Archive for February, 2010
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Ever heard of a blackjack game in which the dealer doesn’t have a hole card?
You will now.
No, this isn’t some strange variation of blackjack. There are no side bets involved here. And even though on the surface a dealer without a hole card seems pretty harmless, it actually isn’t.
The way it works is that the dealer will deal two cards to each player at the table, and then only one to himself. Each player plays out his or her hand, and then the dealer receives his second card and continues to play out his hand from there.
The good thing about this style of blackjack is that it doesn’t impact the players in terms of cards. Think of that argument against that third base superstition—a player can’t make or break a dealer. Similarly, when the dealer receives his second card doesn’t really matter. There is no way of knowing if the card he would have had as a hole card in a normal game would be the best for him, or that the card he receives after all the other players have played out is best.
But that’s where the good stops.
What if the second card the dealer receives gives him a natural blackjack? And you’ve doubled down or split pairs? That’s twice the money you lost.
In a regular game if the dealer has a card worth 10 or an Ace showing he will check (after offering insurance in the case of the Ace) to see if he has blackjack. If he does the hand stops right there. This happens before players have made any decisions to double down or split pairs. And if the dealer does have blackjack you won’t have lost twice the money.
In this no hole card style a player could double down or split a pair before the dealer even receives his second card. You would have doubled your bet at more risk. Because if the dealer gets a natural blackjack when he receives his second card, you will have lost twice the money. And you wouldn’t have if he had had a hole card.
Luckily for those of you who play blackjack online this isn’t a concern. I have yet to see this sort of game in online blackjack. But if you’re on a cruise it is possible that you could encounter this type of game. If you do only play low stakes since there’s more risk involved. And even though it undermines basic strategy, I wouldn’t double down or split if the dealer’s first card is an Ace or a 10 card.
Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Blackjack Variations, Double Down, Pair Splitting, play Blackjack
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Monday, February 8th, 2010
I haven’t really said too much specifically about basic strategy for blackjack lately, other than a mention here and a mention there.
Blackjack is a wonderful card game when it comes to casino games. It’s a game of skill. You can take a strategy that will improve your odds; and the more you practice that strategy the better your game—and your odds—get. But every now and again we must get back to the basics.
You can learn card counting—although this doesn’t work for online blackjack—to help control you betting. You can memorize little tips and tricks such as betting on another player’s hand or additives for insurance. But at the core of any blackjack player’s strategy is basic strategy.
Hence the word ‘basic’ in its name.
Basic strategy is a chart that tells you how to play every possible against every possible dealer up card. Each combination and play has been tested and simulated so that the play that you have on the chart is the best statistical play for you to make each time.
While basic strategy won’t win every single game for you, you will win more over time. Part of your strategy is finding a way to lower the house edge and improve your own odds. Basic strategy is the most basic, and one of the best, ways to do so.
Playing according to basic strategy in blackjack can lower the house edge to about 0.05%. And when you’re starting at about 2-5% that’s quite a difference.
The best part of basic strategy, after its ability to lower the house edge to 0.05%, is that you can play with it in casinos. You can use it when playing blackjack online as well.
This is one of the best strategy tools available to blackjack players. You can find charts online for free that you can pull up when playing online, or print when you’re going to a casino.
But in order to lower the house edge to that 0.05 % you must play every hand according to what it says. Don’t change the plays, just do as the chart tells you to. Be prepared to lose some hands because you will. Just keep in mind that you will win more over the long run.
Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack player, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Casinos, Game of Skill, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos
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Monday, February 8th, 2010
There seems to be some confusion amongst the ranks of novice blackjack players. While some pairs should only be split depending on what the dealer’s up card is, there are some that should or shouldn’t be split regardless of what the dealer has. And these apply to blackjack online and land-based blackjack alike.
First the pairs that should always be split: Aces and 8’s.
Splitting Aces will more often than not result in gains for the blackjack player. Will splitting Aces every time give you a win? No, but the point here is to go with what will give you the best shot at winning.
