Good times at Blackjack

[Cyrus]

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On Sunday, June 23, 1996, speaking before a small crowd of card counters and other gambling enthusiasts who were attending his blackjack seminar at Casino Players' Las Vegas Gaming Festival ‘96 at the Tropicana Hotel, Stanford Wong predicted that, due to a casino promotion, a “party” would soon take place at the Klondike Hotel and Casino, just a few blocks down the street on Las Vegas Blvd. South.
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About 3 weeks earlier, the Klondike introduced a new rule on its blackjack tables: the “Free Ride.” The rule had been invented by Jim, one of the pit bosses, apparently to encourage more $5 action. Placards on the tables and large signs on the walls explained that you could only take advantage of the “free ride” option with bets of $5 or more.
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What is a “free ride?”
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If the player was dealt a blackjack with a bet of $5 or more, his betting spot was marked with a “lammer.” Lammers are those small plastic disks that dealers in some casinos use as chip separators in their racks. The Klondike had lammers imprinted with dollar amounts from $5 to $100. If a player was dealt a blackjack when he had $10 bet on the hand, a $10 lammer was placed on the edge of his betting square. The player could then use the lammer for a “free ride” on any subsequent hand dealt to that position up to the amount imprinted on the lammer, in this case $10.
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A “free ride” was simply an option to call any hand a push prior to playing it out. I.e., if the player had a $10 lammer on a betting square, and if he was then dealt a total of, say, 16 vs. an ace, he could announce “free ride,” and the dealer would pick up his cards, remove the lammer, and the hand would not be played out - technically it became a push.
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As this was done before the dealer peeked under his ace, this was actually an “early free ride,” and since the player did not even relinquish half of his bet, it was quite a bit more valuable than early surrender. How much more valuable had yet to be seen.

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...the rest of the story

[Runner Runner]

I cannot believe this kind of thing happened only 9 years ago. That's like allowing show bets on a 3 horse race. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Bulbarainey]

good times at the klondike... I hit $200 on a 25c slot on the way out...