Rules of Play
Strange as it may seem, the rules of play aren't standard in American casinos, not even in all the casinos in Las Vegas or in Reno, for example. This fault lies with the Gaming Commission of Nevada, which doesn't require standard rules and doesn't even require a particular casino to post the standard and prevalent rules in that individual club. In fact, the situation is so chaotic that rules may change from table to table in each casino.
I can mention personal experiences which have been frustrating because of this situation. Playing alone at a table, head to head with the dealer, I was making opening and neutral bets of $15, raising them to $30 when the deck was favorable and lowering them to $5 when the cards were unfavorable. I was also playing two hands at a time, since I was alone, and this enabled me to slow down the game and also made it easier for me to thoroughly count the cards.
I had played for about half an hour against one dealer, then he took his break and another dealer took over. When the deck next became unfavorable, I reduced both bets to $5, but this dealer informed me that if I played two hands at a $5 minimum table, I'd have to bet at least $10 a hand as my minimum bet. I told him that the previous dealer had allowed me to bet only $5.
"I'm sorry; you'll have to bet $10."
"Where does it state that I have to bet $10?" I asked.
The dealer disregarded my question and called over a floor man, who informed me that $10 was the minimum bet at a $5 table when playing two hands, even though this same floor man had been watching my play before and had seen me bet $5 a hand.