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FRONT PAGE - Back to THE ADVISOR PAGE GM,
Hello, Heather.
Most (although not all) video Blackjack machines pay only 1 to 1 for a player's 'blackjack', so that gives the casino a very big edge over the player - too big to consider p[laying them, as far as I'm concerned. However, there are video Blackjack games out there that do pay the proper 3 to 2 for a natural and, if the other rules are reasonable, they could be okay to play.
So, that's the thing to do: determine if the rules are similar to those of the table games and if they are, it'll be a similar experience. If you're nervous about sitting at a 'real' table, then you might want to consider practicing at the games we have available on our other site, The GameMaster's Arcade. This is a "practice" casino which is free and there is no risk of loss, nor will anyone yell at you for making the wrong play.
Yours for winning, Hello Black Jack guru!
Anyhow, I have taken a liking to applying the Basic strategy along with
the 5-level progressive system. However, I have a few questions:
First of all, I notice that (with my limited experiance) that playing via
the web, I find myself always down for the first 50 or so hands and then
clawing it back in leaps. This requires a reasonably large starting
bankroll and makes me a little fearful should it happen for real. Is this
always the case? and are the web games an accurate depiction of the average?
If the game you're playing is dealt in a "random" manner, then the losses
in the beginning are just a short-term phenomenon. Play enough and you'll
have times where the first 50 or so hands result in winners. However,
please note that I said, "if the game is dealt in a random manner". I am
not convinced that all games on the Web are honest, so they may not be
depicting the average. The problem lies in the detection of the non-random
games, although I believe that most are honest. If you care to tell me
where you're playing, I'll be happy to offer up an opinion.
Secondly, how do I place my bet following a push or double or split? I am
inclined to start again (conservative), or should I continue as normal?
I am firmly of the opinion that betting progressions do not work in the
long run, so conservative would be the best way to go.
Finally, I am always afraid to double following basic strategy if the
dealer holds a powerful card, is it contrary if I just hit?
Yes, it is. Basic Strategy says to double for a reason: one expects to
make a profit by doing so. If you just hit instead, it's costing you
money. That said, you'll now double the next 5 hands and lose and think I
don't know what I'm talking about, but believe me when I tell you that
following Basic Strategy is the smart play
Thank you and apologies if any of these are answered on your web site
already.
Glad to help, Ollie.
Yours for winning, Hi GameMaster,
Hello.
As you can see, it's not a big mistake to double A-3 against a 4, but that will increase your bankroll fluctuations (good when you win, bad when you lose) and nothing is gained in the long run. In fact, it actually costs you $$$.
Yours for winning, Hello Gamemaster, I have visited the "Basic Stategy Engine and obtained the basic strategy charts for Vegas. I didn't see any strategy charts for the casinos here in Connecticut. (I plan on utilizing your lessons at the Ct. casino's for practice) I think I figured out that all I need to print out a strategy chart for these casinos is how many decks are utilized at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Am I correct in my assumption? I've been telling my friends about your site and have given them your web site address.
I also had a problem going to the ConJelCo web page to acquire an understanding of gambling terms. The page was not available. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Again, you have a terriffic site. Take care.
Hello.
The games in Connecticut at both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are as follows:
6 and 8 decks (there's no difference in the Basic Strategy for the number of decks in this case), dealer stands on A-6, double on any first two cards, double after split and late surrender is available. These rules are very similar to many that you'll find in Vegas, although some casinos out there don't allow surrender. But it's worth learning anyway, because your "home" game has it. Plug all those into the Basic Strategy Engine and it will give you a chart for your game.
I guess the Conjelco page has been removed, so we'll need to change that link. For a good glossary of terms (and a ton of good Blackjack info), visit Stanford Wong's site at www.bj21.com/
Thanks for telling your friends about us. Come back often.
Yours for winning, GameMaster,
Thank you very much!
Hello, David.
We do no guessing in this business. It's all mathematical probability.
Yours for winning, Hi GM,
Hello.
The trick here is that the betting schedule I recommend is based upon the
count, but it also has the appearance of being a mindless progression and
that will hopefully camouflage what you're doing.
Yours for winning, GM,
Hello, Treeny.
Yours for winning, Hi GameMaster,
Hello, Johnathan.
To put it simply, you can kill this game. If you bet only when the count
is 2 or higher and if you use a 1-8 unit bet spread, the advantage you can
obtain is about 1.7% and that's a significant number.
I have attached a simulation that uses the rules you mentioned, along with
a 1-8 betspread that I recommend and, while there's a lot of data in it, I
think you'll be able to sort it all out. I used the Hi/Lo count and just
Basic Strategy in the sim and did not take insurance at any time, so this
is pretty conservative.
