Hi Gang:
Hedy and I just returned from an eight-day Carnival cruise out of New York
that went to San Juan, St. Thomas and Turks and Caicos. The cruise was OK
(Carnival doesn't compare to Royal Caribbean, in our opinion) but it was a nice
way to celebrate my 65th birthday (Oh, my God! Medicare-eligible!!) and gave
us a chance to chill out and relax for a few days.
We actually made money in the casino on the cruise (Hedy hit aces for $200
on a bad-pay DB machine and I won a hundred playing Hold 'Em on the ship's
Poker Pro table) but we made most of our money on a blackjack game that had some
interesting rules.
The game was called "Fun 21" and the rule differences were:
The player could surrender his hand (and get half his bet back) even before
the dealer checked to see if he had a blackjack (with a picture or ace up).
The player didn't have to wait for his turn to play. If the dealer didn't have
an ace or picture, the player could surrender when his turn to play came up.
The player was paid IMMEDIATELY if he got a blackjack or 21. There were no
pushes in these cases with the dealer. Blackjack paid the standard 3-2.
The player could double down even after his third or fourth card was dealt.
He also had the option to surrender after the third or fourth card was dealt
on a double down.
The player was paid as if he had a blackjack (3-2) when he got three 7's OR
a 6, 7 and an 8.
The player could split cards up to four times.
When the player split aces, he did not just get one card on each ace. He
played each hand individually, taking as many hits on each hand as he wanted.
If a player got a 21 with five or more cards, he was paid as if he had a
blackjack (3-2).
The big negative was that there were no queens in the eight-deck shoe, so
there were 32 fewer 10-counts in play.
The dealer also had to hit a soft 17.
I won $375 one night playing this game and won $250 another night. I also
had a couple of small wins ... $50 and $80. The only loss I encountered was $100
on the final night of the cruise.
I have no idea how these rule changes affected the house edge but the rules
seemed pretty player-friendly to me so I continued to play it ... and had a
lot of success.
Maybe some of you BJ gurus out there can comment about the rule changes.
Regards,
CoachVee (Tom V) & Hedy
**************Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget?
Read reviews on AOL Autos.
(http://autos.aol.com/cars-Volkswagen-Jetta-2009/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00030000000007 )
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]