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Blackjack: Take The Money and Run
by Henry Tamburin
Henry Tamburin's most popular book on blackjack contains three levels of playing strategies. 1) For the beginner, a non-counting strategy that will give you a slight edge in some blackjack games. 2) The intermediate level strategy contains an introduction to card counting. 3) The advanced level playing strategy is a powerful system that will give the blackjack player up to a 1.5% edge over the casinos. The book also contains advice on which blackjack games give you the most profit potential, the risks involved in playing blackjack, how to play without fear of getting barred, and money management discipline.
Find Single Deck Blackjack Online!
Intercasino has a single-deck blackjack table with very favorable rules, even though the cards are reshuffled after each hand. The difference between it and the regular blackjack game is that the dealer must hit a soft 17. The resulting house edge for this game is a very low 0.07% and is the recommended game to play.
Why You Should Consider Playing Blackjack
Of all the casino games, why bet on blackjack? What makes it “different” from any other casino banked game?
For one, the odds in blackjack are not constant. They keep changing from one
Henry Tamburin is the editor and publisher of the Blackjack Insider Newsletter and author of the best-selling Blackjack: Take the Money & Run. He is also the lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack course, a feature writer for Casino Player magazine (and 6 other publications); an owner of a casino gambling publishing company (www.rsucasinobooks.com) and the host of www.smartgaming.com. For a free three month subscription to the Henry's Blackjack Insider Newsletter with full membership privileges go to www.bjinsider.com/free. Henry's website is www.smartgaming.com hand to the next depending on the cards that have been played. For example, if four aces have been played from a single deck of cards what is the chance of getting a blackjack hand on the next round? It’s zero because there are no more aces left in the unplayed deck of cards. The cards do have a memory. That’s not the case with craps, roulette and other casino games where the odds stay constant from one roll or spin to the next. The dice and the wheel have no memory. Ditto for slot machines. The bottom line is that blackjack is a game of skill not just luck.
Blackjack Rules and Options
Henry Tamburin is the editor and publisher of the Blackjack Insider Newsletter and author of the best-selling Blackjack: Take the Money & Run. He is also the lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack course, a feature writer for Casino Player magazine (and 6 other publications); an owner of a casino gambling publishing company (www.rsucasinobooks.com) and the host of www.smartgaming.com. For a free three month subscription to the Henry's Blackjack Insider Newsletter with full membership privileges go to www.bjinsider.com/free. Henry's website is www.smartgaming.com hand to the next depending on the cards that have been played. For example, if four aces have been played from a single deck of cards what is the chance of getting a blackjack hand on the next round? It’s zero because there are no more aces left in the unplayed deck of cards. The cards do have a memory. That’s not the case with craps, roulette and other casino games where the odds stay constant from one roll or spin to the next. The dice and the wheel have no memory. Ditto for slot machines. The bottom line is that blackjack is a game of skill not just luck.Blackjack Rules and Options
Not all blackjack games are created equal. You will often find different playing rules from one casino to the next and even within the same casino. Some rules are more player favorable and others favor the casino. It’s these mix of rules that ultimately determines the casino’s overall edge and whether the game is good or bad.
Here is a summary of the rules that favor the player and those that favor the casino.
Player favorable rules.
Doubling on any first two cards.
Doubling down after pair splitting
Surrender
Resplit aces
Double on 3 or more cards
Blackjack pays 2 to 1
Doubling on any first two cards.
Doubling down after pair splitting
Surrender
Resplit aces
Double on 3 or more cards
Blackjack pays 2 to 1
Casino favorable rules
Paying 6-5 on a blackjack
Increasing the number of decks of cards
Dealer hits soft 17
Double only on 10 and 11
No resplitting of pairs
Dealer wins ties
Paying 6-5 on a blackjack
Increasing the number of decks of cards
Dealer hits soft 17
Double only on 10 and 11
No resplitting of pairs
Dealer wins ties
How important are the rules to the player? The difference between a “good” blackjack game and a “bad” one can often add another 0.5% to the casino’s advantage over a basic strategy player. For example, one of the best blackjack games in Las Vegas is a double deck game where the dealer stands on soft 17 and you can double down after splitting. The house edge against a basic strategy player is only about two tenths of a percent.
One of the absolute worst blackjack games in Las Vegas are the double deck games (and single deck) that only pay 6 -5 when you get a blackjack (the house edge zooms to greater than 1.5% - Ouch!).
Blackjack players also have to be on the lookout for continuous shuffling machine (CSM). The CSM usually holds 4 or 5 decks of cards and after each round, the dealer will take the discards and put them back into the CSM where they are randomly mixed with the unplayed cards.
The cards go round and round and there is never an end to the shoe. Play is faster because there is no manual shuffling. This means the casinos can get about 20% more hands dealt per hour with a CSM. The result is that average players will lose 20% more per hour on average. Stay away from any table that uses a CSM.
As long as you stick to traditional blackjack games that pay 3-2 for a blackjack without any CSM, you have the best game in the house. Learn the basic strategy or take a strategy card with when you play (they are casino legal) and you cut the house edge to half a percent or less. Learn a simple counting system like Speed Count, which can be learned in an hour (or less), and basic strategy players will be able to gain the edge over the casino. That should be enough reason why you should consider playing blackjack.
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