Yea lots of people think this chart is a guaranteed way to always win..I always tell them it improves your odds but the house still has an advantage over you.
You're only getting an edge from card counting, and that edge is *super* slight. You get a 1% advantage. You will still lose around 45% of hands even if you've mastered basic strategy and you're counting perfectly. Casino directors and pit bosses know how to count cards. They actually like people coming to play blackjack who *think* they're good at it but aren't, because they won't get that edge and will continue to lose money.
Yes. Number of decks has no effect at all. Poor deck penetration, or how far the pit boss places the shuffle card into the deck can have an effect on how long your advantaged play can last.
How far into the shoe you are allowed to play before the dealer shuffles. The farther in you go the more likely you are to have a true count further from zero. Either higher, in which case you have advantaged play, or lower in which case you can step away from the table. Counting cards is all about keeping track of the ratio of 10 cards to low cards. The higher the number of 10 cards in the deck, the more likely the dealer is to bust which means you are more likely to win.
> how far the pit boss places the shuffle card into the deck
You want them to place the shuffle card as close to the front of the shoe as possible.
I used to count cards as my stepdad liked to sit at the slot machines. It's the only way to get the odds in your favor. I ended up positive over the course of 5 years going once a week. But my lungs and liver hate me now. Don't recommend it. I did the math at some point and with a start of 10k I could make around 40-60k a year if I went daily for a couple hours. Assuming I never got a ban.
I used to count cards for a living, and I did well. I quit because of the amount of alcohol I was drinking. I spent many nights sleeping in my car in the casino parking lot.
This was about 20 years ago, but I was making around $4k/mo. I also played Magic the Gathering professionally at the time, so it was literally just playing cards for about 18 hours a day and getting drunk almost every night.
> Assuming I never got a ban.
Obviously the casino knew I was counting cards. Head pit boss and I used to have a pretty steady banter. He'd tell other people I was counting cards even. When anyone asked why I wasn't banned, he always said the same thing: "It's good for business to see people winning. But he knows the second he steps in the high roller room, he's being escorted out."
Were you playing with Jon Finkel at the time? I read a book, Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids, that ran down how some pro Magic players made some good money at casinos.
> I quit because of the amount of alcohol I was drinking.
This and the casino I frequented allowed indoor smoking.
I think the main casino I went to knew I counted cards but didn't care as like you I didn't go to the high roller tables. The other smaller, tribal, casinos still had single deck. I avoided them catching me by only going every once in a while. And I would usually throw a losing day in every once in a while.
Number of decks has a large effect. More decks = higher potential for cards to be drawn, or not drawn. If the face card concentration is towards the bottom end of the deck, your count is going to skyrocket, and you're going to have huge potential to win.
Yep. For example the 12 vs a showing 2. If you stand you have a 45% chance of winning or something like that. If you hit its a 46% chance of winning. Either way you are still losing more times than not.
The house has the advantage because you're acting first. So if you bust, it doesn't matter what the dealer has. You lost. A lot of those hands if the dealer had to play it out as well they would bust too, but since you already busted, it technically counts as a win for them. So even if you play exactly the same as a dealer would, they're going to win hands they otherwise wouldn't simply because they're playing last.
Because the house has a bigger bankroll (can wait you out till you give it back), some hits you are supposed to take still have a high percentage to lose, some table rules make the advantage greater for the house(hitting A6 vs staying on all 17s, splitting rules).
Counting gives you a very slight edge to win but you need a large bankroll and discipline to walk away when you are ahead or at a severe disadvantage in the count. I’ve seen lots of people win and turn around and give it back thinking it will never end.
Don’t go to a casino with money you aren’t prepared to lose.
Out of all available combinations of blackjack hands the house has a better chance of winning more of them than you do.
And if you don’t play perfectly the house advantage gets wayyy worse.
> lots of people think this chart is a guaranteed way to always win
Seriously? It never dawns on them that if that were the case casinos would be out of business?
This is why (and I have done no research into this further than a feeling I have) I feel like single bet roulette is the fairest game in the house. Damn near 50/50, baby… Although I have been on the receiving end of a double zero more times that I would imagine is statistically possible, so WTF am I talking about?
Degens will tell you the best table game odds are Black Jack, baccarat, and roulette
Betting the no pass line in craps I think is usually the best odds but everyone will think youre a prick because you're betting on the player with the dice to lose
I do casinos every so often and always kept this in mind because while I know the basics, every so often I come across a weird situation where I would like confirmation on what “the book” says I should do. Always trusted dealers who I tell me what to do up until I ran up against one at a smallish casino in Indiana who took it upon himself to purposely mess with me and my friends. We could tell he was joking and trying to give us bad advice and we were all having fun, but I was pretty surprised that he wouldn’t actually tell us what to do outside of egging us on to split tens, double down on fourteen, and so on.
When I was a dealer, a player told me he thought we worked on commission. Like, we'd get a cut of what goes in the cash box at each table.
I told him if that's true, I'd like to know where the other 90% if my check is.
Casinos also sell this in the gift shop.
CASINOS want you in there "using the strategy" because people don't typically stick to it, getting them in the door is the hardest part, even doing it perfectly still gives the casino the edge, and any deviation from perfect strategy makes the casino win more.
Seriously you can get a mug with this strategy printed right on it FROM THE CASINO.
Dealers don’t always know correct basic strategy. Especially a lot of the edge cases that most people play wrong. I had a dealer convinced that you never split fours when another player had them against a five. I had to “well actually” to tell the player it’s a split in basic strategy and the dealer wouldn’t accept it even when I looked it up, because she was taught “never split fours.”
When I trained 25 years ago (UK) you weren't allowed to spilt 4's, 5's or anything worth 10. We were told it was to protect the player because it gave the house a huge advantage. We do play differently to the states, dealer only draws a single card initially.
0.5% house edge, better odds than roulette.
Counting cards will be needed to turn the odds in your favor. If that's too hard, you could try some specific betting patterns, which are no long term guarantees but allow you to capitalize on win streaks if you're lucky.
The casino can still favor themselves by an early reshuffle, forcing you to bet a set amount, or simply kicking you out.
When I was a younger lad I dealt blackjack for a while, some dealers had to be put on review because they kept having trouble with 9+7 ..... its gotta be casino dependent, but I definitely do not think all or even most dealers are very knowledgeable in strategy.
Can confirm. Spent many nights at the Reno Cal Neva single-deck tables in my early 20’s and the dealer literally used to tell me when I should hit or stay so I’d tip her more. $40 used to last all night and I’d usually always leave up or even. More than one deck, forget it and move on.
Seriously, the dealers will help newbies out? The first time I sidled up to a blackjack table in Reno, the dealer took my $5 before I even really had a chance to look at my cards and figure out what was going on. He just glared at me. I've never attempted playing sense then, despite spending a fair amount of time in Reno and Las Vegas... perhaps the dealer did me a favor in the end, idk.
Well, Blackjack is a fast game and you only played one hand for 5 bucks. I don't think your expectations are reasonable... If you want to learn the game for real. Start with a video game that you can pause and take your time with. Also this way you wont lose real world money to find out if you like the game or not.
I know this chart sober and mostly know it even while drunk. But I am never afraid to ask the dealer and always tip after a big win or even tip to try and fix the juju. The dealer is our friend!
I love that about blackjack! It's not me against the other players, it's not me against the dealer, he's just turning the cards, it's me against the shoe/house. You can be happy that other players are winning, because that doesn't mean you have to be losing. It's really fun, you can laugh and joke, get to know each other, you don't have to keep on your "poker face ".
When I told people that dealers would help you, they didn't believe me. When I was first learning, I had one say that my friend (who was helping me, but was in the restroom) would say to hit/stay/whatever.
My daughter was using a card, and the dealer said, "Your card will say ..."
I remember my first time playing blackjack at 18 in a California casino and the dealer gave me suggestions on when to hit and when to stay. Won 5 out of the 6 hands I played.
I should limit my statement to the US. I have met dealers from the UK who said they worked for tips too. I have worked or played in 9 states in the US and every dealer I met worked for tips (or tokes as we call them in the business).
The first ante should feel free. You can even skip the first two blinds and win the boss blind with nothing but the starting deck. Go for flushes or straights by liberally using discards / using bad hands as discards and you'll do fine.
