Why Was the 6-5 Table Full with No One at the 3-2 Table?

This past weekend I was at Caesars in Atlantic City and saw something I've never seen in 29 years of playing blackjack. At around 8 Saturday night, there were two $25-minimum BJ tables next to each other. Both were using the dreaded continuous shufflers and both had identical rules -- except for one thing. One table paid 6-5 and the other 3-2. The funniest part of this was nobody was playing the 3-2 table, but 6-5 was full. Go figure! Is this a common practice in the industry or did management get too greedy and raise the 6-5 table from $15 to $25?

[Editor's Note: We handed this one off to our favorite casino floor supervisor, Andrew Uyal.]

When it comes to table minimums, the common industry practice is to make 6-5 games a bit more affordable. That means that if you have two tables right next to each other, one paying 6-5 and the other 3-2, it's likely the 3-2 table will have a higher minimum.

I'm speculating that the 6-5 table started lower and when it filled up, the minimum was raised, which is the common practice. When tables fill up, the minimums go up as well. Grandfathering rules vary from casino to casino, but I'd be willing to bet the 6-5 players were grandfathered in at the lower minimum, maybe $10, but probably more like $15, given it was prime time on a Saturday night.

Of course, not everyone who works in a casino understands these operation guidelines and not every gambler cares about the difference between tables like the savvy LVA audience does, so it's entirely possible that the tables opened at the same minimum and players just ended up on 6-5.

To clarify the guidelines on when casinos raise tables, what some might call greed is actually the quest for the ideal occupancy rate. If a casino has an entire floor of $15 tables that are all full, that might sound good, but in fact, it's not. The ideal occupancy rate is around 80%. That means busy, but still room for someone to come sit down and play.

There are a few other guidelines for raising minimums, like the average bet on the table. For instance, if the $15 table is full of people flat betting $15, it may not make sense to raise it. That's not usually the case, though. Often, one or two players are betting more than $15. Then, it does make sense to raise the minimum. Because even if the player or two betting $15 gets up and leaves, the house will be making the same or more money from dealing a faster game to $25 players and now more seats are available for people who also want to play that next denomination.

While game type does influence the initial minimums on the tables, the flow of business will drive the bus for the majority of the time the table is open.

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Vegas Fan Oct-24-2024

Another thanks to Anthony

But i thought politics were banned from this column before? Also wondered why they weren't deleted long ago?!

Jon Miller Oct-24-2024

Great explanation thanks

Really appreciate the feedback you give us derived from casino insiders.   Still hate the casinos for 6:5 blackjack but have to admit, when I walk through casinos on the strip and those tables are pretty full, I kind of understand why they'd do it.   6:5 and continuous shufflers?   BIG YUCK.

DeltaEagle Oct-24-2024

Different folks……

Had a nice discussion with a non professional group of players in LV a few weeks ago on this subject. Their level of knowledge certainly included the disadvantage to the play— but- some said they would sacrifice the advantage to have the seat they preferred, some said the presence/absence of a smoker would titelt their decision, one opined they chose 6/5 over adjoining 3/2 because they could better see their wife playing the slots.  None were good reasons but made sense for them. Figure casino is aware of such idiosyncrasies. Money is important- but there are other factors. Recall these are less than black chip players.  Great question.

Jeffrey Small Oct-24-2024

Not very bright

Interesting answer, but I think it missed the point.  Unfortunately a lot of BJ players don't know much about the game.  To them the number 6 sounds bigger than 3.  So, 6 to 5 must be better, right?   Thus, the casinos are taking advantage of the public's lack of knowledge.  The difference of getting a blackjack on a $25 bet is a payoff of $ 30 vs. $ 37.50.  Too bad many just don't know or care!

O2bnVegas Oct-24-2024

learn something daily

I just now learned this at a Strip casino, after 30+ years.  Plus I guess it could depend on the casino, but...

If you want to enjoy a non-smoking table, be the first person to sit down and immediately ask the dealer if he/she can make it non-smoking.  He/she will ask the pit supervisor, and normally it will be approved, the super will remove the ash trays and flip the little No Smoking icon on the screen.  If someone else beat you to the table and that person isn't smoking, you ask him and he agrees non-smoking would be fine, same thing. From then on it is a non-smoking table.  Dealers tell me they appreciate it.  Once the table empties and the next player requests to smoke, it will likely be changed to allow smoking.

Candy

David Miller Oct-24-2024

Great Tip

 Candy - Now if they would ban cigar smoking anywhere in the casino...

AL Oct-25-2024

Sorry to be critical, but . . .

Unfortunately, the long Answer did not actually answer the question. The question was: Why does the 6-5 table have more players than the 3-2 table? One part of the Answer said that if one of two tables is busier than the other, the (more) available seats at the less-patronized table will make that table get more players. The question-writer was pointing out that that did NOT happen. I can offer a couple of possible explanations. One is that, at first, only the 6-5 table was open, and when it got filled up with players, the casino decided to open up another table to provide any new players a place to play, but not a lot of new players have come by. The 2nd possible explanation is that some people truly prefer playing with a lot of other players instead of playing alone or with just one other player, because playing with a crowd is more fun for them. The 3rd is that many players aren't into math at all, and think that gambling is all luck, so the sign showing "6-5" means nothing to them.

Question of the Day - 24 October 2024

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