Improving Blackjack Odds

Focusing on the odds and making the correct mathematical decisions is crucial to winning at Blackjack. Its easy to let your emotions take over and make the incorrect decisions at the table, but to master the game, you must only base your decisions on the odds. Single deck blackjack has the lowest casino edge of 0.16%, which gives the player better odds. Double deck games have a considerably low edge at 0.46%. Most land-based resorts and reputable online casinos use six to eight decks for blackjack. Blackjack: The Secrets of Blackjack Strategy to Improve Your Odds of WINNING BIG - ( Casino Blackjack Strategy ) Kindle Edition by Duke Landrey (Author) Format: Kindle Edition 3.9 out of 5 stars 54 ratings. The player is less likely to bust than the dealer. This improves the players’ odds of getting a win. Players are about 60% less likely to bust when compared to dealers. Why it is Difficult to Beat the House in Blackjack. Naturally, the casino whether online or land-based has to improve the odds of winning in the casino’s favor. Count on it: How to Increase Your Odds at the Blackjack Table by Counting Cards You’ve probably heard of the MIT blackjack team, or have seen the movie “21” that tells their story. If you haven’t, they were a team of students and ex-students from MIT who used card counting to beat casinos at blackjack.

Blackjack, unlike other gambling games is not considered a game of chance, it is one that you can win if you start applying some knowledge. Unlike many other games where the result depends on player luck only, this game provides probabilities depending on the player decisions. Therefore, in order to win you have to know what your probabilities are now and how and when to increase them.

Improving Blackjack Odds Games

Before we take a look at player and dealer blackjack odds, we should consider all the parameters that affect the odds in the game.

Blackjack Rules Variations

Blackjack variations were created to entertain players and provide them with a chance to win more money on side bets. Each rule variation affects the house edge, some rules making a big, others making a minor difference. Most common rule variations can be found at our House Edge Calculator in the «Rules» window. Now, let's take a closer look at the rules and see how they affect the odds in the game.

NOTE: The rules chosen in the table below are most favorable for the player.

Number of decks

The first thing a player should consider when choosing a table is the number of decks used in the game. The more decks there are - the less odds the player has. (See the table - Probabilities – Number of decks)

Dealer hits or stands on soft 17

The main rules of the game are usually written on the table felt and it may say either dealer hits or stands on soft 17. If according to the rules dealer hits soft 17, the game gives the house a 0.2% extra edge.

Rules for doubling

This rule is sometimes called the 'Reno' rule, which restricts doubling only to certain hand totals. Double 9 - 11 affects the house edge increasing it by 0.09% (8 decks game) and 0.15% (1 deck game). Double 10-11 increases the house edge by 0.17% (8 decks game) and 0.26% (1 deck game).

Doubling after Split

If the casino allows a player to double after he splits a pair, the player will get a further edge of around 0.12%.

Resplitting

Most casinos allow players to split again after he/she splits a pair and is dealt another card of the same rank. However, if the casino does not, this means the odds favor the house. As the best hands for splitting are a pair of Aces and 8s, there may be a special rule for Splitting Aces. If the casino allows the player to re-split Aces, the player gets a 0.03% extra edge. Moreover, in most cases if the player splits Aces, the casino will deal only one card per hand and that's it. Allowing players to hit on a hand of Split Aces gives the player an edge of 0.13%. We do not consider this rule in our calculator due to the fact it is almost never used, especially online.

• 1 deck of cards (house edge 0.17%)
• Doubling allowed on any cards
• Doubling allowed after Split and after Hit (player edge 0.12%)

• Early surrender is preferable
• Dealer stands on soft 17 (player edge 0.2%)
• Resplitting any cards allowed (player edge 0.03%)

Extra Rules Affecting Blackjack Odds

European No-Hole-Card Rule

Some blackjack variations are played with a hole card that is dealt to the dealer only after all the players have played their hands. This rule affects player strategy when playing against dealer up 10 or an Ace. In a typical hole-card game the player would know whether the dealer has a Blackjack or not before he makes any decisions. In this game, however, the player is risking a lot more if he decides to double or split. This rule adds 0.11% to the house advantage. However, there may be some casinos that allow the player to push on all the additional bets (doubling down and splitting pairs) if the dealer happens to have Blackjack.

Another Payouts on Blackjack

The classic payout on player Blackjack is 3 to 2. However, some casinos change the payout to increase the house edge. The payout on blackjack thus may vary from 1:1 to 6:5. As a Blackjack hand frequency is approximately 4.8% (see the table Two Card Hand Frequency), the payout of 1:1 will increase house edge by 2.3% and the payout of 6:5 - by 1.4%. The first rule (1:1) is only rarely found , while the second (6:5) can be found at some tables with a single deck blackjack game. The payout on Blackjack is generally written on a table felt.

