that Harrah's played a 6-deck shoe, and they would never play through more than 4 decks before hitting the cut card to re-shuffle. Only card counters in the movie "21" can make money counting in a game like that.

The best game I found was actually another casino in the area-- the "Boomtown" in Harvey. They had two single deck tables where the dealer stands on soft 17, and the player is allowed to double down after the split. For those of you math geeks who care, that ends up giving the player an edge of about 0.20% by just playing perfect basic strategy.

Of course, the table was always packed such that the dealer could only deal two hands (at most) before reshuffling, so counting cards would have been of little benefit (if I had those particular skills, which I don't). Nevertheless, it was a fun table to play. I don't know if my 'edge' actually translated to more winnings over the 5-6 hours I played there, but it made me feel self-superior to at least play at a theoretical advantage during that time.

Brent J. Jensen
R-8007
orbis non sufficit