Card Counting Blog

I went to the Hard Rock Casino this weekend to play some blackjack. Saturday night around 11:30pm The lowest min table confirmed by the pitt boss was $50

 I bought in for $150, sharing a seat with my wife played for about a half an hour and left with +$50

 I went back to the Hard Rock Casino to play some more blackjack this afternoon around 1pm. The lowest min was $15

 I found out from the pitt boss that you do not get grandfathered into the table when the limits go up like Vegas and you have to play the new limit or leave the table.

 I found a nice table that had a +30 count (not true count) but it was full. A table nearby with a $15 min had an open seat so i sat down to play. I wanted to practice my shuffle tracking but all the tables in the hard rock either use the continious automatic shufflers or the ones that shuffle the 2nd deck during play. Needless to say I sat at the latter.

 I bought in for $100 and played for about 5 hours and left witrh $300 in chips infront of me. I practiced counting about half the shoes

I found out from a friend that the Seminole Hard Rock Casino blackjack tables will not let you double down when you have a ten or eleven when the dealer is showing a 2 or 3. This ruins most EV you have for playing the game and makes the game not worth playing. I will be just flying to vegas instead.

The Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood Florida started their blackjack games tonight at 6pm. CardCountingBlog.com was on location.

 I was only able to find 2 different table mins. They had $25 tables and $100 tables.  Most of the $25 tables had automatic shufflers but I was able to find one $25 pit that was not using an automatic shuffler. All of the $100 pits did not use automatic shufflers. I did not see any single deck games and did not get a chance to check deck penetration.

The Seminole Hard Rock Casino Blackjack Rules included:

• Dealer must stand on all 17’s
• Insurance Pays 2:1
• Blackjack pays 3:2
• Split Aces Once
• Split 3 times for a total of 4
• Even money option

I did hear that they would have $5 tables but most likely only in the mornings and weekdays when it is not that packed. Every seat was taken tonight with a crowd around every table. If you waited about 20 minutes you could get a seat.

Blackjack, baccarat, 3 card poker  and other new card games will begin June 22 at 6 p.m. at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood, as the Seminole Tribe continues to expand its offerings under a revenue-sharing agreement signed by Gov. Charlie Crist in November.

The tribe, which installed about 1,000 Las Vegas-style slot machines at the Hollywood casino in January as part of the agreement, will unveil 71 new card tables, including about 55 for blackjack. The rest of the tables will be divided among mini-baccarat, pai gow, Let It Ride and Three Card Poker.

”Clearly blackjack is the game — not just here at Hard Rock but on a national basis. It’s the game people want to play,” said James Allen, CEO of gaming operations for the tribe. “We’re thrilled to have it.”

The tribe went on a national search to hire about 700 dealers and another 100 people in support positions for the new card games. Most of the dealers have gained experience in places like Biloxi, Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

The tribe’s decision to push forward with the new games comes even as one of its competitors, the Isle Casino in Pompano Beach, filed suit this week alleging the games are illegal.

The Pompano Beach casino claims the gambling compact signed by the governor and the tribe is invalid because it violates the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which allows tribes to play only games already authorized in Florida. State-regulated casinos like The Isle are allowed to operate slot machines, but state law does not allow them to operate card games like blackjack.

The agreement requires that the tribe pay the state a minimum of $100 million annually in exchange for permission to offer the new games.

”It’s law, it’s legal and obviously we’re standing here today based on that premise,” Allen said, standing at the first blackjack table installed at the casino. “Certainly we respect the right of our competitors. If they want to challenge something, that’s up to them. . . The reality is, I could deal you a hand of blackjack right now and we’d be 100 percent legal.”

Another suit challenging the right of the tribe to offer new games also remains before the Florida Supreme Court. House Speaker Marco Rubio and other House leaders sued the governor and the tribe, claiming that the compact violated the Florida Constitution because it creates law without legislative action.

The court heard the case Jan. 30. It has not yet ruled.

Under the agreement with the governor, the tribe can open the games at all seven of its casinos. The Hard Rock Hollywood is the first. The Hard Rock near Tampa — probably in late fall — and the tribe’s Coconut Creek casino are likely next, Allen said.

The new games — which will likely have minimum bets of $5 to $25 and limits of $5,000 — will be unveiled in a ceremony at 6 p.m. on June 22.

The “Blackjack coming soon” signs have been replaced with the June 22 date. The first cards will be dealt at 6 p.m. The casino will have blackjack, Pai gow, Baccarat, let it ride and 3 card poker.  There will be 55 blackjack tables and 16 of the rest at the Seminole Hollywood Hard Rock Casino.

I will be there to play and report on if they are hitting soft 17, using automatic shufflers, allow surrender, and all that sort of stuff.

On the highway today I saw a billboard of a jack of spades holding a guitar and said the Seminole Hard Rock Casino would have Blackjack soon.

No date was listed but hopefully its sooner than latter. I’m hoping the blackjack rules wiill favor the players more than the dealers, which includes no automatic shufflers. Once the Blackjack tables are out I will do a full trip report.

Been in Asia for the last month and the movie 21 is not being released till mid May so I didn’t get a chance to see the movie 21 until yesterday. I liked the movie very much and it was a lot of fun to watch. Just how Rounders made people quote lines from the movie at thousands of poker tables, I’m sure the movie 21 will do the same with some memorbable quotes. I definetnly recommend everyone check out this movie if you have not yet.

I left the theatre planning my next Vegas trip which will be soon and will involve card counting.

The official site for the movie 21 has launched today. I haven’t got a chance to check it out but will soon.

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/21/index.html

In real life, the MIT Blackjack Team was mostly composed of Asian-American males. However, in the movie 21 they was mostly casted by white actors to portray these men in the film. Ben Mezrich, author of Bringing Down the House, noted a “stereotypical” casting process on the part of Hollywood.

In other media outlets, the criticism was much more forceful. Asian Week called it a “whitewash” pointing out that if it was a African American replaced by a Caucasian, there will be more vocal protest. Best Week Ever mocked the casting by stating “I have no trouble watching Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth instead of some zany Asian people Asianing up the screen with their unwatchable, completely unrelatable Asianness.”

The only time you should consider buying blackjack insurance is while card counting and the true count exceeds +3. The chances the dealer’s hole card is a ten is very good. Do not take insurance, even if you have a blackjack unless you are card counting. Non-counting players should always decline it.

The following table shows the house edge on the insurance bet in blackjack depending on the number of decks used. Read the rest of this entry »