The Magazine for the Gaming Enthusiasts

TABLES:
RECAPTURING THE GLORY OF THE PIT

In 1988, the table player had not seen any significant changes in his games during his lifetime. By and large, they were the same games that had been in existence since the first legal casinos opened in Reno during the 1930s.

There was a certain stubborn attitude among casino table game managers, a resistance to any game that had not proven itself. Blackjack, craps, roulette and baccarat were time-tested games, and casino managers were reluctant to surrender precious floor space to new, untested innovations.

However, right around the time Casino Player began publication, the table game ice began to crack on two fronts. One was Lake Tahoe, where Bee Estes, a table game manager at Harveys, was allowed to test his own table game inventions on the casino floor. The most promising was "Multiple Action Blackjack," a variation of traditional 21 with each player betting on three hands at once.

By this time, of course, casinos in Nevada and Atlantic City were ready for anything that would begin to reverse table game fortunes. The slot machine had firmly established itself as the player's choice, ending decades of table dominance and forcing casino managers to yield larger portions of their floors to the burgeoning slot department.

Caribbean Stud became the first alternative to blackjack in the pit to gain widespread popularity. Table game designers studied the reason for its popularity and came to an undeniable conclusion: The game was popular because it behaved like a slot machine. It was non-intimidating, as easy to understand as poker at the kitchen table. Players were not playing against seasoned gamblers but against a set pay table÷just like at the slots. High payoffs were much more possible than in regular poker or blackjack. Just like slots.

Before long, a second game developer picked up on these features with a new hit table game. Shuffle Master Gaming introduced "Let It Ride" in the early '90s. Players were dealt three cards, and the dealer's cards served as community cards. Bets were placed for each card, and the players had the option of taking a bet back after seeing each of the first two cards.

Like Caribbean Stud, it offered big payouts for high hands and a slot-style pay table. No opponents, no intimidation. Easy to understand. But this game had one more groundbreaking, slot-style element: an electronic progressive jackpot. Players could make a side bet for the progressive, and the jackpot for a royal flush reached slot-style proportions÷tens of thousands of dollars.

Shuffle Master had struck a chord among table game players. Although the new games had brutal house advantages compared to standard blackjack, they expanded the table-playing public to include slot players, who are accustomed to yielding house advantage in exchange for a shot at big money.

There followed some poker variations with decent player odds÷"Three Card Poker," for example, which has a low house hold similar to blackjack. "Casino War" has gained popularity because of its sheer familiarity to players as a game they learned as kids. But other variations÷including a new "bonus" version of Let It Ride÷followed the table-as-slot formula.

Recently, this formula reached its most basic form in new table games that actually have reel symbols on the cards or incorporate spinning slot reels for bonus payoffs. Whether these games catch on with the new breed of table player remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, as Multiple Action Blackjack has proliferated, more games are being introduced that are essentially blackjack variations. These newer games generally borrow a page from the poker variations, employing a side bet that reduces the player's advantage in exchange for a shot at a big payoff. "Madness 21" is the latest: the player makes a dollar side bet that he'll land blackjack on the deal, and if he does, he presses a button to reveal a "mystery jackpot" between $5 and $1,000. The house is more than happy to give the player a shot at a big reward in exchange for 4 percent to 6 percent in overall house advantage over standard blackjack.

Other new table games that have taken hold during the past decade have more to do with demographics than innovation. Asian players have become the fastest-growing segment of high rollers, so today, casinos have entire pits of Asian games, dominated by "Pai Gow Poker."

Now, in casinos across the country, the watchword for new table games is: If it behaves like a slot, people will try it. ÷ Frank Legato

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