Blackjack School

When a dealer shows a 10 upcard at online or live blackjack, she or he is in the driver’s seat because they have a 77% chance of getting to a final hand that totals 17 through 21 and only a 23% chance of busting. A ten, therefore, is a very strong dealer upcard. This means we have to be more aggressive when we are a dealt a stiff hand (hit rather than stand) and less aggressive when we are dealt a two-card soft hand (hit rather than double down).

Once, when I was booked for a “fun casino” the other person due to work dropped out at the last minute, leaving the job a dealer short. A “fun casino” if you haven’t come across one, is a casino at a private event – usually a Christmas party – where the “customers” come to the table with fun money. No real cash changes hands, and there’s usually a bottle of bubbly for whoever wins the most chips. The casino dealers tend to be former croupiers who no longer work in casinos, although a few will be doing the job on their night off.

When you are dealt a pair of 6s in the game of blackjack you have two viable playing options:

Ever since Ed Thorp published his book Beat the Dealer in 1962 it has been an accepted that the diligent player can beat the casino at blackjack. As a kneejerk reaction to this, the casino owners met and decided to implement a series of changes to the game.

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

What follows is the correct way to play any blackjack hand dealt to you when the dealer’s upcard is a 4. The strategy is not that difficult to remember since it is virtually the same regardless of the number of decks of cards being used and the mix of playing rules. In one instance, however, it also depends on the composition of the cards that comprise your hand and the number of decks of cards being used.

I was living in New Jersey in the late 1970s, when casino gambling became legalized in Atlantic City. The casinos that began opening there were clamoring for casino dealers. Soon, casino gambling schools began opening that taught students the skills necessary to become a casino dealer. (You had to be certified by a state-licensed dealer’s school in order to be a casino dealer.) The public was inundated with news, TV, and radio reports and advertisement about becoming a casino dealer.