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The GameMaster's Secrets
The Internet Blackjack Report - Part 2

This should be viewed MORE as a historal document

GameMaster's Internet Blackjack Report I don't know how long this series will run, nor do I know if I'll do it month-after-month, or put other stuff in between and come back to this, but I do know that, just like my lessons on 'real' Blackjack eventually, everything I know about Internet Blackjack will appear here.

First, let's deal with a few "myths" about the Internet version of the game:

All casinos shuffle the cards after every hand. Not true. As the Internet casino business grows more and more competitive, those casinos which hope to stand out are offering games very much like those found in bricks-and-mortar casinos and that includes dealing into the deck(s).
All Internet casinos cheat. That may be true, but I honestly don't think so. Even by giving card counters the chance to beat them, the sad fact is that most can't. The reason is that counting is a difficult skill to acquire and most people won't make the effort to learn and many of those who do don't have the patience, discipline and/or bankroll to effectively use that skill. So, the casinos don't have to cheat; they'll still make plenty of $$$ through players' mistakes.
Card counting doesn't work. The only thing I have to say about that is: If card counting doesn't work, why do casinos ask suspected counters to leave?
Nobody can memorize the cards in a (pick one): single-deck, four-deck shoe six-deck shoe, etc. Probably true, but card counters don't "memorize" the cards. More about that later.
The casinos let you win little bets, but then "rig" the game when your bet goes up. Again, maybe that's true, but I can tell you now that while there seems to be a great preoccupation out there with people trying to scam a $20 or $30 bonus from the casinos, there are a handful of skilled, dedicated players who are making serious $$$ at Internet Blackjack. They couldn't be so consistently successful if the game was rigged.

The Games

There are two types of games at Internet casinos where a player can gain an advantage. The first is usually a single-deck game with very liberal rules (player options) that shuffle after every hand. The gain here is small, but what's so bad about playing what is basically an even game? The other game is typically in a multi-deck format where a certain number of cards are dealt out before the decks are shuffled. This is the game that we'll spend most of our time on, but don't forget those single-deck games, especially if you run across one in a multi-player game and/or the casino offers sign-up bonuses, etc. Finally, I'll list the casinos which currently offer good games at the end of this article.

More and more casinos are offering multi-player games, but, for the most part, you're better off playing alone. In that way, you can take all the time you need to make a play or figure your next bet and, once you get used to all the machinations of playing, you'll get more hands per hour playing alone. The exception to this is if you can find a single-deck game with more than one player. The extra cards that you will be able to see can be very advantageous. For more information on that, see my article, "Milking the Single-Deck Game" which is archived at the bottom of this page.

The Tools

The first tool available to you is your mind. Right here, on this site, is all the information you need to play winning Blackjack. Of course, by playing at an Internet casino, you may take as much time as you'd like to play the hand (assuming you're at the table by yourself) so if you need to figure the count by writing things down, or if you need to refer to your chart on how to play the hand, go right ahead. Let's talk about that a bit. You hopefully know that all games aren't played in the same way; not if you want to play it correctly and, at an Internet casino, there's no excuse for not playing every hand perfectly. For that, you'll need a Basic Strategy "chart". This is a matrix-style form which shows the proper play for each hand. You can get as many as you'd like for as many different games as you'd like for free by going here: http//www.blackjackinfo.com You need to know the rules of the game you want to play, but those are provided for you those for you in my reviews of the casinos.

However, if you'd rather not have to get a strategy chart and follow it, you can get a software program that will do all the calculating for you and it will then tell you how to play each hand. In addition, it will also tell you how much to bet! Sound too good to be true? Well, it isn't and, the best part of all is that it's pretty inexpensive; only $24.95.

There is another program which I've used for Internet Blackjack that basically tracks each card that's played and you can input different counting systems to help you make the necessary playing and betting decisions. This program is more expensive and a lot harder to use, but it does have the ability to keep track of the cards at the casino of your choice to see if they "dealing with a full deck", so to speak. I'll be posting a review of that as soon as possible.

The Plan

Okay, I know you're eager to jump right in and start making serious $$$ at this, but you need to do some planning first. To make serious $$$, you have to start with serious $$$. This is no "get-rich-quick" scheme here, this requires a disciplined approach and money management is a key factor. Yes, the software programs mentioned above will let you play Blackjack with uncanny accuracy, but you can still lose. Remember, even if you had an average edge of 2 percent over the "house", that only translates to "odds" of 51 - 49 in your favor. No one is going to get a copy of the software, set it up, take $100, start betting $10 a hand and win. Blackjack is a streaky game and I've had many sessions where I've lost 10 or 15 hands in a row. It can and will happen, so you need to be prepared. There's a lot of information on money management at the Blackjack Page of this site and I urge you to read all of it very carefully, especially if you plan to do this without the benefit of one of the software programs I have to be somewhat general here because I don't know which game you'll be playing, but the absolute minimum I recommend to start this is $3000. If you can find a game with a $2 minimum bet, $1200 is the absolute minimum bankroll needed. All of this is based upon a "top" bet of $60 at the $5 game and $24 at the $2 game. If you just want to play the "break-even" single-deck games, I recommend that you commit 150 units ($750 if you play $5 bets) to the effort and I further recommend that you not vary your bet. Why? Because you have only a tiny edge and it would be just your luck to win all the $5 bets and lose all the $10 bets. If you want to bet bigger, use a $1500 bankroll for $10 'flat' bets.

The Casinos

As of the date this was written, the following casinos offered games where they deal into the deck before shuffling: Global Player (4 different games), Acropolis and Avalon. Regarding casinos which offer good single-deck games (but shuffle after every hand), the ones that use Perplexa software (Winward Casino, among others) and Bossmedia software (Jackpot Palace, among others) usually have them. I have reviewed all these, except Avalon which is basically an Acropolis "clone" and you can find the rules for each game in the respective review.

Next time I'll talk more about money management and show you a few tricks of the trade.

See you here then.