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FRONT PAGE - Back to THE ADVISOR PAGE ---LacksAPlan@aol.com wrote: Hi, Awesome 1 Also, does just about everyone give a tip for being shown to
their seat at Vegas showrooms, or just people who want to jockey for
better seating? Thanks in advance for the answers! I love the > > information I've
been getting from you online. Chris: As far as tipping, most showrooms in LV (other than Desert Inn) are
RESERVED seating, meaning you are assigned your seat & have a table &
seat # on your ticket. Many are computerized & have a seating chart
available to pick your desired location for the show before your put
down the bucks. Tips for the servers
& seaters are built into to ticket price. Then there will be the gal with her camera taking photos of every
table for a keepsake. If you don't want a photo taken, just smile &
say "we have one already, thank you" & she will leave. Have a great time in the most unforgetable city & I await your trip
report for publishing. The Awesome 1 Hi Gamemaster, My question to you refers to lesson 11 and is fundamental to my ambition of
earning a modest income ($25 per hour when proficient) from the game.
I believe from evaluating the U.K. rules it is not possible to make a
profit from the game, the rules are as follows and are the same in all
British casinos: 1. Mostly 6 deck games, occasionally 4 can be found. I would be grateful for any advice regarding the above,
With many thanks, Dear Mark,
Yours for winning, Gamemaster, I have however started playing video blackjack and found I can often
do win using basic strategy only. I was looking for any advice you
might have to maximize my winnings. Dear Michael,
The most important issue you have to deal with is rather or not the video
BJ machine you play pays 3 to 2 for a 'Blackjack.' If it doesn't, the
casino has an edge over you of 2% or so and your results to this point can
be attributed to luck. If the game does pay 3 to 2 on a 'natural', card
counting won't work, but the game may be beatable in the long run. Get
back to me and let me know what the rules are.
Yours for winning, GameMaster,
I'm a recreational gambler and I know the basic plays quite well. I'm
also a pretty decent card counter (+/-). I've studied the book "Playing
Blackjack as a Business" by Lawrence Revere. He's the only one that
I've found who has put into table format variations of play based upon
the count. You've given variations of play based upon the count but
only for a shoe. I don't play a shoe, only one and two deck games. So
the questions I have are:
1. What do you recommend for variations of play based upon the count
for a one deck game?
I've run into a common game in Reno. On the first deal after the
shuffle (single deck), you can put up a side bet that you will get a
blackjack. You can put up a second side bet that the dealer will get a
blackjack. If you or the dealer get a blackjack it pays 17 to one on
the winning bet (you lose the other bet). If both get blackjacks, then
the house pays 20 to one on each bet. I don't make these side bets
because I know it's in the favor of the house but because of these side
bets, the casino doesn't offer insurance. Being a counter, this
considerably hurts my play. However, the casino offers late surrender.
So more questions:
1. Should I stay away from this type of table and play at one that
offers insurance but no surrender?
Thanks for your help.
Dear Terry,
Neither space nor time permits me to give you all the 'indexes' you need to
vary basic strategy, but they are available in Stanford Wong's book,
"Professional Blackjack" which is available from his site: www.bj21.com/.
For double-deck games, use his 4-deck numbers; he has single-deck listed
separately. At single-deck, I'd learn all the variations from -3 to +10
and for double-deck, -1 to +6 (leave the table if the count drops below -1
in the DD game.) Quite a chore, that. Learning two sets of indices and
keeping them straight at the table is difficult, but not impossible. If
you need to compromise, learn the indexes for the multi-deck game first;
they'll be close for the single-deck game.
Revere's book is good, but dated. Wong's is better - much better.
Insurance is better than LS for a counter; it's reversed for a non-counter.
As for the proper use of surrender, Wong also covers this and gives indexes
for same.
The probability of getting a 'natural' on the first hand of a single-deck
game is 4.6492% or about 1 in 21; the 'house is paying 17 to 1. The
probability of both you and the dealer having a natural is .17773%, so the
40-2 pay is waaaaaay short. Both those figures are from Wong's book "Basic
Blackjack" and I also recommend it highly. (No, I don't have any financial
interest in Mr. Wong's publications. I just consider them as the serious
Blackjack player's 'bibles'.)
Yours for winning, GameMaster,
When the dealer puts the burn card on the side, would it be wise to ask them
to see that card or would it be suspicious looking that I am a card counter.
Sometimes when Dealers change in the middle of the shoe they throw away
another burn card. How do you deal with the count when they constantly
throwing away burn cards?
I recently wrote an article about jumping in during the middle of a shoe
("Into The Depths") and it's on the Blackjack Page of my site. This
essentially amounts to playing a game with poor penetration and I can't
recommend it, unless the casino has very, very good rules of play. As for
asking to see the 'burn' card, I never do it, because it is a signal of
being a counter to many dealers. Just treat burn cards as though they were
behind the shuffle card; if you can't see it, don't count it.
Yours for winning, Dear Gamemaster, Dear Diamond Dave,
This is a GREAT tip for our readers and I really appreciate you sharing it
with us all.
