 
What's
New in Blackjack
by Henry Tamburin,
published on Friday, December 7
2001
A few months ago I had the opportunity
to attend the two largest gaming
conferences that were held in Las
Vegas – the Global Gaming Expo
and the World Gaming Congress. I’ve
summarized below some interesting
games and/or side bets that were
being promoted by different vendors
to the casino industry. Some of
these games/side bets have already
made their way to the casino floor;
others are still in the prototype
stages and could be playing at a
casino near you in the future.
Ultimate Blackjack
This game is not
player against dealer but rather
you wager on the best blackjack
hand that can be made with 4 cards.
You can wager that the highest hand
will be a blackjack, 21, 19, 18,
or 17-and-under. Payoff odds are
blackjack (4 to 1), 21 (3 to 1),
20 (1 to 1), 19 (8 to 1), 18 (35
to 1), and 17-or-under (30 to 1).
After players make their wagers,
the dealer will deal 4 cards on
the layout and determine which combination
of the four cards makes the best
blackjack hand according to traditional
blackjack rules. For example an
ace-2-3-6 would be a 20 (consisting
of ace-3-6). An 8-K-9-4 would be
a 21 (8-9-4) and 2-3-10-2 would
be classified as a 17-or-less (i.e.
all four cards play). The vendors
claim the game is the “fastest
version of 21”. I no sooner
got home and casino math wizard
Stanley Ko had already figured out
how to beat this game by card counting
(see his web site www.gambology.com
for details).
3 Way-Action
How’s this
– you get to play blackjack,
war, and poker on the same hand!
The game works like this. The first
bet – on war – is decided
when the dealer gives you one card
face up and deal’s her upcard.
High card wins the war bet (simple).
Then she deals you and herself a
second card. You play out your hand
per traditional blackjack rules
(it is blackjack after all). The
one caveat with the rules is that
if a player draws a 6 card 21 or
less, player automatically wins
the bet. After the blackjack hand
is decided, the dealer will deal
the player the remaining cards for
a 5-card poker hand (like Let it
Ride). There is a posted payoff
table (I don’t remember the
payouts) and if you have at least
a pair or higher you win the payoff
odds. Pretty soon we’ll be
able to play 10 games with one blackjack
hand. I’ll pass on this one.
21+3
This is regular
blackjack with an optional 3-Card
Poker side game. You wager on the
blackjack hand and if you like,
you can wager an equal amount on
the 3-Card Poker Hand. Your first
two cards and the dealer face up
card make up your 3-Card Poker hand.
If you have a flush, straight, three-of-a-kind,
or straight flush you win at 9 to
1 payoff odds. This game is not
bad from a math standpoint, as the
casino edge is less than 3%.
Hit and Win
This blackjack game
pays based on the spread between
your hand and the dealer hand. If
you beat the dealer by 4 you win
at 4 to 1 payoff odds. Win by 3
and the payoff is 3 to 1, by 2 it’s
2 to1, and win by 1 and it’s
1 to 1. If you and the dealer push
with 17 you automatically win at
1 to 1 payoff odds. However, a 21
and BJ vs. dealer 21 or BJ is a
push. Who wants to push with a blackjack
hand, anyway ???
Digital 21
This is an interesting
way to play blackjack without any
paper cards. It’s you against
a live dealer except the digital
cards are delivered to the player’s
LCD screen which sets right on the
layout. The system also includes
a virtual shoe/shuffler, a sensor
that knows when a player has made
a wager (to activate his screen),
automatic totaling of the players
hand (hey, in this game you don’t
even have to know how to count),
and even a casino optional suggested
playing strategy. The border for
each player’s LCD screen also
changes color and design to instantly
notify the dealer of a winning hand,
a losing hand or a push (actually
the dealer doesn’t even have
to check the player’s hand
– they can payoff off or collect
losing wagers by the color of the
player’s border). Digital 21
has already gone through several
field trials in Las Vegas and I
predict it will soon be coming to
a casino near you in the not too
near future.
Double Pay Blackjack
Another variation
of Digital 21, this game also uses
the same Digital Card System but
offers the blackjack player the
opportunity to play two hands on
each round. Here’s how it works.
Player makes two bets and the first
two electronic cards dealt to a
player are common cards that are
used for both hands (sort of like
the cards dealt in 5 and 10 times
video poker machines). Each hand
can be played differently. The only
caveat is that the first two cards
are your starting cards for both
hands. You could end up with a great
hand and a lousy hand (or even bust)
depending on what the draw cards
are. Or you can lucky and get a
blackjack hand, which will win both
hands. I played the game for quite
a while and got to like it especially
the electronic cards (there’s
a video display in front of each
player which shows the electronic
cards).
Bonanza Blackjack
This is traditional
blackjack with a $1 side bet that
could win a player up to $25,000.
The game is played with digitized
cards (like Digital 21) and players
communicate with the dealer by using
the appropriate hit/stand/double/split
decision button on their player
screen (or the casino can not have
buttons and just let the player
use traditional hand signals). A
player wins the $1 side bet if the
player’s first two cards total
20 and the dealer’s upcard
is a 10 value card. Depending on
the suit and rank of the player’s
first two cards and whether the
dealer’s card matches, the
player can win anywhere from $10
(if player’s 20 is different
suit or rank and dealer has any
10 upcard) up to $25,000 (the player’s
20 must be same rank and suit and
the dealer’s first two cards
are matching). I found understanding
the payout table a little confusing
but I did find the music and sound
effects celebrating a Bonanza Jackpot
Winner to be amusing (music from
the Bonanza TV show).
Super Fun 21
Billed as “not
a new game, but a more fun and exciting
way to deal single deck blackjack”.
There are a lot of player bonus
payoffs (double down on two or more
cards, surrender is allowed even
after hitting, splitting or doubling
down, and so forth) but the price
you pay is even money for your blackjacks
(except 2 to 1 if you get a blackjack
in diamonds). This game is already
being played in a bunch of casinos
in Las Vegas. Casino’s edge
is about 0.7% for the basic strategy
player if the dealer stands on soft
17 and 0.9% of he hits soft 17.
I’d stick to traditional blackjack,
which has a lower house edge.
Continuous Shuffling
Machines (CSM’s) & Facial
Recognition Technology
There were several
vendors touting their CSM’s
as a way to thwart card counters
and shuffle trackers while also
getting 20% more hands dealt per
hour. One of the new models, by
VendingData Corporation called the
Continuous Random Ejection Shuffler,
works by having most of the playing
cards remaining in the random ejection
shuffler in a continuous shuffling
mode except for a small batch (i.e.
one or two decks) used by the dealer
during play. After play, the batch
is returned to the continuous shuffler
and a new batch of cards is used
for play. From the player’s
perspective the game looks like
a hand held one or two deck game
but it is essentially a 6 or 8 deck
continuous shuffled game disguised
as a single or two deck game (how’s
that for fooling the gaming public).
The folks at Biometrica told me
they have sold a ton of their facial
recognition software to the casino
industry around the world. . The
software allows the casino to compare
the photo of anyone playing blackjack
(the eye in the sky will be alerted
to take your picture while you are
playing blackjack) to a database
of known card cheats and even professional
card counters and shuffle trackers.
The company was also promoting the
installation of their system at
entrances to casinos so undesirables
including terrorists could be spotted
immediately.
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