Chipless Blackjack @ Barona Casino, CA
At near San Diego, they’re spreading a new blackjack table game with an electronic twist. The game uses a human dealer, regular cards, and a normal blackjack table. However, players don’t use chips to bet, and instead they use a drag & drop touch-screen. There’s no printing on the mat, instead the table has a clean look, uncluttered by chips.
The decks are shuffled by hand, and loaded into the shoe normally. The shoe reads the cards as they’re dealt, so it knows what everyone’s totals are. Your display prompts you for your actions.
There are a few interesting aspects to the game. The computer now offers odds on your two-card hand based on the total and the dealer up card. It’s optional; you can take it or leave it. For example, say you’re dealt 6,4 (=10), and the dealer is showing a 4. It’ll offer you something like $2.69 on an additional $5 side bet (equal to the original bet) to win the hand. If you lose the hand, you lose the side bet. A push also pushes the side bet.
I worked out the true odds for a $5 bet, a six deck shoe, and dealer hit on soft-17. (Also, the offer is made after the dealer peeks for blackjack.) The table is presented below.
I played for a few hours with my table, and checked how close the offered side bet was to the true calculated odds. For a $5 side bet, the payouts were almost always lower than true odds by about $.25 -$.50 (no surprise here). For the higher payouts around $10, that might be acceptable. However, you’ll see the same payout penalty on the low payouts. For example, a player 20 against a dealer 10 should pay about $.32 for a $5 bet. Their offered odds on this hand were often lower than $.10. That’s really bad, since you’re not even getting 1/2 the fair odds. On the other hand, they seemed to offer near full odds on 14 vs. a dealer 6 and 7.
In my session, almost no one took odds. Most people realize the house isn’t likely offering true odds, and people don’t (yet) have a chart to compare the offered odds with. The odds aren’t very intuitive, since people almost never think of blackjack hands in these terms. But the idea might yet catch on.
| upcard | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | T | A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| soft totals | |||||||||||
| A,2 | $4.53 | $4.27 | $4.01(H) | $4.31(D) $3.73(H) |
$4.04(D) $3.51(H) |
$3.84 | $4.45 | $5.40 | $6.29 | $6.26 | |
| A,3 | $4.76 | $4.48 | $4.19(H) | $4.32(D) $3.91(H) |
$4.04(D) $3.67(H) |
$4.23 | $4.82 | $5.89 | $6.80 | $6.77 | |
| A,4 | $5.00 | $4.69 | $4.66(D) $4.39(H) |
$4.33(D) | $4.05(D) | $4.63 | $5.33 | $6.43 | $7.37 | $7.36 | |
| A,5 | $5.23 | $4.91 | $4.68(D) | $4.35(D) | $4.04(D) | $5.09 | $5.84 | $7.02 | $7.94 | $8.00 | |
| A,6 | $5.00 | $4.70(D) | $4.37(D) | $4.03(D) | $3.80(D) | $4.38 | $5.89 | $7.00 | $7.83 | $8.25 | |
| A,7 | $4.41(D) | $4.13(D) | $3.83(D) | $3.60(D) | $3.39(D) | $1.83 | $3.55 | $6.26 | $6.93 | $7.26 | |