Take a look at the simulation and if you have any questions, let me know.
Yours for winning, GameMaster,
Hello, Brendan.
Spend some time hanging out at www.bj21.com where you can see what is
posted about the Reno/Tahoe games and, by the time you're ready to go play,
you'll have a good idea of what games are available there. It'll take some
shopping around to find the really good games.
Yours for winning, Hello GM
The dealer draws his second card after all the players are finished and if he makes a blackjack he takes all the players bets including splits, doubles, e.t.c.
In a magazine I recently read, it was mentioned that due to this rule the basic strategy of the game should be modified in relation to the basic strategy proposed for American games in the following points:
8-8 with a dealer upcard of 10 and A : Hit instead of split.
Are these proposed changes correct? If this is the case why in every site I have found this european rule is not mentioned anywhere as a rule affecting the basic strategy?
A quick relpy would be appreciated.
Hello, KD.
Yes, those are correct. The easiest way to remember this is to never split or double vs. 10 and Ace, except split A,A against a dealer's up card of 10. You don't see it a lot, because the rule is basically unheard of over here (and, yes, we incorrectly think we're the center of the universe). I know it's mentioned somewhere in my lessons, but don't recall exactly where.
Yours for winning,
GameMaster,
Hello, Bobby.
Good luck and I'm glad you've enjoyed visiting our site.
Yours for winning, Hello Sir,
Hello, R.H.
In any game where you can get an edge, you'll always be better off playing alone (except, possibly, a single-deck game where you can see the other players' cards.)
Yours for winning, GameMaster,
Hello, Angelo.
Yours for winning, GM,
Your current article on "XXXXXX" Casino, in the blacklist, is incredibly
timely. I just received an unsolicited e-mail from them, only an hour or
two ago. It seems they are currently offering a 300% sign up bonus of some
sort. I read no further and instead went directly to your site for
up-to-date information.
One mouseclick later, I had all the information I needed to avoid
significant loss of time and possibly my own money. I work hard enough for
that stuff already, thank you.
I would be more than happy to copy you with the e-mail I received from them
if you respond to this message directly.
Once again THANK YOU & PLEASE KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK OF KEEPING US INFORMED.
Hello, Roy.
Yes, this information is completely free, but we appreciate the support you
show to our advertisers, because they are the ones who make this possible.
Yours for winning, GameMaster,
Hello, Bob.
Sounds like they have a decent game of Blackjack, so I'll go soon.
Thanks for the nice words about our site.
Yours for winning,
Hi Mr. BlackJack-teacher,
Now the rules are pretty crippled. I have a small explanation which
they hand out, if asked. Double Down is only allowed at 9,10
or 11. One card after splitting the aces, dealer stands on every 17,
insurance, blackjack pays the usual 150% and you win instantly the
same amount equal of the bet, if you have three sevens, the game
continues normally after that and it is still possible that you tie
or win. Did some calculations and i think that the chances on three
sevens out of one deck are 1:5525 and for eight decks 1:2401.6.
I have been spotting the tables but the number of decks are not
given, the table-minumum is 10 guilders and I have also no clue about
the penetration. Mostly a random player was picked to cut the deck.
Can I estimate the total number of decks? Should I ask? Also I
haven't figured out if resplitting is possible.
As a beginning card-counter I will probably need to practice a bit
with a friend at home. Could you give me some hint on which basic
strategy to use and how the odds are? Maybe you need more details,
or do you have expierences with the HC? Of course I would like to
regain my entrance fee somehow and another stupid thing at the HC is,
drinks are not free.
Hello, M.
From the information I have, the games in your country are played from 6
decks, the dealer stands on A-6, double only on 9-11, double after
splitting pairs (but only on 9-11), Aces and all other cards may be resplit
up to 3 times, and the dealer does not take a hole card, so both bets are
lost if doubling or splitting against a 10 or Ace, if the dealer gets a
'natural' (European No Hole Card rule). The bonus you mention adds very
little to the return, so the casino's edge is about 0.57%.
One other player option which is, I believe, allowed is "rider" bets. That
means you can stand behind a player at a game and place bets on his or her
hand, as you desire. This is the perfect situation for "back-counting",
because you would place a bet only when it's to your advantage to do so. I
wrote an article about that called "Rider Bets" and you'll find it in the
archives of the GameMaster's Secrets page of my site.
To get the proper Basic Strategy for your game, just go here:
http://www.blackjackinfo.com/, fill out the form with your rules and it
will generate a chart for you.
