The Las Vegas Club hotel, which was demolished to make way for Circa, advertised that it had the most liberal blackjack rules anywhere. There were large signs inside the casino promoting the rules. What were those rules?
The Las Vegas Clubs advertised "the world's most liberal blackjack."
It was a six-deck shoe with the standard 3-2 payout on naturals (mostly before 6-5 became a popular option for casinos). Dealers stood on soft 17. Players were allowed to double down on any number of cards, split any number of times, and double after splitting. They could also surrender early, as well as after hitting. And a six-card charlie was an automatic win.
Mike Shackleford calculated the house edge at .11%, a hair above breakeven.
On the other hand, Arnold Snyder wrote, "The Las Vegas Club’s game, in fact, may have had the most liberal rule set of any casino in the U.S., but 'big' bets (meaning $25 or more) made them very nervous and they were quick to bar players who made them nervous. So the rules were liberal, but the amount of action the club tolerated was anything but."
That said, for blackjack aficionados, the original Las Vegas Club game occupies a special place. Along the old Horseshoe, it represented an era when some downtown casinos genuinely competed on game quality rather than on side bets or flashy table layouts. Also, for a time, it was one of the few casinos that consciously tried to build its identity around having the best blackjack game in town. Most casinos advertised entertainment, food, or jackpots; the Las Vegas Club advertised rules. That was a fairly unusual marketing strategy.
The reason we say the "original Las Vegas Club game" is that the Plaza adopted a version of it, but the rules were decidedly nerfed: A suited blackjack paid 2-1, but all other blackjacks were even money; the dealer hit soft 17, and surrender was restricted to initial two cards only. The house edge rose to around 1.3%, depending on the number of decks and exact rules.
