West Virginia Blackjack – West Virginia Casinos

Author: owowonowo

For a long time, gamblers in West Virginia had to travel somewhere else to play blackjack games, craps games, roulette games, etc. The only casino gambling action available to them was slot machine gambling and horse betting. But recently, Wheeling Island Gaming and Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort received permission to add table games to their offerings. So the gamblers who used to travel to Indiana can now get their blackjack fix a little closer to home.

Blackjack isn’t the only new game that’s available to gamblers in the area. Texas holdem grows ever more popular, and both of the locations already mentioned now have poker card rooms where aspiring Doyle Brunsons can now go all-in and hope they don’t get a bad flop.

Wheeling Island Gaming

Wheeling Island Gaming is located on an island in the Ohio River. The casino offers a tropical island ambience including a waterfall and multiple faux-palm trees. The island itself is only about 2 miles long, and Wheeling Island Casino offers several restaurants and bars. Be warned that this casino is extremely popular, and the blackjack games there are a big attraction. You should be prepared to wait if you want to play blackjack at any stakes lower than $50 per hand. (The higher stakes tables aren’t as crowded.)

Gamblers who are tired of slot machines, blackjack, and craps can step outside and spend some time betting on the dog races that are also offered at the location. Or if you’re not the rough and rugged outdoors-y type, you can watch the races from inside as well.

Mountaineer Casino Racetrack

The Mountaineer Casino Racetrack is located in the countryside, somewhat removed from the rest of civilization. Like Wheeling Island Gaming, the Mountaineer offers multiple restaurants and bars. They have a radically different decor and theme though, favoring a 1920’s gangster/speakeasy decor over the tropical island theme present at Wheeling Island. The casino is a little bit larger, and finding a lower stakes blackjack table with a seat open is a little bit easier here.

And if you get tired of gambling, a golf resort is located nearby, so you can get some fresh air and exercise while taking a break from the tables and the slot machines.

Some Blackjack Advice

If you’re new to blackjack strategy, here are a few tips for how to minimize the house edge:

When you’re not sure about the correct play, assume that the dealer has a ten as her hole card, and also assume that you’re going to be dealt a ten. The deck has more tens in it than any other card, so this is a decent assumption about what’s going to happen next, and the basic strategy decisions become pretty obvious.

Always split aces and eights. If you’ve got aces, you get twice as many chances at a blackjack by splitting. And you’ll often draw a ten when you hit. 10+8=18, which is a mighty respectable blackjack hand any time.
Never split fours, fives, or tens. A pair of fours is a hard total of eight, which means you’re next card, if it’s a ten, will be an eighteen, which is a mighty good hand. (Two hands with a total of fourteen each would be a bummer to play though.) A pair of fives is a total of ten, so doubling down is a good idea here, since you’re hoping to catch an ace for a 21 or a ten for a total of 20. And a pair of tens is a total of 20, which is an outstanding hand no matter what.
Don’t play with money you can’t afford to lose.
For more blackjack strategy advice, including a hand-by-hand guide to basic strategy, visit Blackjack Hero’s blackjack basic strategy tutorial.

To practice a little blackjack online before your tips, try the free blackjack games available with no download at Free Flash Blackjack.

Good luck at the tables in West Virginia. The house has the edge unless you’re counting cards, but you’re the one having big fun.

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Tags: Blackjack, Casinos, Virginia

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Black Jack Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

articles:
Tennessee Congressman Joins IGREA Roll (Online-Casinos, 10/19/07)

Internet Gambling Act Should Be Scrapped: Joe Saumarez-Smith (Bloomberg, 10/19/07)

Regulation, not isolationism, needed for poker (PokerListings, 10/18/07)

Poker Players Lay Down Their Chips In Ohio Valley (WTOV-9, 10/19/07)

W.Va. raising stakes as casinos start dealing poker today (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/19/07)

West Deptford Man Admits Running an Illegal Poker Operation (South Jersey News, 10/18/07)

26 face gambling charges after poker games raided (The Record, 10/19/07)

Interview with subscription-based poker room PurePlay CEO Jason Kellerman (Part Time Poker News, 10/18/07)

blogs:
Absolute Poker and Online Poker (Bill Rini, 10/19/07)

excerpts:
Tennessee Congressman Joins IGREA Roll (Online-Casinos, 10/19/07)
“The latest American politician to join the fight against the unpopular Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act by signing on as a co-sponsor for Congressman Barney Franks’ HR 2046 Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act is Representative Steve Cohen. Representative Cohen hails from the Memphis – Shelby County in the state of Tennessee and becomes the 39th sponsor of a move to license, regulate and tax online gambling in the United States which has been slow to gather momentum but continues to gather political support.”

