Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has launched a new variation of blackjack called “Switch Hands,” which was created by a local inventor.
Switch Hands deals each player two hands—the normal one, and a second two-card hand face-down. If the player is unsatisfied with his initial hand, he can buy into the second hand during the same deal, without looking at either card in advance.
Switch Hands was invented by Stephen Berkowitz of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, which is around 28 miles from Bethlehem. Berkowitz, whose Global Innovative Gaming, LLC also is developing a game called High Roll Dice for the Pennsylvania market, graduated from Kutztown University, and worked in Atlantic City and Las Vegas with mathematician Charles R. Mousseau while refining the game’s rules and odds.
“When gambling was legalized in Pennsylvania, it really sparked my interest in game design,” Berkowitz told the Allentown Morning Call. “I thought to myself, what are the popular games that people love to play, and how can we make them even better?”
