Blackjack Strategy

When it comes to splitting 10s in the game of blackjack, the bottom line should be: 

One of the hands that often confound blackjack players is when they are dealt a soft 17. Should I stand or hit? What about doubling down? What follows are the facts on how to play this hand accurately every time you play blackjack.

Card counting has been around since the days of the dinosaurs (in casino years). Edward Thorp published his infamous book on card counting, "Beat the Dealer," in 1962. Since that time, hundreds of books on card counting have been written. Movies such as Rainman, "21" and The Hangover have featured card counting. Documentaries about card counting include The Hot Shoe, Breaking Vegas and Holy Rollers. Card counting was even the topic of an episode of The Simpsons (Sky Police, 2015).

In Blackjack, Basic Strategy is the series of decisions that a player adheres to so that they can incur the minimal loss of funds over time.  It tells the player when the appropriate time to stand, hit, double down, split and if applicable when to surrender (this where the player surrenders half of their initial bet to the casino).  These actions are determined by computer simulation, and decision points become firm at around 400 million hands.  However; in certain situations it becomes necessary to deviate from this strategy to gain maximum profitability over

So, you’ve decided to give this blackjack game a try. It looks so easy, and so profitable, in “Rainman,” “21,” and “The Hangover.”

But before you imitate Alan from “The Hangover” and plop down a $10,000 buy-in, have an idea of what you’ll do at the table. If you avoid these seven common beginner mistakes, you’ll get the most from the game.
 

When a person walks out of a casino the question that inevitably arises in their mind is “Why did I lose?” Most people that play casino games are losing players. That is because most casino games by nature have a negative expectation for the player. This means that for every wagered that is made on the game; machine or table game, gives back some amount less than the wagered amount over time.

A blackjack player once asked me this question: “Every time I play blackjack against the dealer, he always seems to beat me. So why shouldn’t I just mimic the dealer’s strategy?” That’s a good question and to answer it you first have to understand two things:

• In the game of blackjack, a popular question among novice and intermediate advantage players, card counters, trackers, sequencers and hole carders, is: what is the mathematical theoretical value for various types of starting hands, and more to the point what are the most valuable starting hands for the player (the players first two cards) and by how much

• When I say "types of hands" I mean Hard Tota