Best Blackjack On The Strip

El Cortez Hotel & Casino in Downtown. Every year, intrepid gamblers head out into the brutal heat.

The great game of blackjack isn’t what it used to be, especially if you’re gambling in city of Las Vegas.

Casinos lining the beloved “Strip” in Sin City have become increasingly dominated by corporate ownership. MGM Resorts operates nine venues on The Strip, while chief rival Caesars Entertainment oversees eight more.

Gone are the glory days of independent gambling halls run by actual players like Benny Binion at the Horseshoe in Downtown Las Vegas. Instead, corporatization of The Strip has managed to turn even blackjack – the ultimate skill-player’s gambling game – into a money-making engine for the house.

Under the original gameplay setup for blackjack, players who were dealt a natural 21 – comprised of any ace paired with any 10-value (10, J, Q, or K) card – earned a premium payout of 3 to 2 on their wager. That meant folks betting the $5 standard minimum collected $7.50 on their blackjacks, while $100 high-rollers pocketed a sweet $150 score.

Eventually though, Las Vegas’ new wave of corporate casino overlords decided to commit the cardinal sin – trying to fix what ain’t broken. Put more accurately, the casinos broke blackjack.

By tweaking the payout on natural blackjacks downward – making it 6 to 5 on your bet instead of 3 to 2 – shrewd casino operators realized that they could squeeze out significant slices of additional equity on the game. With just a single deceptively simple change to the game’s fundamental rules, blackjack suddenly became far less favorable to the player.

1. Central Las Vegas Strip blackjack. The central part of the Las Vegas Strip starts at Cosmopolitan and Planet Hollywood up to Harrah’s and Mirage. Most of the low limit blackjack in this area is 6:5. However, there are still a couple of $10 and $15 3:2 games in the area. High limit games are among the best in town. South Las Vegas Strip blackjack.
2. The best possible hand in Vegas strip blackjack is an Ace counted as 11 paired with a ten-value card which can be either a 10 or a King, Queen or Jack. We call this hand natural blackjack. It pays out at a ratio of 3:2, but some casinos on the strip have a different payout of 6:5. The 3:2 payout ratio is.

Blackjack in Vegas Today

Nowadays, playing blackjack on The Strip for anything other than high-stakes action means you’ll only get 6 to 5 on the game’s best hand. For $5 bettors, that lowers the payout from $7.50 to $6, while $100 per hand players see their premium cut down from $150 to $120.

There is an article by Forbes.com from 2018 that you can read if you’re interested in the subject of the bastardization of blackjack.

As the article makes clear, casinos couldn’t abide blackjack’s 3 to 2 setup, which affords skilled players who wield advanced blackjack methods like basic strategy with a razor thin house edge of 0.40 percent in multiple-deck shoe games.

By overhauling their blackjack inventories to spread mostly 6 to 5 tables, casinos on The Strip multiplied their house edge all the way to 2 percent and higher (depending on other house rules).

Yep, you read that right… even if you play perfectly by applying basic strategy on every decision, 6 to 5 blackjack tables make the house edge against you skyrocketed by a multiple of 5x.

In the aforementioned profile of Las Vegas’ blackjack scene published by Forbes, the link between 6 to 5 payouts and blackjack’s declining popularity is laid out in agonizing detail:

“Proponents of 6:5 and the other edge-padding rule changes argue that the vast majority of customers don’t know the difference.

Walking a casino floor and seeing 6:5 tables packed with smiling players, they might be right. But the numbers tell a different story.

Since 2000, the number of blackjack tables in the state of Nevada has fallen by over 31 percent. Yes, but the amount casinos win from blackjack is still the same, some might argue, so things aren’t that bad.

Best Blackjack On The Strip

Factoring in inflation, though, the amount Nevada casinos have won at blackjack has fallen by 46 percent.”

This has been the sad status quo in Las Vegas for the last two decades or so, and today, savvy gamblers who know their stuff largely avoid The Strip. They might visit the area’s glitzy mega-resorts to shop or see a show, but sharp blackjack players wouldn’t be caught dead doubling down in these money pits.

