A.P Heat

One of the original blackjack side bets is the Insurance wager. This side bet pays 2-to-1 whenever the dealer’s hole card is a ten-valued card, otherwise it loses. This side bet is clearly countable by keeping track of the number of ten-valued cards relative to non-ten-valued cards. The only reason it has not been crushed by APs is because of two limitations on this wager. First, it can only be made when the dealer shows an Ace up, so that the player only has the opportunity to make this side bet once per 13 hands on average.

I recently became aware of a blackjack side bet that is popular on the Gulf Coast and has a significant number of placements elsewhere:  the “In Between” bet (IB). It is very sexy to analyze games that have substantial advantage play issues. Exposing big threats elicits page views. I enjoy busting games. But this coverage can cloud the fact that there are some very robust and popular blackjack side bets on the market.

Over the last few years I've analyzed, played, written and spoken about scores of proprietary games with vulnerabilities to card counting, hole-carding and other straightforward advantage play techniques. With years of blow back from what comes out of my big mouth, I have come to the conclusion that companies that create proprietary games often don't know their games' weaknesses, don't want to know their games' weaknesses, and don't want anyone else talking about their games' weaknesses. The reason for this is obvious: games with known advantage play weaknesses are a hard sell. 

The title of this post is one of Buddha's "Four Noble Truths." We all suffer. But leave it to APs to actually quantify desire.

• The good news: slot machines can be beat outright.
• The bad news: most of what appears on the Internet and what's written in most books on the topic is nonsense.
• The truth: learning practical methods to beat slots takes study and legwork.

Suppose the world’s greatest blackjack card counter heads out to a casino to pursue his chosen vocation of beating the house. Our hero sits down and starts to count. After a few hands, he realizes that the casino doesn’t care: he is free to count the day away, playing and spreading his bets however he likes. He righteously believes that this is just how he believes it should be: if a player is playing by the rules, then he should be allowed to play. There is no more injustice in the world for our hero.

In recent years there has been a steady rise in the adoption of new table games. When a new game arrives, the staff is often unfamiliar with the rules, procedures, and basic methods of protection for that game. Thus, most casinos attempt to follow the rules and procedures as written without understanding the “whys” of the procedures. Over time, certain parts of that procedure may get sloppy. This can make the game vulnerable and may ultimately lead to a significant decrease in the game’s hold.