Amigotechs Blackjack and Software

Amigotechs is a software designer that provides virtual
poker, casino, and sportsbetting products to their clients.
Based in Panama, the company has created a decent range of
titles that are often made available to the U.S. market.

Now for the bad news.

Amigotechs is one of those operations that smells fishy from
a mile away. For starters, almost no information is available
about the company on the Internet. Since their entire business
takes place online, that’s an immediate red flag. When you
factor in that their official website is no longer available,
alarm bells should be ringing inside your head right about now.

Need more evidence?

Consider the two cases where players have outright accused
their software of being rigged. The first example occurred in
2011, when a customer played 922 hands of Jacks of Better video
poker without getting a paying win. The situation was analyzed
by Dr. Eliot Jacobsen with Certified Fair Gambling, and he
concluded “it is more likely to win the United States Powerball
lottery 14 times in a row, buying a single ticket, than that the
results of this game happened purely by chance.”

Four years later, a customer complained of playing 560 hands
of 2 Ways Royal video poker and never getting anything better
than two pair. This claim was verified via gaming logs, and the
odds of such an event happening fairly were placed at 1 in
18,977,313,106,520,400,000,000,000,000.

The owner of Amigotechs eventually compensated the player,
but the damage to the company’s reputation had already been done
(again).

Games Available

Amigotechs has an average selection of games, from just over
40 slot machines to casino classics such as roulette (American,
European, and French versions), craps, and war. Before we move
on to an in-depth discussion of their available blackjack games,
let’s pause for a moment to examine some of the overall
positives and negatives associated with their virtual creations.

Positives

If you’re looking for reasons to play at a casino powered by
Amigotechs, you may have a tough time. There aren’t many
positives to be found, although they do stand out when it comes
to offering games rarely found elsewhere.

The two most notable examples are Crazy Poker (also known as
“Crazy 4 Poker”) and 30-40 (also known as “Trente et Quarante”).
The former carries a standard house edge of 3.42%, while the
side bet gives the house a 4.52% advantage. In the case of the
latter, the house edge is a desirable 0.90%, as long as the
player chooses the maximum insurance wager.

Neither of these games are likely to be found anywhere else,
so fans should be delighted by their inclusion at any casinos
affiliated with Amigotechs.

Negatives

There are plenty of reasons to outright avoid Amigotechs, and
we’ve listed each of them below for your convenience.

• Potentially Rigged Software

  This item
  is reason enough to avoid any casino affiliated with the
  company. For those who haven’t done so already, you can read
  more about the potentially rigged software from Amigotechs
  by checking out the first section of this article.

• Spotty Information

  If we visit the
  help files at a casino, we expect to find detailed
  information on all their games. That’s the way it’s supposed
  to work, at least, but the folks at Amigotechs obviously
  have other ideas. Their help files are inconsistent at best,
  and critical information and rules are often “accidentally”
  left out. This is completely unacceptable, and it’s one of
  the surest indications that the company doesn’t have the
  best interests of their customers in mind.

• Inconsistent Rules

  Even if you do
  manage to track down the complete rules for a game, you’ll
  notice that the details can often be erratic. A perfect
  example involves their video poker machines, with the house
  edge ranging from a desirable 0.20% to an outrageous 13.19%.

• Loading Time

  In the modern era of
  online gambling, most games are available to the player
  within a matter of seconds. Amigotechs drops the ball once
  again, this time because their games are notoriously slow
  when it comes to loading. Internet users have become
  increasingly impatient, and this flaw isn’t going to endear
  the software to anyone.

• Miserly Rules

  Most casino software
  developers try to strike a balance between loose and stingy
  rules, but Amigotechs usually gravitates to the latter. Most
  games have the worst possible house edge, which is sure to
  drive away any customer with the sense to notice.

• Outdated Appearance

  Most of their
  games look like they were designed back in the late 1990s.
  While that doesn’t mean the games stink, it’s not exactly
  going to draw in customers in droves. It also makes us
  wonder about the direction Amigotechs is headed in as a
  company, as well as the overall quality of their designers.

Now that we’ve covered the pros and cons of the company’s
software, let’s take a look at the different types of blackjack.
There are a total of six to choose from, although most follow
the traditional rules rather closely.

• Single Deck (3 to 2)
• Single Deck (6 to 5 with surrender)
• Single Deck (6 to 5 no surrender)
• Six Decks (no surrender)
• Six Decks (with surrender)
• Blackjack Switch

Single Deck (3 to 2)

A relatively straightforward version of the game, with the
dealer hitting on a soft 17 and blackjack paying 1.5. The player
may not double down after a split, although they can double down
on a 10 or 11. Aces can’t be re-split, and surrender is not an
option (which sounds like a cheesy line from an action movie).
The expected return to the player is 99.62%, which makes this a
solid option for anyone brave enough to give Amigotechs
blackjack a try.