Think of it this way: an Ace is half of what you need to make 21. Splitting a pair of Aces gives you a decent shot at creating not one, but two, strong hands. And if you hit to the point that an Ace as an 11 will bust you, you can always reduce it to 1. A pair of Aces is a pretty flexible hand to be dealt.
Splitting a pair of 8’s is more of a defensive play in blackjack. If you play them as a hard 16 you have a stiff hand. But splitting and starting to hands will have you starting with an 8 in each hand, which you would hit regardless of what the up card is. Think of it as starting over with the chance to build a new hand.
Now the pairs that should never be split: 5’s and 10’s.
A pair of 5’s can be played the same as a hard 10. And a hard 10 is half way to 21 or at least to a strong hand. Go ahead and play blackjack with the hard 10 and double down if the option is available. Splitting and starting two hands with a 5 each means that you have a long way to go to building a strong hand.
Two 10’s is a hard 20. This is one of the strongest hands that you can have and win with. The only thing that can beat this is if the dealer has a natural blackjack or hits to 21. Never throw away a hard 20 by splitting a pair of 10’s.
Applying this when you play blackjack online or in a land-based casino will improve your odds. All four of these pairs are on a basic strategy chart, which will tell you the same thing: split Aces and 8’s and don’t split 5’s and 10’s.
Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Pair Splitting
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Friday, February 5th, 2010
You will hear tell of blackjack players who swear and stand by doubling down on a tiny card and an Ace against a dealer’s tiny card. Say like an Ace/3 against a 3. As a soft hand the total here is 14 or 4 if you need it to be so. And players will double down on this.
In all actuality these blackjack players are actually hurting themselves when they do this. The reason for this is because out of the thirteen possible types of cards that there are, only five of those thirteen can give you a strong hand. And if you aren’t dealt one of those five cards, you’ll either have a weak hand or a hard hand.
This applies to all soft combinations of Ace/2 through Ace/5 in blackjack. These are not good hands to double on. They are tiny hands and hard to win with.
Rather than double, simply hit. In this way you have the option of reducing the value of your Ace from 11 to 1 to give your hand another chance to build a strong hand because you can hit for more than one card. Doubling would only leave you with one card to draw.
Now if you’re eager to double down on a soft hand, save it for an Ace/6 or an Ace/7. With these two hands you have an eight out of thirteen chance of making a good hand.
So save your doubling down in blackjack for those Ace/6 and Ace/7 hands. And do not double down on Ac/2 through Ace/5.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Double Down, Soft Hand Strategy
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Friday, February 5th, 2010
It finally seems that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UICEA) is upon U.S. players. In light of the upcoming implementation, Mastercard and Visa have both stop processing payments to and from online gambling sites.
So it seems that they are trying to stop us from playing blackjack online. But where there is a will to play there is a way to play. U.S. players will now have to turn to other payments options. And, yes, they do exist.
Other payment options include eChecks, eWalletexpress and Usemywallet. Electronic checks are also an option. They can be deposited directly with the online casino. Then you’ll be off to play blackjack online. And once you have your winnings, you can have the online casino issue you an electronic check. It’s kind of like having a bank account on the internet without it actually being a real U.S. bank that will try to block your financial interactions with an online casino. These electronic checks are usually free of charges,
But maybe U.S. blackjack players can hope. Online casinos got around this sort of thing once in the past. The last time Mastercard tried this, within two months online casinos had removed code that identified payments from them as being from an online gambling site.
But it seems that this time around online casinos are just going to turn their backs on Mastercard and Visa and not even bother. Rather they’ll just rely on other electronic forms of payment and keep on providing games.
But a certain amount of pity should be directed at Mastercard and Visa, blackjack fans. While we don’t like paying fees to them, they are missing out on a lot of money in fees. And well, that is how they make their money so that they can go on giving us credit. But then it’s one more aspect that UIGEA hurts.
