Part of the fun of getting new blackjack tables in Pennsylvania is waiting to see what the house is going to set their rules at: are they going to screw me or are they going to be decent and give me a fair shot at winning?
Thankfully the Pennsylvania blackjack tables have been set with some pretty decent house rules. How good? The Pennsylvania blackjack tables will have more player-friendly house rules than two thirds of the tables in Vegas.
So what is in store for players at these blackjack tables?
For starters I am pleased to say that they will be paying 3-2 for natural blackjack. There will be none of that 6-5 stuff in Pennsylvania!
Another good rule: dealers will have to stand on soft 17s. So that is 0.22% that the house will not have.
Double downs will not be limited to only hard 10s or hard 11s. Any two cards can be doubled down on.
Also having to do with double downs, players will be allowed to double down after splitting a pair.
And to top off all of those player friendly house rules blackjack players will be allowed to make late surrenders. So make sure you have a basic strategy chart that tells you when to surrender. This way you will only lose half of your wager rather than all of it.
In total these house rules will result in a house edge of less than 0.4% for those who use basic strategy