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Blackjack Tips

How to Determine Which Cards are Good for Players in Blackjack

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We know that keeping track of cards already played tells us about hands yet to come. But to make use of this information, we need to know which cards are beneficial to us as players, and which cards are not. Once we know this, tracking the cards played will tell us when the remaining deck is to our liking. Ultimately, we will bet small when the remaining deck is unsavory, and bet big when it's juicy.

To help determine which cards are good for us and which are bad, we must consider the rules of the game and the difference
in playing strategies between a basic strategy player and a dealer employing the house rules. A lot can be gleaned from this comparison; there are several factors at work that show why it's important to be able to distinguish between decks made up of predominantly high cards and decks made up of predominantly low cards: 

1. The payoff structure for naturals favors the player.

When the remaining deck has an excess of aces and tens, you're more likely to be dealt a natural. This fact favors the player. Although the dealer is always as likely as we are to receive a blackjack, our two-card 21 is paid at a premium. Imagine a game in which there is at least one natural guaranteed to show each hand; that is, on each deal the player and/or dealer will have a blackjack. Let's suppose we are betting $20 a hand. When we and the dealer get a blackjack, we push and no money changes hands. When the dealer has a natural and we don't, we lose $20. But when we have a natural and the dealer doesn't, we win $30 because our blackjack pays 3 to 2. We come out far ahead overall. 

Reading Bent Cards in Blackjack

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There is another trick the professionals use to gain a slight advantage over the house. The number of times is usually small,
but you should be aware of them in case you run into a favorable situation where this trick can be used. It also involves
getting information from the dealer looking at the hole card. What you are looking for here are bent cards.

Think for a moment about how cards might get bent in a Blackjack game. If it is a face-down game, you could bend them while you hold them, but this is considered cheating (it's like marking the cards). Or the dealer can bend them while shuffling and checking his hole card for a Blackjack. Since the dealer must check his hole card for every Ace or 10 up, these cards get bent after being in play for a while. The Ace or 10 gets bent face up like a rocking-chair rocker, while the hole card gets bent in the opposite direction. But while the hole card is picked from the whole deck, the up card is always an Ace or 10. If you begin seeing any cards that have the rocking-chair curve, however slight, you can be fairly certain they are Aces or 10s. Since there are four 10s for every Ace, 80 per cent of the bent cards will be 10s.

Blackjack Bets

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This article discusses some blackjack bets.

1. Over/Under.
You bet on whether the total on your first two cards will be over thirteen or under thirteen. Aces count one. Thirteen loses. The casino edge on the "over" is 6.8% or more, with the exact amount depending on the number of decks. The "under" bet is worse than the "over" , giving the casino more than 10%.

2. Red/Black.
You bet on the color of the dealer's first card. If the dealer's first card is a deuce of the color you bet, you have a push; that gives the casino its edge: 3.8%.

3. Multiple Action.
In multiple-action blackjack, you may make up to three bets, each of which has action against a different dealer hand.
Your hand is the same for all three of your bets. The dealer's first card is the same for all three of your bets. The dealer's hand is finished out once, and then the first bet for each player is settled. Then all dealer cards are discarded except the first one, and the dealer's hand is played out again. The result of this hand is used to settle each player's second bet. Then once again all dealer cards except the first one are discarded, the hand is played out again, and each player's third bet is settled.

Common Blackjack Playing Mistakes

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Below listed the more frequent and embarrassing blackjack mistakes.

Betting errors.
One of the most foolish feelings in the world is to walk into a crowded casino, find one of the few empty seats, sit down, and throw out your five-dollar chip only to have everybody look at you in disgust. The dealer then says in a flat voice, "This is a one-hundred-dollar-minimum table, sir." With a red face, you get up and mumble, "Excuse me," and slink off. No wonder there were empty seats!
The way to avoid this is to look for a little white-on-black plastic sign usually located to the dealer's left (your right). This sign will state the table minimum if it is different from the normal casino minimum. When in doubt, watch what the players are betting. At least half the players often will be betting the minimum in a higher-stakes game.

