Re: What is the catch to Eurobet\'s single-deck blackjack?
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I though the player had an edge off the top in single deck
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the way you phrased this sentence, you presumably aren't aware at all how specific playing conditions (besides # of decks) affect the house edge.
the classic rules for the downtown vegas single deck game (which is fading away quickly) are dealer hits soft 17, double any two cards, NO double after split and NO late surrender. this yields a house advantage of about 0.18%. yet even though this setup was mathematically profitable, the presence and paranoia of red-chip counters proved too close for comfort and now pretty much all the casinos have switched to double deck except for the Western (who will kick you out for trying to bet more than $25).
the "best" single deck game in the US is probably at Barona Valley Ranch near San Diego. with double after split and late surrender, the house edge is whittled down to about 0.01-0.02%, but technically the casino STILL has the advantage in the long run. and with minimum bet $100 and maximum bet $3000, both basic strategy flat bettors and aggressive and heavily bankrolled spread counters would have a tough time beating this game significantly.
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