Are table games forever?

27 January 2019

By John Grochowski

Slot machines come and go so rapidly that virtually every player has a list of old favorites that now are absent from casino floors.

Table games turnover is much slower. Once a game has established itself as a player favorite, it’s usually in for a good long run. Blackjack, craps, roulette and baccarat have been around longer than the oldest casinos players, Three Card Poker has been with us for a couple of decades, and even a newcomer like Mississippi Stud has been with us since early in this decade.

Still, anyone who has played tables long enough has seen a few old favorites put out to pasture. I asked a few table-playing readers to share their takes on old favorites they can no longer play.

KARA: Is it too soon to say Caribbean Stud? I know some casinos still have it, but it’s been dropped at the two where I usually play.

I loved it, and the reason comes straight from my bank account. Like anyone else, I lost more often than I won, but I had one big win that made up for it. No, I didn’t have a royal, but I did have a straight flush.

I was really lucky. It was at a casino where the straight flush paid 10% of the progressive jackpot, and the jackpot was up over $180,000. So I got $18,000! I can endure a lot of little losses if there’s an $18,000 payoff in there.

Other than that, my biggest payoffs were on four of a kind. I had several of those, and each one paid $100 on that $1 progressive bet. On one, I had a $10 ante, a $20 bet and the dealer qualified, so that was more than $400 with 20-1 on the bet and even money on the ante.

DUNCAN: Remember Multiple Action Blackjack? I loved that game. Some of the biggest blackjack wins I ever had came at Multiple Action. Of course, you were making three bets at once, so you could lose fast, too.

You had three betting circles, but you played just one hand. It’s the dealer who would play three times, starting three different hands with the same up card. He had three different down cards. If he had a 6 up, he’d turn up the first down card and deal out that hand, then settle your first bet. Then he’d move the 6 to the second down card play that hand and settle the second bet, then move the 6 to the third down card.

When you were on a roll, it was fantastic. There was nothing like seeing the dealer bust three times in a New York minute. I wish it was still around.

ANDREW: I had a really nice run once at Red Dog, but after that I think I only had losing sessions, so I’m not sure if I miss it or not.

You might recall, it was really a game of in-between. You’d get two cards, then you’d win if a third card ranked in between them. The smaller the gap the bigger the payoff.

On my big session, I had a hand that started with a pair of jacks. You can’t get in between two of the same card, so the rule was that you won if the third card matched them. I got another Jack, and the payoff was 11-1. I was strictly a low roller, so a $55 win for a $5 bet was big bucks to me.

I’m not sure how much I miss the game, but that is a happy memory.

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