Archive for the ‘Blackjack News’ Category

Blackjack Tables Raising the Odds against Players?

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Players are always wary of those blackjack casinos that have the odds stacked high against them. Sadly, it would seem that this is going to be a trend where the odds are hiked in order to meet the increasing costs faced by casinos. And as always players are against this!

Casinos usually raise the house’s percentage by playing roulette with 0 and 00 on the wheel, by tweaking the odds on slot machine games, and by changing the blackjack payoff ratios. However, they cannot keep doing this and need to find new ways of improving the house odds. If players were to find out all about the constant raised odds, they would leave the casinos, and hence casinos have to find different ways of doing the same.

A panel that explored different ways of how casinos can improve the house odds have come back with the information that installing a cup holder at the blackjack table will allow companies to benefit from it. Players usually spill drinks on the table in their excitement and that bites into the time for the game, which decreases the number of hands played and decreases the money on the table, hence companies can install cup holders and players can play the game without getting irritated as well.

It was also suggested that the number of side bets on common games should be increased and that the experiment would be put into effect starting with blackjack.

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Players Urge State to Retain Player Friendly Blackjack Rules

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

The blackjack players of Pennsylvania are urging its lawmakers to retain all the blackjack friendly rules.

A blackjack player who frequents Keystone State casinos has voiced his opinion that blackjack money lasts longer in Pennsylvania casinos than at Las Vegas casinos because of the excellent rules in Pennsylvania. Another player said the Pennsylvania blackjack rules are fairer than the Atlantic City rules.

Seventy Players from Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, District of Columbia, and Canada wrote to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, all voicing opinions similar to those above. They have all urged the state to retain player friendly rules such as 3 to 1 payments, dealer to stand on soft 17, and the option to surrender half the bet.

The board has also received letters from Greenwood Gaming Entertainment, the operators of Parx Casino, and Hollywood Casino. While Greenwood Gaming has urged the board to permit tables allowing dealers to hit on soft 17, Hollywood Casino wants casinos to be allowed to pay even money when the dealer gets an Ace and players get blackjack. Surprisingly, no casino has asked the board to introduce the infamous 6 – 5 payouts.

The board says that all comments will be carefully reviewed before proposing the final regulations.

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Legal Blackjack Card Games To Be Made available at Horse Race Events

Monday, October 10th, 2011

New York State politicians are now considering permitting poker and blackjack card games take place in the state’s racing tracks. According to the latest update the Saratoga Casino and Raceway may convert into a mini-casino. The idea is to generate some revenue for the state.

It is estimated that around 20% of New York lives on the facilities provided by the government and due to the recent economy, the stock market is not doing so well, and the state has not been able to receive its development funds for this year.

Most other options to solve this problem have run out and hence they might resort to gambling as a solution to rake in revenues. Only if the blackjack games are legalized, regularized and taxed will there be enough cash to prevent any sort of mishap or rioting that might come up eventually.

Some statistics show that $3-$5 billion is spent each year on casino table games by New York City residents alone, and that money has yet not been taxed. This money if taxed will ensure additional revenue for the state for a few decades.

The general idea is that as long as this does not affect the horse racing industry it should do just fine to generate revenue through legal poker & blackjack card games.

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Blackjack Champions And Neuroscientists Partner for Discovery Summit

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

The 2012 Discovery Summit will be hosted by the JMP, which specializes in business analytics software and related services. They have decided to invite neuroscientists and blackjack champs at the same time in order to debate on the topic of ‘improving decision making by overcoming biases and shortcomings’.

The summit will take place from September 13th to 16th at Denver. Two keynote speakers, one a noted neuroscientist and the other a noted blackjack champ will be expressing their views on the same.

Jonah Lehrer will discuss neuroscience and Jeffrey Ma, the guy whose story inspired the movie “21”, will also speak on the same and he plans to talk about ways to harness the mind’s power in order to focus on analytical part of the brain, which results in better decision making. Jeffrey Ma will also exhibit his speech in action at a game that he will be leading at the online blackjack casino during the summit.

The neuroscientist has no such exhibition whatsoever, but it would have been interesting to see if some of the attendees included President Obama’s staff and since that is not the case, it is no surprising the kind of decisions that are being taken in the United States.

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Blackjack Casino Thieves Get Prison Sentence

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Three blackjack casino thieves who stole over $250k from the Blackjack Casino Villa Carlos Paz were sentenced to 13 – 15 years in prison by the Sixth Chamber Criminal Court of Argentina, but Rafael, the criminal who masterminded the robbery, is yet to be apprehended.

Rafael is allegedly an assassin and part of an organized criminal family in Rio. Allegedly, the three thieves were ordered to rob the casino because it refused to provide protection funds to Rio’s family.

Over $250k were stolen from the counting room of the Argentine Casino at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, just after a blackjack tournament. The three blackjack casino thieves had entered through the roof of the counting room, and the casino employees were so busy that they hardly noticed them.

One of the thieves Villafane shot Louie, the manager of the counting room. Louie’s shrieks of pain alerted quite a number of people; still the thieves grabbed as much money as they could before escaping in a red Fiat Uno.

The driver of the getaway vehicle was later nabbed by the police and he decided to testify against the three thieves in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Fortunately, Louie completely recovered. Meanwhile, the police have launched a manhunt for Rafael.

