Playing Blackjack in North Dakota

A fair game.

The game was obviously on the up-and-up

as I was winning and the dealer was breaking

frequently most of the session.

There is no blackjack supervisor.  The dealer

acts as cashier for buy-ins and cash-outs.

Only one other player was in action during

my session.  He may be the world's worst

blackjack player, or perhaps just the unluckiest.

He played for little more than five minutes

and lost every hand before departing for a

speech he said he was going to give somewhere

in the city.

The game is offered seven days a week and I

was told the Dempsey game goes until 2 a.m.

regardless of the number of players.

cccmedia in Fargo

Low limit 21 in N.D.

The maximum bet at non-tribal casinos

is $25 in North Dakota.

Tribal casinos may take wagers up to $100

per spot.

--

The low minimum of $3 is allowed

through a state law that permits

charitable gaming. From my research,

it is my understanding that the charity

or "public spirited" non-profit that benefits

from the house winnings changes from one

organization to another from night to night

to comply with this law.

---

I stopped in at the Radisson Blu hotel,

a classy building in downtown Fargo.

Most of the day shift staff didn't seem

to know if the Radisson offered blackjack.

Eventually, someone on the staff came along,

telling me they used to offer blackjack nightly,

now it's just on weekend nights.

I was told the dealer had been out sick for

two weekends, so there has been no 21 play

for a while at Radisson Blu.

cccmedia in Fargo

Rooters on Broadway.

This Irish-themed bar offers one 21 table

and the usual Fargo rules.

The dealer came over from the bar.

"Are you dealing blackjack?" I asked.

"Maybe," he said. 

And then he did.

  -- cccmedia in Fargo

Blu is dark.

I called Radisson Blu on Friday to find out

whether their blackjack game was returning

after two weekends off.

The team member told me there was no game

Friday night .. and he said he was told the

Radisson had closed down its game for

the summer.

--

Instead, I found a game at Cowboy Jack's on

Broadway. One table, with two dealers who

relieve each other. The dealers were friendlier

than at other places in Fargo where I had

played. One dealer got super-hot on one

shoe .. and whereas four players were in action

at the start of the shoe, all four had departed

amid a dealer hot streak near the end.

Like all games I have played, the limits at

Jack's are $3-25, maximum two hands

per player.

cccmedia in Fargo

World's surliest dealer.

I returned to Cowboy Jack's on Broadway and

played an abbreviated session of blackjack tonight.

In about 15 minutes, I had several dust-ups with

a rude dealer, the rudest I have ever observed

from either side of the table.

I'd call him a sore loser too, as he was busting the

dealer's hand consistently as I went up ten units

versus the House in the short time I was playing.

The last hand he dealt put the dealer in the

House-favorable position of having an Ace up,

normally an opportunity for a player to put up

an insurance bet.

However, the nervous dealer started to check

for his hole card without giving me time to

decide on insurance. I held my hands up in

a hold-it-right-there pose, but too late -- he

checked for his potential blackjack without

giving me a chance to put up my insurance bets.

This abrupt move actually saved me from the

loss of two potential insurance bets I was about

to place.

Then he scolded me for not verbally telling him

to stop. Whereupon I pointed to a sign posted

at the table that said Use Hand Signals.

Without discussion, he swept the six dealt

cards from the table and placed them face-down

in the discard rack.

He defended his position by furthering the

argument, to which I said he was being too

legalistic. To which he said I didn't have to

play. To which I said fine, cash me out.

There were no other players present when

I had arrived at the table .. and none was

there as soon as I left.

I will play blackjack at Cowboy Jack's again,

but probably not when the rude dealer

is running the game.

cccmedia in Fargo

Molasses slow.

I went later than usual, about 11 p.m., to the

Cowboy Jack's game. The table was mostly

full during the session.

The players were mostly recreational punters

who knew little to nothing about 21 basic strategy.

They were doubling (and mostly busting) on

two-card 12's. They needed guidance on most

stiffs versus a dealer face card. The dealer was

glad to give advice, which usually didn't comport

with basic strategy and thus won money for

the House.

The continual need to discuss and debate whether

to hit 16 against a face card slowed the game down

at times to a molasses-slow crawl though the dealer

did her best to keep things moving.

The dealer was competent at distributing

the cards and much more pleasant than the

super-surly dealer I encountered at Cowboy's

last Sunday.

cccmedia in Fargo

Eye in the sky?