Single Deck (6 to 5 with surrender)

Getting a blackjack pays an outrageous 6 to 5, which should
be enough to cause some gamblers to immediately boycott this
provider. The dealer stands on a soft 17, and the player is
allowed to double after a split. Aces cannot be re-split, and
the surrender option is in effect. With all these variable
factored in, the expected return is 98.74%.

Single Deck (6 to 5 no surrender)

Yet another version of the awful 6 to 5 blackjack payout
rules, although this time the player doesn’t have the option of
surrendering their hand. The rest of the rules are the same as
the previous entry, and the return works out to 98.72%.

Six Decks (no surrender)

The dealer stands on a soft 17, and a player blackjack pays
1.5. Doubling can be performed on any pair, and doubling after
the split is also allowed. Aces cannot be re-split, and the
dealer always peeks for a blackjack (which is common in all
version from Amigotechs). There’s no option for surrendering,
which lowers the expected return to 99.54%.

Six Decks (with surrender)

The only difference between this version and the previous
entry is the ability for the player to surrender a hand. This
improves the expected return slightly, raising it from 99.54% to
99.61%.

Blackjack Switch

In this variant, the player makes two bets of equal size and
is dealt two hands. Once the initial hands have been received,
the player has the option of switching the second card in both
hands. In most versions of this game, a player blackjack pushes
against a dealer 22. In this case, however, any blackjack
automatically wins, so this gives the player a nice advantage
and reduces the house edge to just 0.18%. If you’re going to
play some manner of blackjack at Amigotechs, this is the version
to choose (assuming the software hasn’t been rigged).

Amigotechs Casinos

Given all the problems associated with Amigotechs, we can’t
in good conscience recommend any of the casinos that use their
games. We will, however, provide a list of these clients, just
so you can avoid them like the plague.

Some of the more notable names include the following:

SBG Global

This online casino and
sportsbook accepts US players, although the exact jurisdiction
they’re licensed in is unknown (assuming they’re licensed at
all). In addition to Amigotechs software, games are also
provided by GGL.

1Vice Sportsbook & Casino

This site is licensed in Costa Rica, which immediately makes it somewhat
questionable due to the lack of official oversight. Casinos
games, lotteries, live dealers, and a racebook are all
available, and additional software is provided by RDG and GGL.

And the rest:

• BetRoyal Sportsbook
• Betnow
• BetLion365
• Poker Host
• Bingo Fun House
• Horizon Sports

Strategy for Amigotechs Blackjack

In this section, we usually offer suggestions for the best
way to succeed at one or more of the blackjack games offered by
a game designer. While we’ve included one such strategy, we’d
also like to offer another that’s a little less conventional.

You heard right. We’re suggesting that you avoid the
company’s games entirely. And since they might be mixed in with
games from other designers, the smartest move is to sidestep any
casino known to work with them. We wouldn’t normally suggest
such a bold move, but there are just too many suspicious reports
floating around to take a chance.

We’re sure there are those who’ll disregard our advice. If
you’re one of these brave souls, then we suggest sticking with
Blackjack Switch and its unusually friendly rules. The following
is a basic strategy for this game, and it’s often referred to as
the “Cindy Liu Simple Switching Strategy.”

The strategy is based on a list of hands, and they’re ranked
in order of strength. They include:

• 21
• 20
• 19
• AA
• 11
• 10
• 9
• 8 or 18
• 8, 8 with a 2 through 8 up

Now that these hands have been established, let’s look at how
to use them:

If the dealer is showing a 7 or 8, make your weaker hand as
strong as possible by using the table listed above. If the
dealer has any other card facing up, use the same table but
concentrate on improving your strongest hand.

If you find yourself unable to create one of the above hands,
see if you can make one of these (listed from strongest to
weakest):

• 17 or 7
• Any hand that’s meant to be split
• Any 12
• Any 13

There are, however, a few exceptions, and each of these
involves a pair of aces in one of the player’s hands.

• In the case of a pair of aces and a hand with a 3 and 8,
  be sure to retain the pair.
• In the case of a pair of aces and a hand with a 2 and 9,
  only keep the aces together if the dealer is showing a 2
  through 6.
• In the case of a pair of aces and a hand with a 2 and 8,
  always retain the pair.

Summary

If you’re looking for a rare casino game that can’t be found
anywhere else, then Amigotechs might just have it.
Unfortunately, that’s where the positive news ends, as their
software looks dated, is slow to load, and employs stingy rules
to increase the house edge. Even worse, there have been multiple
credible claims of rigged software, which is reason alone to
look elsewhere for your online gambling needs.