The BEST Cryptologic Site
The very first casino I joined on the Internet was a Cryptologic site. I never deposited a nickel until I finally read Bill Haywood's book BeatWebCasinos.Com. I logged on, put $25 in and got a $25 bonus. The rest is history! Take a look at these checks.
Now what makes this the best Crypto to play at? Is it their multi-deck, multi-player Blackjack software? Maybe. Is it their $2 table minimum? Well, ya. Is it their frequent bonuses? YES! When I first joined in November I got their $75 bonus for a $75 deposit. Then they matched me $50 for $50 for December, followed by another $50 for $50 Christmas present. January they offered $50 for $50, and for February they are back to a $75 for $75 bonus. That's $300 in bonus money! Now I am wondering what they will do for Valentines. The best Cryptologic casino is Intercasino.
It is a typical 8 deck game that shuffles after every hand, or does it? Here are the rules from Intercasino's site:
1. 8 52-card decks are used
2. The cards are re-shuffled after partial completion of the shoe
3. Dealer stands on all 17's
4. Doubling after splitting allowed
5. No re-splitting of cards allowed
6. No surrender
7. Only one additional card allowed on each ace when splitting a pair of aces
The cards are re-shuffled after partial completion of the shoe? About every 10 rounds the dealer shuffles the deck as if it is a one deck game, but I thought that this was just for looks. I looked carefully at the site again and saw these are the rules for version 4.0 of this casino. Version 3.0 states The deck is re-shuffled after approximately one-third of the shoe (the 8 decks of cards) has been dealt. Now I had to find out from the webmaster what the final scoop on this game is. I called 1-888-872-2238 and spoke to Natasha. She gave me her opinion with a very sexy accent. When I questioned futher she told me to call back in an hour and speak to Andy the games expert. Here is what the table looks like when you play.
Now the $2 minimum. This is unique to Crypto sites. All the other sites have a $5 minimum, which is a little large for small time bonus hunters. Putting in $25 to get a $25 bonus and playing $5 hands only gives you 10 units to play with. Granted, you only have to play 10 hands to qualify to take out the bonus, but losing three or four hands in a row is not uncommon in this game. I recommend deviating from Basic Strategy when you only have 10 units to play with and you are down a few. Hit 11 vs 10 instead of double. Try not to double or split unless you are up a few units. This is not real life Blackjack. This is bonus hunting. You can play using Basic, but be ready for the loss of your five units from time to time. I usually leave my bonus in there and play perfect Basic Strategy. This game is a very fair one and will usually give what it takes from you if you give it enough of a chance.
The $2 minimum cuts the deviation down big time. The latest $75 bonus requires $225 in play. This is the bonus, the deposit, and another $75 on top of that. You can play 113 $2 hands and qualify (that includes pushes doubles and splits), but that's no fun! You also want anyone that may look at your log to think you are a gambler, although I doubt that will ever happen. These places make so much money they will not waste their time sending people on a hunt for bonus hounds like you and me. But, if they do, they will see that I bet $2 until I have lost $4. Then I bet $5 a hand. If this is a loss, I use OSCAR until I am up my lost $1 plus another $5.
Okay, back to the shuffle. I called back and Shaun told me Andy would not be in for another three hours. I asked Shaun about the shuffle and he told me when you play with the other players, the deck is shuffled when you see the dealer shuffling! If you click the table when you join the game and play by yourself, it is shuffled after every hand. SO, you can click the PASS button when the count is not in your favour, and enjoy the game when it is 10 and Ace rich. OR you can play at a $10 or $25 table in multi player mode and "count'em down". You won't have much company there. I have seen running counts of +20. It's nice to place $10 bets and make up for five hands all at once, knowing you are trading variance for a small edge in expectation. Playing at a table of four I was getting seven or eight rounds. It's also good practice for counting. I use Hi Opt II with an approximate Ace side count. For example, with four players and the dealer I expect to see one Ace each round (5 x 2.7 = 13.5) unless the dealer is showing a stiff card.
Just as I did on the Microgaming pages I have put up, I have put the flash cards you will require to get the best out of this game. These are for multideck "no double after splits".
Flashcards for Multideck Blackjack
2-10 |
2-9 |
3-6 |
Stand |
3-6 |
3-6 |
4-6 |
4-6 |
5-6 |
5-6 |
All |
2-9 x7 |
All |
2-7 |
3-6 |
4-7 |
4-7 |
|
I would print these cards out and place them beside your computer for reference. Every so often you might hit a point where you want
to be sure of the numbers, and you don't have time to go looking for them in a multi player game. You have 15 seconds to make your play,
or to count the cards down and make a decision.
Flashcards for Single Level Count Advanced Plays
+3 |
>0 |
+4 |
+5 |
+5 |
+4 |
+2 |
+4 |
+1 |
+1 |
+4 |
+4 |
+5 |
0 |
0 |
-1 |
-1 |
-2 |
If the True Count gets to +3, take Insurance (True Count = count divided by number of decks left, which will always be at least 6.5). If the count is + anything, don't hit 16 vs 10 up. Most of these numbers +4 and +5 will be hard to reach with only 1/3 of 8 being dealt, so I would concentrate on the smaller numbers. Double 11 vs A and 9 vs 2 at +1 True Count, or +8 running count. Hit 13 vs 2 and 12 vs 4 during any minus count. Hit 12 vs 5 or 6 up at -1 TC or a -8 running count. This will help kill the house advantage off and keep more of the bonus bucks in your pocket.
You can use the top flash cards Against any Crypto game, and use these advanced plays at Intercasino, the Internet's BEST Cryptologic site!
