Here are all the comments posted on the site, with the most recent discussions listed first.
To participate in any of these discussions, you can reply on the article page.
Yes, tipping the dealer is common. Just be aware of how much you are tipping over the course of an hour, and don’t let it get out of hand. If a dealer is pleasant, I like to tip a small amount on the hand after I get blackjack, but even then I skip some hands.
Sorry, I don’t have a good answer for that. Perhaps you could estimate it by calculating the PE without the Ace included (prorate the other indexes to make it still balanced), and then do the BE with the Ace included. I have never used Ace side counts, as I found them difficult to implement accurately for the relatively small gain. As a result, I have always used counts with the Ace included (either Hi-Lo or Halves, depending on the game.)
I think 2 minutes for the Basic Strategy Decision Exercise is unrealistic. That’s 1 second per item, including the time it takes to write and to move your hand 120 times over 2 sheets of paper. I timed myself copying the answers off a key, and it took 1:52.
How about using quick symbols instead of letters for your answers? A horizontal line for Stand (like waving your hand), a vertical line for Hit, and whatever works for you for the other choices. That should eliminate much of the writing time in your exercise. The goal is to know the right answer for each question in under a second. If your time is inflated a bit because of writing, that’s not an issue.
That’s exactly what I was doing. Vertical line, horizontal line, circle for double, s for split. It still took almost 2 minutes to simply copy the answers straight from the key!
I have found a card room that offers surrender after you have hit your hand. Meaning if you have a 9 against a dealer 10 and you hit a 7 you can surrender the hand at 16. How does this effect the odds in your favor and how beneficial is this?
I don’t recall seeing this option specifically analyzed, but it’s certainly a nice option to have. The impact will be quite small but every little bit helps. It would also be useful if you can surrender after doubling. (Such as doubling 11vT, and you draw a 5.)
I don’t think the free CA software at my site offers this option. Too bad, it would be nice to have a specific answer.
Hi Ken, thanks for answering my question I visited this card room here in San Diego and you can actually surrender at anytime before you stay so if you hit twice to say a 16 against a ten you can still surrender. Would be nice to know the actual percentage advantage on this game. You cannot surrender on a double unfortunately.
Me and 3 friends have all just tured 18 within the last year. We went into a casino for the laugh to experience gambling and we find it fun, however most nights we visit we never seem to ‘beat the house’ and it’s sickening knowing you can’t do anything to take them down and walk out knowing you’ve beaten the casino.
We’re students and don’t have a high bankroll however we have now been practising the Hi-Lo system for blackjack for months. We are now ready to team up, put all our 4 bankrolls equally together and hopefully use our knoledge now to take down the casino. People laugh at us when we walk in with not much money, looking underage and not having an idea what to do. Now we are ready to step up, show them who the high rollers are and shut the casinos managers mouths! They ask me to leave I’ll beat them up in a back room.
Any last advise for what we can do best as a team will be greatful? Thanks
Just remember that the ability to continue to play has a long-term value. Don’t lose it just for the short-term joy of rubbing their noses in it. You guys spread out, get the money, and don’t make a big deal about it. You’ll be thankful for that approach years down the road when you are still extracting the cash.
Do the majority of modern casinos have regular shuffle machines or continuous shuffle machines? It seems to make sense that casinos would prefer the continuous shuffler in an effort to thwart card counting.
I don’t think that existed here at my site, unless it was part of the message forums, now the Knowledge Base.
My resource for this type of information has usually been Stanford Wong’s book “Basic Blackjack”. Despite the title, it covered many unusual rule variations.
“5 Card Charlie” is rare but valuable if you ever see it, adding almost 1.5% to the game.
For more typical rule variations, here’s a link to an archived page from an old favorite site: http://web.archive.org/web/20050408034011/http://www.bjmath.com:80/bjmath/conseq/rules.htm
I played there last week for 12 hours straight before being pulled up … If TableEye is still in play it can’t be that good?
Tipping the dealer.
common etiquette?
