BLACKJACK IN THE SUN: ARUBA

I was somewhat surprised by the people of Aruba. They didn't seem as bent on securing the American dollar as in so many places I've visited. There is no hostility or resentment against Americans-whites or anybody else. Everybody is treated equally and everybody is welcome.

The natives seemed much more interested in enjoying life and in helping others have a good time. They are also well educated, taking English, Spanish, Dutch, and French in school, in addition to knowing their own native tongue, which is called papeomento. Everything moves slowly. The wait at restaurants is about twice as long as in the States-I was very content. After all, I was there to relax. If I want to go somewhere to hurry, I'll vacation in New York City.

The casinos are open at noon for slot-machine play. The table games at the Americana and Holiday Inn begin at 2:00 P.m., with the tables at the other casinos opening at 9:00 P.M. Jackets are required in all casinos after 9:00 P.M. Almost any type of jacket will do, even a windbreaker. Most of the time, playing conditions are very crowded. In the evening, every table in every ca-sino is full, simply because there aren't that many tables in any of the casinos. The largest has only twelve tables, with the smallest containing six. Because of the crowds, the best playing time is in the afternoon and early evening.

The basic rules were not too different from what I was used to. Insurance is allowed at all five casinos. The dealer doesn't take a hole card, but refunds any additional doubling or splitting bets if he ends up with a natural. Surrender is allowed only in the Holi-day Inn. No casino allows you to double after splitting a pair.

The dealers put the plastic marker anywhere from two and one-half to three decks into the shoe, cutting off a deck to a deck and a half. Where a dealer cuts off more than a deck, he usually would keep on dealing past the marker until every player's hand had been resolved. Since the tables were always full, quite often the dealer wound up dealing down to the last half deck. This is extremely advantageous for the Hi-Opt I player.

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