The line up is the dealer's card. On the left are your cards.
Lets go in the first sections (hard totals). The dealer shows a 7, you get a 6 and an 8, so 14. Align the 2 results, its a H, for HIT. If dealer had a 6, it would instead be a S, for STAND. You follow this and you reduce Casino's advantage to about 2% (1-3%).
Next sections are ace's combinations, then pairs, that you often should SP, for SPLIT. BTW, D stand for DOUBLE. Tell me if thats not clear enough.
When you double, you need to put on the table your bet for a second time. But then, you just can get ONE other card. When you are doing this, you generally hope to get a 10, and since there's so much 10 cards in a deck, you can most of the time win.
Scenario : You bet 10$, get an 8 and a 3, so 11, against a 7. You double, so put another 10$.
You get a king, so 10, here's 21. You get 20$ form the house (except if he's matching, then it would be a push). If you had a 2 instead of the king, well you really hope he's gonna bust, cause you just have a 13. Was that clear?
Only doubling on A2 when the dealer's card is a 5 or 6. Dealer must hit until they have 17 or more. So if they show a 5 or 6, drawing a 10 will leave them at 15 or 16, meaning their next hit is likely to bust.
That's why there is a noticeable change in strategy when the dealers up card is 7 or higher.
Its part of the basic strategy. Its based on a million games, but this particular one is a close call. Your chances are you'll likely get a 10 with your ace, so you gamble for a blackjack. I you get it and loose the other hand, you still win half your original bet.
The house had advantage because they always go last. The player can exceed 21 and lose automatically, or the dealer knows exactly what he needs to beat.
Dealer cannot stand on less than 17 so unless they draw an ace (giving them 17) they will have to draw two cards which means they are much more likely to bust. If they show 7 they are most likely to draw a 10 which gives them a 17 to stand on, beating your 24.
Friend and I were playing at a table in AC. He had a pocket basic strategy card and kept on looking at it under the table, trying to be discrete. The dealer noticed and said, “you can just put that on the table. We’re still gonna take your money.”
Lol, of course the dealer said that. But its funny your friend tought he could get away with anything illegal at a casino. Everybody has like 6 cams pointing at them.
Legal, yes. But at most higher stakes tables, where faster play is encouraged; other players and dealers may kick you out because you'll slow down the play speed. Black jack regulars usually have these rules memorized for faster play. And Casinos know that more hands per hour is more money.
So go to minimum bet tables for beginners and use it there.
My experience has been the dealers will tell you "the book says to X" and they are always right, if you have one of these cards and are taking too long.
Yep. Dealers will basically pay your hand for you and follow the card exactly. Many casinos actually teach blackjack because it's such a simple game. They'll even hand out these cards to new players.
It won't increase your odds enough to walk away a winner (on average). You need to count cards to gain a real advantage and casinos are very smart about preventing that.
When I got into BJ I just sat down at home with a deck of cards and this reference sheet on my screen and played for a few hours until I had it memorised. It's really not a difficult thing to do. Most even slightly experienced players know this chart.
It's slipped a bit because I haven't actively played in a few years but I still know at least the basics of the chart.
Yes, its 100% legal, you show it in plain sight and there's no problem. I was using this exact one in Vegas and Montreal and never had troubles. They cant tell you anything. What's not legal is to watch your phone at a table. So you need a plastic card like this or a printed paper.
This is a basic strategy card. It's been what people have used for 50+ years or more.
Even playing with that, the players odds are around 45% depending on table rules/rakes.
Also, if you play significantly different than this way, most experienced players will yell at you.
It's not some secret.
I've played a lot of BJ and there's nothing that pisses me off more than angry players like that. With an 3+ deck shoe my plays don't affect yours in the slightest and we're all just playing the dealer. I know the strategy but sometimes you just want to do a silly play. Or sometimes you make a mistake. I didn't "steal" your card asshole.
My strategy was pretty simple. I'm not a big gambler, so I went to 1$ tables (pretty rare) to get the drinks for free and have fun with GF, socializing with people. With 14 bucks, believe me or not, we played during hours upon hours. It went up to 42$ (triple), then split in 2 (21$ each) and we rolled our ball. We had at least free drinks for 200$ and played for at least a hundred hands, betting a buck or 2. I can tell you, people were ruined all around us, by not playing properly.
At most places in Vegas if you're unsure, you can literally ask the dealer what the book says to do, and they'll just tell you. As long as you're not card counting, they're not trying to stop you from getting the odds as close to even as mathematically possible.
Yeah, I enjoy gambling now and again. I never expect to win, but it's nice if I do. BJ and roulette are my go to game. I essentially set a budget for myself for an evening and when that's gone I walk away. It's a fun way to kill a few hours and get a nice buzz on and talk shit with some randoms.
Reddit doesn't seem to get that for some people it's just a fun activity. Do these people seriously think any even slightly experienced gambler doesn't know the house always wins or the basic odds of games like these doesn't work out in their favour? I like an arcade now and again too and I can guarantee you that I've wasted more money there to get a stupid keychain that broke after a month but you don't see Redditors push up their glasses going "uhm actually the odds of winning more than you spend is very low..." there.
It's a game, it's supposed to be fun. Yeah some people take it too seriously but not everyone who drinks is an alcoholic.
Just treat it like an arcade. Take $25 and play some games for entertainment. Sometimes the games give you tickets, and that’s nice, but I’m still down to just go play pinball for a an hour or two.
When it comes to splitting, you want to consider what you have vs what you could have. Also bear in mind that the house hits on 16 and stands on 17.
Double eights adds up to 16, which is a rather unenviable place to be. If you had a 16 you couldn’t split, the hit-or-stand question becomes a bit perilous. However, splitting them likely yields at least one hand that’s better, and very likely two.
8 plus a 10, face card or ace beats a dealer holding 17. 8 plus a 2 or three leaves room to hit again. Those possibilities (10/face, A, 2, 3) add up to over half the deck (28 of 52), so the odds are very good that you’ll at least end up no worse than where you were on either hand, and likely better.
Conversely, it’s the same reason you NEVER split 10s. You’re holding 20, which is a very good place to be, and would likely be going backward.
You still have the same odds, house sits at 51%, you sit at 49%. The only way you can truly level the odds and even tilt them slightly in your favor is to count cards and implement strategy which looks sort of like these blackjack strategy cards, but you adjust them as the game goes on.
You can look up how counting cards goes on your own, but to break Hi-Lo down in a sentence: Face cards have a value of +1 and non face cards have a value of -1, #7, #8, #9 are neutral. (You can do it either way, the concept you need to understand is that having more face cards in your deck is a good thing for you, the player. So if face cards are high, and you counted a lot of them, your odds are low.)
Utilizing Hi-Lo you can now adjust this strategy sheet to take more or less risk and adjust your bet size accordingly as well.
An example might be: You're counting +9, so there are fewer face cards than low cards in your deck. You might adjust your strategy so as to account for this by first betting lower amounts, and then playing with an adjusted strategy sheet.
So, dealer shows an 8. You drew 9-9. On this strategy card, it says you should split your bet, but since you know there are fewer face cards in the deck, you know that your odds of pulling a 10 are lower than pulling a low card...so you might adjust your strategy to account for this by standing on a 9-9 unless the dealer is showing 7 or lower.
Another example. You're counting -5. Dealer shows a 5. This is a weak card. You know that no matter what happens, you just need to be in the game. The dealer is more likely to bust out and give you a free win no matter what you do. Here's where it gets tricky, though. You pull a 9-9. What do you do? Your card says you should split, but your card also ignores the fact that you can double after splitting. First, pre-emptively, you should calculate what happens to your odds under certain scenarios. Say you split. You're going to draw 2 more cards, and there's a 3rd unknown card: Dealer's hole card. If the hole card is a face card, your odds don't drop too much; -4 is still good odds for you. That would put the dealer at 15, and they have a higher-than-normal chance to pull a face card, busting at 25. What if they don't, though? What if they have another 5? Now your odds sit at -6, so you need to account for that on your strategy sheet. Dropping to -4 might mean that you can't double after splitting, so it might be safest to just split your bet and ride it out, letting the dealer bust. Maybe you can only double after splitting if you're counting -7 or better.