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New Free App Blends Cocktails and Blackjack

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Blackjack Cocktails is an app that blends the delightful worlds of cocktails and blackjack. This free app is the brainchild of Dee Jones, who says that he thought it was about time someone created an app that contained the alluring ingredients of blackjack as well as cocktails.

The Cocktails section of the app gives players access to a wide range of Martinis, Tropical, Shooters, Hot Toddy, wines, and other drinks. These drinks have been carefully selected by the Pocket Cocktails team from Cocktails HD, a best selling iPad application.

The Poker section contains valuable poker tips and strategies such as classic types of players, table image, bluffing, tells, and others. In the Texas Hold’em section, players will come across advice on strategies, position, and so on. There are plans to add extra tips, tricks, and strategies in future updates of the application.

The Bartender’s section contains interesting information on using bar tools, making purees, garnishing drinks, and creating boats, flags, wedges, and so on.

Needless to say, Blackjack Cocktails 1.1 is the first app of its kind in the world. This application is available all over the world, absolutely free of charge, and can be accessed in the category called Lifestyle at the Apps Store.

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Players Can Now Play Blackjack on Apple TV

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Blackjack players now have something more to look forward to as Apple TV has made blackjack games available via their HTML5 platform. From brick and mortar blackjack casinos to online blackjack gaming portals to social blackjack on Facebook, the game of blackjack has come a long way.

Players are sure to benefit from the additional medium in which they can play blackjack. However, although these games are available on Apple TV, players will not be able to find them in the Apple App Store.

This is because it is not Blackjack on Apple TV is not being offered by reliable authorities but by a hacker. The hacker launched a YouTube video showing people how to use HTML5 to play blackjack on Apple TV. However, players must note that they will have to break some codes to play the blackjack game on Apple TV. As of now, blackjack is the only game available on Apple TV, but it is expected that this will change in the near future.

The hacker uploaded a video on YouTube showing how he was able to use the HyperText Markup Language 5 or HTML5 language to break and restructure the game so that he could play it. The free blackjack game is not a real money game but is only for play purposes.

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Pennsylvania Asks Blackjack Players to Comment on Existing Gaming Laws

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

The State of Pennsylvania has scheduled a 30 day public forum where blackjack players will be able to comment on the state’s gaming laws and actually have the Gaming Control Board in Pennsylvania evaluate them. Blackjack players in the region have been encouraged to speak out and voice their views on the existing blackjack laws in the State.

The Gaming Control Board in Pennsylvania has plans to introduce important key blackjack rules and betting limit regulations. The rules may also end up setting ceilings for payoffs and the like. There is also talk of establishing a rule that ensures that the dealer will stand on soft 17 blackjack hand instead of hitting on a soft 17. It is highly likely that the new rules will affect the house edge of the casinos in the State of Pennsylvania offering blackjack games.

As of now, many people are of the opinion that the state’s blackjack laws are player friendly and should not be changed so that the casino industry will benefit from it

The Gaming Control Board launched the table blackjack rules last year and gave players enough time to get used to it and peak for and against it. Now the board has ideas of making these games a fixed offering.

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California Casinos Offer Weekly Blackjack Tournaments

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

Blackjack tournaments can be just as interesting as poker tournaments and blackjack players will find that the floor games differ from the tournament games in blackjack. Three California casinos are offering weekly blackjack tournaments, one in the Sacramento County and two other in the Central Valley.

The Lucky Derby Casino based at Citrus Heights in Sacramento County is offering a free blackjack tournament on the first Saturday of each month at 7 pm. Players begin with $500 chips and they can purchase $3500 worth of chips as add-ons for $15, while re-buys are also available. Top ten winners are guaranteed $2000 and the luckiest winner gets $1000.

Aviator Casino at Delano in Kern County and Turlock Poker Room at Turlock in Stanislaus County are also offering weekly tournaments. At Aviator the $30 buy-in gets the player $2000 worth chips and it is held on Sundays. Preliminary rounds known as “heats” begin at 1 pm and the finals are held at 6 pm. The casino adds $250 to the prize pot.

At Turlock the tournaments are held on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm and a $23 buy-in gets the player $1000 worth chips. Some players can take away at least $500 in their winnings. Prizes at both these casinos vary based on the number of players.

Recently California casinos tried to pass a california online poker bill but was tabled until next year. So players looking to play can enjoy their favorite poker & casino games at an Indian casino or card room but if they have their way eventually online.

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Party Casino Introduces Special Jack in the Box Blackjack Promotion

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Blackjack players will enjoy playing at this online casino in August as they have planned special promotions for their blackjack enthusiasts. The new offer is called the Jack in the Box and Party Casino will be featuring events beginning on the 18th of August. This is one event that blackjack players will not want to miss and they are encouraged to visit the casino during this period.

According to the Jack in the Box event at Party Casino, blackjack players will have the opportunity to win thousands of prizes that will be hidden at the blackjack tables for the players to find. These gifts will include special cash prizes, free blackjack points that players can use at the Party Casino and terrific blackjack bonuses. While playing the blackjack games at the Party Casino between the 18th of August and the 22nd, a few lucky players will see the sudden surprise of the Jack in the Box feature popping up on the screen. Those players who see it on their screens should be quick to click on the icon and see what is in on the inside.

The more that the blackjack players play during the promotional period the better their chances will be of finding a special prize.

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