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Medellín: A Casino Blackjack Paradise

When you hear of the city of Medellín in Colombia, probably your first thoughts are of Pablo Escobar and the drug trade. But that was a long time ago, and only movies and TV shows keep the image fresh. But there's another famous reason to visit. It's how blackjack is played here that makes the city a blackjack paradise.

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Image source: Flickr

Introduction: Medellín A Blackjack Paradise

Sitting in the Andes Mountains, the capital city, Medellín is a gorgeous city with a stunning mountain backdrop. You can find fantastic food, cheap transportation, inexpensive accommodation, and the best blackjack in the southern hemisphere. The fact that years ago the city had a notorious reputation shouldn’t put any visitor off. Today the city is modern, clean and safe and it offers all tourists a warm welcome.

Play BlackJack online at the King Billy Casino

A Unique Blackjack Rule

There’s a reason why you want to play blackjack in Medellín. And it’s all down to a unique rule they have. Simply put, it’s because they play blackjack with an early surrender rule. Being able to “retire” your stiffs before the dealer checks for blackjack is a huge player advantage. In fact, with this rule in place, you have to wonder how ant casinos can actually make a living. having said that, it’s true that in many parts of the city there is no casino advantage. None at all!

These are the full rules: DAS, DA2, ENHC, ES, RSA. S17 and H17 vary, but H17 is more common.

Now most of the casinos that offer blackjack games are situated in the upmarket “El Poblado” district of Medellín. This is primarily a tourist district with large shopping malls and upscale restaurants and hotels. Accommodation here is expensive by Colombian standards but still relatively affordable by European standards. Of course, you can always stay in the “downtown area” and you’ll find hotels for around $15 a night. But the bed might be a little hard, and maybe you wouldn’t really want to go exploring after midnight.

Here is a list of casinos with shoe games in Medellín. This information is from 2019.

Medellín Casino List

Casino Rio,
Gran Casino Medellin,
Casino Luxury Games
Casino Excalibar
Casino Havana – Oviedo
Casino Havana Medellín
Casino Havana Medellín – Carrera
Casino Caribe Medellín
Casino Broadway Medellín – Etapa
Casino Broadway Medellín – Unicentro
Casino Broadway Medellín 47/33
Casino Broadway Medellín 49/41

Medellín Casino Table Limits

With Columbia being a relatively poor country, you’ll find that the casino table limits are pretty small. Generally, you’ll not find max bets of more than $100. You might see this as an obstacle to being able to make some decent cash. But it’s not a problem as the games are so good that you can still make a significant hourly rate even with this low maximum bet. The SCORE on Colombian games is 90 – 100 as they all have reasonable penetration and are always an incredible rule set. You do have the added advantage in these games as true counts as +1, around 0.7% player edge, again because of the rules.

Casino Promotions

Being able to generate a significant amount of expected value with such low table maxes means that you can make the same amount of cash with a much, much smaller standard deviation or risk of a big downswing. If you search, you’ll be able to find games offering a more suitable $150 or even $300 table maximums. Just ask around. Another interesting factor in Medellín is that many casinos run Early bird promotions. With this, you receive some match play chips if you change the equivalent of $30. But please take note that these chips are lost if you surrender along with half of your actual wager. So the proper play in these cases is to never surrender a match play hand. Simple!

Beware of Border Currency Limits

Talking of practical issues, there are certain currency limits you’ll encounter at the Colombian border. namely, you can’t transport over $10,000 either into or out of the country. If you happen to try and do so, and end up getting caught, then the fine is 20% of the total amount. So bets take heed of that rule or it’s going to be a very short and a very expensive holiday. If you want to gamble with more, then we suggest that you get right up to date and use Bitcoin in order to get around the currency exchange laws.

Medellín Transportation

Getting around the capital city is pretty cheap. Taxis are just a few $’s and there’s no such thing as tipping. Also, we should mention that taxis are not only cheap, but they are both clean and safe. If your Spanish is limited, then using Google Translate and Google Maps will save a lot of frustration. You can go into any telephone shop and for a few dollars, swap out your SI card for a Colombian one. From the city center to the airport by taxi is around 1 hour. But aware that it’s a very bumpy ride through the mountains and you may feel more than a little car sick, as you have to cope with both the uneven ride and the lack of oxygen at such a high altitude.

Changing Money

For the equivalent of just $15, you can also take the bus. Remember that you’ll be needing Colombian Pesos as the US dollar is not the universal currency and you may well come across many smaller businesses and restaurants who don’t accept your filthy American gringo money. But where ever you go you’ll find plenty of currency exchanges or “Cambios” that will give you a good rate. There are also plenty of ATMs. One word though doesn’t be tempted to use the casino ATMs as the charges are eye-watering. Just head over to a bank or a shopping mall.