Southern California Blackjack

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Southern California Blackjack Rating: 4,6/5 9438 votes

I have made several programs that I modify per the situation, but have used to evaluate the advantage of games with this rule set, as played in casinos in Southern California: if you bust by less than dealer: PUSH blackjack: 6 to 5 Surrender after first card Double down on any two starting cards No cards after split aces. Meet Blackjack, Onyx’s brother. They’re about 4-6 yrs old, and came to us from Mexio. Together they lived isolated in a small enclosure outside his entire life and was not exposed to learning opportunities. When he came to us for fostering, he did not know many of the very basic things any family dog would learn early in life. San Manuel Casino is owned and operated by the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians. Come take a spin on any of our many slot machines. Pull up a seat at one of our table games locations throughout the Casino and play Vegas-style blackjack, Pai Gow, or other exciting games. Like to play big? Southern California's #1 Casino Themed Party Company! Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one, Vingt-et-un (French for Twenty-one), or Pontoon, is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. The standard game is played with one or more Anglo-American decks containing 52 cards.

On This Page

Introduction

June 4, 2009 Update: The rules as shown on this page are long gone.

Rules

California Blackjack is a player-banked blackjack variation played at poker casinos in Los Angeles County. The rules may vary from one casino to another. For example, some casinos use more jokers or treat jokers as 2 or 12 points.

Playing rules

  1. The rules are the same as conventional blackjack except as noted below.
  2. Six 53-card decks are used. Each deck contains one joker.
  3. The highest hands, called 'naturals', are in no particular order:two jokers, two aces, an ace and a joker. The player must declare any natural immediately.
  4. If the player has two jokers, and the dealer does not, then the player shall win 2 to 1.
  5. An ace and a 10-point card counts as 21 points but does not outrank other 21-points hands, as in conventional blackjack.
  6. Jokers are wild. A joker with any other combination of card(s) counts as 21 points and standing is mandatory.
  7. If the dealer has a joker face up then the down card will be turned over immediately. Players may not draw in this situation. All player hands under 21 points will lose.
  8. The dealer never peeks at the hole card.
  9. Player may surrender on any two cards, except when the dealer has a joker up.
  10. If dealer's down card is a joker then the player can only lose the original wager. Additional bets by doubling or splitting shall push.
  11. Dealer hits a soft 17.
  12. Double after split allowed.
  13. Player may split to up to three hands.
  14. If both the player and dealer bust and the player has a lower total then the bet is a push.
  15. If both the player and dealer bust and the player's total is higher or equal to the dealer's total then the player shall lose.
Southern California Blackjack

Betting rules

Southern california blackout map
  1. Player may bet $10 to $600 per hand, with a $1 fee (the'collection') per $100 bet. The fee is always rounded up to the nearest$1 and the house gets it.
  2. Banker must pay a flat $3 fee.
  3. Option to bank rotates around the table in turn. Player-banker has the opportunity to bank two hands before the turn passes. The banker then is playing the dealer's cards against the other players.

Banking rules

  1. The most the banker can possibly win is even money for the total amount that they put up to bank with (if you put up $100 to bank with, you can only possibly win $100... even if the players' cumulative loss is $1,000). In this situation, the 'corporation' will take up the slack.The corporation is a heavily bankrolled pseudo-player who sits at each table at first base and is employed by a company that the casinocontracts. These companies are allegedly non-profits. The corporation'banks behind,' meaning that it covers all wagers that the player-banker cannot cover. They can but typically do not bet when it is not their turn to bank, and are not required to do so (with the exception noted below). However, they do take the banking opportunity every time it comes around to them. If they do play, they follow a strict strategy card.
  2. If a player-banker does not have enough money to cover all wagers, the corporation will cover the balance of the outcome of the hand. How this works is however complicated. Based on the dealer's second card, an 'action' marker is placed on one of the players hands counting around from the bank location. Then, the dealer begins to pay the players in turn around the table beginning at the 'action'. When all of the player-banker's money has been wagered (i.e. put at risk and either won or lost), the dealer then continues to pay off or collect from the remaining players using the corporation's money. Thus, if the player-banker did not cover all the bets on the table, they may win when most of the table is losing, or lose when most of the table is winning, based on the luck of where the action falls.
  3. The player-banker may elect to 'buy action' from the corporation.This means that the player-banker can pay $5 to the corporation and force them to bet $100. They may do this cumulatively, i.e., pay the cooperation $20 and have them bet $400, on any of the spots on the table, as chosen by the player-banker. The corporation has control over these hands and plays them according to their basic strategy charts.They keep these charts secret.
  4. One more option is called 'kum-kum.' If a player has the opportunity to be banker, they may allow any other player(s) at the table or the corporation to kum-kum with them, which means to split the banker's roll between them. For instance if Joe is banker and he has $75 he is putting up to bank, he may allow Dave to put up $75 with him as well. They then split the winning or losing between them. To kum-kum, all players must agree and generally put up the exact same amount of money. Other players may also opt to 'second bank', that is to cover bets not covered by the player-banker's 'first bank'.
  5. The bank option goes around the table to each spot for two hands unless declined, in which case it moves to the next spot.
  6. A player can only bank in a spot if he just bet on it the hand before.

