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Pointers for the Blackjack Player

The beginning blackjack player should be aware of the following four important points. First, a newcomer to blackjack may be likely to play a ridiculously conservative game, each time refusing a hit at 12 or less and thinking that since it is now impossible for him to bust, the odds must be in his favor. Sounds good, until he learns that this little maneuver gives the house a whopping 18 percent edge. Stay away from ultraconservative blackjack. Liberality tempered with common sense and knowledge of the odds is the best approach.

Second, blackjack is the only casino game in which there is head-on play between house and player, which means that a good blackjack player should know all he can about the dealer. This may not be possible on a personal level, of course, although by gambling at the same table for a long time one comes to learn a dealer's weak spots. (Watch him especially a few minutes before he goes off his shift. He's tired. Now's the time he's most likely to make mistakes.) It is possible though to learn the style of the house man's play. On each deal pay careful attention to his cards. They are as important as your own. If it looks as if he will be forced to draw to a bust, play conservatively. If it looks like he may gain a pat hand, play with more abandon. Know the mechanical advantages that the house offers and use them to their fullest. Basically, there are four such advantages:

1. The dealer must stand at 17, hit at 16. This means that if the player holds 18 and the dealer 17, the dealer must stay even though he will automatically lose an obvious boon to the casino goer. 2. Remember that if wisely made the proposition bet can be the blackjack player's best friend. The best of these, percentage-wise, is doubling down. 3. Since the player and not the dealer gets a 3 to 2 payoff on a blackjack, the money balance is kept more even between house and player. 4. The simple fact that the dealer's cards are on display while the player's are not allows the latter to choose his strategy with greater finesse. Each of these advantages can and should be exploited to their fullest by the thoughtful blackjack enthusiast.

Third, to play really excellent blackjack one must learn at least the fundamentals of card casing or counting. For instance, simply by keeping track of all the 10s played throughout a game the expert blackjack player has a good approximate knowledge concerning the odds of himself or the dealer receiving a blackjack. Tens however are just one number that can be cased. There are numerable methods, many of which work. However most of these systems are complicated and also, many have been emasculated by the new house practice that allows a shuffle after every deal, consequently disrupting the counter's count. Despite these handicaps, however, counting, if done surreptitiously, can still be the best way to shave the odds.

The fourth important point to remember is that the range of skill at blackjack is so wide that the house percentage varies from 18 percent for terrible play to close to a player advantage of 2.3 percent for expert play.