Blackjack's Rules by Jurisdiction

Las Vegas Downtown

The downtown section of Vegas offers all sorts of games. You can play at tourist places such as the Golden Nugget, or "local" spots such as El Cortez or Lady Luck, or at the unique Horseshoe Club, which attracts tourists and locals, small-timers and big big players.

Unlike the Strip, where a single deck game is hard to find, there are plenty of them downtown. The Horseshoe alone has over sixty and the Golden Nugget, as another example, is loaded with them.

If single deck games are readily available, then it would be foolish to play any other game, such as double deck or multiple deck games. You're just putting extra obstacles in your path towards winning. Why give up either -.40, -.50 or -.60 when you don't have to.

The following are typical downtown rules: • All standard rules • Single deck game to four deck games • Dealer hits soft 17 • Doubling down on any two cards

This leaves the player with a slight disadvantage of -.20 in a single deck game because of the soft 17 rule. But it's going to be difficult to find any downtown casino which has single deck games and a rule that forces the dealer to stand on all 17s.

In a 4 deck game the disadvantage moves to -.70. Therefore it pays to play the single deck game when playing downtown. There are plenty of these games available and an astute player should take advantage of them.

Sometimes you can find other rules to your benefit. One that comes to mind immediately is the Horseshoe's allowing of re-splitting of aces. This is slightly to the advantage of the player +.03. It rarely comes up in a single deck game, but when it does come up it can be a lifesaver.

Northern Nevada

The casinos in Lake Tahoe and Reno offer a great many single-deck games. That shouldn't be a problem for you. However, a couple of rules are negative for the player. Here's what to expect in Northern Nevada.

The Following are Typical Northern Nevada Rules: • All standard rules • Single deck game • Double down only on 10s and 11s • Dealer hits soft 17

Those two features, doubling down on 10s and 11s only and the dealer hitting soft 17s, gives the casinos there an initial advantage of .48 over the player.

Atlantic City

Unlike other jurisdictions, where rules may change from casino to casino and even within a casino, in A.C. all rules are standard, formulated by the Gaming Commission of New Jersey. The only possible variation is the number of decks the casino will play with, either two, four or six.

The following are Typical A.C. Rules: • All standard rules • Six decks • Double down on any two cards • Double down after splitting pairs • No re-splitting of pairs • Dealer stands on all 17s

This works out to a -.33 for the player. At one time Atlantic City had early surrender, but the greed of card counters who trumpeted their huge wins there, killed that option. If possible, play at a four deck game rather than a six deck game for the slighter advantage it affords you. If you can find a two deck game, even better.