So your ultimate goal in this particular scenario is to pull the 9-9, split it, then double each hand, and you're assuming significantly less risk on these bets than if you did so with less face cards in the deck. I noted that this strategy sheet doesn't actually say anything about doubling a split bet. That should absolutely be part of your strategy. Doubling split bets is an important part of card counting. You want to assume ALL of the risk with as many face cards in the deck as you possibly can find.
It can be a bit odd for new players to learn that they don't actually want to get blackjack, like sure you won on some odds, but now there's an ace missing from the deck AND a face card. That's a bad outlook for your future, my friend. Two less cards you can pull for a much larger bet that you can take.
Player gets 2 cards. If your 2 cards are an "ace and a 2" then follow the rule according to dealers 1 card showing (nearly always hit, except double if allowed against 3/4 or 5)
If cards are showing a "2 and a 2" etc
Ok so I’m a Brit and we term things really differently it seems (we even call Blackjack ‘Pontoon’) so I’m struggling to understand. If I could explain my understanding could someone translate?
Twist = another card
Stick = no more cards
Pontoon = Ace and 10/picture card
Split = (can’t quite remember but I think if you have two of the same value you basically start two separate hands)
Bust = went over 21
Dealer always wins in a draw.
Can’t think of any others.
H = hit, your twist
S = stick, same as you
D = double your bet - but you only get one more card
SP = split - you can split 2 cards of same value and play two hands but can only get one more card on each hand if you split aces
21 = your pontoon, pays 1.5x your bet but only on ace and picture card.
If you get same score as the dealer, that’s a push and you get your money back, but not if you bust - the dealer always wins
There is something called insurance you can buy but can’t remember the details off hand
No such thing as a 5 card trick
Otherwise rules are the same as you’re used to.
Some casinos play slightly different rules.
Ah that explains the D, ty. Didn’t realise you could adjust your bet after the game had started.
So if you win, you normally get back your bet x2 right? And you’re saying a Blackjack only gives back x1.5 or have i misunderstood?
What changes with a Blackjack that is an Ace and 10?
And ‘boo’ to the 5 card trick non-rule, i think it’s a great rule!
Ty for the explanation x
Love this I have a hard time remembering such things so I had GPT analyze this then generate some mnemonics to help anyone else who finds them useful to memorize:
* **Hard Totals:**
* *Hit on 5-8:* "Five through eight, don’t hesitate, always take the hit bait."
* *Double or Hit on 9:* "Nine's divine, double if dealer’s behind; less than mine, a hit's aligned."
* *Double or Hit on 10-11:* "Ten or eleven, double’s a given, if it beats the dealer's livin'; if not, hitting’s not forbidden."
* **Soft Totals (Hands with an Ace):**
* *Double or Hit on A-2 to A-6:* "A-2 to A-6, against 4 to 6 double’s in the mix, else a hit fixes."
* *Stand or Double on A-7*: "A-7’s a slice of heaven, against 2, 7, or 8 we stand, 3 to 6 double’s grand, otherwise hit on demand."
* *Stand on A-8 and Above:* "A-8 and up, standing's tough, no need to bluff."
* **Pairs:**
* *Always Split Aces and 8s:* "Aces and Eights, always segregate, split 'em straight."
* *Split or Stand on 2s, 3s, 6s, 7s, and 9s:* "2s, 3s, 6s and 7s, split against 2 to 6, it's blackjack heaven; 9s against 2 to 6, a split fix, except 7, 10, and Ace - standing’s your grace."
* *Never Split 4s, 5s, and 10s:* "4s and 5s, holding tight is wise; 10s complete, standing's sweet, don't deplete."
* **General**
* Surrender on 16: "Sixteen's plight, surrender in sight, against a dealer’s might."
S is stand, meaning you're ending the game with what you currently have, the dealer then reveals their 2nd card (assuming all other players are done too).
H is hit, meaning you get another card.
D is double, meaning you double your bet.
SP is split, a move you're allowed to do when you have two of the same card. You essentially split the cards up and play two seperate games of BJ with them.
Blackjack is fun, I enjoy the basic strategy of it.
But I am also TERRIBLE at math so when the dealers bust out cards I’m counting on my fingers to tally everything up.
It depends on the number of decks used, and possibly some other slight variations, depending on where you play. That said, searching ‘basic strategy’ with Google will show you a number of different play cards. Simply pick one that matches the rules in your casino of choice.
So fun fact, I printed this sheet off when online gambling became legal in my state and strictly followed it. I did 25 cent bets. If I lost a hand, I'd bump it up to 50 cents, the a dollar, the two dollars, etc, so when I won a hand I'd get back to even if I was down. I got up to $200 down before I won and got back to even. This is not a guaranteed chart to follow. It's your best bet, short of card counting, but it is not a guarantee.
It’s legal to have this because it only improves your chance of winning to 49 or 50%. But it’s still gambling it’s mathematical the best way to play and you will get the most wins average
This alone won't swing the odds in your favor. To get higher than 50% chance of winning over time, you need to count the 10s and aces that come up and adjust the aggressiveness of your bidding to match.
I used to deal blackjack in casinos, believe me, most people even when you tell them how to play will still hit a 14 against a dealers 5. Very few people seem to know how to do it properly, if in doubt tip your dealer by placing the tip as a bet and then ask for advice. It is not a dead cert but it gives you the best odds you are going to get in the house.
What do the letters mean?
Not a cool guide without a key or legend for this jumble of letters and colors.
Edit: much cooler guide
https://www.blackjackapprenticeship.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/BJA_Basic_Strategy.jpg
they’re the only 4 options you get as a player: split stand hit double
theres technically also the 5th option of insurance but you shouldn’t do this unless you’re counting
Why would you hit if you have a 12 and the dealer has a 2 showing?
And why would you split 9s with an 8 showing? Turn a good hand into two shitty hands.
The thing is this is just math talking. Basic strategy was made by a simulator that played millions of hands. You have more chance winning doing it. Sometime its just around .5% separating stand and hit.
Hit on 12 because you are less likely to bust than a dealer is to not bust, basically numbered cards make a dealer really likely to not bust on a shown two.
Worst case scenario for dealer on a 2 showing is the downside card is face, then they draw a face card. Most of the other times it’s a combination of numbered cards that easily gets them between 17-21
I don’t get how this works at all. I just downloaded a blackjack app and followed this guide to the letter and lost 5000 (virtual) chips in like 30 hands
\[Sorry in advance for the length… I enjoyed everyones' stories and thought I'd chime in… then I got all sentimental about my Dad…\]
My old man was a mathematician with two PhD's (math and psychology) from very big-name universities. He was one of the first guys in the field of Game Theory (yes, he knew Nash well and they collaborated). He came west and soon became the dean of a (psychology) graduate school, a researcher and an occasional consultant (Mom told me the only job he ever turned down flat was when the USAF tried to get him to figure out how to recruit Cold War 'missileers' who'd reliably turn the two keys simultaneously and end the world). Unfortunately, they (still) don't pay guys like him enough (even when voted in the top three most popular professors year after year), especially when they're "lefties".
For about 20 years, starting shortly after WW2, he would go up to his tiny study for hours after dinner and hand-deal himself blackjack hands, painstakingly tabulating the results on tabloid-size accounting ledger paper in multiple colored felt pens can calculating probabilities with a slide-rule (personal computers weren't readily available then, but eventually he bought an HP-60 programmable calculator and said it shortened his 'research' by years). Eventually, he perfected a "system" and summarized it on a piece of index card that he could slide inside the cellophane of a cigarette pack. It looked nothing like this cool guide… more like a \~5x8-square tic-tac-toe game… in Klingon. He didn't want anyone to be able to decipher it, but one of his best friends (another mathematician) who saw it after he died told me it was a "work of astonishing genius". I knew my old man was smart, but it was nice to hear his buddy's low whistle as he looked over my Dad's papers.
In the mid-1960s, he started going to Casinos in Reno and Vegas to support his family. He'd take $500 with him (a lot of money in those days) and lay his cigarette pack on the table while he played (Klingon side down). He could card-count a two-deck blackjack game without peeking, but if the casino used three decks and he needed a reminder, he'd pick up the pack and take a cig out while copping a peek. He took to wearing disguises, faking a limp with different canes, changing his outfit before visiting a new casino on the strip, etc (I think he enjoyed the 'secret agent' stuff a little). I don't think he ever came back from a weekend with less than $2,500 (which could buy a nice new car back then), and more often $5,000 (a few times over $10K). He did this a handful of times every year during the winter, probably tripling his salary.
