the casinos

Casino Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Address: Glebe Park, 21 Binara Street, Canberra City, ACT 2601
Opening Hours: 12 noon - 6am, 7 days per week
General Enquiries: (02) 6257 7074 or 1800 806 833
Facsimile: (02) 6257 7079
Website: http://www.casinocanberra.com.au

How to get there: The Casino is adjacent to Canberra's CBD and entertainment hub and is walking distance from most of the major hotels.

General Conditions: A scenic casino both inside and out, Casino Canberra is situated in twenty hectares of parkland and has an impressive collection of Australian art on its walls.  The lack of non-smoking tables can spoil the atmosphere inside at busy times.

One main gaming floor has the following blackjack tables:

$5-$500: 6
$10-$500: 7
$25-$1000: 2
$50-$2000: 2

Currently cutting 1 1/2 to 2 decks from 8.  Canberra is the only casino allowing the player to split regular pairs (not aces) to 4 hands, although this opportunity occurs so infrequently that it does not make up for the nasty European no hole card rule.  For Sydney players though, these conditions are worth the 3 hour drive.

Blackjack Rules

• 8 Decks, dealt from shoe
• Double on any first two cards
• Dealer stands on soft 17 (S17)
• Split to 4 hands
• Aces split to 2 hands
• One card only on split aces
• Double after split (DAS)
• Blackjack pays 3:2
• Insurance pays 2:1
• Dealer blackjack takes all doubles and splits (European no-hole-card-rule)

Variations
Perfect Pairs is available on some tables.

Blackjack Basic Strategy

For a given set of blackjack rules, there is only one best action to take for each possible hand a player may get versus each possible upcard a dealer may have.  This set of "best actions" is know as the Basic Strategy.  The basic strategy to be followed at Casino Canberra is as follows:

For hard totals:

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

For pairs:

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
2,2	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
3,3	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
4,4				SP	SP
5,5
6,6	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
7,7	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
8,8	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
9,9	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP		SP	SP
10,10
A,A	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP

For soft totals:
Double down on:
A7 and A6 vs 3 4 5 6
A5 and A4 vs 4 5 6
A2 and A3 vs 5 6

Otherwise hit on soft 17 or less and hit on soft 18 if dealer shows 9, 10 or Ace.

House Edge:  0.542%.

INDEX
The dealer up-card is displayed along the top, and the players totals down the side. "S" = "stand" "H" = "hit" "D" = "double" "SP" = "split"