New West Virginia Blackjack Games

#1
The Mountaineer in West Virginia will start blackjack on Dec 20. Does anyone have any idea what types of games they will have? Nothing specific on their web site.

Thanks.
 
#2
Re:

There doesn't appear to be much info out there on the rules yet. I read from another board that both Wheeling and Mountaineer will be offering 6 deck shoes. I'm a basic strategy player myself and plan on being there the morning of the 20th. I'm just excited to have something close. This is only 1.5 hours away from where I'm at. Before it was either travel to Detroit (3.5 hours), Alleghany (3.5 hours),Argosy (5 hours). I will post playing conditions if noone else does.
 
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#3
Thanks, Farook, and good luck. I live about 2 hours away and will likely visit in the next week or 2. I figured that they would have 6 deck shoes since there is no competition close by. It wouldn't even surprise me if they use continuous shufflers. I am spoiled since I have recently been to Nevada a few times. I love double deck with decent penetration.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
#4
Mountaineer WV bj rules?

yes when someone finds out the bj rules, please post them...just wondering if perhaps they're following the Atlantic City rules.

thank you
 
#5
AC RULES APPLY for WV

Hello
I just got off the phone with the casino floor of Mountaineer Casino, WV.....yes, they are following the Atlantic City rules....double-down on anything and split up to three times.

Good luck
 

glovesetc

Well-Known Member
#7
just back from mountaineer

they have no single or double deck games at all . All BJ is shoe * deck unless you play in the high rollers room wherre it is 6 with standard rules DAS. DS17. aces only once and all others 3 splits . The casino was jammed with nothing but ploppies big time and not even playing basic strategy in its infancy form . The stand on 15?16/14/13/ was common against a dealer up card of 7-A yes A , and they splity every pair against everything including 20's as i saw in the high limit room on SEVERAL occasions . The tables were jammed and the wait at the $25.00 min tables was like 30-45 minutes .the low limit tables those clowns never even left to puiss it seems . I ended up dropping $5,000.00 and no one in our whole group won - mist dropped their buy ins which were $10,000.00 or close to it .we stayed only like 5 hours and we saw enough that we would never go back aand their comp system is a joke !!!!!!:cool::) :grin: ;) :laugh: :cool2:
 
#8
Re:

Well, sorry about that bad trip. Nice to hear that they are using shoes and NO damn CSMS like Wheeling. I'm used to 8 deckers. I don't think I've ever played a 6 deck game yet. Since I'm playing strictly BS it doesn't make much of a difference to me. Do they have $5 minimum tables? Thanks for the info.
 

glovesetc

Well-Known Member
#9
the table limits

were $10.00 and $15.00 were the lowest that I saw . The majority of tables are $25.00 and up . The one thing that I noticed was the "big wheel" had constantly at least 20 people playing it . Give you any idea of the I.Q. down there ? Thanks for the condolences but 5k is just a day out - no problem . Good luck wherever you go . Soon with the economy catching up with alot of people out here you will see casinos giving more incentives i think to play and better comps as well although I may be wrong. A friend of mine his son works at Greektown and the word up in motor city is there will be layoffs after the first of the year .:) :grin: ;) :cool2: :laugh: :cool:
 
#10
Re:

look no one in America is going to say that West Virginians are the smartest people on earth....am kind of surprised to hear the lack of $10 tables...i mean, it IS West Virginia...i was expecting to hear $1 minimal tables. :)

i'm a low-stakes guy from pittsburgh and will be visiting next saturday...but i'm fairly discouraged now. $5K is a little outrageous, almost unbelieveable, for someone who is perusing websites for tips on casinos.....next you're going to tell me that you're going to monticello with 50K's to throw around? RIIIGHT.

anyways i'll take a total count of $10/$15/$25 tables for those of you who are using this site and are non-fictional users actually trying to gain info that we can use.
 

eps6724

Well-Known Member
#11
heckmonious said:
look no one in America is going to say that West Virginians are the smartest people on earth.....
Funny, I've been all over the country and I've got to tell you...stupid people are stupid people, no matter what. The thing that bothers me, is the economic situation-stupid people who cannot afford to play. (Stupid people that CAN afford to play are just...well, stupid.)

What I'd REALLY like to see is some sort of research on who frequents which type of casino, economic status, education, etc. etc. I know it's been done to state Lotteries, with the bulk of the players being low-income/low-education. But the casino's-what makes, say Mystic Lake any different than Wheeling, outside of the geographical distance from a major metropolitan area? Or the difference between-say Bally's in Vegas and an Indian casino in Michigan? (Referring to the cliental they attract). And the fact that in Wheeling the slot players are playing their welfare checks away, while in Mystic the slot players are playing their SS checks away?

BELIEVE me, I've met just as many stupid people in Minnesota as I have in W Va, Florida, Virginia, the Carolinas, Montana, Wyoming, Louisiana, etc. (O.K., I will admit-the guys from Wyoming are-well-a different breed!) And no, I am not from any of those states, just worked in 'em.

I also remember a joke about why Mississippi people like Arkansas so much. It seems that without Arkansas, Mississippi would be the worst state in the country.

We won't even talk about the Dakotas, soon to be United Lakota of America.:eek:
 

ChefJJ

Well-Known Member
#12
eps6724 said:
The thing that bothers me, is the economic situation-stupid people who cannot afford to play. (Stupid people that CAN afford to play are just...well, stupid.)
It's hard for the casino to be an "economic boon" without all of the local residents frequenting it. :rolleyes: Unless 75% of the visitors are from metro Pittsburgh & Columbus, the only one winning that one is the casino. Talk about robbing Paul to pay Peter (or is it the other way around :confused: )...

good luck
 

eps6724

Well-Known Member
#13
BUT...Something must have drawn the backers into putting a casino in that location. Granted, tax money speaks, but still, without a guaranteed profit who would back such a venture? And why W.VA.? I wouldn't think the income level really isn't great enough to sustain growth, and there really isn't much of a 'tourist' draw. Yeah, I know they depend on the locals, but the locals only have so much left after cigs and beer!