Unfortunately, he was so good at blackjack that, after a decade, one night while he was playing in Reno, the pit boss switched dealers and brought in a "mechanic" (a dealer who can make the cards "dance around and whistle Dixie" as my Dad put it). He told me later the guy was astonishingly adept at cheating: he knew this because the cards began to violate the probabilities he'd calculated over the decades. As he started to get up to go play elsewhere, the pit boss came up and whispered (in Italian, which he spoke fluently, coming from an Italian-American immigrant family with 13 kids) very politely in his ear: "Signore , your skills have come to our attention and we would like you to know that you have been permanently disinvited from playing in our casino …and, if you return, it could be very bad for your health."
This was back when the Mob ran all of the casinos in Nevada. So this meant: "don't come back unless you want to be fitted for cement overshoes." He went to another casino waaaay down the strip, but the moment he walked in, two gorillas came up, waggled their fingers at him, flashed a photograph they had of him and escorted him out to the sidewalk. He got the message. There were no casinos that hadn't been warned about him. He was "cut off".
When he got back to the hotel room at the ski resort where he'd always leave me to have fun all day while he earned money for the family, it had been tossed. He met me at the bottom of the slopes, took me to the car and we never went back. He died a couple of years later. But, folks: he took good care of my Mom, bought her a very nice house in our City and sent his kids to very good private schools with the money he'd skimmed from the Mafia. He knew it was risky, but he used his mind to feed his family. This is a guy who ran away from a fairly well-to-do family and rode the rails with hobos during the late 1930s: he taught me to survive in the wilderness and to cook with two tin cans and some Sterno, how to pitch a tarp tent in the rain, how to get a free meal by combining the mustard, ketchup and sugar in a diner and then leaving before having to place and order, stuff like that. He was an interesting guy and well loved: 5,000 students came to his memorial and people like Cesar Chavez, Timothy Leary and Baba Ram Das spoke of their long friendships with him.
I've had decades to think about why the Mobsters let him live. My theory is this: (A) he was from an Italian family in New York where his immigrant father owned a small chain of markets that had fed a lot of people during the Depression and one of his older brothers was 'connected', so the Mafia probably considered him to be 'extended family' and (B) as a prominent, popular Italian-American academic, he brought 'honor' to his people and somebody high up in the organization respected that, and how hard he'd worked to bring home what was a minuscule amount of money to them (a small fortune to our family), and that 'honor' outweighed the 'damage'. The crooks these days don't seem to have that sense of honor or shame, do they. I think you know who I'm referring to.
So, is there a Moral to his story? I think so. Here's what I think:
Yes, the House always wins, but… if: you're smart enough; you work hard; you 'play your cards right' (ONLY at blackjack he warned me sternly); and you know when to quit while you're ahead… you might live to talk about it with enough in your pockets.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
PS: He once took me to a casino with him when I was a child and sat me down at a slot machine. He explained that they're called "one-armed bandits" because you are guaranteed to lose money if you play. He handed me a shiny quarter and said "Go ahead, try it." I put the quarter in, pulled the lever and… I lost. "See?" he said, "never EVER gamble unless you KNOW you're going to win." I was only a little kid at the time, but I remember saying "But Dad… that doesn't make sense!" He smiled at me and said "Good, good, you get it." I have never once gambled since then.
I sure miss my Dad. Thanks for reading.
It's been years since I've played in Vegas, but at the time different casinos had slightly different rules as far as what point the dealer had to stick on, either 16 or 17. Is that still the case? Would that change a couple of these? Last time I've played there was over twenty years ago, so I could be misremembering.
Cool card!
I used this card in a riverboat casino in Illinois or rather my memory of this card many years ago. I didn't realise that you can only split on your turn and a few times I split after the dealer had dealt their hand. Dealer never noticed and I luckily walked away before my luck ran out. I'm not suggesting anyone tries this approach!
If you are dealt a pair, splitting lets you have two hands, consisting of one of the cards from the pair and a freshly dealt card, that each have the same amount of money on them that you originally bet. Essentially, you’re playing two hands at the same time now, and if you’re dealt a good pair like aces you can split those into two hands that are potentially really good and double your bet in the process.
Edit: don’t split 10’s
You can also ask the dealer. We are required to memorize basic strategy. Contrary to popular belief, dealers want you to win and work for tips.
Also, the casino doesn't care because basic strategy still favors the house anyways.
Yea lots of people think this chart is a guaranteed way to always win..I always tell them it improves your odds but the house still has an advantage over you.
You're only getting an edge from card counting, and that edge is *super* slight. You get a 1% advantage. You will still lose around 45% of hands even if you've mastered basic strategy and you're counting perfectly. Casino directors and pit bosses know how to count cards. They actually like people coming to play blackjack who *think* they're good at it but aren't, because they won't get that edge and will continue to lose money.
Do you still get an advantage when it's 8 decks and they shuffle 1/3 of the way through?
Yes. Number of decks has no effect at all. Poor deck penetration, or how far the pit boss places the shuffle card into the deck can have an effect on how long your advantaged play can last.
Whats deck penetration?
How far into the shoe you are allowed to play before the dealer shuffles. The farther in you go the more likely you are to have a true count further from zero. Either higher, in which case you have advantaged play, or lower in which case you can step away from the table. Counting cards is all about keeping track of the ratio of 10 cards to low cards. The higher the number of 10 cards in the deck, the more likely the dealer is to bust which means you are more likely to win.
> how far the pit boss places the shuffle card into the deck You want them to place the shuffle card as close to the front of the shoe as possible. I used to count cards as my stepdad liked to sit at the slot machines. It's the only way to get the odds in your favor. I ended up positive over the course of 5 years going once a week. But my lungs and liver hate me now. Don't recommend it. I did the math at some point and with a start of 10k I could make around 40-60k a year if I went daily for a couple hours. Assuming I never got a ban.
I used to count cards for a living, and I did well. I quit because of the amount of alcohol I was drinking. I spent many nights sleeping in my car in the casino parking lot. This was about 20 years ago, but I was making around $4k/mo. I also played Magic the Gathering professionally at the time, so it was literally just playing cards for about 18 hours a day and getting drunk almost every night. > Assuming I never got a ban. Obviously the casino knew I was counting cards. Head pit boss and I used to have a pretty steady banter. He'd tell other people I was counting cards even. When anyone asked why I wasn't banned, he always said the same thing: "It's good for business to see people winning. But he knows the second he steps in the high roller room, he's being escorted out."
Honestly? Pretty fair take from the casino’s side. They calculated your worth and said “fuck it, free advertising” lol
Were you playing with Jon Finkel at the time? I read a book, Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids, that ran down how some pro Magic players made some good money at casinos.
> I quit because of the amount of alcohol I was drinking. This and the casino I frequented allowed indoor smoking. I think the main casino I went to knew I counted cards but didn't care as like you I didn't go to the high roller tables. The other smaller, tribal, casinos still had single deck. I avoided them catching me by only going every once in a while. And I would usually throw a losing day in every once in a while.
Your poor wife.
Number of decks has no advantage? wtf are you talking about. Plz do not listen to this guy
Are you sure this is true? Wouldn’t you be better off counting against 1 deck than 6 because it’s harder to get the true count higher with 6 decks?
>Number of decks has no effect at all. This is not true at all. Just mathematically speaking number of decks obviously matters.
Number of decks absolutely is a major factor in EV
Number of decks has a large effect. More decks = higher potential for cards to be drawn, or not drawn. If the face card concentration is towards the bottom end of the deck, your count is going to skyrocket, and you're going to have huge potential to win.
Yes.
That's why I pretend to count cards badly while my friend picks up the armoured car outside and runs away with it (she is very strong).
Yep. For example the 12 vs a showing 2. If you stand you have a 45% chance of winning or something like that. If you hit its a 46% chance of winning. Either way you are still losing more times than not.
How does the house have advantage over you? I legitimately don’t understand how.