| A,8 | $1.95 | $1.86 | $1.79 | $1.67 | $1.62 | $0.99 | $0.95 | $1.92 | $4.33 | $3.08 | |
| A,9 | $0.78 | $0.76 | $0.74 | $0.70 | $0.68 | $0.44 | $0.41 | $0.37 | $0.32 | $0.68 | |
| pairs | |||||||||||
| 2,2 | $5.84(S) | $5.55(S) | $5.19(S) | $4.84(S) | $4.51(S) | $5.37(S) | $7.09(H) $6.47(S) |
$8.56 | $9.61 | $9.77 | |
| 3,3 | $6.11(S) | $5.75(S) | $5.30(S) | $4.94(S) | $4.60(S) | $5.70(S) | $8.16(H) | $9.78 | $10.85 | $11.05 | |
| 4,4 | $5.25(H) | $4.90(H) | $4.53(H) | $5.14(S) $4.19(H) |
$4.79(S) | $4.10 | $5.77 | $8.13 | $8.79 | $9.36 | |
| 6,6 | $6.47(S) | $6.04(S) | $5.58(S) | $5.16(S) | $4.86(S) | $8.14(H) $7.09(S) |
$9.34 | $11.05 | $12.07 | $12.25 | |
| 7,7 | $6.16(S) | $5.77(S) | $5.32(S) | $4.97(S) | $4.63 | $5.76(S) | $11.82(H) $8.31(S) |
$13.89(H) $10.70(S) |
$15.25(H) $11.48(S) |
$15.55 | |
| 8,8 | $5.01(S) | $4.69(S) | $4.41(S) | $4.10(S) | $4.01(S) | $3.86(S) | $5.50(S) | $7.85(S) | $8.38(S) | $12.28(S) | |
| 9,9 | $4.29(S) | $4.08(S) | $3.83(S) | $3.57(S) | $3.37(S) | $1.83 | $4.07(S) | $6.19(S) | $7.42 | $8.84 | |
| A,A | $2.65(S) | $2.51(S) | $2.38(S) | $2.24(S) | $2.13(S) | $2.59(S) | $4.31(S) | $4.84(S) | $5.15(S) | $5.80(S) | |
| hard totals | |||||||||||
| 5 | $6.50 | $6.07 | $5.60 | $5.16 | $4.80 | $6.51 | $7.59 | $9.13 | $10.20 | $10.37 | |
| 6 | $6.68 | $6.21 | $5.74 | $5.28 | $4.90 | $7.02 | $8.17 | $9.76 | $10.67 | $11.06 | |
| 7 | $6.36 | $5.90 | $5.43 | $4.98 | $4.63 | $5.91 | $8.20 | $9.73 | $10.50 | $11.35 | |
| 8 | $5.26 | $4.92 | $4.55 | $4.20 | $3.94 | $4.13 | $5.78 | $8.16 | $8.82 | $9.40 | |
| 9 | $4.24 | $4.35(D) $3.98(H) |
$4.05(D) $3.72(H) |
$3.75(D) | $3.53(D) | $3.36(H) | $3.98(H) | $5.67 | $7.06 | $6.69 | |
| 10 | $3.34(D) | $3.14(D) | $2.95(D) | $2.76(D) | $2.63(D) | $3.20(D) | $3.64(D) | $4.24(D) $3.83(H) |
$4.69(H) | $4.63(H) | |
| 11 | $2.92(D) | $2.76(D) | $2.60(D) | $2.45(D) | $2.34(D) | $2.98(D) | $3.40(D) | $3.89(D) | $4.12(D) $3.84(H) |
$4.38(D) $3.92(H) |
|
| 12 | $8.65(H) | $8.25(H) | $7.46 | $6.87 | $6.35 | $8.12 | $9.35 | $11.06 | $11.99 | $12.26 | |
| 13 | $8.93 | $8.18 | $7.46 | $6.88 | $6.40 | $9.29 | $10.65 | $12.33 | $13.61 | $13.83 | |
| 14 | $9.07 | $8.27 | $7.55 | $6.91 | $6.37 | $10.34 | $11.57 | $13.52 | $14.78 | $15.16 | |
| 15 | $9.02 | $8.26 | $7.54 | $6.90 | $6.37 | $11.49 | $13.03 | $15.18 | $16.51(H) | $16.98(H) | |
| 16 | $9.03 | $8.27 | $7.55 | $6.91 | $6.42 | $12.67 | $14.30 | $16.59 | $16.78(S) $18.17(H) |
$18.53(H) | |
| 17 | $7.21 | $6.60 | $6.02 | $5.55 | $5.11 | $7.08 | $12.90 | $14.24 | $14.04 | $17.75(S) | |
| 18 | $3.87 | $3.63 | $3.42 | $3.18 | $3.01 | $1.84 | $3.60 | $7.66 | $7.47 | $8.93 | |
| 19 | $1.97 | $1.89 | $1.80 | $1.68 | $1.63 | $1.00 | $0.96 | $1.96 | $4.27 | $3.05 | |
| 20 | $0.80 | $0.77 | $0.74 | $0.70 | $0.68 | $0.44 | $0.41 | $0.37 | $0.32 | $0.69 | |
Her name is BlackJack and for the next couple of weeks she is going through some puppy training and we would appreciate it if you guys DO NOT PET HER. I know she’s cute; this is just a temporary thingy.
