The February LVA’s assertion of "restrictive rules" was directed at Encore’s video poker schedules and the policy at both Wynn properties of not comping drinks at its bars. It wasn’t in reference to the blackjack rules, which are good.
We neglected to mention in that review that the rules you cite are available on a minority of Encore’s 6-deck games. Most of those shoe games hit soft 17, which produces an expected return against perfect basic strategy of -.46%, as opposed to -.26% when the dealer stands. Encore’s double deck has a basic strategy expectation of -.40 and the 6-5 single deck has an expectation of -1.45%.
Getting back to your question, the majority of Encore shoe games are comparable to what you’ll find in Atlantic City, where the norm falls in the area of -.42% and above. Encore’s best game -- 6 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, player may double after splits, resplit aces to make up to four hands, and late surrender -- is about as good a set of rules for 6 decks as you’ll find and is better than almost any game you’ll encounter in Atlantic City.
But Las Vegas still has more casinos than any other gambling area, and the competition factor results in several games that have lower edges for the casino. For example, double-deckers with a -.19% edge can be found at Bellagio, MGM Grand, and Mirage (among a few others), while .18% single decks are available at several downtown casinos, including Binion’s, Four Queens, and El Cortez.
So how do you find out which places deal the best games? The Las Vegas Advisor newsletter covers it from time to time, but by no means in a comprehensive fashion. That’s the province of Current Blackjack News ($89 per year), the bible of blackjack playing conditions for serious players that’s been published for more than 25 years by Stanford Wong and is available from his website bj21.com. Wong also publishes a neat little computer application called BJEDGE ($19.95) that calculates the casino advantage for any set of common blackjack rules. That’s all it does, but it’s a handy tool that we use often.