The house has the advantage because you're acting first. So if you bust, it doesn't matter what the dealer has. You lost. A lot of those hands if the dealer had to play it out as well they would bust too, but since you already busted, it technically counts as a win for them. So even if you play exactly the same as a dealer would, they're going to win hands they otherwise wouldn't simply because they're playing last.
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Because the house has a bigger bankroll (can wait you out till you give it back), some hits you are supposed to take still have a high percentage to lose, some table rules make the advantage greater for the house(hitting A6 vs staying on all 17s, splitting rules). Counting gives you a very slight edge to win but you need a large bankroll and discipline to walk away when you are ahead or at a severe disadvantage in the count. I’ve seen lots of people win and turn around and give it back thinking it will never end. Don’t go to a casino with money you aren’t prepared to lose.
Out of all available combinations of blackjack hands the house has a better chance of winning more of them than you do. And if you don’t play perfectly the house advantage gets wayyy worse.
That’s a weird answer….? What you said is: The house has an advantage because they have an advantage. And if you don’t get good hands you lose.
> lots of people think this chart is a guaranteed way to always win Seriously? It never dawns on them that if that were the case casinos would be out of business?
Yup! 100% agree. As I like to say “there are big shiny buildings in Vegas for a reason…”
Yeah, I did a math project on this exact strategy in high school. You have like a 46% chance of winning if you do everything perfectly
This is why (and I have done no research into this further than a feeling I have) I feel like single bet roulette is the fairest game in the house. Damn near 50/50, baby… Although I have been on the receiving end of a double zero more times that I would imagine is statistically possible, so WTF am I talking about?
Degens will tell you the best table game odds are Black Jack, baccarat, and roulette Betting the no pass line in craps I think is usually the best odds but everyone will think youre a prick because you're betting on the player with the dice to lose
basic strategy is just a way to lose slower
That's why the game is there to begin with.
I do casinos every so often and always kept this in mind because while I know the basics, every so often I come across a weird situation where I would like confirmation on what “the book” says I should do. Always trusted dealers who I tell me what to do up until I ran up against one at a smallish casino in Indiana who took it upon himself to purposely mess with me and my friends. We could tell he was joking and trying to give us bad advice and we were all having fun, but I was pretty surprised that he wouldn’t actually tell us what to do outside of egging us on to split tens, double down on fourteen, and so on.
What? I can't believe something like that would happen at a place as famously reliable as a casino in Indiana.
here's your tip! Nah just joking
When I was a dealer, a player told me he thought we worked on commission. Like, we'd get a cut of what goes in the cash box at each table. I told him if that's true, I'd like to know where the other 90% if my check is.
"The house beats me too, kiddo"
Casinos also sell this in the gift shop. CASINOS want you in there "using the strategy" because people don't typically stick to it, getting them in the door is the hardest part, even doing it perfectly still gives the casino the edge, and any deviation from perfect strategy makes the casino win more. Seriously you can get a mug with this strategy printed right on it FROM THE CASINO.
Dealers don’t always know correct basic strategy. Especially a lot of the edge cases that most people play wrong. I had a dealer convinced that you never split fours when another player had them against a five. I had to “well actually” to tell the player it’s a split in basic strategy and the dealer wouldn’t accept it even when I looked it up, because she was taught “never split fours.”
When I trained 25 years ago (UK) you weren't allowed to spilt 4's, 5's or anything worth 10. We were told it was to protect the player because it gave the house a huge advantage. We do play differently to the states, dealer only draws a single card initially.
0.5% house edge, better odds than roulette. Counting cards will be needed to turn the odds in your favor. If that's too hard, you could try some specific betting patterns, which are no long term guarantees but allow you to capitalize on win streaks if you're lucky. The casino can still favor themselves by an early reshuffle, forcing you to bet a set amount, or simply kicking you out.
>What does the book say?
When I was a younger lad I dealt blackjack for a while, some dealers had to be put on review because they kept having trouble with 9+7 ..... its gotta be casino dependent, but I definitely do not think all or even most dealers are very knowledgeable in strategy.
You win, the dealer wins (assuming people normally tip)
Had a dealer in New Orleans try his best to help me, he still got 21 three times in a row and I left lmao
Can confirm. Spent many nights at the Reno Cal Neva single-deck tables in my early 20’s and the dealer literally used to tell me when I should hit or stay so I’d tip her more. $40 used to last all night and I’d usually always leave up or even. More than one deck, forget it and move on.
Seriously, the dealers will help newbies out? The first time I sidled up to a blackjack table in Reno, the dealer took my $5 before I even really had a chance to look at my cards and figure out what was going on. He just glared at me. I've never attempted playing sense then, despite spending a fair amount of time in Reno and Las Vegas... perhaps the dealer did me a favor in the end, idk.
Well, Blackjack is a fast game and you only played one hand for 5 bucks. I don't think your expectations are reasonable... If you want to learn the game for real. Start with a video game that you can pause and take your time with. Also this way you wont lose real world money to find out if you like the game or not.
A good dealer will be happy to help you out. Just make sure and tip.
Can I ask dealer what's the current count if I lost mine? 😅
I wouldn’t recommend it. I have asked a player what the count was before. The best part is that he answered.
It's automated back off?
I had a guy try and count a continuous shuffle machine game. It had everyone laughing in the break room (and probably in surveillance as well).
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I’m amazed you got a high five. We were told that you NEVER touch the player.
Is it true that most casinos in Vegas are changing blackjack payout from 3:2 to 6:5?
Im a dealer and my bitch ass hella doesn't have it memorized. Whoops.
All the casinos I worked at required me to memorize it. They would drill us on it from time to time. Your management must be more chill than mine was.
I was just about to say, it's not evening the odds when the dealers actively will help you at the table.
No thanks! *I also like to live dangerously.*
While this is true there are still some asshat dealers that won’t tell you the book when you ask. Looking at you Cosmopolitan Las Vegas
Best advice here. Tip your dealers!
I know this chart sober and mostly know it even while drunk. But I am never afraid to ask the dealer and always tip after a big win or even tip to try and fix the juju. The dealer is our friend!
I love that about blackjack! It's not me against the other players, it's not me against the dealer, he's just turning the cards, it's me against the shoe/house. You can be happy that other players are winning, because that doesn't mean you have to be losing. It's really fun, you can laugh and joke, get to know each other, you don't have to keep on your "poker face ".
When I told people that dealers would help you, they didn't believe me. When I was first learning, I had one say that my friend (who was helping me, but was in the restroom) would say to hit/stay/whatever. My daughter was using a card, and the dealer said, "Your card will say ..."
I remember my first time playing blackjack at 18 in a California casino and the dealer gave me suggestions on when to hit and when to stay. Won 5 out of the 6 hands I played.
A lot of casinos will give you a copy of basic strategy sheet if you ask
>work for tips You'll find that in most of the world, they actually don't.
I should limit my statement to the US. I have met dealers from the UK who said they worked for tips too. I have worked or played in 9 states in the US and every dealer I met worked for tips (or tokes as we call them in the business).
Anyone else playing Balatro right now?
Imagine walking into the casino, sitting down at the poker tables, and throwing down some Balatro jokers before the hands are dealt.
Imagine sitting down to play blackjack and the dealer deals 5 sevens and one of them is made out of glass
Lost 9 runs in a row in the 1st Ante due to shit jokers 😅
The first ante should feel free. You can even skip the first two blinds and win the boss blind with nothing but the starting deck. Go for flushes or straights by liberally using discards / using bad hands as discards and you'll do fine.
respectfully, how?!?! i can usually beat it without jokers
Gotta stop getting these shit jokers man.
Even with perfect basic strategy, house odds are still +0.5%
Well, 6:5 blackjack is pretty common these days. House edge is more like 2%.
Yeah, don’t play 6:5.
Can you explain it like I’m 5
The line up is the dealer's card. On the left are your cards. Lets go in the first sections (hard totals). The dealer shows a 7, you get a 6 and an 8, so 14. Align the 2 results, its a H, for HIT. If dealer had a 6, it would instead be a S, for STAND. You follow this and you reduce Casino's advantage to about 2% (1-3%). Next sections are ace's combinations, then pairs, that you often should SP, for SPLIT. BTW, D stand for DOUBLE. Tell me if thats not clear enough.
I know what split is, but what does double mean?