Also see the rules at the Hustler Casino. As far as I can tell the playing rules are the same at the Hustler Casino, except the number of decks.

Southern California Blackjack

Strategy

Following is the basic strategy for the Hollywood Park Casino rules.

House Advantage

Southern california blackjack club

According to my calculations the player has an advantage of 0.56% before considering the 1% commission. Assuming a 1% commission the house edge would thus be 0.44%. It should be emphasized that the rounding rules on the commission would cause small wagers to carry a very high house edge. My advice is if you can't bet at least $100 then don't play at all.

It is hard to speculate on the advantage or disadvantage as dealer because it would be strongly dependent on the level of skill of the other players and how much they are betting. After considering strategy errors if the actual house edge was 2% then it would take $150 in action to compensate for the $3 rake. At a 3% edge it would only take $100. When I was observing a similar game called 'Hawaiian Blackjack' at the Hawaiian Gardens Casino, there were many Asian players betting small stacks of black ($100) chips.

I think a well financed player should bet $100 per hand as the player and take full advantage of the option to bank in turn. It would be best to play at a table where most of the other players declined to bank.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Bryan Mitchell for explaining the rules to me. It had previously been difficult to get a clear explanation of the rules in full.

Links

California rules for casino games.
Written by:Michael Shackleford

Ever since its opening in 1975, the California Hotel & Casino has had to compete hard for business. Even though it occupies a prime downtown location, being at the corner of Ogden Avenue and Main Street puts it a block from the bustle of Fremont Street, just far enough away from the foot traffic to keep it from becoming a Las Vegas landmark. To cope, “the Cal” has had to develop a highly targeted marketing strategy along with a full range of amenities that visiting gamblers demand. The focus of activity is a gaming floor covering 35,848 square feet and featuring 28 table games, including 18 dedicated specifically to blackjack.

California Tables & Games

The Cal’s pit area is best known for its four-table craps pit, where shooter Stanley Fujita once held the dice for a world-record three hours and six minutes. That legendary stint gave rise to the casino’s “Golden Arm” club , open exclusively to those who’ve rolled the bones for an hour without interruption. But blackjack players needn’t worry about being treated like second-class customers. This casino preserves all kinds of gaming traditions, including 3:2 payouts for natural blackjacks and low-stakes tables where beginners can feel welcome.

Southern California Blackboard

The main game here is $3 six-deck blackjack dealt from a shoe, where the dealer hits on soft 17. The rules are quite tight, with no doubling down after splitting (DAS), no re-splitting of Aces (RSA) and no surrender available, all of which translates into a House edge of 0.78%. The $5 and $25 double-deck versions are a bit more inviting, applying the same set of rules but with a House edge of just 0.60%, owing to the reduced number of decks in play. The table maximum for all of these blackjack games is $1,000.

It is best to avoid the $5~$200 single-deck games that pays only 6:5 for a natural blackjack. Those looking for some variation might want to try the $10~$1,000 tables that offer the “Bet Set 21” side bet option. Note that although the casino’s slot floor extends to the mezzanine where the sports book is located, all table games are grouped in the ground level pit area only.

What’s Different

Southern California Blackjack Tournament

The California’s founder, Sam Boyd, came up with a novel idea to set this hotel apart from all others. Instead of mimicking some exotic foreign locale or fantasy theme, he decided to offer a comfortable “home away from home” specifically for visitors from Hawaii. He knew from time he had spent in the 50th state that Hawaiians love gambling, despite the lack of legal places to play there. He also knew that many Hawaiians think of Las Vegas as “the ninth island,” owing to the city’s sizeable “kama’aina” community. He set about branding his hotel-casino as the “headquarters” for Hawaiians traveling to Las Vegas, along with establishing charter flights and low-cost tour packages to lure traffic from Honolulu directly to his door. So if the casino floor features dealers wearing aloha shirts, there is a clear reason why.

Southern California Blackout

B Connected for Frequent Blackjack Players

Southern California Blackjack Game

Because the California Hotel & Casino is part of the Boyd Gaming Group, it shares its “B Connected” player’s club with such sister properties as Sam’s Town, the Gold Coast, the Orleans and Suncoast as well as Boyd’s casinos outside Nevada [ ]. The loyalty program has three levels of membership, each with its “own unique set of rewards and benefits,” from Ruby to Sapphire and Emerald. Perks range from cash back, dining discounts and special pricing on merchandise to room upgrades, priority services, event invitations and more. Blackjack players earn points based on the average amount bet and time played. Ever player receives an online account for tracking play and identifying new promotions, too [ ].

The Inside View

Southern California Black Bear

The “Aloha Spirit” evidenced by players and staff at the blackjack tables is reflective of the laid back and friendly way of life found in the tropics. However, it can also seem somewhat insular, rather like visiting a foreign country, where everyone speaks another language. In fact, don’t be surprised to hear some pidgin at the tables. Fortunately for mainlanders, on the California’s mezzanine level is the entrance to a sky bridge that links this hotel-casino to another Boyd Gaming property, Main Street Station, just across the street. The atmosphere there should seem much more familiar to those who are less comfortable with Hawaiian culture, while the blackjack games are just about the same.