Best tip
for odds seekers

The easiest way to choose the game with the highest odds is to play blackjack with no extra special rules. Do not forget where your basic odds are hidden - chance to Split, Double Down and get a 3 to 2 payout on Natural.

Dealer wins Ties

Another disadvantage for the player is when the rules of the game say that dealer wins all ties. This rule is almost never used in the classic games, though it can be found in some blackjack variations.

Insurance

The Insurance bet is a casino trick that gives the house a huge edge. The main factor why many players take this bet lies in the fact it costs only half of the original one. However, when the player takes Insurance every time he plays the game, the house edge may raise up to 7%. Added to all the other rules the casino sets on the game and you will see why probabilities are worth learning if you want to quit winners.

Side Bets

All blackjack games that offer side bets seem to be the biggest attraction for blackjack lovers. However, if you consider blackjack odds on these bets, you will notice that no matter how big the jackpot is (as in progressive blackjack rules) or how great the payout is for the pair (as in perfect pairs rules), the odds still favor the house and you are not likely to win.

Blackjack Probabilities charts

The quantity of decks increases the house advantage with each extra deck added to the game. Look for games with the smallest number of decks. However, some games offering a chance to play with 1 deck may only still provide low player odds due to low payouts on Blackjack and other rules. Be sure to check them before you play.

The table on the left describes how often the following hands can appear. The hands are the first two-cards dealt to the player. The frequency stands for the average number of times dealt per deck of cards. As you can see, the most frequent hands dealt are the 'Decision hands' that demand knowledge of blackjack strategy.

In this table you can see the probability of going bust on any hand if the player decides to Hit. This means that with 0% you can never go bust when hitting a hand of 11 or less. As you can see, the table is for hard hand totals as you will 100% bust if you Hit on a hand of hard 21.

You probably already know that in blackjack small cards in the deck favor the dealer while big ones favor the player. In this table you can see that removing 2s from the deck adds a 0.40% of advantage to the player, while if 10's are taken out - the odds are 0.51% for the house.

Blackjack probabilities are calculated due to different parameters, including the dealer up card. The table on the left depicts how likely it is that dealer will go bust with certain up cards and what the player odds are in this very situation. For example, the highest player odds are when the dealer shows a 6, as he is most likely to go bust with this hand. The lowest player odds are when the dealer's up card is a 10 or an Ace.

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Improving Blackjack Odds Poker

You’ve probably heard of the MIT blackjack team, or have seen the movie “21” that tells their story. If you haven’t, they were a team of students and ex-students from MIT who used card counting to beat casinos at blackjack. Most people think the concept of card counting is complicated, involving difficult math and statistical analysis. However, the basic concepts of counting cards are very simple, and with a little practice, you too can become an expert card counter.

Improving Blackjack Odds Game

Basic Blackjack Strategy

“Basic blackjack strategy” is pictured below. It is a table that considers every possible scenario in blackjack, and tells the player when to hit, stand, split, or double down. By following this strategy, the player is only at an estimated 0.5% disadvantage to the casino. By counting cards, the player can change that from a 0.5% disadvantage to a 2% advantage. When you are at even the slightest advantage, you want to start placing much larger bets to make money in the long run.

Hi-Lo Method of Counting Cards

The most basic method of card counting is called “Hi-Lo.” There are three ranges of cards that are important in Hi-Lo, and each range has its own value. Cards 2-6 have a value of +1, cards 7-9 have a value of zero, and cards 10-A have a value of -1. As the cards are dealt, use these values to establish a “count.”

An example hand is shown below. Hand one has a count of 0, because 8’s are neutral. Hand two has a count of zero because a 2 is +1 and a jack is -1. Hand three has a count of +2 because both the 2 and 6 are +1. Hand four has a count of zero because a 4 is +1 and a queen is -1. Finally, the dealer’s up-card is an ace, which is -1. By adding all the hands together, we have a count of +1. The player begins to gain an advantage when the count gets more and more positive. A very positive count means that there are more tens and aces, which leads to more twenties and blackjacks.

Determining the “True Count”

Most casinos use more than one deck in the “shoe” when dealing blackjack. Therefore, we must establish a “true count” that considers how many decks are involved. To do this, you simply take the current count and divide it by how many decks you believe are left in the shoe. For example, let’s say there are six decks at the start of the shoe. After roughly 52 cards have been dealt, the count is +10. Divide ten by the number of decks remaining (five) to get a true count of +2. For each increase of the true count by one, the player gains 0.5% of an advantage. Since the true count is +2, the player gains 1% of an advantage and now has a 0.5% edge over the casino. Now you’re in business! If you can follow basic blackjack strategy while also counting cards, you can become a master of blackjack! To learn more about the strategy and statistics involved in blackjack, visit the link below.

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