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Instead, experienced blackjack players who prefer the game to be played as God intended take their bankrolls to any number of “Off-Strip” casinos. These smaller, more intimate venues cater to locals and grinders who look for the best value, so they’re happy to compete with corporations on The Strip by offering 3 to 2 blackjack tables and liberal house rules.

To help you find an Off-Strip casino during your next blackjack adventure in Sin City, check the list below for seven great options where 3 to 2 blackjack is still available.

1 – El Cortez Hotel & Casino in Downtown

Every year, intrepid gamblers head out into the brutal heat with one mission in mind – to survey Las Vegas’ blackjack scene and identify the very best tables in town.

And every year, these surveys reveal the historic El Cortez Casino to be the very best place to play in the entire city. I’m not limiting that honor to Off-Strip joints only either… there’s no better blackjack game in all of Las Vegas than the 3 to 2 tables at El Cortez.

Located in Downtown Las Vegas on Fremont Street, the El Cortez has been serving value-minded gamblers since 1941. When you sit down to play blackjack there, you’ll feel that sense of history coming through in the traditional house rules.

The 11 tables at El Cortez which pay 3 to 2 also utilize the old single-deck design. That means you won’t be playing with a shoe holding six or eight decks. Instead, the dealer will reshuffle the same 52 cards after a few hands have been dealt.

As you might imagine, single-deck blackjack in and of itself benefits the player immensely. After all, you don’t have to be a savant-like card counter to make a basic judgment on whether more low or high cards have hit the felt.

Even better, you don’t have to bet bigger for the privilege of enjoying those great odds. Low-stakes players can get in on the fun for minimum bets of only $5, another holdover from Las Vegas’ halcyon days where players mattered more than profits.

2 – M Resort in Henderson

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El Cortez has the second-lowest house edge on blackjack, but the very lowest in all of Las Vegas can be found at the M Resort in Henderson.

Best Blackjack On The Vegas Strip

Players at the M enjoy a miniscule 0.14 percent house edge at three different 3 to 2 tables. These are double-deck games rather than single-deck, and the minimum bet stands at $25, so players on a limited bankroll should obviously start their journey at El Cortez instead.

The M also dozens of other 3 to 2 tables using slightly more house-friendly rules, but the house edge always stays at 0.56 percent or lower.

3 – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Paradise Rd.

It isn’t technically located along Las Vegas Boulevard, so the Hard Rock makes the cut, but it’s only a few blocks from all the neon and nightlife.

You’ll find six 3 to 2 tables in total here, four of which are six-deck games carrying a house edge of just 0.26 percent. That rate is created by having the dealer stand on soft 17, rather than hit, which benefits the player by about 0.2 percent on average.

Be prepared to bet big, however, as the Hard Rock’s best blackjack tables call for a $100 minimum.

4 – The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on Flamingo Rd.

Best known as the home of World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournaments, the Rio is only a couple minutes westward from the heart of The Strip.

If you make the trip, you’ll find six 3 to 2 tables using the same $100 minimum, dealer stands on soft 17, six-deck shoe, 0.26 percent house edge setup used by the Hard Rock.

5 – Westgate Resort & Casino on Paradise Rd.

The Westgate offers some sweet blackjack value only minutes from The Strip.

Two tables here carry a 0.26 percent house edge with 3 to 2 payouts, dealer stands, and six-deck shoes – all for a $50 minimum.

6 – Aliante Casino, Hotel, and Spa in North Las Vegas

Circling back to the ultimate value of $5 minimum bets, the Aliante is home to a whopping 15 double-deck tables with 3 to 2 payouts and a house edge of 0.35 percent.

If you head down to Aliante, be sure to check out their other tables games, too. As seen below, their website offers a variety of ways to gamble at this casino.

7 – Arizona Charlie’s on Boulder Highway

Double-deck fans will find three tables at 0.35 percent house edge and $10 minimum bets at Arizona Charlie’s along the “Boulder Strip.”

Conclusion

Once you memorize and master basic strategy, game selection becomes the most essential skill used to level the playing field in blackjack. Just like sharp video poker players never waste money on machines that don’t offer a “full pay” table, blackjack enthusiasts should always avoid the inferior 6 to 5 tables.

When you’re gambling on The Strip though, that’s all but impossible, so take full advantage of the list above to guide your exploration of Las Vegas’ invaluable collection of Off-Strip casinos.