My most recent blackjack session in Fargo

got off to a rough start.  I had walked up to

a dead table to play two hands and

the dealer gave herself an ace for the first round.

Then she slammed the table with her right hand.

Before playing my hands, I asked her why she

did that, mentioning that I had seen another

dealer slam in a similar manner at another

blackjack game in town.

She pointed upward and said she was alerting

the camera that she had an ace up

(which explanation I didn't follow).

I asked her if she could signal the camera without

slamming so loudly, and she didn't like that question.

She said she had been dealing this way for about

30 years and she didn't think should could change

her loud slamming habit.

However, she then proceeded to deal professionally

for the rest of the session, and when she had an ace up,

she made the motion but with no audible slamming.

At midnight, she closed the game and cashed me out,

pleasantly explaining that she was closing the game

early because she knew it would take her a long time

to count or sort the chips (another explanation I didn't

understand).

I intend to find out why the dealers apparently

need to signal or slam when they have an ace up .. and

will report on it here if I find out more.

cccmedia in Fargo

Thanks CCCmedia, did not really need another reason to avoid Fargo.

I strolled into Rooters at 11:35 p.m. on

Monday night only to find the blackjack

table covered and not in play.

The dealer was hanging around and said

she never opened (no players) and

"closed" the table at 11:30 p.m.

I found a busy -- though molasses slow --

game about a block away at Dempsey's.

The dealer was openly rooting for the

players to win, although you know she

makes money only when they lose or

tip and toke.

cccmedia in Fargo

Marcus gets started in Grand Forks.

GF is one of thelarger cities in North Dakota,

about an hour north of Fargo on the East side

of the state as I saw it mapped.

Marcus is a German Expat who has had just

two sessions of blackjack in Grand Forks

before alterting me to his presence in the state

this weekend. Apparently, he is thinking of

heading to Fargo, where I am stationed through

August. He is naturally curious about 21 conditions

here in Fargo, NoDak's largest city.

Among the few dealers he has encounted

so far, Marcus has found them generally

"abrasive."

--

My take on the Fargo dealers is that they

run the gamut, from laconic robots to

gabby dealers with at least some sense

of customer service. As mentioned, the

surly dealer from late July at Cowboy Jack's

was the most obnoxious dealer

I've every encountered.

The Downtown Fargo games are typically

four decks in a shoe with moderate

penetration. Dealer stands on soft 17.

Don't expect to resplit Aces.

The games seem to start around 6 p.m.

seven days a week. The manual shuffle

does not include any card

stripping. All games I've played

allow one or two hands at a time

per player, $3 to $25 limits on the

iniital bet per hand.

Some dealers work in pairs, taking

turns dealing the cards. Others work

alone and process cash-outs and the

occasional sale of pull-tabs. The only

pull-tab sale I have seen was to a bride

dressed in white who wanted to try her luck

on her wedding day.

cccmedia in Fargo

            Just saw a mass shooting in Fargo, police said they have no idea of the motive.  Perhaps it was a disgruntled card player.

One officer was killed, two seriously injured and

the police shot the alleged gunman dead,

according to news reports. The victims were not

immediatelly identified by the police pending

notification of kin.

This is big news in Fargo, where an annual street fair

was held this weekend .. and where shootouts

like this rarely happen -- it's not Chicago.

cccmedia in Fargo

Fargo PD have identified Jake Wallin as the

young officer who was shot and killed

late Friday when responding to a car crash

that apparently was unrelated to the

ensuing shootout. Jake Wallin was 23.

The police chief called Friday one of the

worst days in his department's history.

He said the slain suspect -- Mohamad Barakat,

37, of Fargo -- started shooting at police

for no known reason.

The two other officers who were shot are

reported in stable but still critical condition.

Barakat also fired shots at Fargo firemen

responding to the scene, according to

police.  They say the firemen were not hit

although a bullet struck a 25-year-old

Fargo woman. The still-unidentified

woman has been treated at a Fargo

health facility.

cccmedia in Fargo

Statement from Fargo chief of police

Dave Zibolski.

"This was a heinous and unthinkable act

of agression against our officers and the

entire metro community. As we all

try to comprehend what has transpired

and mourn the impact on our team

and the entire community, we are bracing

for extremely difficult days ahead.

We know that we are joined by the

entire metro community and this

brings comfort to all of us....

"We can profoundly feel the fabric

of this community in your actions,

words of encouragement and

acts of kindness. Together, we are

and will remain guardians of

our Fargo community."

              Unfortunately this is the new normal.