Fast game’s a good game: speeding up live blackjack
Live blackjack is so much better to play online than its RNG counterpart in many respects.
Real cards…check
Real human dealer (generally attractive!)…check
Ability to interact with dealer…check
Real shoe shuffle…check
Actual, rather than simulated random outcomes…check
There is however one apsect of the game that irks many players, myself included, and that’s game speed…or rather lack of it!
Full table blackjack blues…
Imagine this. You join a live blackjack table as the 7th seated player in a game that gives players 30s to place bets and 20s to decide whether to hit/stand/double down etc.
So before the first player has to make a decision half a minute has already gone. Then…
Player 1 takes his full 20s before deciding to hit.
Player 2 decides to split his cards and hits twice on the first hand, once on the second.
Player 3 hits four times, taking close to his full 20s to decide each time, before eventually busting.
Player 4 takes 20s to decide to stand!
Players 5 and 6 have tuned out and are watching telly so their hands get the maximum allotted 20s before defaulting to ‘stand’.
By the time it’s your turn to play your wife is asking you why you’re swearing at the computer and suggesting you turn it off and come and watch Sex in the City the movie with her.
OK so this is an extreme case. But the fact remains full table live blackjack games can be slow, sometimes painfully slow.
Speeding the game up
The above nightmare scenario is reasonably easily avoided with a little bit of homework and knowledge of all available options out there. Here are our tips for speeding up your live blackjack play..
1. Play a ‘one to many’ blackjack game
In a one-to-many live blackjack game there is a single ‘player deal’. All players play that single deal, with all required hit cards dealt to the centre of the table and allocated to players consistent with their decisions. The way the deal is structured is different to standard multi-player/seat table blackjack but the same rules apply to each player…and because there is only one deal the games are fast.
You can play one to many live blackjack at Smart Live Casino and BetPhoenix.
Blackjack at Vuetec powered Dublinbet and Lucky Live Casino and ViG powered Celtic Casino and Fairway Casino are all one to many games also. However they are early payout games that also enforce varying degrees of basic strategy play so they’re significant departures from ‘standard’ blackjack. But they are fast!
2. Scope out the multi-player tables
What if you don’t want to play a ‘one-to-many’ blackjack game? You want a good old fashioned 7-seat table just like at your local casino but you still want fast play.
If you’re playing at a casino powered by one of the bigger platforms, Playtech or Evolution Gaming you’ll find many available tables at any given time. More often than not many will have 3 or fewer seated players making for a pretty quick game. Often you can get a table to yourself.
On the off chance all tables are full or near full, scope them out a bit. Most players play fast and don’t take anywhere near their full 20s or 30s to make a decision so just watch a couple of rounds to make sure your table doesn’t have any plodders before you join.
3. Play dedicated live blackjack tables
A growing number of live casinos are licensing dedicated live blackjack tables from their platform provider that are only available to their players (as opposed to all players at all casinos licensing that particular platform).
Evolution Gaming seem to be leading the charge in this area and plenty of their casinos are opting for dedicated tables, including Unibet, 888, Ladbrokes, and Party Casino. Just last week Betsson announced it had added a third dedicated live blackjack table for its players.
Why are dedicated live blackjack tables typically faster than regular ones?
Well because they’re only available to players from one casino rather 20-odd casinos, they’re rarely full. In fact a large part of the reason for casinos paying additional license fees for these tables is so that they can give their players a less interrupted gaming experience.
Dedicated tables - casino branding on the cloth and RARELY FULL
Live blackjack doesn’t have to be slow. You just need to know where the fast games are played!
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