Yours for winning, Hello and thanks for such a great site. I am relatively new to
gambling and my game of choice is blackjack. Here is my question.
A local casino offers a promotion called "big ace". You're given a coupon
representing an Ace and you're allowed to play your ace as your first card
at any time. Can you tell me what advantage having an Ace as my first card
gives me? Here are the other blackjack rules of the house: (1) 6 decks, cut at 1.5 decks
Thanks for any insight you can give.
Hello, Michael.
The reason for this is that an Ace is the hard-to-get part of a
"blackjack", which pays 3 to 2. Beyond that, it's also the component of
many doubling hands and overall, it's just a good card to have. For a
comparison, if the player's first card is a 10, s/he has an edge of about
10% on that hand and if the first card is a 6, the player has a
disadvantage of 21%.
If you're a counter, use the coupon when the count is highly "positive" and
that will increase your chances of getting a 10 or another Ace as your
second card. If you have the $$$, you should make a maximum table limit
bet when using the coupon, whether or not you count. If you bet $5, your
expected value is $2.50, but if you bet $200, your expected value is $100.
The fly in the ointment is that this coupon does not guarantee you'll win
the hand, but do it often enough and the odds will be greatly in your
favor. Just remember to keep enough $$$ in reserve in case you have to
split or double. Thanks so much for the quick response and of course for the very thorough
answer. Although this casino usually only hands these "big aces" out one by
one as somewhat of a comp *and* they're usually only good for the next
calendar day, they just ran an ad in a local paper containing a coupon
version of the "big ace" which is good one per person per day until
9/30/2001. So..I grabbed five of them already & will seek out more today!
The maximum bet is $50. I'm diligently learning to count these days so for
now I think I'll stand back and watch (count)cards in an ongoing game,
choosing to jump in with my big ace when we have a good positive true count.
Thanks again!
Yours for winning,
Sir Gamemaster,
In Lesson 10: The Proper Mental Attitude: In section; More Hands Mean More
money:
"If you are the only player at a six-deck game, you can play at a rate of
about 200 hands an hour. But I want you to walk away whenever the true
count drops below M1 so 200 hands an hour is possible only if you get one of
those shoes where the count stays positive."
1. If the true count in the shoe remains at -1 all times than obviously the
casino will have an edge over me, TRUE? Meaning I will lose to the casino
if I continue playing. True.
2. But say I do play solo with the black jack dealer one on one, the chance
of having a shoes where the count stays positive will be hard to acheive
because the true count will constantly rise and fall. But assuming it does
stays positive all the time then that would be good. But 50% of the time
the cards would begin with a TRUE count of -1 or a TRUE count of +1. If you
are suggesting that we should leave a table when it get to a true count of
-1, than HALF the time when we begin our play we would have to leave and lose
to the casino due to the bigger edge the casino have on us before we could
find a dealer which would give us the advantage of a Positive true count
constantly.
In a multi-deck game, it will usually take a few hands before the count falls to -1, but statistics show you will leave a 6-deck game about 70% of the time if a True Count of -1 is the 'trigger' point.
3. My question is that most of the time when I play solo with the dealer,
should I walk away every time the true count gets below -1?
If so then I would lose an edge to the casino, (about 50%) of the time
because I will assume that 50% of the time in the beginning of the game will
reach a True count of -1 and 50% of the time 1 and I will have to leave when
it is -M1 or lower?
If you're playing alone, it's difficult, at best, to leave every time the count drops to -1. What I'm trying to say in my lessons is that you should leave then, but you might not, due to the problems associated with that tactic. If you left every time the count went south, it wouldn't take too long for you to play at each table in the casino and by the time you sat down at the last game, they would have you pegged as a counter.
Like most other situations in life, it all comes down to a compromise. You can get more hands per hour while playing alone, but you'll have to play through some negative shoes. Or, if you wish to never play in negative shoes, you can't play alone most of the time, thus you'll get fewer hands per hour.
4. Or is it better to play with a couple of other people on the table and
just make bets when, say, the TRUE count reaches 1 more more above? Is it
more profitable playing a solo with a black jack dealer or playing only when
the TRUE count reaches 1 but with others on the table?
A lot of this all depends upon the type of game you're playing. If you play, for example, a double-deck game with good rules, deep penetration and you're able to get a big bet spread, then you can probably play "all" (both positive and negative decks). But, if your local game is a six-decker with mediocre rules and penetration, then you'll be much better off to play only when the True Count is 1 or higher. That, of course, precludes playing head-to-head, but as I also say in my lessons, "It's cheaper to walk around, rather than play a game where the casino has an edge."
REGARDS
Yours for winning, Hi GM, Hello.
Yours for winning, |