David Sklansky is the Father of 6/5 Blackjack

[ihate17]

6/5 rarity

wow, that guy must be a real douche bag.

i've never been to Vegas. just how prevalent is 6/5 crap there anyway, or is there stats on how prevalent 6/5 crap is through out the US?

6/5 is very common on single deck games in the U.S., only a handful or so, 3/2 single deck games are around.

6/5 is extremely rare, perhaps non-existant on double deck and shoe games unless you happen to be in a Vegas cesspool, more comonly known as a Vegas casino owned by Harrah's.

So the simple answer is prevalent in single deck, no at all prevalent for other forms of blackjack.

ihate17

 

[JSTAT]

Sklansky 'invented' a variation called 'Experto'
- first offered at Vegas World circa 1980
- single deck dealt to last card
- BJ pays even money. zg

Sklansky did not reference "Experto 21" in his testimony. He stated the game of "Blackjack." Also, dealing to the last card was never said.

JSTAT

 

[Martin Gayle]

6:5 blackjack was inevitable. Given the popularity of carnival games with house advantages over 2% (in some cases well over) such as 3 card poker, carribean stud and let it ride ... it's no surprise that casinos looked for a way to boost the house edge on the popular blackjack game.

I don't beleive this to be true. Many players, good and bad avoid 6/5. You never have whales coming in to play Let It Ride or 6/5. The Whales still come to casinos to play traditional games like BJ, Craps, baccarat. They all have low HE.

Whales and good players will always find the best games. A good player will not play a 6/5 game. All ploppies need is a sucker bet with a monsterous house edge to make BJ as profitable as carnival games for the ploppy.

 

[aslan]

I don't beleive this to be true. Many players, good and bad avoid 6/5. You never have whales coming in to play Let It Ride or 6/5. The Whales still come to casinos to play traditional games like BJ, Craps, baccarat. They all have low HE.

Whales and good players will always find the best games. A good player will not play a 6/5 game. All ploppies need is a sucker bet with a monsterous house edge to make BJ as profitable as carnival games for the ploppy.

It is in our best interest to keep the ploppies aware of how bad the 6/5 game is. It seems like there is no end to the growing throngs who continue to play both at 6/5 and CSM games. Without continually pushing the truth out to the ploppies, eventually more and more will join the ranks until there are no more 3/2 or hand shuffled/ASM games.

When I walk past a 6/5 game I like to speak out loud to the dealer, "Oh, you only pay 6/5. No thanks!"

(I dedicate this post to Shadroch)

 

[moo321]

I don't beleive this to be true. Many players, good and bad avoid 6/5. You never have whales coming in to play Let It Ride or 6/5. The Whales still come to casinos to play traditional games like BJ, Craps, baccarat. They all have low HE.

Whales and good players will always find the best games. A good player will not play a 6/5 game. All ploppies need is a sucker bet with a monsterous house edge to make BJ as profitable as carnival games for the ploppy.

Absolutely, let's not forget the effect of sucker bets. As much as I hate doing so for cover purposes, I do occasionally actually explain why I don't play "21+3" "match the dealer" or some other sucker bet. It gets awkward, however, when I play certain side bets every once in awhile at a high count...

 

[FLASH1296]

Sklansky never claimed to be more than an average Texas Hold Em player.
He is very strong in games like Razz and Lowball, etc.

I noted the 1998 date on the testimony.

I do not recall 6/5 BJ games being ubiquitous 21 years ago.

I thought this was Gary Loveman's dirty doing.

 

[ihate17]

math problem and Loveman

Sklansky never claimed to be more than an average Texas Hold Em player.
He is very strong in games like Razz and Lowball, etc.

I noted the 1998 date on the testimony.

I do not recall 6/5 BJ games being ubiquitous 21 years ago.

I thought this was Gary Loveman's dirty doing.

1998 was only 11 years ago.

I believe 6/5 first showed up at Ballys before HET bought it. It was then owned by PPE (Trump)
Still since Loveman is such a dispicable character it really hurts not to blame him for the invention of 6/5 but I find comfort that he can easily be blamed for expanding it into shoe games.

ihate17

 

[FLASH1296]

It is my perception that the evil b*st*rd - Gary Loveman - was the primary architect for spreading 8 deckers, not to mention H17 games, on the Strip.

Perhaps my memory is faulty, but were they there to any degree more than a decade ago ?

 

[QFIT]

Sklansky never claimed to be more than an average Texas Hold Em player.

Well, he did co-author a couple of Hold Em classics with Malmuth.

 

[PumpkinEscobar]

It seems like there is no end to the growing throngs who continue to play both at 6/5 and CSM games.

Count me in!

 

[FLASH1296]

QFIT,

You said ... "he did co-author a couple of Hold Em classics with Malmuth."

That is true. Those books were published decades ago, before the Modern Era of Poker.

David Sklansky was a true poker pioneer.

Before the advent of personal computers he had computed a great deal about Poker that was simply unknown.

Sklansky dislikes tournaments and any "ring game" in which his edge is not substantial.

 

[callipygian]

"he did co-author a couple of Hold Em classics with Malmuth."

That is true. Those books were published decades ago, before the Modern Era of Poker.

Not SSHE, which arguably is his biggest classic.

 

[Canceler]

But I'm not...

Not SSHE, which arguably is his biggest classic.

I see you were too polite to mention that that was copyrighted in 2004, and point out that was only a half decade ago.

 

[WRX]

I suspect that Sklansky has been a father on other occasions that he'd rather not admit to.

 

[WRX]

A while back I was playing a 6:5 game on the Strip dealt by a very nice, eccentric, older Asian woman. EVERY time a player got a blackjack, as she was paying, she'd say, "Here, we only pay you a little bit."

 

[moo321]

A while back I was playing a 6:5 game on the Strip dealt by a very nice, eccentric, older Asian woman. EVERY time a player got a blackjack, as she was paying, she'd say, "Here, we only pay you a little bit."

If I was walking by and observed that I would have tipped her $5 on principle.