Curious about California Blackjack...

[Michaelsvp]

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great time with family and friends this month!
I have a random question...

I live close to Commerce Casino and Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles. They have this rule where as a player you can become the banker for two hands and play the dealer’s cards against other players, except you put up your own money and if you win, you win equal to the amount you put out as your bet, but if you lose, you payout equal to the players bets, and if you don’t have enough to cover the other bets, the house covers them.

My question is, since the players that go there are not counters and just gamblers, can’t you go and sit down with $2k and play the dealers hands all night and make tons of money?

I hope I made sense! Thanks again!

 

[JJP]

You should check out last week's Gamblingwithanedge podcast interview with a guy who goes by Smallcap. He talks about banking at the Commerce casino.

 

[JohnCrover]

Do you have to pay a commission on your winnings at California BJ if you play the banker?

 

[JJP]

Do you have to pay a commission on your winnings at California BJ if you play the banker?

Apparently the banker has to pay a fee per round, that varies by total wagers on the table. However, no fees are paid on side bets by either the player-banker, or the players.

https://www.888casino.com/blog/advantage-play/advantage-play-in-california-card-rooms

 

[JJP]

Michael,

As for your original question, according to the podcast, the player who played banker would bring $100k to the cage for chips. $2k in chips isn't going to do it. Some big time baccarat players in Commerce.

 

[JohnCrover]

I can see Cali BJ as being beaten with a 1% commission on player banker. The house typically keeps 5% in BJ on average, or so I heard. I would go about it by playing with 2 people. One of you plays the player banker and the other one watches the game and makes sure no one's counting cards, marking cards or hole carding, as well as vetting the players, making sure they're losing more than the commission.
Edit:hell, even a third person wouldn't hurt to contribute to the bank roll and look for weak customers.

 

[JJP]

I can see Cali BJ as being beaten with a 1% commission on player banker. The house typically keeps 5% in BJ on average, or so I heard. I would go about it by playing with 2 people. One of you plays the player banker and the other one watches the game and makes sure no one's counting cards, marking cards or hole carding, as well as vetting the players, making sure they're losing more than the commission.
Edit:hell, even a third person wouldn't hurt to contribute to the bank roll and look for weak customers.

If one doesn't have very deep pockets, it isn't that easy. And the corporations will try to squash the little guy who tries to bank:

http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/content/Mondo Morongo.htm

 

[JohnCrover]

If one doesn't have very deep pockets, it isn't that easy. And the corporations will try to squash the little guy who tries to bank:

http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/content/Mondo Morongo.htm

Well, it's just something that works in theory, of course there are practical problems you're going to have to circumvent. The big man may not be too hostile towards you because you're still paying commission, I don't know.

 

[Meistro]

"The house typically keeps 5% in BJ on average, or so I heard. "

Actually, the typical casino edge on blackjack is more like 1.5%.