Multi Action Blackjack

[Ferretnparrot]

Last night i went down to play some chump change, and found that it was soo busy that not only were there only 25 dollars tables and they were all full, but do to the craziness of it being saturday night, they had opened up 200$ minimum tables and THEY were all full too! I immediately left this casinos and headed toward the Tropicana to query about a sign i saw for a 5000 dollar blackjack tournament, The tables were busy here too and mostly full with one exception being the multi action blackjack table and there was only one person playing it. The minimum was 15 which you had to bet on three spots but by standing with the crowd of what must have been 8 people just watching the game in confusement because they had never seen it before i was able to wait untill a good count came to jump in and start playing. And all this time not one person got in with me and the one other guy playing it.

What im trying to point out is that if your having trouble finding a seat, this may be a good backup plan for a busy night if you know a casino that has one. From what i have read the games odds and strategy are identical to conventional blackjack except the game is played with more hands and more betting spots but looks totally alien at first glance which is probibly what drives other peopel away from it. The only casino i know that offers it is the tropicana in AC(In the very back by the main cashier cage)

Multi action Blakcjack is a game where you play between two and three betting spots and get one set of cards, you play your cards normally but the dealer draws only his showing card and draws on it untill he busts or make s pat hand three times, once for each bet you have on the table. If you bust you lose all three bets which makes it seem like its for the worse, but if the dealer has a 6 he draws on it thee times, and if you have blackjack you get payed three times and all in all its the same game just a lot more volitile--Basic strategy is the same for this game

[SystemsTrader]

Multi-Action is a great game for counters. Don't let the game intimidate you, it is identical to blackjack except that you play 3 hands at once against the dealer which enables you to get a lot of money down on the table. It's important to play your hand just like you would on a regular blackjack table. The casinos must have a huge hold on this game because the ploppies chicken out on their hands and are so afraid of busting they won't hit a lot of the hands they are supposed too. You can make all the strategy deviations you want without taking flak from the players or without drawing attention from the pit. Hopefully your game is OBO. Pay attention when the dealer plays her hand because of the different mechanics of this game you can forget to count her second or third hand out of habit from counting the regular tables.

One flaw with the game is that they only let you SPL1 to make two hands. This costs the player approx. .05%, the casino is not trying to screw you on this play, there just isn't enough room on the table for your bets. You want a fast dealer on this game to get the most benefit from it, in theory you will play 3 times the hands per hour. Plays like insurance can slow this game down to a crawl if you have 3 bets of $25 then you need to make change for 3 piles of $12.50. I've noticed a lot of ploppies won't insure depending on their bets because of always having to make change. Players burn out quickly on this game so there is a lot more buying in. I just wish more casinos would start using this game. Don't just use the table when the others are full, make it your starting point.

Sizing your bets correctly is important in this game, so if you are playing 3 spots of $100 remember it is not one bet of $300 but 3 individual bets of $100. So make sure you are not accidentally overbetting. Here's some more info on it:
http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/..._blackjack.htm

[jack,jackson]

Who has more info on this game? Books...etc. Im interested in how one should spread their bets in positive counts. Thanks

[Automatic Monkey]

You have the option of playing 2 or 3 hands. If no one on the table is playing 3 hands the dealer will only draw twice. This fact can be manipulated to make the dealer eat up more cards during negative counts.

An AP might also want a slightly different advanced strategy from regular blackjack for the sake of decreasing variance. Example: you have a high count, and your max bet on 3 of your spots. Your hand is 15 vs. dealer 10. The count is not quite high enough where you would stand on 15 vs. 10, but close. What would you do?

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by Automatic Monkey

Example: you have a high count, and your max bet on 3 of your spots. Your hand is 15 vs. dealer 10. The count is not quite high enough where you would stand on 15 vs. 10, but close. What would you do?

I would hit. I'd hate to misplay the hand 3 times in a row with my max bet out. It's unlikely that the dealer is going to bust 3 times in a row with a 10 upcard so it seems like hitting would be best.

-Sonny-

[Doofus]

Is this game offered anywhere in Vegas? I am intrigued.

[Automatic Monkey]

Originally Posted by Doofus

Is this game offered anywhere in Vegas? I am intrigued.

No I think the Tropicana in AC is the last place on earth to deal it. One table.

[Automatic Monkey]

Originally Posted by Sonny

I would hit. I'd hate to misplay the hand 3 times in a row with my max bet out. It's unlikely that the dealer is going to bust 3 times in a row with a 10 upcard so it seems like hitting would be best.

-Sonny-

Right, but chances aren't bad he will bust once. That situation will cause you to lose 1/3 of a big bet, instead of hitting and losing the whole thing. On the other hand, you might catch a 6, and in the long run you will make more by hitting. But I'm thinking in risk-averse terms where it's appropriate to trade off long-term EV for short-term stability. In a regular BJ game where you're deciding to hit or stand on a stiff, hitting is infinitesimally more risk-averse because some of your wins and losses will be converted to pushes (and it's such a small difference we usually don't consider hit/stand decisions to be risk-averse), but in this game where a stiff doesn't mean a 100% win or a 100% loss the RA index for standing on a stiff might be a little bit lower than in straight BJ. Like any RA decision it's bankroll dependent, of course.

[blackjack avenger]

Originally Posted by Automatic Monkey

Right, but chances aren't bad he will bust once. That situation will cause you to lose 1/3 of a big bet, instead of hitting and losing the whole thing. On the other hand, you might catch a 6, and in the long run you will make more by hitting. But I'm thinking in risk-averse terms where it's appropriate to trade off long-term EV for short-term stability. In a regular BJ game where you're deciding to hit or stand on a stiff, hitting is infinitesimally more risk-averse because some of your wins and losses will be converted to pushes (and it's such a small difference we usually don't consider hit/stand decisions to be risk-averse), but in this game where a stiff doesn't mean a 100% win or a 100% loss the RA index for standing on a stiff might be a little bit lower than in straight BJ. Like any RA decision it's bankroll dependent, of course.

If you bet correctly then you should not have to deviate from correct strategy. I understand the correct bet is half of your standard bet over three hands. Ex. If you are going to be $100 you would bet $50 on each of threee hands. If you were playing regular blackjack and were dealt 15 on 2 simultaneous hands would you change basic strategy in that situation? I would not unless I had indice count information or other information.

[Kasi]

Originally Posted by Automatic Monkey

An AP might also want a slightly different advanced strategy from regular blackjack for the sake of decreasing variance. Example: you have a high count, and your max bet on 3 of your spots.

Well, I'd worry alot more that chances are you are overbetting with 3 max bets - if your original max bet was a full-kelly bet, you are clearly overbetting. Don't you think?

Regardless of whether you may be overbetting or not, I think you are increasing variance compared to your original betting plan assuming reg BJ. Not counting a Risk Averse play, which I know is your point, but I doubt that would make up for how much you suddenly changed your whole betting plan anyway. Ignoring that for the moment, apparently you are believing you are just playing 3 separate hands of a max bet.

But, in effect, you have now upped your original max bet of say $100 to $300 and chances are there's a good reason you chose to not have a $300 max bet in the first place.

As Blackjack Avenger said, better I think to bet 50% or so of your original bet on each of the 3 hands. Still a good way to get more money on the table.

Just don't want you, or anyone else, to maybe wake up and have to wonder what the heck happened if you actually play this game and bet the way I think you are suggesting.

I always like Multi-Action - thought it had disappeared long ago. Nice to know it's still around.