Monarch - $1 blackjack?

[MonaCK]

Anyone who has been on the monarch recently... Do they have the beginners blackjack table? Kind of got hooked on it on the enchantment in January... Thanks. :)

[Tucker in Texas]

You wish.

 

If it is like all the other Royal ships I have been on cheapest buy in is $6. They want you to put $5 on the bet and $1 on a spot that if you get a black jack you can spin a wheel for more money. Sucker bet (lol). If you don't do that, then $6 on the table bet.

 

Tucker in Texas

[MonaCK]

You wish.

 

If it is like all the other Royal ships I have been on cheapest buy in is $6. They want you to put $5 on the bet and $1 on a spot that if you get a black jack you can spin a wheel for more money. Sucker bet (lol). If you don't do that, then $6 on the table bet.

 

Tucker in Texas

 

 

.... except they had $1 blackjack (really $1.25 with a .25 ante for under $5 bets) on the Enchantment of the Seas this past January.

[triplej2484]

.... except they had $1 blackjack (really $1.25 with a .25 ante for under $5 bets) on the Enchantment of the Seas this past January.

 

They had it on Grandeur in November but not on Monarch in September. The dealer on Grandeur said they do it if the casino is really slow to try and entice people sit. Short cruises on Monarch usually don't have that problem.

 

Also, the regular minimum on Grandeur was $5, not the normal $6. I made a comment on how great that was and some of the dealers had not yet heard of the $6 minimums in place on other ships.

 

And for what it's worth, the Wheel of Madness brought me back even on the last day of the cruise from down $200. It's not really a sucker bet since blackjack is dealt rather often with a multi-deck shoe. Roulette and video slot machines are sucker bets.

[justmeinflorida]

In January, minimum bet was $5 for Blackjack. My Dad and my brother spent a good deal of time (and money) at those tables. I played a little.

 

If there was a table with a different minimum bet than $5, I missed it. There were only 3 or 4 blackjack tables that I recall seeing.

 

I was more interested in the one single poker table. That's my game. it was either dark (no dealer) or full every time I looked. :rolleyes:

[MonaCK]

Oh well. $5 blackjack is too rich for my blood (need $100 to sit down). I will stick with my small minimums at roulette.

[SpeedGeek]

I've seen single deck blackjack on the Monarch vary between 5$ and 6$ minimums. Never 1$ though. :(

[jmorgania]

I was more interested in the one single poker table. That's my game. it was either dark (no dealer) or full every time I looked. :rolleyes:

 

Does the Monarch use a real poker dealer as opposed to the electronic tables? Do you remember what the rake is? The electronic tables have a very high rake.

[SpeedGeek]

Does the Monarch use a real poker dealer as opposed to the electronic tables? Do you remember what the rake is? The electronic tables have a very high rake.

 

Last time I was on board, it was a real dealer. I doubt that would have changed. Don't know about the rake though because I never ponied up the 100$ to sit down. :D

[tsconley19]

I was on the Monarch last month and they did have $1 blackjack. I think it was for only 1 day. The rest of the time, the tables are $5 and up. They do have learn how to play table games about 30 minutes before they open.

To answer your question, no beginners tables. Step in with both feet! bet small, unless you have mastered at least basic strategy.

Tom

[justmeinflorida]

Does the Monarch use a real poker dealer as opposed to the electronic tables? Do you remember what the rake is? The electronic tables have a very high rake.

 

As of our January 16th sailing, they were still using a live dealer. I almost won't sit down at one of those electronic tables. I'm kind of old fashioned that way. I just never know if that gizmo is cheating. :confused:

 

Sorry, I don't recall the rake. It wasn't terrible, or, I'd have never considered sitting down.

 

They didn't run that table all the time. They would announce a couple times a day they were setting up a game. Unfortunately, I was never in or near the casino at that time. And, being my first cruise, I was too enamored with the whole experience of cruising to wait around too long for a seat to open up. Once the game got going, it was a popular table. They did have a nightly tournament going. $75 buy-in. I actually enjoy tournaments more, but wanted to experience a sit-down game to see how the game goes on board first.

 

There were always seats available for the tournament though. And, if I'm not mistaken, you would be playing in qualifying rounds that could eventually get you a free cruise and a seat at a main event style tournament later. But, I never really explored the prize structure. I really was more of an impatient kid than anything being my first cruise. I wanted to experience everything. So, I didn't invest a whole lot of time in any one activity. :p

 

We're doing 5 days aboard Liberty next January. I plan to slow things down a bit and enjoy some of these kind of activities I skipped last time. I most certainly will try my luck with the tournament if they are having one.

[cb at sea]

I've never seen a 'real" BJ table have less than $5 min.....maybe some of the "party" blackjack game (the ones with bonuses/ sidebets/wildcards, etc...) will have lower minimums, but not a real BJ game.