Yours for winning, Dear Game Master,
Dear MR, Again, I'm sure there's cheating going on, but think about it for a moment
- why should a casino cheat when it already has an edge over the player?
Sure, some casino may just be greedy, but most are making plenty of $$$ and
don't cheat, but I don't know that with absolute certainty, so I've never
endorsed one. I do know, however, that we have never had an unresolved
complaint about any of those that advertise with us. There's a software program that I reviewed sometime ago called Blackjack
Risk Manager ("BJRM") and it's excellent for showing you what can happen in
the short term at a Blackjack game. Now, you have to remember that the
game at an online casino typically shuffles the deck(s) after every hand
so, depending upon the rules of play at that particular site, the casino's
edge may range from nothing to .5% or more. Let's be conservative and say
the casino has no edge. Now BJRM isn't equipped to calculate the effects
of flat-betting (never varying one's bet), which is what a player should
do when the casino has an advantage. BJRM assumes that a player will be
counting the cards and will raise the bet when the count is "positive".
But I was able to set it for a single-deck game with 50% penetration and
the dealer hits A-6 with double allowed only on 10 and 11. According to
BJRM, that game has a long term player advantage of .02%, IF the player is
a counter AND uses a 1-2 betting spread (1 unit when the count is 0 or
negative; 2 units when the count is +2 or more). Now remember that
counting doesn't work when the deck is shuffled after every hand, so my
example is, once again, very conservative when compared with the realities
of an online casino. BJRM shows us that in 200 hands of play, the result
will fall somwhere between an 89 unit loss and an 89 unit win. That is 89
units in 200 hands of play, with the top bet being 2 units! In 1000 hands
of play, the result will be somewhere between -189 and +189. In the 'long
term', the results will be 0 or a tiny profit, because this is an even
game, but you can see that it's a rocky road to the long term. You said you kept an accurate record of your play, so use that data to
calculate several things: what was your average bet per hand; how many
hands did you play and what was your loss. Let's say your average bet was
1 unit and you played 2000 hands. Your total 'action' would be 1 X 2000 =
2000 units. If the casino has a .5% edge, your 'expectation' is to lose
.5% or 10 units. But, a loss of 300 units is possible, even in a 'fair'
game. How do your results compare with this?
Yours for winning, GameMaster,
Dear J.,
Cruise ships come in two types: those that actually go somewhere (the 'Love
Boat', etc.) and those which cruise just for gambling purposes. The "Love
Boat" types usually have 6 decks and lousy rules, because the casino isn't
the primary focus. For many of the 'gambling' boats, the rules are about
average. For example, the Europa SeaKruz which sails out of Miami's South
Beach has 6-deck games where the dealer stands on A-6 and das is allowed.
Penetration isn't all that good, however. Up to date information is
available through Standford Wong's site: http:\\www.bj21.com and through
his monthly newsletter, "Current Blackjack News".
Yours for winning, Dear GameMaster,
P.S. I played mostly at Circus Circus and the Silver Legacy. Dear Srinivas,
Yours for winning, GameMaster, Dear Charles,
Yours for winning, GameMaster,
Just saw your Classic blackajck lessons on line starting at
http://www.blackjack.com/GameMasterClassics1.shtml I intend to link to these pages from my blackjack page. Very valuable
information. Please note that the images (Cardhandbefore.gif and Cardhandafter.gif)
are not showing up in lesson 6. Dear Thomas,
Yours for winning, Dear Gamemaster.
Dear BC,
No 'system' will give a player a long term advantage over such games as
craps, roulette, baccarat or keno. No knowledgeable player is going to
invest a red cent into the exploration of any such system, because they
simply don't work.
Remember The GameMaster's Final Argument: If those systems really worked,
why is the guy selling it?
Yours for winning, I'm heading up to Reno this weekend. I was wondering if you could tell me
which casinos are the best to play blackjack in and if there are any $1
dollar games in Reno? Dear Srinivas,
Yours for winning, GameMaster, Dear Steve,
First, thanks for the kind words; we're all glad you enjoy the site. Regarding your question on the return rating, it usually does not include a
progressive Royal. Typically, the figure we quote assumes a Royal of 4000
coins and you're correct when you say that a progressive adds to the return.
In the example you gave (I assume it's Double Bonus Poker), the return of
100.17% increases by about .46% for each additional 1000 coins in the Royal.
Thus, on a dollar machine with a $6000 Royal, the long term return is more
like 101.1% (though most Double Bonus progressives are in a 9/7 format,
instead of a 10/7, so you have to subtract 1.1% if that's the case).
