This question can be filed under the "silly folder" of course. Still, I was wondering at what disadvantage the player is to the house if he always played just ONE way on EVERY hand without any freedom of extraneous moves. For example, I've read that a player who "mimics the dealer" by doing nothing other hitting totals 16 or under and standing on 17 or above is at around 6-7% of a disadvantage. While this makes sense and is not surprising, it is somewhat interesting that this "disciplined" form of play would be far worse than the average player who DOES think and makes moves but may make them wildly and illogically. I've read that the disadvantage for them (those who just walk in and play with no rhyme or reason) are anywhere at a 1-4% disadvantage.
This got me to thinking how many DISCIPLINED ways are there to play blackjack? And how great is the disadvantage of each one? By disciplined, I definitely dont mean "smart" but I mean ways to play where you make NO surplus of free decisions beyond what the strategy calls for. For example, the "mimic the dealer" approach is one example. The player doesn't "play with the hand choices" but can, in effect, play with no thought (on auto pilot if you will).
Others that occur to me are:
A) Always standing with your first two cards and NEVER hitting, doubling, splitting or surrendering. Logic suggests this can't be a pretty outcome, but what would the technical disadvantage actually be if you blindly played this way?
B) Always hitting JUST ONCE on EVERY 4-20 initial hand total and then always standing?
C) What about ALWAYS doubling every 4-20 initial total? (I assume this would mirror the exact same thing as B except losing (or winning) twice the amount.)
Any others?
I suppose slightly more criteria-based forms of auto-pilot play could also be devised such as playing a "always stand on first two cards" approach BUT always doubling whenever that total is a 9, 10, 11 (regardless of dealer upcard).
Or certain auto-pilot methods could be combined. For example, what is the disadvantage of doing the "mimic the dealer" routine except you split ANY pair you may recieve and also you double only when you have a 10 or 11?
Basically, the question is really, how many ways are there to play blackjack on "auto-pilot" and what are the disadvantages to each (relative to the wild and random walk-in player who apparently plays at around a 1-4% disadvantage as it is)?
This got me to thinking how many DISCIPLINED ways are there to play blackjack? And how great is the disadvantage of each one? By disciplined, I definitely dont mean "smart" but I mean ways to play where you make NO surplus of free decisions beyond what the strategy calls for. For example, the "mimic the dealer" approach is one example. The player doesn't "play with the hand choices" but can, in effect, play with no thought (on auto pilot if you will).
Others that occur to me are:
A) Always standing with your first two cards and NEVER hitting, doubling, splitting or surrendering. Logic suggests this can't be a pretty outcome, but what would the technical disadvantage actually be if you blindly played this way?
B) Always hitting JUST ONCE on EVERY 4-20 initial hand total and then always standing?
C) What about ALWAYS doubling every 4-20 initial total? (I assume this would mirror the exact same thing as B except losing (or winning) twice the amount.)
Any others?
I suppose slightly more criteria-based forms of auto-pilot play could also be devised such as playing a "always stand on first two cards" approach BUT always doubling whenever that total is a 9, 10, 11 (regardless of dealer upcard).
Or certain auto-pilot methods could be combined. For example, what is the disadvantage of doing the "mimic the dealer" routine except you split ANY pair you may recieve and also you double only when you have a 10 or 11?
Basically, the question is really, how many ways are there to play blackjack on "auto-pilot" and what are the disadvantages to each (relative to the wild and random walk-in player who apparently plays at around a 1-4% disadvantage as it is)?
