THE BEST 6-DECK GAMES IN LAS VEGAS

by Henry Tamburin

You’d be hard pressed not to find a 6-deck blackjack game in Las Vegas. The game is offered in most casinos on and off the Strip. However, some 6-deck games are worth your while, and others are simply a rip off. My goal in this article is to summarize the best 6-deck games currently available for basic strategy players and also for card counters.

I started preparing this report in January by visiting a host of casinos and contacting my fellow players who play mostly in the Vegas area. As is typical with playing rules in casinos, several made changes during the past two months while we hear rumblings that others are planning to make changes (e.g., a dealer at Caesar’s Palace told me they will be converting all their 6-deck games from s17 to h17 – not it’s mixed). In any event, use what follows as a guide and if you want to know for sure what the rules are on blackjack tables for a specific Vegas casinos before your trip, call the main casino number and ask to speak to the Casino Manager’s office. Most of the time, someone will be able to tell you the current rules being offered on their tables.

As a general rule, counters at 6-deck games get less heat compared to playing at 2-deck games in town. Even though a 6-deck game is beatable (using Speed Count, High Low, K-O, or any other valid counting system), you must have patience and you must use a bigger bet spread compared to playing a 2-deck game. For tips on how to beat the 6-deck game, see Fred Renzey’s article in the December 2006 issue of BJI.

There are plenty of casinos in Vegas that offer a 75% penetration on their 6-deck games (meaning they cut off 1.5 out of the six decks of cards) with decent rules. Therefore, my first listings below are only for those casinos that offer about a 75% penetration on their 6-deck games... (see member's article for casinos)

Are there any casinos that give consistently 80% penetration on their 6-deck games? Friends of mine say yes, and the three casinos that were named are: (see member's article)

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