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Last month, we took a look at a form of blackjack known as Vegas Downtown Blackjack. Vegas Downtown Blackjack is a loose term to describe the typical blackjack games that can be found on Freemont Street in Downtown Las Vegas. If you haven’t gotten a chance to check it out, I suggest you take a look, as the game can be quite profitable due to its very player-friendly rules.
Stacks on stacks on stacks. 🔥 Who's hitting the blackjack table with us this weekend? pic.twitter.com/nOTjie7tHo
— BORGATA (@BorgataAC) June 17, 2022
Today, we are going to talk about another version of blackjack that is gaining popularity, both in brick-and-mortar casinos and online, Atlantic City Blackjack. In this article, we are going to give you the ins and outs of Atlantic City Blackjack.
First, we will tell you what Atlantic City Blackjack is. Then we will go into the reasons that you should play it, and the reasons that maybe it should be avoided. Before finally finishing up with our opinion on whether or not you should give Atlantic City Blackjack a try. With that, let’s jump right into it by answering the question, what is Atlantic City Blackjack?
What is Atlantic City Blackjack?
Similar to Vegas Downtown Blackjack, Atlantic City Blackjack isn’t actually a specific version of blackjack. Rather it is a name given to the typical type of blackjack game that you will find in Atlantic City. For a long time, Atlantic City was one of the biggest gambling Mecca’s of the world, with players from all over coming to gamble on the famed AC Boardwalk.
That forced the Atlantic City casinos to reinvent themselves as a gambling destination that offered better value than their competition. They accomplished this by making their rules for blackjack, by far the most popular casino table game in the world, very player-friendly.
As savvy gamblers started to take notice of the great blackjack games that could be found in Atlantic City, the name Atlantic City Blackjack started to be thrown around, and it stuck, as Atlantic City Blackjack is now a universal term in gambling circles. Now that you know what Atlantic City Blackjack is, let’s take a look at some of those player-friendly rules that players love.
Reasons to Play Atlantic City Blackjack
In this section, we will highlight some of the rules that make Atlantic City Blackjack a fan favorite amongst gamblers in the know. These are the top reasons why you should play Atlantic City Blackjack!
Split Pairs Up To 3 Times
There is nothing worse when you are playing blackjack than to get a pair that should be split, only to split them and draw another pair that can’t be split due to the house rules. At many casinos, especially at the lower limits, you can only split pairs one time. While that doesn’t come up all that often, it can be super frustrating when it does happen.
But when you are playing Atlantic City Blackjack, you won’t have to worry about that, as you can split your pairs up to 3 times each, making a total of 4 hands. When it comes to blackjack, these little rules can add up to big money, and this is a compelling reason to play Atlantic City Blackjack!
Late Surrender
It is never fun to surrender when playing blackjack. To give up on a hand and willingly lose half of your bet isn’t something that many casual players choose to do very often. But if you want to beat the house, you have to let the math dictate your decisions, not your emotions.
I suppose you could just stand on your 16 against the dealer’s face card and pray that they don’t make a hand. But the math tells us that you are going to lose in that spot far more often than the 51% we need to be profitable. Which means that surrendering is the right play.
That is a game changer, as there are lots of times that you take a hit hoping for a perfect card, only to brick out and get stuck in a losing scenario. Being able to take half of your bet back and live to fight another day, at any point in the hand, is one of my personal favorite reasons to play Atlantic City Blackjack.
The Dealer Stands on Soft 17
This rule is so prevalent that many players don’t even realize that the dealer hitting on soft 17 is actually better for the casino than the players. The vast majority of blackjack games have the dealer hit on soft 17 and stand on hard 17.
But when you are playing Atlantic City Blackjack, they have the dealer stand on both hard and soft 17. This sways the casino’s house advantage .22% towards the player. Now, that might not sound like a lot on the surface, but when you see that an optimal rules BJ game only holds a little over 1%, picking up a quarter of a percent is actually pretty impactful.
A Blackjack Pays 3-2 Odds
This final reason why you should be playing Atlantic City Blackjack isn’t quite universal, but it is very close. In many places, like Las Vegas, nearly every blackjack game is going to be 6-5 these days. If you do find a 3-2 game, it is usually going to be in the high-limit pit, as the lower limits are going to be mostly 6-5.
That trend is the exact opposite with Atlantic City Blackjack, as most of the games you are going to find are going to be 3-2, not 6-5. That’s not to say that you will never find a 6-5 game, as they do exist, but more often than not, the games will pay 3-2 on a blackjack.
We talked about how the dealer hitting on soft 17 gives you an extra .22% of value, which is nice. But it’s nothing compared to the difference between a 3-2 game and a 6-5 game, as that alone gets you over 1.5% of added value!
Reasons to Avoid Atlantic City Blackjack
No casino game is perfect. As great as Atlantic City Blackjack is when compared to a standard BJ game, there are some downsides to the game. Let’s take a look at those below.
Aces Can Only Be Split Once
Despite the fact that you can split up to 3 times with most pairs, you can only split aces once at Atlantic City Blackjack. I won’t be too tough on them for this one, but it really is a bummer, as the one pair that you are ALWAYS going to split is aces, and the fact that you can only do it once is disappointing.
The Dealers Peaks for Blackjacks
This is another rule that is standard everywhere that also applies to Atlantic City Blackjack. When the dealer checks their hole card to see if they have a blackjack, they take away your opportunity to fight for a push by hitting your hand up to 21.
There are very few versions of blackjack where that isn’t the case, so I won’t beat them up about it, but it would be nice to have a shot to scrape out a push against the dealer’s blackjack on occasion. I will file this one under my Atlantic City Blackjack wish list of changes that I hope to see someday.
You Can Take Insurance
This final reason to avoid Atlantic City Blackjack is a personal pet peeve of mine. Insurance is always bad. You should never, ever, ever, take it. It doesn’t matter which version of blackjack that you are playing, you should ignore insurance completely, as it is an awful bet for the player.
Yet, despite it being amongst the worst bets you can make on the casino floor, every BJ game I have ever played has it as an option. I wish that one of these casinos would have a backbone and pull it from the game altogether, as it slows the game down, and can get annoying when the dealer asks you if you want to take it.
No, I don’t want insurance, so please stop asking me about it! I can put this one on my wish list of things that likely won’t ever happen right along with stopping the dealer from peaking for blackjacks.
Should You Play Atlantic City Blackjack?
Now that you have seen all of the reasons to play Atlantic City Blackjack and the reasons not to play Atlantic City Blackjack, we will give you what you have been waiting for, our official TheSportsGeek ruling on whether or not Atlantic City Blackjack is a game you should be playing!
Of course, you should be playing Atlantic City Blackjack! The Atlantic City Blackjack rules are some of the best available on the market, and you would be silly not to give the game some action. When you are gambling to make money, you want to find the best possible rules that you can, and the Atlantic City Blackjack rules are very player-friendly!
Are You Ready to Play Atlantic City Blackjack?
If you don’t live in New York or New Jersey, making a trip to Atlantic City to play Atlantic City Blackjack might not be very feasible. But don’t worry, you are in luck, as you can now play Atlantic City Blackjack online!
The online version of Atlantic City Blackjack offers all of the same player-friendly rules as the brick-and-mortar version of the game, and you can play it from wherever you are, without having to trek to the East Coast to get in on the action.
If you are looking for a place to play Atlantic City Blackjack online, look no further than TheSportsGeek’s best online blackjack page. Here you will find casino reviews, deposit bonuses, and exclusive sign-up offers, and you won’t want to miss out on all of that added value. Thanks for reading, and good luck playing Atlantic City Blackjack online!