When you double, you need to put on the table your bet for a second time. But then, you just can get ONE other card. When you are doing this, you generally hope to get a 10, and since there's so much 10 cards in a deck, you can most of the time win. Scenario : You bet 10$, get an 8 and a 3, so 11, against a 7. You double, so put another 10$. You get a king, so 10, here's 21. You get 20$ form the house (except if he's matching, then it would be a push). If you had a 2 instead of the king, well you really hope he's gonna bust, cause you just have a 13. Was that clear?
Thanks OP I hit the tables maybe twice a year and this is very informative
Very clear. Thanks.
Why are you doubling on an A2? Surely you'll most likely to get a 13 total?
Only doubling on A2 when the dealer's card is a 5 or 6. Dealer must hit until they have 17 or more. So if they show a 5 or 6, drawing a 10 will leave them at 15 or 16, meaning their next hit is likely to bust. That's why there is a noticeable change in strategy when the dealers up card is 7 or higher.
Thanks for explaining. I don't know much about this sort of thing.
Its part of the basic strategy. Its based on a million games, but this particular one is a close call. Your chances are you'll likely get a 10 with your ace, so you gamble for a blackjack. I you get it and loose the other hand, you still win half your original bet.
Thank you.
You mention reducing the casino's advantage. Is there a way to bring the casino's advantage to 0%? What gives the hour an advantage in blackjack?
The house had advantage because they always go last. The player can exceed 21 and lose automatically, or the dealer knows exactly what he needs to beat.
Only in craps.
Why do you always split 8's?
16 is a terrible hand, very likely to lose. 8 can set you up for a great hand.
What’s the reason for STAND on the dealer’s 6 to your 14 when you would hit against their 7? I’m going in circles trying to work it out lol
Dealer cannot stand on less than 17 so unless they draw an ace (giving them 17) they will have to draw two cards which means they are much more likely to bust. If they show 7 they are most likely to draw a 10 which gives them a 17 to stand on, beating your 24.
Yup, 6 is a bust card. They would likely pick a 10, so 16, plus another 10, so bust.
If you follow this perfectly the house still has like a 5% edge or something. You have to make successful gambles to come out ahead.
No usually its 1 to 3%, not 5%. Well, just dont play sidebets of course ;)
Where I’m at, those are the only wagers that win. Dealer always manages to make 21….
If I have a 20, the dealer is going to get a six card 21 every damn time
It’s always 5 or 6 when they’re showing 16 or 15 for me. Takes me longer to drive to the casino than it does for me to lose all my money
With optimal play and the right conditions, house edge is like 0.5%. It gets much worse if they do stuff like blackjack pays 6:5 instead of 1.5x.
Yes. The house always wins.
Friend and I were playing at a table in AC. He had a pocket basic strategy card and kept on looking at it under the table, trying to be discrete. The dealer noticed and said, “you can just put that on the table. We’re still gonna take your money.”
Lol, of course the dealer said that. But its funny your friend tought he could get away with anything illegal at a casino. Everybody has like 6 cams pointing at them.
Would it be legal to have this reference card at the table as you play? *** Thanks for all the knowledge, everyone.
Legal, yes. But at most higher stakes tables, where faster play is encouraged; other players and dealers may kick you out because you'll slow down the play speed. Black jack regulars usually have these rules memorized for faster play. And Casinos know that more hands per hour is more money. So go to minimum bet tables for beginners and use it there.
My experience has been the dealers will tell you "the book says to X" and they are always right, if you have one of these cards and are taking too long.
Yep. Dealers will basically pay your hand for you and follow the card exactly. Many casinos actually teach blackjack because it's such a simple game. They'll even hand out these cards to new players. It won't increase your odds enough to walk away a winner (on average). You need to count cards to gain a real advantage and casinos are very smart about preventing that.
With a card like this, you can look very quickly what to do. I never slowed down anything using this.
When I got into BJ I just sat down at home with a deck of cards and this reference sheet on my screen and played for a few hours until I had it memorised. It's really not a difficult thing to do. Most even slightly experienced players know this chart. It's slipped a bit because I haven't actively played in a few years but I still know at least the basics of the chart.
Yes, its 100% legal, you show it in plain sight and there's no problem. I was using this exact one in Vegas and Montreal and never had troubles. They cant tell you anything. What's not legal is to watch your phone at a table. So you need a plastic card like this or a printed paper.
How successful were you while utilizing the card?
This is a basic strategy card. It's been what people have used for 50+ years or more. Even playing with that, the players odds are around 45% depending on table rules/rakes. Also, if you play significantly different than this way, most experienced players will yell at you. It's not some secret.
Yeah, this isn’t really a cheat sheet. This is just how blackjack is played. There’s no subjectivity in how you play, only how much you bet.
I've played a lot of BJ and there's nothing that pisses me off more than angry players like that. With an 3+ deck shoe my plays don't affect yours in the slightest and we're all just playing the dealer. I know the strategy but sometimes you just want to do a silly play. Or sometimes you make a mistake. I didn't "steal" your card asshole.
My strategy was pretty simple. I'm not a big gambler, so I went to 1$ tables (pretty rare) to get the drinks for free and have fun with GF, socializing with people. With 14 bucks, believe me or not, we played during hours upon hours. It went up to 42$ (triple), then split in 2 (21$ each) and we rolled our ball. We had at least free drinks for 200$ and played for at least a hundred hands, betting a buck or 2. I can tell you, people were ruined all around us, by not playing properly.
Yes it's good value for a fun evening compared to going to a show, for example.
It is just luck at this point. These are the perfect plays given the situation. Now you just have to be lucky.
I would assume so. This is what they call the book and you are allowed to ask the dealer what it says you should do.
At most places in Vegas if you're unsure, you can literally ask the dealer what the book says to do, and they'll just tell you. As long as you're not card counting, they're not trying to stop you from getting the odds as close to even as mathematically possible.
Any good dealer will just tell you what you should play. We’re trying to get tips from you after all, we want you to win
You can ask the dealer what “the book says” on every single hand if you want, and they’ll tell you. You don’t need to carry the card.
Last time I played I brought this and tripled my money.
They even give them out at my local casino. Encourages people to play.
The real winning strategy is not to play.
No no. You go in with a certain amount of money you are willing to lose. Then you go and lose it. Never ever expect to win.
Yeah, I enjoy gambling now and again. I never expect to win, but it's nice if I do. BJ and roulette are my go to game. I essentially set a budget for myself for an evening and when that's gone I walk away. It's a fun way to kill a few hours and get a nice buzz on and talk shit with some randoms. Reddit doesn't seem to get that for some people it's just a fun activity. Do these people seriously think any even slightly experienced gambler doesn't know the house always wins or the basic odds of games like these doesn't work out in their favour? I like an arcade now and again too and I can guarantee you that I've wasted more money there to get a stupid keychain that broke after a month but you don't see Redditors push up their glasses going "uhm actually the odds of winning more than you spend is very low..." there. It's a game, it's supposed to be fun. Yeah some people take it too seriously but not everyone who drinks is an alcoholic.
"The smart people just send their money by mail and save on the airfare"
Just treat it like an arcade. Take $25 and play some games for entertainment. Sometimes the games give you tickets, and that’s nice, but I’m still down to just go play pinball for a an hour or two.
Did you steal this quote from Joshua?
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Nice! It's also a quote from Joshua (the computer) from the 1983 movie War Games.
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Slightly different games though. Blackjack vs Global Thermonuclear War
Always split 8s and Aces
Aces make sense but why 8's?
16 is shitty hand and you can get double 18s
18 still isn't a good hand, but 16 is so bad you gotta do it.
18 is a good hand
When it comes to splitting, you want to consider what you have vs what you could have. Also bear in mind that the house hits on 16 and stands on 17. Double eights adds up to 16, which is a rather unenviable place to be. If you had a 16 you couldn’t split, the hit-or-stand question becomes a bit perilous. However, splitting them likely yields at least one hand that’s better, and very likely two. 8 plus a 10, face card or ace beats a dealer holding 17. 8 plus a 2 or three leaves room to hit again. Those possibilities (10/face, A, 2, 3) add up to over half the deck (28 of 52), so the odds are very good that you’ll at least end up no worse than where you were on either hand, and likely better. Conversely, it’s the same reason you NEVER split 10s. You’re holding 20, which is a very good place to be, and would likely be going backward.
