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Hard Rock adjusts blackjack, hits Soft 17 at some tables
When you sit down at the blackjack tables at the Hard Rock, you need to check the rules.
Some tables are now hitting on "Soft 17," (say, an ace and a six), which is a change from the rules the casino first used when it began blackjack in June 2008. The rules are spelled out at whichever table you sit at. (My hunch is they're hitting it at the lower-limit tables; I'm still asking the paper for expense money to play.)
The change came last month and makes the casino "more consistent with comparable casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas," Public Relations Manager Ryan Rogers said. (I.E., keeping up with the industry standards; both gambling meccas began hitting it a few years ago.)
When the casino started blackjack last year, I worked out the math using Blackjack Insider and WizardOfOdds.com and came up with a house advantage of 0.43 percent, if players use perfect strategy. (Like most casinos, the Hard Rock itself won't spill what the house advantage is.) Hitting on Soft 17 gives the house another 0.2 percent advantage, according to the site.
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, early training for his...
Comments
After reading this, I think I'll look at one of my Ocean's DVDs. In the mood. As teenagers, we used to play blackjack on the Nevada side of Tahoe, where the casinos weren't picky-picky about age, drinks, what have you. And they paid in silver dollars. Happy days. A sad day: decades later, after the 80s tech bubble burst, I sat on the beach at Tahoe and morosely calculated how much we'd lost. Then I read in FORBES that those who had invested in California's newly-formed Indian-owned casinos had earned 40% the first year. But Hard Rock's our subject here. Hooray for the soft 17. A good player's better off with it. If I can find a deal, I'll fly to Florida and pay HR a visit. - Ann Seymour, author of "I've Always Loved You," a true story of ww2 in the Pacific.
Posted by: AnnSeymour1 | August 5, 2009 2:06 PM
What are you talking about? Hitting soft 17 is in the houses favor. Gives them a bigger edge than they already have
Posted by: Poker guru | August 6, 2009 10:23 AM
Trying to see what strategies would come into play, would you be less apt to double on some numbers for example?
Any thoughts?
Posted by: Nick Sortal | August 6, 2009 2:50 PM
You must remember one thing: the Hard Rock does not do anything to aid the player. The dealer hitting a soft seventeen, gives the house a slight percentage advantage! Vegas and AC added the hit the soft seventeen to counter the advantage of the one and two deck blackjack games to the player.
Posted by: Jody Ebin | October 23, 2009 10:13 AM
You must remember one thing: the Hard Rock does not do anything to aid the player. The dealer hitting a soft seventeen, gives the house a slight percentage advantage! Vegas and AC added the hit the soft seventeen to counter the advantage of the one and two deck blackjack games to the player.
Posted by: Jody Ebin | October 23, 2009 10:13 AM