What follows is a series of e-mail messages between me and a reader, "Tom", who asked for some advice on playing Blackjack at Internet casinos. I think most of what's discussed here is self-explanatory, but bear in mind that what I recommended for this reader may or may not be suitable for you. My comments are in bold.

Hi there, I'm new to the game of Internet gambling. I want to get into it, but want to take it easy at first. There is so much to learn, I just don't know where to start. My interests have always been in Blackjack and Roulette, so if I am going to start playing these online casinos is blackjack the best game to play? Tom

In my opinion, yes. Video Poker may offer a better return, but it takes a much bigger bankroll to successfully attack the game.

I love your blackjack school lessons by the way, BRILLIANT!!

Thank you.

I have noticed that most of the Internet casinos shuffle shoes after every hand, thus ruining the counters strategy to beat them. However you list some casinos that shuffle a six-deck shoe after 50% of the cards have gone. Has this increased in any casinos since your last review?

Not that I know of.

This can't be as bad I thought: I can learn to count, follow all the lessons and play perfect blackjack until I read in one of your lessons a quote saying 'if the shoe is cut at 50% or below don't even think about counting'. I am confused, it seems that there is no real strategy apart from basic strategy and money management to play online blackjack and that is not going to beat the casinos, am I right?

With software like Card Counter (see my review of it on the "GameMaster's Secrets" page - Internet Blackjack Report: Part 3), an edge can be gained with only 50% penetration. The other way to win is to play a game where the casino's rules are so favorable that the Basic Strategy player has an edge.

Your extensive blackjack reports, etc. seem to be for real-world casinos and not online ones? The site is extensive and I may have missed something. What about online single deck strategy? You could not have written at a better time. We just put up a new section called "Gamblin' With The GameMaster" and it has a specific recommendation for a single-deck game AND the proper playing strategy is included! Also, there is a good 6-deck game that offers penetration and the playing strategy is there for that as well.

It seems to me that video poker is the way to go at the online virtual venues because the games do not change much; it just depends on what the payout is set to am I right?.

That's correct, assuming the games are "honest". But, like I said earlier, you need a much larger bankroll.

Finally, If you were to rate the online games what would be the order from best odds to worst odds?

Before I list the games, I have to mention that the best way to make $$$ playing online is to take advantage of sign-up and other bonuses that the casinos offer. See my review on the book, "Beatwebcasinos.com". That's in the "GameMaster's Secrets" section also. For play without bonuses, here's my opinion:

Being a gambling guru you must get tired off all these trivia questions. Thank you for your patience.

Not at all. It's what I'm here for.

Just a final note: I spent a month searching for a free site that would provide comprehensive reports on all aspects of online gambling. Your site is by far the best I have seen and I have seen a few. Great work!

Thanks,
GM

Hello GameMaster,
Thank you for your quick response to my previous questions. I managed to find the literature and have studied the pages that you directed me to.

I could not find the review on the blackjack 2021 counting calculator though when I click on the link it just takes me to the start page. Could you tell me where this review is?

You want to look at Card Counter 1.0.1, not BJ 2021. The review is on The GameMaster's Secrets Page. It's part 3 of The Internet Blackjack Report.

I do not have a $3000 dollar bank to fund a $5 min bet at the moment to work the blackjack system you described, however since the casino you directed me to in Gamblin' with the Gamemaster has a $1 minimum bet would a 3000/5 i.e., a minimum $600 bank be sufficient? Is this how it works?

Yes. Just bet $1-$12.

You mention in money management part 2 that when the true count gets to a true of -1 or worse you get up and walk away in a real casino. Would this involve just quitting the game and reloading another game or switching to another virtual table when online?. I can see this exercise happening frequently and building long-term profit could take quite a while. How frequently would this occur? What will happen if I carry on betting with a negative count? So am I right in thinking that quitting a table when the count is negative eliminates the problem of the amount of penetration?

Yes, the idea is to leave when the count gets to a True of -1 or lower. Just leave the table and then re-enter. You don't have to leave the whole casino, just go back to the "lobby". This can happen quite a bit, but it's usually fairly easy to do, depending upon the casino. This "wonging" goes a long way toward defeating the 50% penetration and you really shouldn't play through negative counts, unless you're very close to a shuffle.

Can you recommend any online casinos whose rules are favorable that a basic strategy player has an edge and there is no need to count cards? What money management system would you use here?

Many Unified Gaming casinos have an excellent single-deck game and you can find them listed at The GameMaster's Casino Directory (www.gamemasterlist.com). The way to bet a game like that is to just flat-bet an amount which is consistent with sound money management principles. For example, if the rules give you a 0.40% edge, a bankroll of about $1700 is needed to make bets of $5.

Why does the casino you recommend give the player an advantage when he uses Blackjack2021 even though only 50% penetration is occurring?