Internet Gambling Act Should Be Scrapped: Joe Saumarez-Smith (Bloomberg, 10/19/07)
“A year ago last Saturday, President George W. Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and online gambling was banned in the U.S. At least, that was the intention. Twelve months later, there are just as many people gambling online, if not more. Many bettors don’t even know the law was changed, partly because it was tacked on as an amendment to a measure aimed at increasing port security.”

Regulation, not isolationism, needed for poker (PokerListings, 10/18/07)
“The ubiquity of the Internet, and its potential for facilitating human connection, has impelled governments to attempt to regulate and limit access to it. In China, for instance, the ruling party rigidly monitors what its citizens view, and during the recent uprising in Myanmar, the military junta in power cut off Internet access altogether.”

Poker Players Lay Down Their Chips In Ohio Valley (WTOV-9, 10/19/07)
“With a snip of a ribbon, poker games were officially under way at Wheeling Island Racetrack & Gaming Center Friday morning. Both Wheeling Island and Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort were given the official OK to start poker play Friday. About 80 new employees at Wheeling Island began their first eight-hour shift after a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony. Bob Marshall, president of Wheeling Island Racetrack, said the poker room will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

W.Va. raising stakes as casinos start dealing poker today (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/19/07)
“Pennsylvania remains one of the states where no one is supposed to profit from hosting card games. State police in Westmoreland County raided a volunteer fire company’s Texas hold ‘em tournament in August and charged a Derry attorney, Larry Burns, with unlawful gambling for running the games. He faces a Nov. 28 preliminary hearing. No poker or other table games are permitted in Pennsylvania’s slot machine parlors, so West Virginia casino operators sought and won permission from the Legislature to offer them and try to one-up their new competitors in the battle for customers.”

West Deptford Man Admits Running an Illegal Poker Operation (South Jersey News, 10/18/07)
“A West Deptford Township man pleaded guilty today to operating an illegal poker gambling operation. Anthony Sigafoos, 41, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to a one-count Information which charges him with conducting an illegal gambling business. Judge Rodriguez released the defendant on a $25,000 bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 18.”

26 face gambling charges after poker games raided (The Record, 10/19/07)
“Twenty-six people face gambling-related charges after police raided two illegal backroom card games, one in a Waterloo apartment and the other at a Guelph hotel. Poker — in this case Texas Hold ‘em — isn’t illegal, police said yesterday. But making money off a game by charging players or taking a share of their winnings is.”

Interview with subscription-based poker room PurePlay CEO Jason Kellerman (Part Time Poker News, 10/18/07)
“You bill the room as legal poker, yet subscription-based live poker league National Poker Challenge has run into problems with state officials in Washington and Arkansas. As your room grows, do you anticipate similar issues? When we were developing our model back in 2004, we hired many of the world’s leading gaming attorneys to ensure we developed it in a way that would not run afoul of gaming laws. Our model is a non-gambling model, from a legal perspective or otherwise. Because we’ve structured it as a non-gambling model, we do not expect to run into the same issues as the National Poker Challenge.”

blogs:
Absolute Poker and Online Poker (Bill Rini, 10/19/07)
“I’ve always believed that the best way to change the emphasis was to legalize and regulate online gaming. The UIGEA is the kind of thing that helps the shady operators stay in business. First, as one of the sites still accepting US players Absolute is already operating outside of the law. No matter how egregious their crime there is little likelihood anybody will ever bring the guilty to justice. Second, in a highly regulated environment money gets spent on security to avoid having to pay the kinds of fines that the government can impose.”

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