Player Banked Blackjack Pays @ Bay 101 in San Jose

I went to Bay 101 the other night and won on my hand. It was a player banker that hand and I didn't get paid because the player didnt have enough to cover my win! Is this legal? Everyone else got paid but me.

I thought you had to have enough to cover all bets if you're the banker??

I don't know any of the specifics of it all, as I would never play "california blackjack."

They couldn't pay your win but they would have taken your loss, right? That doesn't sound right to me. If the banking player cannot cover all of the bets on the table, which the casino will know before the round starts, then there should be a corporation that covers the rest of the action. Most of these player-banked casinos have an outside syndicate that banks all of their games. If the casino does not have a corporation then they should not be taking any bets that the banking player cannot cover. Either the corporation should have paid your bet or the casino should not have allowed you to play that hand.

-Sonny-

The "banker" rotates around the table from first base to third base giving everyone a shot at player banking the game. Someone with a few bucks can bank the game and fall short and stiff a winner as in your case. You should be entitled to the collection fee Bay 101 took at least. You learned a lesson, next time a flea banks the game, don't play.

only the shrewdest of players should get involved with these games. Banking is one way to make money on it, but only under certain circumstances and if you have deep pockets. Other scenarios - if the game is being weakly dealt (i.e. you can exploit the house), or weakly regulated (i.e. you can exploit the banker).

The house edge on these games with the collection fee is worse than 8D 6/5 nDAS H17 "casino" BJ. You shouldn't even dream about playing it.

If you're min bet is $5 and you have a $1 fee, what is the EV for the hand? -20.5%? Even a $10 bet and it's probably around -10.5% And when you hit $100 bets they up the fee usually! Use your brain, don't play these.