Carnival Blackjack

Last year, on the Carnival Fantasy, the Blackjack rules had been changed so that the dealer now hit a soft 17. On the previous Carnival cruises, the dealer always stood on soft 17, same as on most land-based casinos I've played. I notice that the Ocean Players club rules page still says that the dealer stands on all 17s.

We'll be cruising on the Glory in two months and wondered if anyone had been there recently (or any other Carnival ship) and knew what the current rules are?

Last year, on the Carnival Fantasy, the Blackjack rules had been changed so that the dealer now hit a soft 17. On the previous Carnival cruises, the dealer always stood on soft 17, same as on most land-based casinos I've played. I notice that the Ocean Players club rules page still says that the dealer stands on all 17s.

 

We'll be cruising on the Glory in two months and wondered if anyone had been there recently (or any other Carnival ship) and knew what the current rules are?

It is a safe bet (no pun intended) that the gaming rules are fleetwide. Expect to see the dealer hitting on soft 17. But, I don't know why the Ocean players club rules page says they stand on all 17s though. Personally, I don't think it really matter if they do or not. Play the basic rules and know when to stop when you are winning.

If you MUST know the answer to your question. Simply shoot Carnival an email with your question. Someone there will find out for you and email you back an answer. Let us know what you find out. Good luck, sucker. HAHAHA! Just kidding. :D

Having sailed on 3 different Carnival ships this year I would say that the dealer hitting a soft 17 is now fleet wide. I also noticed it in many casinos in Las Vegas last year. They (Carnival) also are using the auto shuffler in all table games except Fun ship 21 (Spanish poker) which still uses a shoe.

Also the players club is now being called the Carnival Players Club. Not sure if they have a new web site or not.

Each of my cruises I left feedback on the comment cards about the change in the BJ house rules and the auto shufflers. I don't expect it will do much good.

Casinos change rules all the time. If the dealer is forced to hit on soft 17, you must adjust your strategies slightly.

Personally, I don't think it really matter if they do or not. Play the basic rules and know when to stop when you are winning.

Hitting a soft seventeen adds about 1/3 to the house advantage over solid players. You do have to adjust your strategy a bit to the rule as well.

I really think that most of the rules that help players (such as being able to double after splits or double on any two cards) help the house more in the long run because most people don't know when to do it and if they see someone else do it, they are more likely to try it at the wrong time (I've seen people doubling on 7 before).

Hitting a soft 17 is probably the best overall rule change the house could make other than something like blackjack paying 6:5, which would never go over well. Most casual players don't see a difference if the house hits a soft 17 or not or actually think it helps them because the house occasionally winds up busting a "pat" hand.

Hitting a soft seventeen adds about 1/3 to the house advantage over solid players. You do have to adjust your strategy a bit to the rule as well.

 

I really think that most of the rules that help players (such as being able to double after splits or double on any two cards) help the house more in the long run because most people don't know when to do it and if they see someone else do it, they are more likely to try it at the wrong time (I've seen people doubling on 7 before).

 

Hitting a soft 17 is probably the best overall rule change the house could make other than something like blackjack paying 6:5, which would never go over well. Most casual players don't see a difference if the house hits a soft 17 or not or actually think it helps them because the house occasionally winds up busting a "pat" hand.

Wow! Another way to screw the player I guess.

I haven't seen many casinos hitting soft seventeens though. But they are there.

So how would you adjust how you play when the dealer has to hit on a soft seventeen? Thanks.

So how would you adjust how you play when the dealer has to hit on a soft seventeen? Thanks.

For an 8-deck game with an automatic shuffler and cruise ship rules, the house edge is .44% if the dealer stands on soft 17 and .66% if the dealer hits a soft seventeen.

There's three changes in basic strategy if the dealer hits a soft 17.

Double down on 11 versus an Ace. Double down on a soft 18 (A-7) versus a 2. Double down on a soft 19 (A-8) vesrsus a 6.

For an 8-deck game with an automatic shuffler and cruise ship rules, the house edge is .44% if the dealer stands on soft 17 and .66% if the dealer hits a soft seventeen.

 

There's three changes in basic strategy if the dealer hits a soft 17.

 

Double down on 11 versus an Ace. Double down on a soft 18 (A-7) versus a 2. Double down on a soft 19 (A-8) vesrsus a 6.

Wow, someone on here that has an idea what they are talking about (not being sarcastic btw) I just stumbled across this forum, I am happy to say there are a couple of people who actually have an idea, very cool, makes a nice change from the regular forums.

Just to answer your question, yes it makes a slight difference, a lot of casinos are now going to the soft 17 rule, more are going to the 6:5 rule and some are even going to the double exposure game, non of which I will go near.

Blackjack, craps and baccarat (sp??) offer the best odds in a casino for the player. Any of the newer "carnival games" like Caribbean Stud, Let it Ride, Three or Four Card Poker have huge house advantages. I agree with Jetwet1. Anytime you go away from the traditional rules, you're increasing the chances of losing.

