The Gravy Train
Remember that implementing good money management skills and learning how to play optimally only gets you halfway to where you want to go. The other part of your ticket consists of successfully hiding your acquired knowledge and skills, because the casinos will not hesitate to bar you from playing once they realize you can beat [...]
The Macho Mentality
The lure of playing beyond one’s limits is sometimes difficult to ignore. Some blackjack players feel a sense of superiority when they are placing the highest wagers at a table. Others feel that they have a leg up on weaker players whenever they deign to explain some aspect of the game to them. Some are [...]
The Luck/Chance Quandary
Not understanding the difference between “luck” and “chance” has cost gamblers plenty over the years. Part of the problem lies in semantics, while part comes from just plain ignorance. When the French say, “Bonne chance!” they really mean “Good luck!” Luck and chance refer to fortune and probability respectively. Luck is not a commodity that [...]
The Psychology of Blackjack
There are several interesting blogs about the psychology of gambling. At least one professor of psychology has theorized that there is a stronger human motive toward “play” than there is toward “work.” If this is true, then the game of blackjack oilers the promise of complete fulfillment in this sense, since it is certainly a [...]
Counting on Cruises
It has been my experience that cruise ships are generally oblivious to counters. I have been on several of these floating resorts that have made no attempt whatsoever to discourage blatant card-casers. I have often stood around the tables, jumping in and out of games with bets of any size, or simply asking to be [...]
Do’s and Don’ts
The following DO and DON’T lists will help you avoid arousing the suspicion of eagle-eyed pit bosses and conscientious dealers, thereby allowing you to stay in the game and ply your skills:
DO stash chips away in a pocket or purse surreptitiously, especially when winning.
DON’T ever use a betting range of more than ten units, no [...]
Casino Credit
Most casinos are happy to provide you with a “line of credit” for any amount you wish, as long as you have enough money in your bank back home to cover it. There is no fee for this service, and it can usually be in place within twenty-four hours after filling out the application. There [...]
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The Basic Strategy
If you learn only one thing from this blog, the proper basic strategy (BS) is definitely what it should be. Knowing how to play every possible hand with the odds in your favor is unquestionably the single most important skill for any player to master. This ability alone allows you to at least break even, [...]
Tournaments
Annual full-fledged blackjack tournaments that involve a thousand or more players competing for prizes of $50,000 and up are not uncommon in Las Vegas. More popular, however, are the numerous mini-tournaments that are held daily. Practically every large casino now hosts these scaled-down attractions, which appeal to novice blackjack players and seasoned veterans alike. A [...]
Special Variations
Spanish 21
Perhaps the most reprehensible, if not truly heinous, variation of the game that has been foisted upon the unsuspecting blackjack public recently is the game billed by the Vegas Strip and downtown casinos alike as Spanish 21. The Lady Luck on Fremont Street even has the audacity to advertise “Over 99% Payback” for this [...]
Equipment and Procedures
Shuffling Procedures
When I first visited Las Vegas, in 1968, there were single-deck games that were dealt down to the last card before the dealer would reshuffle. How times have changed! Now even double decks have shuffle cards inserted at a half-deck to a full deck from the bottom. Now six-deck shoes with their shuffle cards [...]
Wagering Variations
Table Limits
The range of minimum and maximum bets can vary greatly within the same casino but is usually clearly posted at each table. One-dollar minimum tables are increasingly hard to find nowadays, while $25 minimums are getting more common, especially in the newer Canadian casinos. The range between minimum and maximum bets is generally much [...]
