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, moved on to "night baseball" and "pass the trash" during a Dr. Pepper-infused midnight game in the 1980s at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and now play in a regular neighborhood Hold 'Em game in Plantation. I have been given the assignment of writing about the gambling life in South Florida casinos for the Sun-Sentinel...which means sitting around watching poker on TV now counts as research.