Hitting a soft seventeen adds about 1/3 to the house advantage over solid players. You do have to adjust your strategy a bit to the rule as well.

 

Not to split hairs, but it's 0.20%

I really think that most of the rules that help players (such as being able to double after splits or double on any two cards) help the house more in the long run because most people don't know when to do it and if they see someone else do it, they are more likely to try it at the wrong time (I've seen people doubling on 7 before).

 

Kind off, but no, the casino has a built in edge, to make life easy for the bosses there is a computer program that will give you the actual house edge based on the rules, this allows you to fine tune your house rules to get what you think will be the optimum house advantage, without driving players out, so maintaining a good drop with a good hold. Now this of course is all based on optimum play, there are many things that can throw this completely out of whack, now with the soft 17 rule in place and the rules described above the hold percentage should be 0.78%.....

However throw in the many other parts to the equation (people not leaving when they are winning, playing drunk, people not playing optimum play) and you end up with a country wide average of 14% (those were the last set of figures I was shown) now to really throw a spanner, it also varies by time of day (here comes the drunk factor :D) the last place I ran, day was holding 11%, swing 18% and grave 29%, that was my shift btw, we dealt with drunks what can I say, so as you can see, there are many tricks to blackjack, the best and the most easy to do is when you play are stay sober and set yourself a win/loss limit and stick to it.

I am sorry for such long winded explanations, I am simply trying to convey the facts of playing these games, please, if I correct someone, it's not meant to be rude in any way, shape or form.

Blackjack, craps and baccarat (sp??) offer the best odds in a casino for the player. Any of the newer "carnival games" like Caribbean Stud, Let it Ride, Three or Four Card Poker have huge house advantages. I agree with Jetwet1. Anytime you go away from the traditional rules, you're increasing the chances of losing.

Oh sod it, here is a list of the house odd's

Blackjack, standard rules 0.28%

Craps

Pass/Come 1.41%

Don't pass/don't come 1.36%

Field (2:1 on 12) 5.56%

Field (3:1 on 12) 2.78%

Any craps 11.11%

Big 6,8 9.09%

Hard 4,10 11.11%

Hard 6,8 9.09%

Place 6,8 1.52%

Place 5,9 4.00%

Place 4,10 6.67%

Place (to lose) 4,10 3.03%

Proposition 2,12 13.89%

Proposition 3,11 11.11%

Proposition 7 16.67%

Baccart

Banker 1.06%

Player 1.24%

Tie 14.36%

Caribbean Stud 5.22%

LIR 3.51%

Three card poker

Pairplus 2.32%

Ante & play 3.37%

Roulette

single zero 2.70%

double zero 5.26%

Hope that helps. As ever, the house odds are one thing, however you can vary the odds slightly in blackjack by counting etc.

Not to split hairs, but it's 0.20%

 

 

 

Kind off, but no, the casino has a built in edge, to make life easy for the bosses there is a computer program that will give you the actual house edge based on the rules, this allows you to fine tune your house rules to get what you think will be the optimum house advantage, without driving players out, so maintaining a good drop with a good hold. Now this of course is all based on optimum play, there are many things that can throw this completely out of whack, now with the soft 17 rule in place and the rules described above the hold percentage should be 0.78%.....

 

The vast majority of players don't play proper strategy, some of them playing exceptionally poorly (splitting and resplitting tens, adopting a never bust strategy, doubling on six or seven or twelve), so the house odds can go way up.

Most rules options that allow good players to improve the odds against them also give bad players additional chances to mess up. At some foreign casinos, you can only double down on 11. It's a bad rule for players but it also makes it pretty hard for the player to mess up. Allowing doubles on any two cards gives you a lot more good doubling opportunities but a lot more bad ones, and every cruise I've ever been on, when a novice player asks someone to explain what doubling down is, he winds up doubling when he shouldn't.

The big difference between cruise ships and land based casinos is that someone who makes a trip to a land based casino almost always is going there with the idea of gambling and if they play blackjack, they usually have some idea of how the game is played. Lots of people go on cruises for other reasons and wind up in the casino more or less because they want to try lots of different things as part of the cruise experience. So they sit down and play a few hands, possibly after just watching a video or reading the rules card.

For what it's worth, the odds with cruise ship rules, i.e., an 8-deck game, splitting and resplitting up to four hands, doubling on any two cards, one card on split aces and no resplitting aces, doubling after splits allowed is .43-44% if the dealer stands on a soft 17 and .63-64% if the dealer hits a soft 17. So, the odds in the dealer's favor increase by about 1/3 overall. If the ship uses an automatic shuffler, the odds increase in the player's favor by about .03 so that the total odds against the player with current cruise ship rules is about .6%. Of course, that assumes proper strategy, which about 98% of people on cruise ships don't use.

An automatic shuffler actually helps the players odds. The reason ships use it is because it deters counters and allows more hands to be played. The odds against you decrease on each hand, but you wind up playing about 10% more hands in any given period of time.