So, a nasty trend that players have noticed is casinos implementing an ante – that’s right – into games at any betting limit. Usually it’s $1 for bets under $25 and $2 for table bets over $25. The ante, in case you’re wondering, is simply forfeit to the casino whether you win or lose – pretty much like a fee to play each hand.
California does this, and casinos in Oklahoma and other Midwest gambling states will even charge 50 cents ante on a bet of $5. That would’ve been unheard of 10 years ago, but it’s a different world of online blackjack we’re playing in these days.
What can you do in these situations? First, I’d resign yourself to the fact that these games just cannot be beat over the long run. The ante absolutely obliterates the house edge against the player, and basically eliminates the unprepared/ignorant player who’s trying to grind out a winning session. A game that historically lends itself to favorable discussion among casinos games that can be bested is turned into a joke among serious players.
So, the obvious answer is to walk away, or never sit down to begin with. That’s really the only good answer. This won’t happen all the time, since it’s usually implemented in casinos with no immediate competition, and thus nowhere else for gamblers to play. And it’s at this point that those gamblers must come to terms with the fact that gambling isn’t a necessity, it’s a choice. Or they need to pick up a laptop and a nice WiFi connection and get their blackjack online fix that way.
Let me emphasize how bad these games are – even card counters stay away from them. Even allowing you to maximize your opportunities through multiple hands doesn’t overcome the handicap placed on the player by having to ante up. It’s a fools game and should be avoided at all costs.
Now, some black jack casinos are technically not allowed to “gamble,” so like a rake in poker, they charge the players for the right to take each other’s money, which always makes me shake my head. If you have a regular game and a few hundred bucks, what the hell do you need the casino for anyway? Poker I can at least accept, but to put this into practice in blackjack, where you’re playing against a dealer with the advantage anyway? Unacceptable.