house edge

#1
Hi, i am a beginner in blackjack, and i have a question.
why does the casino has edge?
both the player and the dealer are playing to the same rules, and with the same deck, so it seems that they both should have the same chances of winning or losing.
 

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
#2
Actually Daniz, the house and the player do not play with the same rules. For instance, if a dealer draws an 18 he MUST stand on it. If you, the player, draw an 18 (especially a soft 18) you are NOT required to stand on it.

The player gets paid 3:2 on blackjacks while the dealer just wins the hand 1:1.

You can split and double down while the dealer cannot.

In reality, the player has a 48% chance of winning any given hand while the dealer has a 52% chance of winning any given hand.

So, How is it that the house really makes money on Blackjack?

Well, it's primarily because when the player draws a pair of cards that are less than 17 and the dealer's up card is 7 or greater, the player pretty much has to assume that the dealer has a total count of 17 or more. The player has the option of standing but the correct strategy play is to take a hit. The player may bust and the house wins. The house may bust eventually on that hand, but not before several players have busted while trying to draw a hand greater than 17 without busting....so even though the house looses, the house WINS!

By the way, it is NOT good strategy to stand on a "bust" hand and hope that the dealer busts. The probabilities over the long run show that the player looses less often on those bad hands by hitting them than he would loose by standing.

In fact, were it not for the opportunities to split and double down and if Blackjacks didn't pay 3:2, then Blackjack would be a complete sucker game to the player...he would have very little chance of winning.

This is a pretty basic explanation. I hope it gives you the answer you are looking for.
 

BAMA21

Well-Known Member
#3
Mike pretty much nailed it. The biggest disadvantage for the player is that you have to play out your hand first.

The other advantage that the casino has is that they have more money than you. In a game that is truly 50/50, there is a mathematical principle that says that, if they play long enough, the player with the most money will eventually win all of the other player's money. Most players simply don't have enough money to ride out the ups and downs of the game if they play very long. One or two decent losing streaks will wipe most players out, meaning that they won't be around long enough to get all the winning hands that balance that streak in the long run.

And one other thing Mike didn't mention is that the casinos benefit from stupid play. For a player to bring the game close to break-even, they have to play perfectly. The casinos count on most players not doing this.
 

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
#4
May we carry this to the next aniticipated question? How much is the House Edge?

Well, there are "engines" online that will compute this for you. One can be found on www.wizardofodds.com

For comparrison to illustrate the need to seek out the best game to indulge in:

abbreviations commonly used:

DOA (Double on Anything)
D9+ (Double 9,10,11)
D10+ (Double 10,11)
DAS (Double after Splitting)
S17 (Dealer stands on soft 17)
H17 (Dealer hits soft 17)
SP? (Split to "?" hands such as SP2 means can split to only 2 hands)

All of these assume Blackjack pays 3:2 (NOT 6:5 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Single Deck where the dealer S17, DOA, DAS actually gives the player a .14% advantage. You'll probably never see a game with this great a set of rules any more.

Single Deck H17, SP2, D9+, gives the house a .35% advantage. Not so good.

Double Deck S17, DAS, SP4, DOA....House edge is .19%

6-Deck Shoe H17, DAS, SP4, DOA....House edge is .62%

Now exactly what does that all mean? Plug some numbers in!

Assume that you are betting $10 per hand. Assume that you are playing for 8 hours straight and that the dealer is dealing you 1 hand per minute. That's 480 hands. Assume that you are playing Perfect Basic Strategy (making no mistakes and never deviating.) With your $10 bet, you can figure that you are going to be wagering a total of $4,800 during that time. Actually, you will be betting more than that because you will be doubling down and splitting on a lot of those hands, but keep it simple and just use $4,800 as a comparrison number.

If the house edge is .19% as with the Double Deck game described, then you have an expected loss looking at you of a whopping $9.12.

If you are playing the same length of time and betting the same amount on a 6-deck game as described...you will expect to loose $29.76.

Chances are, if you actually played these scenarios out, you would either loose a lot more than those figures or you would win, possibly a lot more. That's the variance factor. But if you played for years and years, kept track of all your bets and how much you won and lost per session, you would come out close to those percentages quoted.

Note that an experienced and accurate card counter might see anywhere from an additional 1% to possibly 2% advantage which would turn the negative expectation game into a positive expectation game.

However, to emphasise how badly someone NOT using basic strategy will fare:

The "average" Blackjack player making mistakes in BS would be playing at a disadvantage of an additional 1%. This is the occasional player who has some concept of Basic Strategy but who does not know the "power plays" such as when to double soft hands, when to split 4's, etc.

A "weak" Blackjack player playing by guts and bad intuition, using chicken entrals and other forms of Voodo, will be playing at an additional 2.5% disadvantage.

These two categories of Blackjack players are the ones the Casinos LOVE! At a bare minimum....LEARN BASIC STRATEGY!!!!!! Study it until you can play it in your sleep and NEVER make mistakes. You may not win a fortune, but you will at least loose a minimum!
 
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