Easiest way to memorize BS

Cardcounter

Well-Known Member
BS Memory!

I have seen players that have been playing for 20-30 years that have no clue on how to play BS and I have seen players that have been playing for
1-2 years no BS pretty well to perfect. My conclusuion is that playing blackjack does not help you to learn BS because if you don't play a BS game and other players around you don't play a perfect BS game you will just continue to make the same mistakes over and over again giving the house will get its desired edge of 2% or more.
If you want to learn BS their are two games that you can play the stragedy trainer on here which is the most accurate you can configure it to any set of rules letting you pick up an extra .04% on your game giving you an extra
4 cents for every $100 bet. The hit or stand game is also an excellent game for learning BS they have 2 modes on that game normal and difficult on normal mode they give you realively easy hands and there is no time limit. You have too play 20 hands according to BS to get to the bonus round where you have 20 seconds to make as many correct BS plays as possible. In difficult mode you have too make every decision in under 4 seconds and in order to get to the bonus round you also have to play every hand according to BS. I find that difficult mode in hit or stand is the best tool to train your brain. It kind of makes the correct mode go into auto pilot. If you play either of these 2 games 20-30 minutes a week you will learn basic stragedy pretty well in just a couple of weeks.
Last but not least reading the book playing blackjack as a business helped me to understand which BS plays are the most important to make and which ones I could change up on what I have seen come out of the deck.
 

beat320

Well-Known Member
I played the basic strategy trainer on this site for hours upon hours whenever I would get free time, which solidified most of the stuff for me. Once I had that down and I went to the casino w/ the little card and just kept it out all of the time. Oh yeah, I also made it a point never to listen to anyone else at the table :laugh: :laugh:
 

aslan

Well-Known Member
Tyler19 said:
What ways have you guys found to absolutely memorize the BS. Do you play BJ as much as possible or do you stare and try to rewrite the bs chart 100 times per day?

Thanks.
I started by trying to memorize the card. But then I found the practice software at (Dead link: http://www.blackjack-bst.com) and I just practiced BS everyday for an hour or so until I was able to go through all the possibilities at random with no mistakes.
 

Guynoire

Well-Known Member
I learned in 4 steps:

1) learn the hard totals they're the most common. Organized into 3 groups a) the always hit/stand 5-8, 17-21 b) the stiffs 12-16, 12 is an exception c) the possible doubles 9-11
2) The pairs. The good thing about pairs is you only have to remember when to split otherwise treat them like a hard total. The exception is 77 v 10 in single deck
3) The soft totals. This was the hardest part for me especially A7 and I had to brute force it.
4) Learn when to surrender, there are only a few of these

A basic strategy trainer like the one on this site is extremely helpful, however eventually you'll probably become stronger on things like hard totals just because they occur more often and you get more practice. A strategy trainer that deliberately picks difficult hands will help you more then.
 
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