Another bit of carelessness that irritates the dealer and slows up the game is to throw several chips into the betting square. Your bet must be in a single stack so the dealer doesn't confuse your initial bet for a double down later on. In most cases, the dealer will arrange your bet before beginning to deal. Some dealers, though, will instruct you to keep your bet in one stack.

Online Blackjack Tournaments

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Tournaments grow steadily in popularity each month with more and more online casinos setting them up. If you enjoy team sports and have missed the competitive atmosphere and camaraderie (or commiseration) of pulling up at a blackjack table with other players competing against the dealer, you may want to give tournament play a whirl.

What makes tournaments so hot is the ability of the players to compete against each other for the ultimate top-money prize. Standard blackjack focuses primarily on one player versus the dealer. These contests don't offer a grand prize.
Several land-based casinos and even a few online casinos offer blackjack tournaments.

If you want to find yourself at the final table, you'll need to know how to get there. Tournaments introduce a unique human element into your so-far strictly computerized blackjack experience.

Keep in mind the etiquette when you're dealing with other players online in a competitive environment. Remember that many people find the anonymity of the online casino gives them license to say or do things that they would consider rude in person.

You don't just need to guard yourself against such behavior and not let it throw you from other players; you also need to
keep in mind legitimate complaints from players before you join a tournament. One key rule: Play at your level. Blackjack
players take their tournaments seriously. They, and casinos, have little patience for slow, plodding players. If you have any doubt about that, watch when a novice sits down at a live blackjack table with some seasoned players.

Blackjack: Basic Strategy (Part II)

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Refinements to Single Deck Basic Strategy: You do not have to incorporate the following into your basic strategy but for those of you who want a little extra edge:

  1. Hit 10-2 against the dealer's 4, but stand on any other hard 12 value hand.
  2. Hit 10-3 and 9-4 against the dealer's 2 but stand on any other hard 13 value hand.
  3. Stand on any three or four card total of 16 against a dealer's 10.
  4. Stand on 9-7 against a dealer's 10.

The following refinements to basic single deck strategy are for casinos that allow doubling after splitting pairs:

  1. Split 2,2 against a dealer's 2.
  2. Split 3,3 against a dealer's 2 or 3.
  3. Split 4,4 against a dealer's 5 or 6.

Blackjack: Basic Strategy (Part I)

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For every game of blackjack and for every set of rules, there are basic strategies for the play of every conceivable hand. To memorize every basic strategy for every game and set of rules would be a daunting enterprise for the novice or intermediate player. For example, in the single deck game when the dealer has a 10 value card showing and you have 7-7, the basic strategy is to stand. However, in a multiple deck game the basic strategy is to take a hit.

So the very first decision you have to make is which basic strategy you want to learn. If you intend to do most of your playing in Atlantic City or against multiple deck shoes, then your best bet is to memorize the strategy tables for multiple deck games. However, if you intend to play both single deck games and multiple deck games, which means you intend to play at least occasionally in Las Vegas, then you should memorize the single deck basic strategy. There are, however, more multiple deck games, even in Las Vegas, than single deck.

Blackjack: Splitting Cards

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You can split your first two cards into separate hands and receive new cards for each hand whenever your first two cards are a pair. The casino is always happy to see a player invest more money, and you're happy to double your money when the odds are in your favor.

The one splitting restriction is that if you split aces, you get only one extra card for each hand. In addition, if you make a natural, it pays only single odds. But splitting a pair of aces is still clearly the right play.
At most casinos, if you split a pair and then draw the same card to form another pair, you can split your new pair again to form three hands.

The general approach to splitting a pair goes along the following lines:

Blackjack: Rules For The Social Player

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This article describes a Simple Strategy that consists of only seven rules. It will help the social player lose less and is a good strategy to teach to non-blackjack-oriented friends, dates or spouses, so they can play blackjack with only a slight disadvantage to the house.

If the social player were playing $5 per hand, on average he would lose between $5 and $10 per hour playing this Simple Strategy. Many would view this as an acceptable charge for sitting at the table, enjoying the excitement of gambling and the casino environment, and receiving free alcoholic beverages or soft drinks.