Nevada
Casino in Las Vegas paid 2:1 on naturals. It also
paid 2:1 for 6-7-8 of the same suit and on 7-7-7,
and it offered late surrender. In the single-deck
games, basic strategy yielded an edge of 2.2% right
after a shuffle. In the double-deck games, your edge
was 1.8% right after a shuffle.
These
rules attracted a lot of good players. Even the best
counter of all, Peter Griffin, flew in from Sacramento
for the occasion. Howard Grossman, as well-known as
his face is, was allowed to bring in his team to play
for a while.
Unfortunately
for the owners of the casino, the liberal rules did
not attract enough losing players to counterbalance
all the good players. So the rules were tightened
somewhat. Late surrender was discarded, and doubling
was restricted to two-card totals of ten and eleven.
The good players continued to play and the 2:1 payment
on naturals continued to take its toll. Two weeks
after it began, the 2:1 payment was stopped.
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When
you first arrive in a cardroom, you will see an area
for game sign-ups. This might be a raised platform
in front of a large whiteboard. You tell the employee
(usually called a boardman, although a floorman might
be fulfilling the role) in charge of the lists what
game or games you'd like to play. If a seat in one
of your preferred games is currently open, a different
employee directs you to the seat and sometimes arranges
for your purchase of chips. |