Chicago Sun-Times: Video blackjack offers its own advantages over original

The last time I paid much attention to video blackjack was a couple of years ago when Williams Multi-Pay Plus machines at many Chicago area casinos were offering rules to good to pass up.

With cards dealt from a single electronic deck, a 3-2 payoff on two-card 21s and early surrender offered, the game attracted players from all over the country. Even though the cards were electronically reshuffled after every hand and cards could not be counted, the rules still gave players a better break than they could find at blackjack on the tables almost anywhere in the country. In fact, the game was a little too good, and the bottom line quickly dictated that casinos pull the game.

There's nothing quite so good for players around now. The main problem with video blackjack is most pay only even money on two-card 21s, which also are called blackjacks. Game manufacturers try to disguise it a little. The machine glass or screen might say, "BLACKJACKS PAY 2-FOR-1," but that's just another way of saying "even money." If you bet $2 and win, you'll get $2 in winnings and get to keep your $2 bet, a total of $4, or 2-for-1. If you were paid 3-2, as on the tables or on the Williams machines, a blackjack would bring you $3 in winnings, and you'd still have your $2 wager, for a total of $5.

How much difference does that make? On the average, you'll get a blackjack about once every 21 hands. Losing that little extra payoff on your blackjacks costs you 2.3 percent of your return in the long run.

In blackjack, 2.3 percent is a huge difference. We usually measure the entire house edge in blackjack in tenths of a percent, with variations from casino to casino depending on house rules. Even a six- deck game usually will have a house edge of only about 0.5 percent against a player who follows basic strategy, with a few tenths of a percent more or less depending on house rules.

Is the player permitted to double down after splitting pairs, to resplit Aces or to surrender half a bet after seeing the first two cards? Those rules all favor the player who knows how to use them. Does the house use more decks, restrict resplitting pairs, or allow the player to double down only on certain totals? That increases the house edge

But the increments by which those rules change the house edge are in tenths, or even hundredths of a percent. Depending on where we play, we're usually looking at house edge that ranges from 0.1 percent to 0.7 percent against a basic strategy player.

That's dwarfed by the extra 2.3 percent we give to the house if we play a game that pays only even money-or 2-for-1-on blackjacks. Spotting the house an extra edge of four times or more its normal edge on the entire game is hazardous to our bankrolls.

Nevertheless, I do hear from players who like video blackjack, extra edge and all.

Why?

First of all, video blackjack has many of the advantages that make slot machines and video poker so popular. You can play by yourself without worrying that another player is going to start razzing you about your strategy decisions. (There's far too much of that at blackjack tables from players who don't understand or won't accept that in the long run, unorthodox decisions by another player will help them as often as they hurt.)

Second, video blackjack is cheaper to play than table blackjack. You can play video blackjack for a quarter a hand, while in many casinos it's difficult finding a seat at tables with $5 minimum bets. Now, this difference is not as great as it appears, because we play many more hands per hour on the video game than we do at the tables, but still, players who shy away from betting $5 or more at once will give blackjack a go for a quarter or a buck.

And while give the house that extra 2.3 percent looks pretty awful from a blackjack player's perspective, it still leaves a game that returns more to the player than a typical slot machine. Single- player video blackjack usually uses a single electronic deck, and on some games rules are good enough that the edge we give up on the two- card 21 payoff makes up the entire house edge on the game.

To get the most out of the game, video blackjack players need to use basic strategy for a single deck game. That, with a few little wrinkles, is where we're going next week.