Really I must say that U.S. citizens are actually pretty lucky. UIGEA was supposed to take effect in December of 2009. So we should really feel lucky that we have until June now.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack Payout, Blackjack player, Blackjack players, Online Blackjack, Online Casino, Online Casinos, play Blackjack, UIGEA
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Thursday, February 4th, 2010
I’m not sure why but there seems to be this idea in blackjack that a dealer having a 2 for an up card being a bad thing. You’ve probably heard other players say things that imply fear of a 2. A 2. It’s a little card!
The one fear that is actually true when it comes to a 2 for an up card is that the dealer will be more likely to hit to 21 with it than almost any other card. Only one out of eight hands will he be able to hit to that.
But if he’s got a 5 showing, well that’s not much better, and blackjack players tend not to think a thing about a 5 showing. Well a dealer will make 21 every one out of nine hands if he has a 5 showing. That’s not much of a difference than the 2.
What blackjack players are probably fearful of in regards to that 2 is that it’s such a small card, and it leaves open a lot of possibilities to build strong hands. That’s what blackjack players are actually afraid of—that the dealer will be able to build a strong hand—stronger than theirs.
But keep this in mind: we play blackjack assuming that the hole card is worth 10. When it is revealed it may be a 10 or it may not. But we play under that assumption. And according to that assumption it means that the dealer has a hard 12—a stiff hand.
In all actuality when the dealer has a 2 through 8 the blackjack player is the favorite to win. The odds in are your favor then! Notice that the 2 as an up card is in that list. It’s when the dealer has a 9, 10 or Ace showing that the odds are against you. But then go back to assuming that the hole card is a 10 and what do you have? You have 19, 20 or 21.
So keep in mind when you sit down to play some blackjack online or not that an up card of 2 is nothing to fear. But watch out for those 9s, 10s and Aces.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack Myth, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack player, Blackjack Tips., How to play Blackjack, Up Card
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Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Two different names. Two different things right? You might be surprised.
Let’s say that you have a natural blackjack and the dealer has an Ace for an up card. You’re offered even money. Should you take it or not?
No, you shouldn’t.
You have the chance of winning a 3-2 payout. Why throw it away to settle for 1-1 blackjack payout? It’s kind of like having a winning argument and then backing down with meek deference.
So rather than take the even money you think you might want to insure your blackjack. You don’t want to do that either because it’s the same thing. You will come out with the same amount of money.
I’ll show you how this works. Let’s say that you have wagered $10 and you have that blackjack against an Ace. We’ll say that you take insurance on your hand, so you put forth $5. But it turns out that the dealer doesn’t have blackjack. He’ll take your $5 insurance bet…and then pay you $15. Now subtract the $5 you lost to insurance, and you’ll find that in reality your payout was only $10. Which is the same thing as taking even money.
See how it doesn’t matter whether you insure your blackjack or take even money on it?
Oh but wait! What if the dealer does have blackjack too and you have taken insurance? In that instance your blackjack would push his. And you would collect $10 on your insurance bet. It’s still the same $10 profit.
What even money does is simplify the steps in giving you the same amount you would win if you took insurance on your blackjack. But dealers don’t get a 10 for a hole card often enough to warrant taking insurance or even money in any case. Your best bet is to decline both and stick with your basic strategy.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Payout, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Even Money, How to Bet in Blackjack, Insurance
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Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
It seems that I’m seeing more and more about blackjack insurance—both land-based and online blackjack. There are people that say it’s a good thing and other that say it’s not all that great.
I would be one of those people…one of those that doesn’t think insurance is a great thing.
But then I don’t like side bets either.
Did you know that insurance is a rather sneaky side bet that casinos try to pull you in with? They want you to think that you can save your hand and part of your money for a little bit more money, of course.
But really you’re not saving anything. At best you’ll wind up with the same amount of money that you wagered (more on that jewel tomorrow), and at worst you’ll lost more money.
Here’s the thing—insurance is a side bet. And there’s no other way to look at it.
You’re only offered insurance when the dealer is showing an Ace. A natural blackjack is made up of a 10 value card and an Ace. Since an Ace is the less likely to show than a 10, the dealer will offer you insurance when he’s showing one.
