Online Blackjack
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How to Play Blackjack
The game of blackjack is played against a dealer. The dealer deals each player two cards face up and deals himself two cards with only one face up. The player has to act first. It is the players goal to make the best hand without going over 21. Tens and face cards are worth ten points, aces are worth either 1 or 11, and everything else is worth it's face value.
The player has the option to hit or stand when it is his or her turn. To hit means to receive another card and to stand means to stay with your current hand. If two of the same cards are dealt to a player, the player can split the cards by matching his bet and making the two cards into two new hands. The player then plays the hands how he sees fit.
Doubling down is done when the player is confident that his had will only need one more card to beat the dealer's hand. When a double down is called, the player must double his bet, and he only receives one more card.
Blackjack Strategy
The game of blackjack is one that has entertained the minds of gamblers for years and years. Over these years, many smart players have come up with optimal strategies that reduce the house advantage over the player. The best strategy to come about is the strategy referred to as basic strategy.
Basic strategy is a system used to reduce the houses advantage by making certain decisions based on the cards the player holds and the face up card that the dealer holds. While these decisions may vary based on the the number of decks in the shoe, they are mainly the same for all types of blackjack given a few different scenarios.
The chart below provides proper play for games with four or more decks in the shoe.
Card Counting
Once you have mastered basic strategy, you can now start to learn card counting. Card counting is not as hard as most people think it is. It is done by simply adding or subtracting 1 from a running total. The basic formula is like this: You subtract one for every card that comes out of the shoe that is a 6 or lower. You add one for every card that is a 10 or higher. Sevens, eights, and nines are ignored.
What this does is keeps track of how many high and low cards have come out of the shoe. The higher the count gets, the more high cards there are left in the shoe (which is good for the player). The lower the count gets the more low cards are in the shoe which is bad for the player. Pretty simple stuff right?
It's also a good idea to keep an adjusted count which accounts for however many decks are left in the shoe. If your count is +16 and there looks to be about 2 decks in the shoe, then the adjusted count would be +8. You basically divide your count by the estimated number of decks left in the shoe.
Card counting alone can only give you a slight advantage at a casino. If you work with a team like the MIT guys did, then you can gain a substantial advantage. You will find that if you sit at a blackjack table a play a few shoes, it is rare for the count to get very high. It takes a lot of patience, and you can still lose.