6-5 blackjack sucker tables on the rise

I used to own a Weimaraner named Sully.

Sully wasn’t a smart dog.  When he ran through the fly-screen door and completely destroyed it as a puppy I laughed it off and thought he’ll live and learn. When he did it for the fourth time I decided it was time to find him a new home.

As it turns out (rather tragically) I never got a chance to find him a new home because he ran away.

You know that trick you pull on dogs when you pretend to throw a stick and they charge off for 50 meters or so before realizing you didn’t throw it, at which point they turn and come back?   I did that with Sully and he just kept on running.  Like Forrest Gump he galloped on and disappeared into the distance and I never saw him again.

Yep, Sully was a very, very dumb dog.  A contender for stupidest mammal ever.

Another contender surfaces in Vegas

Not so says Bill Zender.  Bill is a table games consultant in Las Vegas and he believes that the, “the dumbest mammal on the face of the Earth is a man in lust.”

He’s referring to the growing number of visitors to Vegas who are content to play blackjack on tables paying 6:5 for Blackjack.

According to the Las Vegas Sun almost 25% of tables on the strip now fall into this category and many of them are located in “party pits” – sections of the casino where the dealers are sexy girls wearing very little and some of the tables are set up with a pole rather than chips and cards.

An unfortunate truth is that many players either don’t know, or don’t care that they are being ripped off by the casino.

6-5 blackjack = terrible return to player rate

Hit blackjack with a $100 bet playing a 6-5 game and you get $120.

Hit blackjack on a 3-2 game and that same bet earns you $150.

The implications of this single rule difference on expected return to player are significant.  No longer are you playing a skinny house edge game, but rather a ‘house game’ like American Roulette or slots.  In practice the difference is so significant Zender says that  even with a third the turnover of traditional 3-1 tables the 6-5 sucker tables will make the same money for the casino.

6-5 blackjack is a very silly game to play – especially when there are plenty of 3-2 tables on the strip. It’s a bit like walking into your corner store and ask to pay 20% above retail for a loaf of bread.

But the sucker tables are cleverly packaged by casinos with lower table limits, creating the perception of a low risk option…and the house edge misgivings are of course hidden behind large breasts and long legs wrapped around poles. I guess if the dealer is sexy enough there will always be  numpties out there happy to get even money (or even 2:3 or worse) for blackjack.

Fortunately things are a little bit too competitive online for a live dealer 6-5 blackjack game to survive (until someone introduces naked dealers that is).

Related pages: Live blackjack house edge calculations