Insurance is to save part of your bet in case the dealer has a natural blackjack. Meaning, in case he has a card worth 10 for a hole card. You can only collect on insurance if the dealer has a natural blackjack. Again, you can only collect if he has a 10 hole card.
And that is a side bet. You are making a side wager on whether his hole card is worth 10. And you’ll win that side bet if it is a 10.
But it comes down to losing money faster since you’re wagering more money per round than if you declined. And you will notice that serious blackjack players won’t take insurance. That’s a pretty good cue to follow.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Insurance, Online Blackjack
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Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
We’ve heard it everywhere we go: the economy certainly isn’t what it used to be. So since we’ve all heard it I’m not going to go on about it. But I will say that a very large number of people in America are looking for ways to cut costs and save some money. Usually it’s the extras that go first. And gambling games, such as our blackjack, are probably on that list.
But for blackjack players who play because they love the game, they don’t have to actually give it up. You can always play for free.
Granted, you won’t make any money playing for free, but you can still enjoy the game. And it also can serve as practice if you’re trying to bone up on your skills—after all, if you’re playing for free you don’t have to worry about losing money to practice.
And even though you don’t have any money at stake when playing blackjack online for free, you still want to play a reputable online casino just in case you run into some technical issue or need some help from customer support. You want to know that there are people that are there to help you.
Some of the best places to play free blackjack online are at the same online casinos you play at for money.
Online casinos also have the gaming software that is specifically designed for casino favorites. These aren’t little flash jobs. These have all the lights and sound of a real casino. And when you’re playing blackjack online you’ll get the view that you’re playing at a blackjack table.
The majority of online casinos offer free-play modes. Usually they use these to allow potential players to try out their interfaces and games in hopes that these new players will create a real money account. And they have the customer support staff to handle any concerns that you might have.
But established players can log in to their favorite online casinos to play blackjack and still play for free. Just make sure that you click on the Play for Fun option—you don’t want to accidently play with your money when you‘re wanting to play blackjack for free.
Blackjack doesn’t have to be out of your reach just because you might not have extra money floating around. The point is to enjoy this game. And playing for free online can give you that.
Tags: Blackjack online, Blackjack player, Blackjack players, Blackjack Tips., Online Blackjack, Online Casino, Online Casinos
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Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
While it’s a bit hard to know exactly when a dealer is more likely to bust in blackjack, you can learn when a dealer is more likely to bust.
To begin with you must train you mind to except that there is no such thing as a dealer “bust card.” As much as we would like to see a certain card and think that the dealer will bust, it just isn’t true.
However there are some cards that the dealer is more likely to bust with: he has a 40% chance with a 4 and a 42% chance with a 5 or 6. But notice that’s still less than half the time.
So you can assume that you have a slightly better chance of winning than win the dealer is showing an Ace—the dealer will only bust 17% of the time then. Here’s the up card and busting breakdown:
2-35%
3-37%
4-40%
5-42%
6-42%
7-26%
8-24%
9-23%
10-23%
Ace-17%
But keep this in mind and then take a look at your basic strategy chart. Think of your hard hands. Why do you stand on a stiff hand when the dealer is showing a 2 through 6? This would be because the dealer’s chances of busting, while still less than half, have a greater chance of busting then.
This is also why you hit win the dealer has less of a chance of busting. It becomes your strategy to take a course of action that could give you a stronger hand. Take for instance that the dealer has a 10 showing and you have a 16. If you use the usual blackjack assumption that the hole card is a 20, then you know that your 16 will lose. So rather than go down without a fight, you can try hitting for a card that will give you at least a 20 or maybe even a 21.
These percentages of when a dealer is more likely to bust should further reinforce the need to follow basic strategy. When the basic strategy chart was made and its testing done, the chances of the dealer busting were taken into consideration. The best you can do in blackjack initially is to follow basic strategy.
Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Hard Hand Strategy, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Soft Hand Strategy
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