Originally Posted by: Natlance 
"I guess our appreciation depends on the problems we get. No problems, they are top notch. One (poorly handled/mishandled) problem and they fall in our own Hall Of Shame."
Yep, I guess this is how the human brain is built to react. I played at both 888 and at William Hill too, mostly skill games (but not only).
At 888 I had numerous problems but every time they resolved all my problems promptly and professional. And always paid me according to their payout time frame, and many times even faster (and not small amounts). However, when I saw how they and their partners treated other players I thought would be better to slow it down with 888 and eventually in short time I stopped playing at all at 888.
At William Hill, I was constantly winning good money and didn't really want to stop playing there. I also always appreciated their promptness on payouts like you (I was getting my money in my web wallet within 6 to 12 hours from submitting my request every time without exception). That lasted years for me making constant profits and having an excellent time playing there until one day when I won BIG MONEY from one single person (I think he was either drunk or something and played with me big and bigger stakes for a few hours).
After the man stopped to play with me I have requested a payout (way much bigger than usual) but leaving me the same amount to continue to play like always. Well next day I've found my account locked and no payment in my web wallet. I have asked support by email and live chat and their reply each time was that they can't help me right on the spot but that there is an investigation ongoing and I will receive updates in the next 24-48 hours. I was receiving same copy-pasted reply every week. Needless to say how betrayed, hopeless (they were not discussing players complaints with third parties except for one sportsbook watchdog which was exclusively accepting sport related issues only) and nervous that experience made me feel.
Only after constant efforts on my side I have finally received the first real update on my case after THREE MONTHS OF PAIN. But the pain didn't stopped there because they tried to accuse me of collusion! I had to show them my skill level (expert) and my past background in various contests online and offline. But guess what? That was NOT ENOUGH to put the end on the pain and cash in my money because two weeks later they tried to cheat me by saying that the money I won from that guy was not genuine money (they were saying something about charged back money and credit card theft) and that I cannot cash in. - Well, that was certainly not my problem. I risked my own money and have played fair and square, I proved that. So that should be William Hill loss and not mine by any law, I said. Then they asked me to provide them with a full list of all my bank transactions and web wallet transactions and to manually write and sign a document attesting that I have fairly played in my own personal interest and that I had no clue that the money I won were not genuine.
I was reticent to follow up with that request because I was thinking they may want to trick me in not to pay me the full amount. I think that was their intention indeed, because I have negotiated on this subject back and forth for about one more month until they adjusted the terms to confer me enough confidence to write and sign the document. Then I was finally paid next day ... AFTER almost FIVE MONTHS.
William Hill allowed me to continue play on all of the products but that was enough pain and stress for me to never want to go back there.
Well, if you are a live dealer blackjack fan you may want to look at
5Dimes Casino and play at the Diamond Jackpot tables. The game is an 6 deck shoe found in Vegas Live Dealer tab and has a house edge of 0.68% but that is reduced a lot by the jackpot which starts at $5,000 and requires no side bet for a chance to win it. In fact if you play perfect strategy and the jackpot reached $6,000 you are playing on a positive expectation game. The penetration is between 2 and 3 decks but that should have no relevance because card counting us NOT allowed by their terms & conditions. You should know that any player is allowed to have only one account within the whole chain: 5Dimes, SportBet, IslandCasino, VietBet, Chinesebookie, BetAnySports and Nicabet. But I believe the jackpot tables are only available at 5Dimes.
Or if you are into card counting thing, I would advise you to try/use
Pinnacle Casino live dealer which is an 8 deck game with a 50% penetration and a house edge of 0.35% only. Betting limits are €/$10 to €/$250 and €/$100 to €/$10,000 and card counting is not interdicted like at 5Dimes. Pinnacle pays any withdrawal amount lower than $10,000 in less than 30 minutes and any amount less than $50,000 within a few hours (way less than 24). And from what I recall there is no limit on how much they can pay per month.
If I am not mistaken at William Hill and 888 live dealer blackjack is provided by Evolution Gaming? If that is the case the game provided is an 6 deck shoe with a 50% penetration. The rules makes the game carrying a 0.72% house edge.
I agree that max bet is high and allows for a large spread but you should also take into account possible errors that may appear (buttons not appearing and you stand when you want to hit or hitting and dealer standing because your command did not reached their servers - I've had a few issues like this in the past with Evolution Gaming but never with the live dealer software from Pinnacle and 5Dimes).
You should also take into account the speed of the game (considering a full table): very slow in (my opinion) at Evolution Gaming blackjack, rather moderate at Pinnacle and fast at 5Dimes. When counting cards at blackjack you should apply a half Wonging strategy (bet every hand when the count is +2 or more and bet every other hand when the count is zero or less). These tips will sensibly improve your results.
And about Top Game blackjack... apparently would be countable because there is a shuffle at about 80% penetration. Hold on a second before being too excited: 1) the terms restrict card counting, and 2) if you will write down by rank and suite you will find out there is something not right. Personally I have been dealt 38 kings between the shuffle... and the help file says it is an 8 deck shoe game! Huh?
BTW, Pinnacle Casino is not included for the Cash Back Deal (I hope that will change). But 5Dimes is and it's Diamond Jackpot is at $9,000!
Edited by user Tuesday, September 22, 2015 7:32:21 AM(UTC)
| Reason: Corrected some spelling errors