It works the same way with progressives on other hands like Straight
Flushes, 4Ks, etc., but less $$$ is needed to increase the overall return
when it's funded in hands which occur more frequently. So, an 8/5 Jacks
game becomes the equivalent of a 9/6 Jacks (99.5% return) when the 4K hits
175 coins. Problem is, it seldom gets that high, so you have to calculate a
combination of Royal, SF and 4K. It's all figured upon the expected
frequency of the hand. For example, if a 4K happens once every 425 hands,
the probability is 1 divided by 425 = .00235. If the payoff is 175 coins,
that's 35 for each coin played (assuming you play 5 coins) which is an
increase of 10 coins over the 'base' of 25. Multiply 10 times .00235 and
you get .0235 or a 2.35% increase in payout. The 'base' payout of an 8/5
Jacks game with a 4000 Royal, 250 SF and 125 4K is 97.3%, so if we add the
2.35% from the 4K increase, we arrive at an overall payout of 99.65%,
roughly the equivalent of a 9/6 Jacks game. But, the minute someone hits
the 4K, the game turns back into a vacuum cleaner. The SF increases add
very little, since it's a rare hand which pays very little anyway. It's
frequency is once in 9150 hands. A Royal adds about .5% total return for
each $250 on a quarter machine and each $1000 on a dollar machine, but it's
a 'long term' return since a Royal occurs only once every 40,400 hands, on
average. The best way to analyze this type of game is to get a copy of "Bob Dancer
presents WinPoker", an excellent software program which I reviewed on the
"Video Poker Bible" section of the site. It takes about 10 minutes to
analyze a game with virtually any pay schedule you wish to set up.
Yours for winning, Hi, I m writing from Luxembourg...I've red all your lesson but there
something I'd like to know..
When you play a basic strategy with surrender, I don't know when to use
the surrender so can you send me or
explain me how to play a proper basic strategy when you can surrender?
Can you, if possible, send me the probabilities associated to each
strategy (for instance, when you hit a 9, and if the dealer
has 15, you have 55% of chances to win if you follow the basic strategy
Thanks for your courses and your attention. Dear Francois, As for the probabilities of any given hand, that is covered in Stanford
Wong's book "Professional Blackjack" and is available from his site which is
www.bj21.com/ I think every serious Blackjack player should have a copy of
this book.
Yours for winning, Gamemaster, What is a good basic betting strategy: when a new shoe is in play; when
riding a streak (good or bad)....?
Changing the size of your bet without having an edge in the game only makes
your $$$ go out faster. Yes, it's true that non-counters win by varying
their bets, but it's a random thing which cannot be predicted in advance.
What the dealer had on the last hand has no bearing on the hand s/he
currently has. Look at it from a mathematical 'expectation' point of view:
If the casino has an overall edge of .5%, a $5 bet has an expectation of
losing 2.5 cents. A $10 bet has an expectation of losing 5 cents. Of
course, you'll win or lose $5 or $10 at a time, but in the long run, you'll
lose .5% of all the $$$ you bet. So, a basic strategy player who doesn't
count is better off just betting $5 at a time.
Stay with the minimum and learn a counting method - you can do it.
Yours for winning, Hi Gamemaster, Thanks for your time and info(I haven't had the big one yet..but
hopefully??!!) Dear Jo Beth, As for the Triple Bonus machines, I assume you're playing the game where a
high pair is Kings or better. That's a tough game since so much of the
payoff is concentrated in hands which are comparatively rare, the 4Ks, etc.
Between losing a payback on a pair of Jacks or Queens and the even-money pay
on two-pair, it takes a lot longer (and a bigger bankroll) to make $$$ at
this game. I should warn you that most Triple Bonus games do not return at
least 100% for long term play. I'd avoid them.
Thanks for the kind words; hang in there - Royals do happen.
Yours for winning, Dear GameMaster, Here is some more information on the rules: DAS
One other thing that is typical: the dealer doesn't break as much with a
small card and doesn't get blackjack as often when showing an ace (even a
dealer noticed this !!!) as before when the were playing with a normal shoe. Dear Richard,
What you've run into here is a 'continuous shoe' and, as you've correctly
surmised, card-counting is useless against it. The casino's edge in the
game you described is about .4%, so with more hands being dealt per hour
(because there is no stopping to shuffle) you're losing more quickly and
that won't change, unfortunately. As for the dealer breaking less, it's
just a short term phenomenon that you're noticing. Assuming the game is
honest, a continuous shuffler has no effect on the house edge. By the way,
you should never take 'even-money' when the dealer shows an Ace. That pays
only if the true count is at 3 or more.
Yours for winning, Hello.... I quess I can't figure out what cut gives us the most penetration.
Please use my E-mail address for aol, I am having trouble with the
outlook express.
Thank you very much, I sure enjoy reading about bj on the internet..... How you cut the cards makes no difference to the penetration, since that is
determined by the dealer. Your action cuts the decks into two parts and the
dealer takes the part from the front, puts it behind the second part, then
inserts the shuffle card and that's what determines the penetration.
Yours for winning, GameMaster, Dear Tom, Yes, you should consider learning a counting system. All you need to know
can be found on the "Blackjack Page."
Yours for winning, GameMaster, I am not aware of any 'live' 7-card stud games for real $$$, but with so
many online casinos out there, some may exist. We'll post this and if any
info comes in, we'll let you know.
Yours for winning, Dear Gamemaster, Dear Steven,
As you have correctly surmised, the 0 and 00 are the 'fly in the ointment',
so to speak. No method of betting can help you gain an edge in roulette for
a long period of time, assuming the wheel isn't 'biased' from a mechanical
point of view. The casino's edge of 5.26% at Roulette is just too big for
betting any serious $$$.
Yours for winning, Greetings: Dear PTS,
Yours for winning, |