BLACKJACK TOURNAMENT E-BOOKS BY BJI AUTHOR KEN SMITH! How to Win EVEN MORE Blackjack Tournaments - Volume II... only $14.95. Ken Smith's second e-book on tournament blackjack contains more of his winning strategies that have made him one of the best tournament blackjack players in the world. Or, purchase both Volume I and Volume II together for $24.95... over 15% off! NEW! Read how Ken used skill to win a recent blackjack tournament. Get his books and you could too!

John Grochowski's weekly gambling column appears in newspapers including the Detroit News online, Gary (Ind.) Post-Tribune and Naperville (Ill.) Sun, and he's a featured writer for Midwest Gaming & Travel magazine, International Gaming & Wagering Business and Slot Manager magazine. He's the author of six books on gaming, including the new revised edition of The Slot Machine Answer Book. Books are available at his Web site, http://www.casinoanswerman.com/, or from Running Count Press, Box 1488, Elmhurst, IL 60126. You can e-mail John at grochowski_j@yahoo.com.

Blackjack side bets and game variations come and go, having their moments of popularity before one of two things happens. Either players learn by trial and error that the side bet is taking their money too fast, or somebody figures out how to beat the game.

Let’s call the first case the Royal Match scenario. In the mid-to-late-‘90s, casinos throughout the nation experimented with the side bet that paid off whenever the first two cards were of the same suit, with the top payback for a suited King-Queen. It padded casino bottom lines for a while until players got burned by the 6.67 percent house edge on a common six-deck game a little too often. When the customers stopped making the bet, it had to go. Not worth paying the licensing fee for a bet nobody made.

We can call the second case the Over/Under 13 scenario. Oh, average players would have tired of it soon enough. With some variation for number of decks, house edges are about 6.6 percent when betting the first two cards will be over 13, and 10 percent on the under. But what really backed casinos off the bet early is that it is vulnerable to card counting. In fact, counters found they could get a bigger edge on Over/Under 13 than on blackjack. Casinos that allowed the Over/Under 13 bet without a blackjack bet were a counter’s dream.

The latest hot blackjack side bet is Lucky Ladies. Which way will it go?

...enter your member login information below to read this article/newsletter...

Paid Members-Only Article

You have clicked on a link to a Blackjack Insider web page or article for paid subscribers. You must have a paid membership to the Blackjack Insider newsletter to view this content. About 1/2 of the articles in each issue of the Blackjack Insider are for paid members only, while the rest are viewable by everyone. Your purchased membership will allow you to read all Blackjack Insider articles for 12 months.

Enter your user name and password below (they were listed and e-mailed to you after you purchased your Blackjack Insider membership):

Forgot your membership id or password? Click here.

How do I get a membership?

A membership can be purchased online at our secure store with your credit card for only $19.95 per year. You will receive a user name and password immediately by e-mail which you can use to read the all past and future members-only articles for 12 months, as well as the regular free articles.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A ONE YEAR MEMBERSHIP NOW... only $19.95

Do I have to buy a membership?

No. Blackjack Insider will continue to be published as a free monthly e-newsletter. But about 1/2 of the articles each month will be for paid members only. Subscribers without a membership can still view and read the non-members articles for free.

What happens after I buy a membership?

Immediately after you complete your purchase, you will receive a unique login user name and password. These are displayed on the final purchase page, and are e-mailed to you. When you click on a members-only article in our web site, you will be prompted for this user name and password (as shown above). Simply enter them, and enjoy the article! Note: make sure you turn on the checkbox above when you login, to save the user name and password so that you don't have to re-enter them every time you view members-only articles.

Why did you switch to paid memberships?

Blackjack Insider is a professional monthly publication with top-notch articles by world-reknown gaming experts. In addition, we have regular reporters that monitor game conditions and tournament schedules throughout North America. We use a partially paid subscriber model to enable us to continue getting the best content for our readers from leading authors on blackjack and gaming.