Gaming Traveler | Hold 'em, fold 'em, electronicallyBy Bill Ordine For The Inquirer Ever have the urge to yell at a casino dealer?
The cards are running lousy and, sure, you know it's not the fault of the person flipping the cards, but you'd still like to let off a little steam. Of course, that's not too classy - and you might even get kicked out.
At the new table games in Delaware, you'd probably get away with a little vitriol. After all, there's no insulting an image on a TV screen.
The virtual table games debuted in the fall at three racetrack casinos, or racinos, to expand gambling offerings without introducing dealers. Gambling at Delaware Park, Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway had been limited to thoroughbred or harness racing, plus slot machines in the casinos.
The new virtual table games - blackjack, Let It Ride, three-card poker and baccarat - have a filmed dealer instead of the real thing, virtual cards that are electronic images, and table-top buttons that players use to make decisions. So far, the games have been exceptionally popular.
"There's no question that this machine has created a buzz," said Stephen Keener, assistant vice president of slot operations at Dover Downs. "It's generated a lot of excitement and not just at our property. Especially at a racino, it adds another level of entertainment. People enjoy the camaraderie that you get at a table game."
The state approved the games to help compete with Atlantic City's full-blown casino resorts and Pennsylvania's slots casinos, which are beginning to come online. Some of Pennsylvania's casinos could have similar tables pending approval by the state Gaming Control Board, a spokesman said.
Each virtual table game has five betting positions with a large-screen TV monitor as the focal point. A filmed dealer welcomes players, directs players to make bets, appears to deal cards, totals the players' hands, and appears to collect or pay off bets. The dealers even change from time to time.
Players insert money in the machines to get started, place their wagers as they would at a slot machine and make decisions by pressing buttons.
In blackjack, for example, players decide to hit, stand, double their bet, split cards of the same rank, buy insurance and, where allowed, elect to surrender (give up half a bet when the prospects of playing out the hand are gloomy). A virtual six-deck shoe is reshuffled after two-thirds of the cards are dealt.
The games have been lucrative, with net proceeds statewide of about $300 per betting position per day - about 40 to 50 percent more than the average slot machine.
The virtual games also are used in California, Florida, Arizona, and Nassau in the Bahamas, but not in New Jersey or Nevada.
Just about any game, such as the table version of Texas Hold 'em, can be adapted to the electronic format. The virtual games are manufactured by Shuffle Master, a Nevada company that began with the invention of a simple card-shuffling machine.
"What we are doing, such as the table version of Texas Hold 'em, can be adapted to the electronic format. The virtual games are manufactured by Shuffle Master, a Nevada company that began with the invention of a simple card-shuffling machine.
"What we are doing here is harnessing some new style of technology to add entertainment to the gaming experience," said Mark Yoseloff, chairman and chief executive officer of Shuffle Master.
"It is not a live game, clearly, and yet it's not a slot machine, which is not at all a social experience," Yoseloff said. "In some sense, we have created a new gaming genre that appeals to a broad range of players."
This first generation of virtual table games is likely to be improved, with more interaction between the dealer and players and by adding celebrities to the roster of attractive, albeit anonymous, dealers, he added.
For casinos, these games are cheaper than paying dealers. For players, the table limits can be more moderate (in Delaware, they range from $5 to $100) because of the lower operating costs. There's less of an intimidation factor and no tipping, and the game can move quite a bit faster.
>In blackjack, for example, players decide to hit, stand, double their bet, >split cards of the same rank, buy insurance and, where allowed, elect to >surrender (give up half a bet when the prospects of playing out the hand are >gloomy). A virtual six-deck shoe is reshuffled after two-thirds of the cards >are dealt.
That sounds like penetration. I can't imagine that will last long, if it's even true.
> >In blackjack, for example, players decide to hit, stand, double their bet, > >split cards of the same rank, buy insurance and, where allowed, elect to > >surrender (give up half a bet when the prospects of playing out the hand are > >gloomy). A virtual six-deck shoe is reshuffled after two-thirds of the cards > >are dealt.
> That sounds like penetration. I can't imagine that will last long, if it's even > true.
Um, 1/3 of the shoe (equivalent of 2 whole decks) is not to the counter's advantage.