(O.K., I admit, if the games were great I wouldn't be asking such questions...:joker:
 

ChefJJ

Well-Known Member
#14
eps6724 said:
BUT...Something must have drawn the backers into putting a casino in that location. Granted, tax money speaks, but still, without a guaranteed profit who would back such a venture? And why W.VA.? I wouldn't think the income level really isn't great enough to sustain growth, and there really isn't much of a 'tourist' draw. Yeah, I know they depend on the locals, but the locals only have so much left after cigs and beer!

(O.K., I admit, if the games were great I wouldn't be asking such questions...:joker:
Well, the casino has been there for a while, so I'm not sure of how it was founded. As far as the lack of a tourist draw, without the benefit of a market analysis, it is on I-70 and between Columbus and Pittsburgh.

Oh, and after cigs and beer comes Crown Royal. :grin:
 
#15
re:

Most of the WV casinos started as horse racing tracks. As the years went by they added slots and finally table games. It's like the situation in Ohio. If you don't adapt and add casino style games you're not going to survive. Northfield Park and alot of other tracks are on their last leg because voters keep rejecting Class III gaming at the tracks. I really don't see casinos being a boon. I mean most people, modest means or otherwise, are gonna go out and do something. Bar hopping,Sports games, whatever. Casinos IMO, are just another entertainment outlet.
 

ChefJJ

Well-Known Member
#16
farookhbj said:
I really don't see casinos being a boon.
Most logical people don't see casinos as a boon, especially those located individually...they are often pitched as such. In many cases, it would seem that most patrons are locals (Wheeling & Cherokee, NC are good examples).

Concentrations of casinos such as in Vegas, AC, Reno, and perhaps even Connecticut have etched a sizeable industry sector out of gaming. In those situations, large fluxes of "outsiders" bring in money and some other economies work hand-in-hand or are complimentary to the gaming industry. Tahoe has a good concentration of casinos, but those are just a small piece of the local economy...outdoor recreation is the boon there.

I agree with you Farookh, especially in the case of the out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere joints.

good luck
 
#17
Re:

Well, I went to Mountaineer today to check out the BJ tables. Kind of some weird stuff there. First of all, the dealers aren't allowed to hit the shuffle button on the ASM. The Pit Boss has to come over and hit a button! I know it's new and everything, but comeon, the dealer has to call floor to shuffle the damn cards! Secondly, the table minimums swings are ridiculous. I was able to play from 9 AM to 12:30 PM at $10/hand. The table minimums went from $10 to $25. That's ridiculous. I've never been to a casino that raises $10minimums and doesn't grandfather you in at the lower minimum. There's some superstitious people there. I noted some bystander watching his girlfriend/wife play. We lose a couple hands and he starts talking to his friend about how unlucky I am and that I messed up the table. People hitting on hard 17s holding on soft 15's. I know it doesn't effect anything overall, but it's just funny to watch some of these people. Everyone likes to play the hand after it's dealt. If it's positive variance, THANK YOU. If it isn't, YOU MESSED UP THE FLOW. *Sigh*. I probably won't be visiting here in the future due to the sudden minimum increases on half a shoe's notice. I've never seen a casino go $25/minimum in the middle of the day like that.
 
#18
Extremely Slow Play -- Incompetent Dealers

I spent a day at Mountaineer earlier this week. The game is identical to Atlantic City with 8-deck shoes.

The play is extremely slow. I never appreciated Vegas or Laughlin dealers before. The dealers make each round take forever. The lay each card on the table VERY SLOWLY. They have to get pit boss agreement for every money transaction. Once the game was held up for about 5 minutes waiting for the pit boss to agree to an exchange of a $5 chip for five $1 chips!! The dealers are not allowed to do anything on their own.

The dealers are rank amateurs. I asked one if surrender was allowed. He replied that "Yes, they offer insurance when the dealer has an ace!" One person wanted even money on a blackjack when the dealer had an ace. The dealer had no idea what that meant and the pit boss was called over to explain. My biggest complaint is that some dealers can't do the math necessary to run the game. They continually make mistakes counting up the value of hands. Often they make mistakes that favor the players. I saw many players just let it pass and took the free money.

On the up side, the game is so slow that I could easily keep count on an 8-deck shoe. I use HighOpt 1 and the count was easily kept as long as I didn't forget the running count during the long delays waiting for a pit boss to show up.

As previous posters have said the players are the worst I have ever seen. I didn't see a single player who even could play elementary basic strategy. The casinos will make a quick fortune on their blackjack games because of the incompetent play.
 
#19
Re:

Yeah it's pretty bad when you have to point out to the dealer that the cut card is out. It just made me laugh. People were making fun of me for hitting a soft 18 to a 21 when the dealer had a face up. The same people were hitting 14's against 5's and 6's.
 
#20
back from wv

ok well while i was disappointed to find a lack of low-stakes tables, i was more than happy to more than double my money...went in with $200, left with $500...can't complain. many at my table were winning also.

they do not manually shuffle the cards, which keeps things moving. like stated above, everything is dealt with the shoe. i'm trying to tap into my memory though.....i noticed, in wv, that the dealer will not pay out immediately for blackjack if he has the potential for blackjack (a push)....am i mistaken or does atlantic city pay out right away when the player has blackjack?

anyways there was just 1 $5 table at 9am on a Monday....and of course it was pack with rubes. that's ok, i always tend to have the luck with the $15 tables.
 
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