Good memories from single deck blackjack
By Robert Sweeney
The Christmas lights are up in our gaming towns and they look great. There is something very Christmas like in these old mining towns. The early day miners really enjoyed the holidays and they would have dances, dinners, and they even built an opera house in Central City.
They loved dressing up in fancy clothes and people spent time visiting with friends. There were no television sets, radios, cell phones, movie houses, but there were pubs, churches and homes where friends could gather to talk about the mining discoveries, gold nuggets, the weather, ailments and children. It was a different time, but they took out time for Christmas and the trees were decorated with wonderful glass bulbs, bells, tinsel and a star or angel on the top.
While I wasn’t around in those days, one might surmise that gifts were scarce and had to be shipped in from Denver and ordered through the local mercantile store. No doubt fancy meats, nuts, candy and perfumes were stocked locally and ended up under the tree. No doubt spirits were enjoyed and given as gifts, especially among the Irish mining crowd.
Driving out of Black Hawk this week as darkness fell, the Christmas lights were bright and a lighted train was gleaming at the south end of town.
I spent some time visiting with clients and advertisers. Everyone seems pleased with the Colorado Gambler and people are very praiseworthy about the articles, coupons and advertising. We continue to have thousands of people who enjoy reading the paper via mail, King Sooper’s stores, and many, many distribution locations.
I always like to spend a little time at the gaming tables, and enjoy playing blackjack. I have enjoyed the game for decades and have purchased and read many books and studied a number of systems. If it were that easy, the players would own the casinos. Blackjack is part skill, but mainly luck and patience.
I ended up playing blackjack at the Golden Mardi Gras and was hoping to meet new General Manager Shannon Keel. With a name of Shannon she has to be very Irish and events at that casino should really be rocking on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2011. Shannon was in a conference, so I visited with Table Games Director Chuck Williams. Also saw a number of old friends around the casino that have been in the gaming business at various casino locations.
As I warmed up on the roulette table betting on a few favorite numbers, I hit one number heads up, but the little white ball was very elusive, not wanting to go in my number selections. Roulette is really an easy game to play and fun to pick numbers, odd or even, red or black.
I gave the pit boss my driver’s license out of my billfold to get a Golden Rewards point card. That entitles players to freebies, meals, drinks and rewards of various specials.
Moving over to the blackjack tables one table was single deck blackjack. That is harder to find these days with Shuffle Master automatic dealing machines used at many casinos where the cards are shuffled in a machine and a desk is always ready to be dealt. If not a Shuffle Master than the dealer uses a six-deck shoe where the cards are shuffled, cut by a player and placed into a shoe type of device. That means there are 312 cards to be dealt although they never go to the end of the last deck, so there is more play and less shuffling of the cards.
Using multiple decks and automatic shuffling equipment make card counting very difficult for those who still think they can win by counting cards. In the old days with a single deck, players might count the face cards and then bet more money if more face cards or aces remained in the single deck. The only trouble with the system is that the dealer gets more face cards right along with the players.
I chose the single deck table and they have made one change, they don’t pay 1 ½ for a blackjack but 5 to 6 odds reducing the blackjack payout slightly. That’s common now in almost all casinos that offer single deck blackjack. Casinos should make a point to advertise their single deck games.
But it was so pleasant to have a cordial dealer and the slower play of one deck, she dealt the cards face down and it was just like old times. The cards were decent and I managed to make a few winning hands.
Here’s the shocker, however, and the reason why to play in a great casino with straight shooters. The pit boss walks up to the table carrying my brown billfold that cocktail waitress Vanessa found on the floor by the roulette table. Somehow in getting out my driver’s license my wallet never made it back into my rear pocket.
Needless to say, my life is in that billfold, credit cards, ID cards, driver’s license, you name it, everything still in the wallet. I was so happy to have it handed back to me; I haven’t lost a billfold in recent memory. Vanessa got a nice tip and I was thankful to be playing cards in a class act casino where they protect their players.
Didn’t get to meet Shannon, but will see her another day. She sure does run a nice casino.