>On Dec 25 2006 10:09 PM, A Man Beaten by Jacks wrote: >> On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 23:12:44 -0500, "Schmedley" <schmege...@yahoo.com> wrote: >> >From Sunday's Phila Inquirer:
>> >In blackjack, for example, players decide to hit, stand, double their bet, >> >split cards of the same rank, buy insurance and, where allowed, elect to >> >surrender (give up half a bet when the prospects of playing out the hand are >> >gloomy). A virtual six-deck shoe is reshuffled after two-thirds of the cards >> >are dealt. >> That sounds like penetration. I can't imagine that will last long, if it's >even >> true. >Um, 1/3 of the shoe (equivalent of 2 whole decks) is not to the counter's >advantage.
> >> >In blackjack, for example, players decide to hit, stand, double their bet, > >> >split cards of the same rank, buy insurance and, where allowed, elect to > >> >surrender (give up half a bet when the prospects of playing out the hand are > >> >gloomy). A virtual six-deck shoe is reshuffled after two-thirds of the cards > >> >are dealt.
> >> That sounds like penetration. I can't imagine that will last long, if it's > >even > >> true.
> >Um, 1/3 of the shoe (equivalent of 2 whole decks) is not to the counter's > >advantage.
> It's 2/3, which is four decks.
Yes, but the decke is reshuffled with 1/3 of the shoe left undealt. Whereas, in a casino, a 6 deck shoe will usually get down to the last deck and a half or so.
Perhaps it's not a deep as a reshuffle with only one deck left, but in AC they rarely get that deep into a shoe.
I've played the tables at Dover Downs a few times and noticed that out of about 250 shoes, the count only went above +2 or below -2 in 5 separate hands.
That seems pretty odd but I suspect something not entirely random about the RNG engine used.
On the good side, after observing 250 shoes and playing about 50 of them, I'm up about $8K.
On Dec 26, 11:12 am, "FellKnight" <jordandevenp...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > >> >In blackjack, for example, players decide to hit, stand, double their > bet, > > >> >split cards of the same rank, buy insurance and, where allowed, elect to > > >> >surrender (give up half a bet when the prospects of playing out the hand > are > > >> >gloomy). A virtual six-deck shoe is reshuffled after two-thirds of the > cards > > >> >are dealt.
> > >> That sounds like penetration. I can't imagine that will last long, if > it's > > >even > > >> true.
> > >Um, 1/3 of the shoe (equivalent of 2 whole decks) is not to the counter's > > >advantage.
> > It's 2/3, which is four decks.Yes, but the decke is reshuffled with 1/3 of the shoe left undealt. > Whereas, in a casino, a 6 deck shoe will usually get down to the last deck > and a half or so.
> Fell > -- > Website:www.fellknight.com > Email: fellknight at gmail dot com
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A little behind the times. They (Casinos) already have automatted constant shufflers that shuffle the whole 6 decks after every hand. In fact, it keeps shuffling the remaining 5 3/4 decks as you are playing one hand.
> > >> >In blackjack, for example, players decide to hit, stand, double their > bet, > > >> >split cards of the same rank, buy insurance and, where allowed, elect to > > >> >surrender (give up half a bet when the prospects of playing out the hand > are > > >> >gloomy). A virtual six-deck shoe is reshuffled after two-thirds of the > cards > > >> >are dealt.
> > >> That sounds like penetration. I can't imagine that will last long, if > it's > > >even > > >> true.
> > >Um, 1/3 of the shoe (equivalent of 2 whole decks) is not to the counter's > > >advantage.
> > It's 2/3, which is four decks.
> Yes, but the decke is reshuffled with 1/3 of the shoe left undealt. > Whereas, in a casino, a 6 deck shoe will usually get down to the last deck > and a half or so.
> Fell > -- > Website: www.fellknight.com > Email: fellknight at gmail dot com
> A little behind the times. They (Casinos) already have automatted > constant shufflers that shuffle the whole 6 decks after every hand. In > fact, it keeps shuffling the remaining 5 3/4 decks as you are playing > one hand.
In a constant shuffle game, yes. I was speaking specifically of 6 deck shoes though.
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