What's New In Table Games by John Grochowski
When slot machines went video, it was a revolution that
pulled a quick coup and produced the most popular games in modern casinos.
The move toward video on table games is more of a slow
march, a niche here and a niche there. Most blackjack, craps and roulette
wheels are still using chips, dealers and cards, dice or wheels. But a
walk through the quieter corners of November’s Global Gaming Expo in Las
Vegas, away from bright lights and big bonuses of the slot machines, found
a number of vendors pushing table games with electronic components.
There was DigiDeal, an old hand at electronic and
electronic/live tables, with its Classic Blackjack tables. There was DEQ,
with electronic betting pads and a Bad Beat Blackjack Progressive side
bet. And there was ShuffleMaster, the casino industry’s largest purveyor
of proprietary table games, showing off electronic wagering at its iTable.
I stopped at the ShuffleMaster booth a couple of times
during the expo. That was partly to take a load off my feet after walking
the display floor for hours on end, getting a good look at new products
being pitched to casino operators. But it was mostly to get a good
first-hand feel for the iTable.
Blackjack games at the iTable used a live dealer and
ShuffleMaster’s iDeal card-reading shoe. Each player had a touch screen to
make bets, and the iDeal relayed information on the cards dealt. The
screen would show the card totals instantly. Instead of using chips,
players touched the screen to place their bets, and wagers were settled
electronically. No dealer mistakes, no stoppage of play to wait for
payoffs.
At my demo, my screen showed the size of my bankroll. With
a quick touch, the dealer showed me what it had been 10 hands ago.
For those who like to make side bets, the demo tables were
loaded with Royal Match and Bet the Set 21. Another side bet was offered
after the initial cards were dealt. With a 17 against a dealer’s 8, I was
offered odds on whether I would win the hand. Not true odds, of course,
but enticing enough that average players will give the game a little extra
action.
ShuffleMaster doesn’t live by electronic hybrids and
automatic shufflers alone, of course. It distributes a number of table
games that use chips and everything. At G2E, I sat down, riffled my chips
and gave test runs to its five new games — No Flop Pineapple Hold’em,
Fortune San Lo Poker, High Five Poker, Dealer Bluff and Rabbit Hunter. All
are poker variations, and ShuffleMaster makes use of the ante-bet format
that’s so familiar from its Caribbean Stud Poker and Three Card Poker
games.
Do you want to play with four cards? Five? Six?
ShuffleMaster has you covered. I stopped to play a few hands of Rabbit
Hunter, and was curious as to where the rabbit came in. “It’s a sixth
card,” the dealer explained. “You can make another bet, and get a sixth
card.”
Buying the sixth card is chasing the rabbit. Other than
that, it uses a familiar format. You start with an ante, then a bet. A
Tens Up bonus bet is also available, but optional. And, of course, after
you’ve seen all the cards, you can go on a little bunny hop for a few
dollars more.
Among others showing table games with electronic
components, DigiDeal introduced its Classic Blackjack tables, with
electronic wagering including side bets. Four side bets are available, and
casino operators can choose any two to put on their tables. One making its
debut is Bad Beat Bonus. Lose with a 20, and the bonus bet pays 20-1. It
also pays 15-1 if you lose with 19, 10-1 if you push with 21 or 5-1 if you
push with 19 or 20. You get your side action back if you win with 19 or
better. That’ll take the sting out of some frustrating losses.
DEQ, which also gives each player a touch screen to place
bets, introduced the Bad Beat Blackjack Progressive, which pays players
for dealer 21s. Make the side bet, and you’ll be paid 10-1 on a dealer
blackjack, 25-1 if the dealer has a three-card 21, on up to 50-1 if the
dealer 21 is four cards, 100-1 on five cards, 1,000-1 on six cards and a
progressive jackpot on a seven-card 21. When the dealer has been stringing
out those low cards and has 16 after six cards, you’ll be rooting hard for
a 5 to turn up, no matter what your hand.
Back to games that still let you riffle your chips, Score
Gaming introduced Second Chance Blackjack and Three Card 21. Three Card 21
starts you off with three cards, pays bonuses on hands of Ace-Ace-10 value
and Ace with two 10 values, and gives options to split your starting hand
into a two-card start and a one-card start, or even three one-card starts
if your original hand includes a pair. It was interesting enough to demo,
but the house edge was listed at 1.44 percent, making this a recreational
game rather than an opportunity for skilled play.
Second Chance Blackjack brings to the table a side bet that
makes the game a combination of blackjack and poker. If you make the
Second Chance wager and bust, the card that busts your hand is used along
with four additional cards dealt to make a five-card poker hand. Winners
are paid according to a pay table that starts at even money for a suited
pair of 2s through 10s and tops out at 250-1 for a royal flush. House edge
is 5.28 percent, meaning the best play for strong players remains to focus
on blackjack and not the side bet.
Galaxy Gaming moves to make blackjack betting a three-part
extravaganza with Blackjack Attack. It’s played with eight Spanish decks —
48-card decks with the 10-spots removed. As usual in games played with
Spanish decks, there are a number of positive rules to partially
compensate. Any player 21 automatically wins, as do six-card hands of 21
or less. Players may double down on any number of cards. And if the dealer
has a suited blackjack, insurance pays 5-1.
You bet in three parts. Place your first bet, then after
you see your first card you may place a Second Attack bet equal to the
first. Then after you’ve seen your first card and the dealer’s up card,
you may place a Third Attack bet, regardless of whether you’ve made the
Second Attack. With a specially adapted basic strategy, house edge is
about 1.2 percent, again leaving a recreational game rather than an
opportunity.
Triple Attack comes with three optional side bets. The
Bonus Jackpot is a $1 side bet on a progressive jackpot. Payoffs start at
5-1 on two pair and rise to the progressive payoff on a Royal Four of a
Kind — four Jacks, Queens or Kings of the same suit. As in other
progressive games, the house edge is variable, depending on the jackpot
amount. Other side bets are Triple Match, with the big payoff of 150 on a
suited three of a kind but payoffs down to 2-1 on any pair, and Suited
Royals, paying 2-1 on two suited cards, 10-1 on two suited face cards, and
40-1 on a suited king and queen. That leaves a house edge of 3.1 percent
on Triple Match, and 5.7 percent on Suited Royals.