Don't forget that I'm not talking about using BJ 2021 in a game with penetration. That's better for a single-deck game. Card Counter helps you overcome the disadvantages of the 50% penetration by keeping 4 different counts very, very accurately and it signals precisely when to leave the game, because it's constantly calculating your edge or the casino's edge. Card Counter and 'wonging' can get you a 1% long-term advantage. Not great, but not bad, either.

I am nearing my first online casino dry run.
Tom

Let me know if I can help.
GM

Hello again,
I have just purchased card counter and have spent most of the day trying to figure out how to use the damn thing!! The help function on the toolbar is useless!! I can't get an ounce of info out of it! Is this the same with every version or have I been sold a dud? I e-mailed the seller but they haven't got back yet. Can you help?

It's not a very user-friendly program, I'll admit, but it does the job. I'll show you how I set up my copy.

What do you do when you are prompted to split cards? How can you keep the count going and play two hands against the dealers card? I'm confused.

Pairs are very rare, so it's not a big deal. What I do is enter just one card of the pair in the player's card side and then input the dealer's up card. Once that hand is played out, I "delete" the dealer's up card and then hit "new hand". Again, I input the other card of the pair in the player's card side and the dealer's upcard, play my hand, enter the dealer's other cards, then hit "new hand". This keeps you from entering the dealer's cards twice.

Also, based upon the 4 counting strategies which you enter, how do you know which is the one to follow for betting, playing and Insurance? Does the software automatically know, from each one, which is the best move to make?

I chose my counts by their efficiency ratings. You set these counts up by going to "Edit" and then inputting the data. For Insurance, I use the "Insurance" count where Ace through 9 are +1 and all 10s are -2. What matters here is the "running" count, so ignore the True Count. If you are playing a 6-deck game, insure when the running count is +24 or more. The count at which you make the insurance bet will always be 4 times the number of decks used in the game. Card Counter will also tell you to insure, but ignore that and look only at the running count for the Insurance count.

What about betting? Surely the player must make this decision.

For my bets, I use Wong's Halves Count. Here are the count values: 2 and 7 = +.5; 3,4,6 = +1; 5 = +1.5; 8 = 0; 9 = -.5, 10 and Ace = -1. Then just program the bets :

What are the best possible strategies to use for each of these criteria?

Discussed above.

Is there anything else I should be setting up before I start to play?

No, this about covers it. The important thing to do is to make sure that all the cards played are entered into the program with no duplication.

Sorry about all these dumb questions but this software is really confusing. I'll get there in the end, though. I'm planning playing with the software on a laptop for play-money for a week or so.
Thanks again

Tom
You'll get it.
GM

Hello GameMaster,
I am getting the hang of card counter thanks to your help and instruction.

Glad to hear it's working out.

When I am playing in the casino and using the Hi Lo count for playing decisions, should I SURRENDER when the option is available in the casino and card counter tells me to do so based on the Hi-Lo playing decision it uses? What extra overall advantage will this give me in the long run? I'm sure it will be very small. At the moment I am just standing.

If you choose to not surrender, in most cases you should be hitting, not standing. The surrender there is "late" so it adds only 0.07% to your game. The Card Counter recommendations are fairly accurate, but I use the Halves count to tell me when to surrender and that will increase the gain to about 0.10% or about $.01 per $10 bet. Here is a list of the important indices (if the True Count is at or higher than this number, then surrender):

I'm almost ready to start playing for the long term looking at about 100-200 hands per night approx 500-1000 per week betting a spread of 1-12. Is this a suitable amount of hands to playing to possibly reap long term gains??

Sure. It's not so much how many hands you play in a week, but how accurately you play them. That said, it will take about 100,000 hands of play at this game to reach the "long-term".

I am from the UK and am now living in the US. I used to bet on the horses in the UK using horse racing systems and am well aware of the demoralizing feeling losing runs can give when using a system dedicated to give long term results. So, I'm bracing myself for those in the Internet casinos! With your experience of using this system betting at online casinos what sort of results can I expect using the correct bankroll and the best counting system available? I am well aware that betting with a 1-2% advantage infinitely will put me up, but the Standard deviation factor will soon see that that does not happen. I guess knowing that the worst that can happen is that I lose the whole Bankroll which is pretty unlucky betting 1-12 but NOT impossible. I would be pleased to hear your thoughts on this issue.

Realistically, you have a 1% edge, but you'll seldom make a bet of 12 units, because the penetration is too shallow to allow the count to get that high. Combined with the fluctuation-smoothing effect of surrender, you shouldn't see too many violent swings in your bankroll. A good guess here is that your bad nights will see you losing 15% of all you bet. So, if your average bet is $2 (a reasonable assumption), with 200 hands played that would be a $60 loss.

But you need to remember that counting the cards isn't the only way to gain an edge at Internet casinos. Playing a good game of Basic Strategy Blackjack at a casino that gives you a 10% sign-up bonus can also be very profitable. So keep an eye on our Message Board for discussion about such opportunities and read my review of the book, "Beatwebcasinos.com".

Thanks again for all your help.
Tom

You're welcome, Tom. Let me know how you do.
GM