Originally posted by: David Miller
When you have 3 or more players playing at one time, you will be lucky if 2 hands are dealt before the shuffle. There is NO WAY the game is "more beatable" than it was when the dealers dealt further into the deck. Ask anyone who understands and plays the game - I imagine that Anthony could/can comment about deck penetration and it's effect on the player's possible result. I submit that the double deck blackjack game with normal deck penetration is a better game than the game offered at the El Cortez- but I am sure that some would argue differently.
It's not a matter for argument. It's simple math. Given equivalent rules, a 3:2 double deck game has a house advantage of approximately 0.22% greater than a 3:2 single deck game. For the basic strategy player, it doesn't really matter what the penetration is. Deeper penetration affords more +EV situations, but a player who isn't counting won't recognize those situations when they come up, so he won't raise his bet or alter his basic strategy.
Penetration definitely matters for the counter. I remarked, though that the El Cortez game is quite possibly more beatable now for counters because previously, the intense heat from the pit made any kind of useful bet variation impossible. I doubt there's so much scrutiny now, with only two rounds being dealt. To put it another way, a normal-penetration game with heat from the pit is a worse game for the counter than a poor-penetration game with no heat.
A single deck game has such a low house edge off the top that counting, even as limited as those two rounds afford, is still viable.