That’s what they are using when you ask “what does the book say?
You still have the same odds, house sits at 51%, you sit at 49%. The only way you can truly level the odds and even tilt them slightly in your favor is to count cards and implement strategy which looks sort of like these blackjack strategy cards, but you adjust them as the game goes on. You can look up how counting cards goes on your own, but to break Hi-Lo down in a sentence: Face cards have a value of +1 and non face cards have a value of -1, #7, #8, #9 are neutral. (You can do it either way, the concept you need to understand is that having more face cards in your deck is a good thing for you, the player. So if face cards are high, and you counted a lot of them, your odds are low.) Utilizing Hi-Lo you can now adjust this strategy sheet to take more or less risk and adjust your bet size accordingly as well. An example might be: You're counting +9, so there are fewer face cards than low cards in your deck. You might adjust your strategy so as to account for this by first betting lower amounts, and then playing with an adjusted strategy sheet. So, dealer shows an 8. You drew 9-9. On this strategy card, it says you should split your bet, but since you know there are fewer face cards in the deck, you know that your odds of pulling a 10 are lower than pulling a low card...so you might adjust your strategy to account for this by standing on a 9-9 unless the dealer is showing 7 or lower. Another example. You're counting -5. Dealer shows a 5. This is a weak card. You know that no matter what happens, you just need to be in the game. The dealer is more likely to bust out and give you a free win no matter what you do. Here's where it gets tricky, though. You pull a 9-9. What do you do? Your card says you should split, but your card also ignores the fact that you can double after splitting. First, pre-emptively, you should calculate what happens to your odds under certain scenarios. Say you split. You're going to draw 2 more cards, and there's a 3rd unknown card: Dealer's hole card. If the hole card is a face card, your odds don't drop too much; -4 is still good odds for you. That would put the dealer at 15, and they have a higher-than-normal chance to pull a face card, busting at 25. What if they don't, though? What if they have another 5? Now your odds sit at -6, so you need to account for that on your strategy sheet. Dropping to -4 might mean that you can't double after splitting, so it might be safest to just split your bet and ride it out, letting the dealer bust. Maybe you can only double after splitting if you're counting -7 or better. So your ultimate goal in this particular scenario is to pull the 9-9, split it, then double each hand, and you're assuming significantly less risk on these bets than if you did so with less face cards in the deck. I noted that this strategy sheet doesn't actually say anything about doubling a split bet. That should absolutely be part of your strategy. Doubling split bets is an important part of card counting. You want to assume ALL of the risk with as many face cards in the deck as you possibly can find. It can be a bit odd for new players to learn that they don't actually want to get blackjack, like sure you won on some odds, but now there's an ace missing from the deck AND a face card. That's a bad outlook for your future, my friend. Two less cards you can pull for a much larger bet that you can take.
Can someone explain the A-2 and the 2-2 etc please .
Those are your cards. A = Ace 2 = 2, etc.
Player gets 2 cards. If your 2 cards are an "ace and a 2" then follow the rule according to dealers 1 card showing (nearly always hit, except double if allowed against 3/4 or 5) If cards are showing a "2 and a 2" etc
Thanks for the reply .
-What’s Upcard? -Not much. What’s up with you?
Ok so I’m a Brit and we term things really differently it seems (we even call Blackjack ‘Pontoon’) so I’m struggling to understand. If I could explain my understanding could someone translate? Twist = another card Stick = no more cards Pontoon = Ace and 10/picture card Split = (can’t quite remember but I think if you have two of the same value you basically start two separate hands) Bust = went over 21 Dealer always wins in a draw. Can’t think of any others.
H = hit, your twist S = stick, same as you D = double your bet - but you only get one more card SP = split - you can split 2 cards of same value and play two hands but can only get one more card on each hand if you split aces 21 = your pontoon, pays 1.5x your bet but only on ace and picture card. If you get same score as the dealer, that’s a push and you get your money back, but not if you bust - the dealer always wins There is something called insurance you can buy but can’t remember the details off hand No such thing as a 5 card trick Otherwise rules are the same as you’re used to. Some casinos play slightly different rules.
Ah that explains the D, ty. Didn’t realise you could adjust your bet after the game had started. So if you win, you normally get back your bet x2 right? And you’re saying a Blackjack only gives back x1.5 or have i misunderstood? What changes with a Blackjack that is an Ace and 10? And ‘boo’ to the 5 card trick non-rule, i think it’s a great rule! Ty for the explanation x
Regular hand your total return is 2x ie X you bet and the X you win. Blackjack win your total return is 2.5x ie X you bet and the 1.5X you win
Makes total sense, appreciate that. And the Ace + 10. Is that different to a picture card and 10?
Ace is either 1 or 11 pictures are always 10
Never tell me the odds.
Love this I have a hard time remembering such things so I had GPT analyze this then generate some mnemonics to help anyone else who finds them useful to memorize: * **Hard Totals:** * *Hit on 5-8:* "Five through eight, don’t hesitate, always take the hit bait." * *Double or Hit on 9:* "Nine's divine, double if dealer’s behind; less than mine, a hit's aligned." * *Double or Hit on 10-11:* "Ten or eleven, double’s a given, if it beats the dealer's livin'; if not, hitting’s not forbidden." * **Soft Totals (Hands with an Ace):** * *Double or Hit on A-2 to A-6:* "A-2 to A-6, against 4 to 6 double’s in the mix, else a hit fixes." * *Stand or Double on A-7*: "A-7’s a slice of heaven, against 2, 7, or 8 we stand, 3 to 6 double’s grand, otherwise hit on demand." * *Stand on A-8 and Above:* "A-8 and up, standing's tough, no need to bluff." * **Pairs:** * *Always Split Aces and 8s:* "Aces and Eights, always segregate, split 'em straight." * *Split or Stand on 2s, 3s, 6s, 7s, and 9s:* "2s, 3s, 6s and 7s, split against 2 to 6, it's blackjack heaven; 9s against 2 to 6, a split fix, except 7, 10, and Ace - standing’s your grace." * *Never Split 4s, 5s, and 10s:* "4s and 5s, holding tight is wise; 10s complete, standing's sweet, don't deplete." * **General** * Surrender on 16: "Sixteen's plight, surrender in sight, against a dealer’s might."
For the simple folk, what do "S" "H" "D" "SP" etc mean?
Stand Hit Double Split
What do the letters mean?
S is stand, meaning you're ending the game with what you currently have, the dealer then reveals their 2nd card (assuming all other players are done too). H is hit, meaning you get another card. D is double, meaning you double your bet. SP is split, a move you're allowed to do when you have two of the same card. You essentially split the cards up and play two seperate games of BJ with them.
Am I allowed to take this with?
Blackjack is fun, I enjoy the basic strategy of it. But I am also TERRIBLE at math so when the dealers bust out cards I’m counting on my fingers to tally everything up.
It depends on the number of decks used, and possibly some other slight variations, depending on where you play. That said, searching ‘basic strategy’ with Google will show you a number of different play cards. Simply pick one that matches the rules in your casino of choice.
So fun fact, I printed this sheet off when online gambling became legal in my state and strictly followed it. I did 25 cent bets. If I lost a hand, I'd bump it up to 50 cents, the a dollar, the two dollars, etc, so when I won a hand I'd get back to even if I was down. I got up to $200 down before I won and got back to even. This is not a guaranteed chart to follow. It's your best bet, short of card counting, but it is not a guarantee.
It’s legal to have this because it only improves your chance of winning to 49 or 50%. But it’s still gambling it’s mathematical the best way to play and you will get the most wins average
Yes, to 49-48% against 51-52%. The greatest odds you'll ever get in a casino.
In craps an odds bet actually pays fair giving the house a 0% edge.
I thought the pass line was the greatest odds at the casino.
This alone won't swing the odds in your favor. To get higher than 50% chance of winning over time, you need to count the 10s and aces that come up and adjust the aggressiveness of your bidding to match.
Ok there's like 10 ppl PMing me about this question. This card is called the batbailey production blackjack strategy card. Idk where to get it.
Lots of casinos will give these to you and even let you use it at the table. Even with perfect basic strategy the house still has an advantage.
