Playing in Washington

I recently returned from a two-week visit to Washington State where I visited about two-dozen casinos and card rooms all across the state. First, you need to know that Washington has two types of casinos; one, the standard Native American, Las Vegas type, with all the table games like Blackjack, Craps, Baccarat, Roulette and the newer games like Three card poker, Let it Ride and so on. These casinos also have slots and video poker. The other kind are also called casinos and are non-Indian, but they only offer table card games like blackjack, Caribbean stud and Let it ride. There are no slots, craps or roulette allowed in these “casinos”. These card rooms are smaller with only six or so total tables and are not open 24/7, like the Indian casinos are. One thing I noticed, while in Washington casinos, was the popularly of blackjack side bets. I would sit at a blackjack table with five or six players and all of them, that is all except me, would make a side bet. I found there were a variety of side bets you can make in those Washington casinos. No matter what side bet is offered, for example: Player has 20, Royal match, or even Insurance, the house has a very large advantage over the player, meaning those bets should be avoided. In my judgment, those players, who take side bets, were just giving their chips away.