New to card counting, question about types of games.

Hi I am relatively new to card counting and I just have some questions hopefully somebody can help me with. The question I have is about what types of game variations to play. I recently went to Las Vegas to observe the games at different casinos (I live in California), and I noticed that the good games (3/2 BJ payouts, Dealer Stands all 17s) are at the more expensive casinos with higher minimum bet limits (ie. $15 and up). I am afraid to play at these higher minimums as I am rather new (don't want to lose my entire bankroll).

I noticed at the smaller minimum tables ($3-$5) a lot of casinos offered good penetration on double deck and 3/2 payouts, however they also had "Dealer hits soft 17" which I know is bad. My question though is that since most of the smaller tables I seen have "Dealer hits soft 17", is it worth playing this game? I mean it is a double deck game and 3/2 payouts, or am I just being fooled by the casinos in thinking its a good game cuz of that one slight rule change (Dealer hits soft 17)? Any help is appreciated, thank you.

That is known as H17. It has a slightly worse house advantage, but it is perfectly playable as your "loss" is something like .2% (.002) depending on the rules, number of decks, etc...

Sounds like you are an aspiring card counter. I personally like SD/DD games, but shoes can be playable as well, just more boring in terms of the count rising and falling. I found lots of $5 games downtown. My data is now 8 months old, but the Plaza had good DD games last summer, and Binions had good SD games (I've heard both have gone downhill but have not been back yet). Reno also sounds good if you want lower table mins.

First thing to look for is good penetration. Use things like H17/S17, DA2/D9/D10/etc and so forth to break the "ties" so that you play the games with the best penetration, and best rules, but always favoring penetration, so long as you are not talking crapjack (6:5) or other carnival-type games that look like BJ but are not...

Hi thank you for your response. I'm new to this board and so I'm not really familiar with the lingo. I'm not sure what you mean by "Use things like H17/S17, DA2/D9/D10/etc ", sorry if I sound a bit ignorant. Anyway I was just wondering if "hit soft 17" is beatable, because like I said I saw what seemed to be some good double deck games (3/2 payout, good penetration, good spread between min and max bet), but I wasn't sure how much this rule affected the outcome and if it could be beat with card counting.

dealer hitting soft 17,S17 is dealer standing on all 17s. There is an excellent BJ glossary to the left of your screen under miscellaneous.
Also under misc is CBJN which will give you all the current info about BJ games . A single issue costs $12 (at least that was the cost in 8/2005 ,my last trip to LV). It is well worth the cost .
Of course, avoid week-ends as all your table mins will go up plus the crowds.
Good luck

If you click on "current blackjack news " in the center of this site's homepage, you can see a sample of CBJN . Again info is priceless ,will save a lot of looking around .Of course everything is subject to change.