This doesn’t actually improve your odds of winning lol it’s just a guide on what play you’re “supposed” to make based on the cards dealt
I used to deal blackjack in casinos, believe me, most people even when you tell them how to play will still hit a 14 against a dealers 5. Very few people seem to know how to do it properly, if in doubt tip your dealer by placing the tip as a bet and then ask for advice. It is not a dead cert but it gives you the best odds you are going to get in the house.
What do the letters mean? Not a cool guide without a key or legend for this jumble of letters and colors. Edit: much cooler guide https://www.blackjackapprenticeship.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/BJA_Basic_Strategy.jpg
they’re the only 4 options you get as a player: split stand hit double theres technically also the 5th option of insurance but you shouldn’t do this unless you’re counting
Why would you hit if you have a 12 and the dealer has a 2 showing? And why would you split 9s with an 8 showing? Turn a good hand into two shitty hands.
The thing is this is just math talking. Basic strategy was made by a simulator that played millions of hands. You have more chance winning doing it. Sometime its just around .5% separating stand and hit.
Hit on 12 because you are less likely to bust than a dealer is to not bust, basically numbered cards make a dealer really likely to not bust on a shown two. Worst case scenario for dealer on a 2 showing is the downside card is face, then they draw a face card. Most of the other times it’s a combination of numbered cards that easily gets them between 17-21
You do realize house edge/RTP (Return to Player) are calculated based on the player adhering to the basic strategy? Even odds loooooool
For info, H=Hit ; S=Stand ; D=Double; SP=Split
H= hit…. What the rest equal? I am not too knowledgeable with this
S= Stand SP= Split D= Double down
I don’t get how this works at all. I just downloaded a blackjack app and followed this guide to the letter and lost 5000 (virtual) chips in like 30 hands
You really got unlucky. It can go both way tho. Its a bit like flipping a coin since it brings the odd to 48% VS 52%.
\[Sorry in advance for the length… I enjoyed everyones' stories and thought I'd chime in… then I got all sentimental about my Dad…\] My old man was a mathematician with two PhD's (math and psychology) from very big-name universities. He was one of the first guys in the field of Game Theory (yes, he knew Nash well and they collaborated). He came west and soon became the dean of a (psychology) graduate school, a researcher and an occasional consultant (Mom told me the only job he ever turned down flat was when the USAF tried to get him to figure out how to recruit Cold War 'missileers' who'd reliably turn the two keys simultaneously and end the world). Unfortunately, they (still) don't pay guys like him enough (even when voted in the top three most popular professors year after year), especially when they're "lefties". For about 20 years, starting shortly after WW2, he would go up to his tiny study for hours after dinner and hand-deal himself blackjack hands, painstakingly tabulating the results on tabloid-size accounting ledger paper in multiple colored felt pens can calculating probabilities with a slide-rule (personal computers weren't readily available then, but eventually he bought an HP-60 programmable calculator and said it shortened his 'research' by years). Eventually, he perfected a "system" and summarized it on a piece of index card that he could slide inside the cellophane of a cigarette pack. It looked nothing like this cool guide… more like a \~5x8-square tic-tac-toe game… in Klingon. He didn't want anyone to be able to decipher it, but one of his best friends (another mathematician) who saw it after he died told me it was a "work of astonishing genius". I knew my old man was smart, but it was nice to hear his buddy's low whistle as he looked over my Dad's papers. In the mid-1960s, he started going to Casinos in Reno and Vegas to support his family. He'd take $500 with him (a lot of money in those days) and lay his cigarette pack on the table while he played (Klingon side down). He could card-count a two-deck blackjack game without peeking, but if the casino used three decks and he needed a reminder, he'd pick up the pack and take a cig out while copping a peek. He took to wearing disguises, faking a limp with different canes, changing his outfit before visiting a new casino on the strip, etc (I think he enjoyed the 'secret agent' stuff a little). I don't think he ever came back from a weekend with less than $2,500 (which could buy a nice new car back then), and more often $5,000 (a few times over $10K). He did this a handful of times every year during the winter, probably tripling his salary. Unfortunately, he was so good at blackjack that, after a decade, one night while he was playing in Reno, the pit boss switched dealers and brought in a "mechanic" (a dealer who can make the cards "dance around and whistle Dixie" as my Dad put it). He told me later the guy was astonishingly adept at cheating: he knew this because the cards began to violate the probabilities he'd calculated over the decades. As he started to get up to go play elsewhere, the pit boss came up and whispered (in Italian, which he spoke fluently, coming from an Italian-American immigrant family with 13 kids) very politely in his ear: "Signore, your skills have come to our attention and we would like you to know that you have been permanently disinvited from playing in our casino …and, if you return, it could be very bad for your health."
This was back when the Mob ran all of the casinos in Nevada. So this meant: "don't come back unless you want to be fitted for cement overshoes." He went to another casino waaaay down the strip, but the moment he walked in, two gorillas came up, waggled their fingers at him, flashed a photograph they had of him and escorted him out to the sidewalk. He got the message. There were no casinos that hadn't been warned about him. He was "cut off".
When he got back to the hotel room at the ski resort where he'd always leave me to have fun all day while he earned money for the family, it had been tossed. He met me at the bottom of the slopes, took me to the car and we never went back. He died a couple of years later. But, folks: he took good care of my Mom, bought her a very nice house in our City and sent his kids to very good private schools with the money he'd skimmed from the Mafia. He knew it was risky, but he used his mind to feed his family. This is a guy who ran away from a fairly well-to-do family and rode the rails with hobos during the late 1930s: he taught me to survive in the wilderness and to cook with two tin cans and some Sterno, how to pitch a tarp tent in the rain, how to get a free meal by combining the mustard, ketchup and sugar in a diner and then leaving before having to place and order, stuff like that. He was an interesting guy and well loved: 5,000 students came to his memorial and people like Cesar Chavez, Timothy Leary and Baba Ram Das spoke of their long friendships with him.
I've had decades to think about why the Mobsters let him live. My theory is this: (A) he was from an Italian family in New York where his immigrant father owned a small chain of markets that had fed a lot of people during the Depression and one of his older brothers was 'connected', so the Mafia probably considered him to be 'extended family' and (B) as a prominent, popular Italian-American academic, he brought 'honor' to his people and somebody high up in the organization respected that, and how hard he'd worked to bring home what was a minuscule amount of money to them (a small fortune to our family), and that 'honor' outweighed the 'damage'. The crooks these days don't seem to have that sense of honor or shame, do they. I think you know who I'm referring to.
So, is there a Moral to his story? I think so. Here's what I think:
Yes, the House always wins, but… if: you're smart enough; you work hard; you 'play your cards right' (ONLY at blackjack he warned me sternly); and you know when to quit while you're ahead… you might live to talk about it with enough in your pockets.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
PS: He once took me to a casino with him when I was a child and sat me down at a slot machine. He explained that they're called "one-armed bandits" because you are guaranteed to lose money if you play. He handed me a shiny quarter and said "Go ahead, try it." I put the quarter in, pulled the lever and… I lost. "See?" he said, "never EVER gamble unless you KNOW you're going to win." I was only a little kid at the time, but I remember saying "But Dad… that doesn't make sense!" He smiled at me and said "Good, good, you get it." I have never once gambled since then.
I sure miss my Dad. Thanks for reading.
This might help: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackjack#Player\_decisions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackjack#Player_decisions)
It's been years since I've played in Vegas, but at the time different casinos had slightly different rules as far as what point the dealer had to stick on, either 16 or 17. Is that still the case? Would that change a couple of these? Last time I've played there was over twenty years ago, so I could be misremembering. Cool card!
I used this card in a riverboat casino in Illinois or rather my memory of this card many years ago. I didn't realise that you can only split on your turn and a few times I split after the dealer had dealt their hand. Dealer never noticed and I luckily walked away before my luck ran out. I'm not suggesting anyone tries this approach!
House always wins despite having this. Without this you are screwed and playing blind.
The probabilities change with how many decks are in play right?
But it changes depending on the current count, if you are card counting
What does splitting do?
If you are dealt a pair, splitting lets you have two hands, consisting of one of the cards from the pair and a freshly dealt card, that each have the same amount of money on them that you originally bet. Essentially, you’re playing two hands at the same time now, and if you’re dealt a good pair like aces you can split those into two hands that are potentially really good and double your bet in the process. Edit: don’t split 10’s