada both offer 4 deck games. Both cities have International Airports accessible by Boeing and Embraer aircraft not only skidoo's anymore. Star Alliance has several flights per day into both cities. IAH, SFO and LAX have a couple flights per day into Calgary. ORD is a main connector to Edmonton.
Wisconsin and Minnesota have plenty of 4D games, and most of them are decent games. I've been thinking about checking out some of the Western Canada games some time. How's the heat up there?
 

callipygian

Well-Known Member
#23
FLASH1296 said:
Skepticism is all that it is.
I have never seen same.
I am not saying that such does not exist.
Fair enough; next time you're at the Bellagio, check it out and let me know what you find

To repeat, I contend the games are, as you walk in through the main entrance to the casino, to the left of the walkway before you get to the T junction with the craps tables. It's a pit that is normally roulette, 3CP, Casino War, and other assorted games, but there were two regular blackjack tables on the wall side of that pit with 4D games. And should it matter, it was weekday mornings at about 10am when I found it; it was there multiple days but I didn't check during the weekend so maybe it was just a slow week.

As an aside, I also contend that there's another 4D game at a major Vegas casino, but given the skepticism that people showed on the Bellagio game, I figured all the better, I'll keep that one to myself, as it was better anyway.
 
#24
snappermagnet said:
I play a 4-deck game at Canterbury Card Club here in Minnesota. There is a mandatory rake per hand ($.50 for $3-$25 bets and climbs from there), but there are a number of bonuses that make the game exciting. For example, triple 7's pays 2 to 1, as does 678 and any suited blackjack. Six card hands are instant winners. In addition, three consecutive blackjacks pays $500. I actually hit this last night! :D Amazingly, another guy at the table had hit four in a row a couple hours earlier for $1500 (any additional blackjack after three in a row is an extra $1000).

All in all, maybe not the most profitable game (the rake tends to catch up with you), but fun and entertaining nonetheless.
Canterbury stopped taking the rakes about 6 months ago. They got rid of all the bonuses except for the 3 blackjacks in a row that paid a $500 bonus, and now hit soft 17.

Unfortunately they discontinued the 3 bjs in a row bonus a month ago.
 

Blue Efficacy

Well-Known Member
#25
JohnGalt1 said:
Canterbury stopped taking the rakes about 6 months ago. They got rid of all the bonuses except for the 3 blackjacks in a row that paid a $500 bonus, and now hit soft 17.

Unfortunately they discontinued the 3 bjs in a row bonus a month ago.
It's a poor game at Canterbury. A short drive will bring you to much better conditions.
 
#27
Thank You

stigedis said:
A few tables of 4D games are played at grand casino mille lacs in MN. Good games.
Could you also , please, give me the address and nearest major highway as well as rules etc.:grin: In January, when the sale of my company is completed, I will have put aside an extra quarter mill$ in my BJ bank and I will give this casino a nasty, bloody mauling....should be a.. MESS. (The place will never be the same when I am finished:laugh:)

Thanks in advance.:)

CP
 
#28
Could you also , please, give me the address and nearest major highway as well as rules etc. In January, when the sale of my company is completed, I will have put aside an extra quarter mill$ in my BJ bank and I will give this casino a nasty, bloody mauling....should be a.. MESS. (The place will never be the same when I am finished)
With that much cash you could give any place a run for its money. Im working my way up there with you CP i got 2 companies just gott build them up to sell them. Any advice lol:laugh::laugh:
 

bjhack

Well-Known Member
#29
From Martin Gayle in the Canada Forum....

Alberta is a Valhalla

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long time reader first time poster...

I have recently moved away from Alberta so I can let the cat out of the bag...Alberta is a Valhalla for counters. There are small casinos everywhere. Many are privately owned and I know (from disputes) that they do not have onsite surveillance and the floormen/pit bosses are the worst I have ever seen anywhere.

And...the games are the best I have seen outside of LV. Alberta has had gaming long before most other Canadian provinces. Humble and Cooper do a review of the Stampede Frontier Casino in their book. The BJ games are all 4, 6 or 8 deck. Most are 6 deck with 4 decks popular at some casinos and the 8 decks are rare. The rules are the basic, DAS, DOA, H17, split to 4 hands except with Aces (one card on each). They do not take a hole card at any casino but only take one bet on splits, doubles etc, not European style. The best rule they have is the Early Surrender rule which can be used agaisnt any dealer card except an Ace. I did the math and the house edge is around -0.3%. I have found dealers that would mistakenly allow you to surrender v A which would give a BS player an advantage.

Some casinos have ASM but most of the dust joints hand shuffle their cards. Also, the cards may stay in play upto a week before being changed out. The policy and procedures are very antique. And the end of every night the cards are counted packed up and locked in a vault but they will bring the same cards out the next morning. Some casinos may use a CSM but I can't recall which ones or even if they do.

The stakes are generally low. Many casinos will not accept action over $100 but some will accept $200. You may play 2 spots for double the min and if you want to play more you must bet table max. You can find $5, $3, $2 min bet tables in most casinos at most times. I liked to play a $3-$200 6-deck game at the Deerfoot Casino in Calgary or a $2-$50 4-deck game at Cash Casino in Red Deer. I would spread from table min to table max with not real heat. This was in small casinos where you would see the same dealers, PC's and ploppies etc day in day out. Many casinos are 10-12 table joints.

Casinos are not busy and they all close everynight. Typically tables close at 2am slots at 3am and they will reopen at noon the next day.

The Jackpot Casino in Red Deer is the only one in the world that I have heard of that will allow a player to play 2 hands of 3-Card-Poker without having to play one blind. Ultimate Texas Hold'em is very popular and most casinos have multiple tables and the game could be beat using information.


----

I played a 4 deck game tonight in Alberta (my regular casino) - What Martin has to say is pretty accurate, other than I think most Alberta games are better than most that you see in LV. On another note - Alberta has the highest number of casinos per person outside of Nevada.
 
#30
creeping panther said:
Could you also , please, give me the address and nearest major highway as well as rules etc.:grin: In January, when the sale of my company is completed, I will have put aside an extra quarter mill$ in my BJ bank and I will give this casino a nasty, bloody mauling....should be a.. MESS. (The place will never be the same when I am finished:laugh:)

Thanks in advance.:)

CP
Best thing to do is download Google Earth and just enter the name of the casino. It will give you a satellite image, with directions, GPS coordinates etc. When I go on a road trip I load the coordinates of all the stores I plan to visit into the GPS I take with me.
 
#31
Automatic Monkey said:
Best thing to do is download Google Earth and just enter the name of the casino. It will give you a satellite image, with directions, GPS coordinates etc. When I go on a road trip I load the coordinates of all the stores I plan to visit into the GPS I take with me.
With alot of the new navigation systems it has casinos in at as points of interest, or you can download new points of interest onto the system so that it will show all the casinos that are in the area. But very good plan AM.
 

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
#32
4-Deck:

Plaza on Fremont (LV) for a long time, had substituted 4-deck (hand shuffled, shoe, face up) for the old 2-deck games. This last week though, I saw DD back in action there. I did not check all the tables there...they may still have some 4D.

I didn't play there though (Plaza) and didn't pay attention to pen. Better games at the Tez and Binion's (Binion's good pen depending on Rookie "cowboy" Dealers! Mistake ridden <LOL>). Fitz had a pretty good table too (pen by notch in discard tray at 75%). Avoided Fremont (pen sucks!)
 
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