Collection Fee in Card Rooms

Some card rooms charge the customers a collection fee to play each hand of blackjack and some do not.  

In the State of California card rooms in certain areas are exempt from charging this collection fee to their players and they charge only the corporation. 

The exemption appears to be due to their proximity to an Indian casino. 

The Sacramento area is one of those areas that is exempt from charging their players collection and their customers do not have to pay a collection fee.  

There is a collection fee still paid,, it is just taken care of by the corporation or the company bankers that bank the games. 

Card rooms do not have a choice.  No cardroom wants to ask their players to pay this collection fee. 

It is mandated by the state of California either their facility must charge the collection or their facility is exempt from charging the collection.  

Blackjack player parody video on YouTube

"Douchebag Casino"  is a parody on blackjack players.  

BJ players are hilarious, and often repetitive. 

Although this skit is not particularly well-written, it does illustrate a few of the more common types of players you will find playing at the blackjack table. 

"Douchebag Casino" by Sammy Smith

http://youtu.be/fWkqD2DF7bs

Info on California Card Rooms

California Card Rooms

There are more than 100 card rooms in California ranging in size from one table to over 200 tables.

California law allows card rooms to play a variety of card games and the card rooms have no stake in the outcome of any of these games. 

Players play against each other and pay a fee for use of the facilities. In some locations that fee is waived for players. 

The types of games played in card rooms are:

Poker

Variations of poker such as Hold'Em, Omaha and different variations of stud poker.

California Games (also called Asian Games):

Cal Games, are games that are traditionally house banked games, like blackjack.  

21st Century Blackjack, which plays like traditional blackjack.  Different versions of Blackjack, like California Blackjack, or Spanish 21. 

Cal Games also include games like Pai Gow poker (also called two-handed poker, or double hand poker) and Baccarat.   

Some card rooms spread Pai Gow Tiles

California law allows player banked games, whereby one player can act as the banker or player/dealer and play against the other players at the table. 

This format is used in the California Games, Blackjack type games.

Many of the card rooms have full food and beverage services and are located close to major airports and freeways

Check out the games being played at your local card room, it 's not just for poker   

For more information on card rooms in California contact: Golden State Gaming Association, 1127 11th Street, Suite 242, Sacramento, CA 95814, USA. Phone: 916/498-9500, Website: www.goldenstategaming.org 

Opening a Card Room in California

How to Open a Card Room in California

There are numerous poker rooms throughout the state of California. A poker room is an establishment running poker table games that is open to the public.

 Through the California Gambling Control Commission, a private citizen can apply and, if approved, open a poker/card room in California. 

Currently, there is a moratorium on card rooms until the year 2020,  therefore no new card room licenses are being issued.  

A General Outline of the Steps. 

1.- Apply for a Gambling Establishment License from the California Gambling Control Commission. All prospective owners must apply and pass an extensive background check conducted by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Gambling Control. The Bureau's website states, "suitability is determined by a number of factors including but not limited to the applicant's honesty, integrity, general character, reputation, habits, and financial and criminal history. Once this step is completed the application is scheduled for the next Commission meeting at which time a decision will be made to approve or deny the application".

2.- Check local ordinances in your area to ensure no laws will be broken by opening a poker room.

3.- Obtain poker and Cal game approval from the Bureau for each game you wish to spread. 

Each game must be individually approved by the Bureau before operations may begin. The Bureau will also check local ordinances to ensure operating a card room does not conflict with any local laws.

4.- Purchase necessary equipment and furniture. Hire employees. Set up the card room.

5.- Direct all employees to apply and be approved for a work permit. The Bureau of Gambling Control states that "any person employed in a gambling establishment as a dealer, secretary, waiter or waitress; floor, security, count room, cage, collection, surveillance or data-processing personnel; appropriate maintenance personnel; or any person whose employment duties require or authorize access to restricted gambling establishment areas must obtain a work permit. The work permit will be issued by the local jurisdiction or the Commission." Once all work permits, licenses, and approvals are in place, the card room can begin operations.

The link to the State of California Department of Justice web site

http://oag.ca.gov/gambling/card

Splitting Eights

Standard 56-card deck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)








 

Splitting 8's when the dealer has a 10 or face card as their up card?

Should a player split 8's against the dealers up card of a 10 when late surrender is offered? 

Basic strategy says that you should always split aces and eights but it also tells you that you should surrender your hand when you have hand that is a total of 16 against a dealers 10/face card, so what about two eights? 

I often get this exact question, "Should I split my 8's or surrender when the dealer is showing an up card of 10/Face card".  

Yes, you still want to split your eights against even if late surrender is offered.

Even when you base the math on a two-deck game, that does not allow double after splitting, these being less favorable house rules than most, the expected value of splitting 8's,  against a 10 is -0.480673, but it is still a shade better than the -0.5 by surrendering..

It's pretty close, mathematically but you should split your eight's, even when the casino offers late surrender or does not allow double after split.

Late Surrender-  Late Surrender is when the house offers you as a player the choice to fold your hand, at the cost of half of the original bet. You must make that after the dealer has checked for blackjack and the decision to surrender is made prior to taking any other action on the hand. For example, once you draw a third card, or split, or double down, surrender is no longer an option.

Related articles

• Surrendering your bet

Blackjack Busting Chart: Percentages for both player's and dealer'shand busting

Blackjack Bust Chart

Do you feel as if you always bust when you hit 16? 

Does it seem that the dealer rarely busts whenever they have a 2 as their up card? 

The chart below shows the busting percentages for the player's hand and for the dealer's hand after each has been dealt 2 cards.

Players starting hand busting percentage:

The left side of the chart contatins the busting percentages for the player's starting hand.  The players staring hand is the first two cards dealt to the player.

Dealers starting hand busting percentge showing one card:

The right side of the chart contains the dealers busting percentage with a certain up card, before the hole card is revealed or the dealer hits.

Cardroom Insider Blackjack Busting Chart

Basic strategy for Spanish 21

Strategy Chart is for Spanish 21

Dealer hits soft 17

Redoubling 3 times (4 hands total), drawing on split aces and

Surrender Allowed