Yes, tipping the dealer is common. Just be aware of how much you are tipping over the course of an hour, and don’t let it get out of hand. If a dealer is pleasant, I like to tip a small amount on the hand after I get blackjack, but even then I skip some hands.
How would I calculate a side count of aces effect?
Sorry, I don’t have a good answer for that. Perhaps you could estimate it by calculating the PE without the Ace included (prorate the other indexes to make it still balanced), and then do the BE with the Ace included. I have never used Ace side counts, as I found them difficult to implement accurately for the relatively small gain. As a result, I have always used counts with the Ace included (either Hi-Lo or Halves, depending on the game.)
I do not know what other people do, but for a side count I simply insert a letter in front of the running count in my head.
A-20, A-19, A-21 ect.
Strangely it works.
Thank you for the answer I am learning but know so little.
The more I read the less I know.
I think 2 minutes for the Basic Strategy Decision Exercise is unrealistic. That’s 1 second per item, including the time it takes to write and to move your hand 120 times over 2 sheets of paper. I timed myself copying the answers off a key, and it took 1:52.
How about using quick symbols instead of letters for your answers? A horizontal line for Stand (like waving your hand), a vertical line for Hit, and whatever works for you for the other choices. That should eliminate much of the writing time in your exercise. The goal is to know the right answer for each question in under a second. If your time is inflated a bit because of writing, that’s not an issue.
That’s exactly what I was doing. Vertical line, horizontal line, circle for double, s for split. It still took almost 2 minutes to simply copy the answers straight from the key!
I have found a card room that offers surrender after you have hit your hand. Meaning if you have a 9 against a dealer 10 and you hit a 7 you can surrender the hand at 16. How does this effect the odds in your favor and how beneficial is this?
I don’t recall seeing this option specifically analyzed, but it’s certainly a nice option to have. The impact will be quite small but every little bit helps. It would also be useful if you can surrender after doubling. (Such as doubling 11vT, and you draw a 5.)
I don’t think the free CA software at my site offers this option. Too bad, it would be nice to have a specific answer.
Hi Ken, thanks for answering my question I visited this card room here in San Diego and you can actually surrender at anytime before you stay so if you hit twice to say a 16 against a ten you can still surrender. Would be nice to know the actual percentage advantage on this game. You cannot surrender on a double unfortunately.
Any way i can contact you by phone
I have alot of ??s
Me and 3 friends have all just tured 18 within the last year. We went into a casino for the laugh to experience gambling and we find it fun, however most nights we visit we never seem to ‘beat the house’ and it’s sickening knowing you can’t do anything to take them down and walk out knowing you’ve beaten the casino.
We’re students and don’t have a high bankroll however we have now been practising the Hi-Lo system for blackjack for months. We are now ready to team up, put all our 4 bankrolls equally together and hopefully use our knoledge now to take down the casino. People laugh at us when we walk in with not much money, looking underage and not having an idea what to do. Now we are ready to step up, show them who the high rollers are and shut the casinos managers mouths! They ask me to leave I’ll beat them up in a back room.
Any last advise for what we can do best as a team will be greatful? Thanks
Just remember that the ability to continue to play has a long-term value. Don’t lose it just for the short-term joy of rubbing their noses in it. You guys spread out, get the money, and don’t make a big deal about it. You’ll be thankful for that approach years down the road when you are still extracting the cash.
Thanks, I had the same question. The answer makes a lot of sense. Thank you.
Do the majority of modern casinos have regular shuffle machines or continuous shuffle machines? It seems to make sense that casinos would prefer the continuous shuffler in an effort to thwart card counting.
You are deluded by your limited sampling of results.
I don’t think that existed here at my site, unless it was part of the message forums, now the Knowledge Base.
My resource for this type of information has usually been Stanford Wong’s book “Basic Blackjack”. Despite the title, it covered many unusual rule variations.
“5 Card Charlie” is rare but valuable if you ever see it, adding almost 1.5% to the game.
For more typical rule variations, here’s a link to an archived page from an old favorite site:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050408034011/http://www.bjmath.com:80/bjmath/conseq/rules.htm