Play Blackjack - Tips and Strategies

Does it matter if the dealer takes his up-card as the first card or second card?

Dealing the up-card first or last is strictly based on table procedures set by the management of a casino. Playing conditions are not influenced by the dealer's turning the first or last card.

What percent of blackjack hands does a player typically lose?

Blackjack is a horrible game if your foundation for winning is based on how many hands you actually win. Excluding ties, a player loses approximately 53% of all hands. However, the casino, bless their hearts, permits you to double down and split hands after viewing the dealer up card. This allows the player to get more money in the circle when conditions are favorable. In addition, they give you that sweet 3 to 2 payoff for a blackjack.

That is why the casino has only a half percent edge over the disciplined basic strategy player.

Why do dealers oftentimes shuffle up halfway through a deck?

Because management has egg-shell nerves when it comes to players using their brains-card counters. This fallacious behavior is unjustified and to casino executives whose belief is that their quarterly reports are in jeopardy by cerebral thinkers I offer a personal challenge: Conduct time and motion studies of your blackjack games. What the stewards of gambling will find out is that blackjack becomes more profitable for the casino when the dealer's shuffle points are deeper. By allowing additional deck penetration, the dealers will pitch more hands per hour and the action will more than make up for an occasional loss by a card sharpie. Besides, they employ pit bulls to run off the counters anyway.

Why is a deck rich with aces and face cards favorable to the player?

There are two reasons. First, blackjacks will appear more often when there is a higher proportion of aces in the deck, and as you know blackjack pays the player 3 to 2. Second, the dealer will bust more when he has a "stiff" (12 through 16). The player, given the same opportunity, would stand on stiffs, whereas the dealer is forced by the rules of the game to hit away and hopefully bust.

How much edge does the casino have in blackjack?

It strictly depends on the skill level of each individual player. Against the average Joe the casino has about a two percent edge. A hunch or superstitious player can easily give back eight percent.

Depending on the rules of a particular casino, a Deal Me In reader who uses perfect basic strategy has only a half of a percent disadvantage. They also get rated and work the casino over for comps. Because many casinos give back between 20 to 40 percent of the expected win-not the actual win-in player gratuities, the Deal Me In player actually shows a positive expectation when playing blackjack.

What is meant by a "preferential shuffle" by the dealer?

Here a dealer is counting the deck down (card counting) and is aware of all the cards that have been dealt. If a lot of high cards have been previously pitched, meaning the deck is now rich in small cards, creating an apparent disadvantage for the player, the rogue dealer keeps dealing. On the other hand, if many small cards have surfaced, allowing a positive expectation for the player, the dealer would shuffle.

By card counting, the unethical dealer now has total control over any favorable situation the player might have had.

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