Basic Strategy for Yahoo Blackjack

[Mikeaber]

I just got a new ISP and they work through Yahoo. I looked around at the features available to subscribers and one is a Blackjack game. It's all funny money. But there are some funky and extremely good rules in the game.

When you open a table, you specify 1-6 decks. You specify whether the dealer stands or hits on soft-17. That's all you have control of other than making the game public or private.

The unchangable rules are:

No Surrender.

Insurance pays 2:1

You can double on anything. I mean ANYTHING! You draw 4 cards to eleven and you can double down!

If you split 10's and draw an Ace, you are paid 3:2.

You can split pairs infinitely...or at least until you run out of pairs!

The game appears to be dealt from a simulated shuffle and a cut-off card is used (not a random CSM type simulation).

So, with the 3:2 payoff on 10/Ace after splitting, would you split 10's against a bust card as many times as you could?

 

[TimeKeeper]

You can't practice counting cards with Yahoo Games Blackjack can you? I've been trying it tonight and the number is always off. It doesn't seem to work.

 

[Mikeaber]

You can't practice counting cards with Yahoo Games Blackjack can you? I've been trying it tonight and the number is always off. It doesn't seem to work.

I have been counting. I set up a 5 to 25 game and play single deck usually on a private table. How do you know it's "off". You mean when the count is high you seem to lose? I had worked from $1000 up to around $60,000 by making huge spreads ($5 to $1000) before I settled down to more realistic conditions and am well ahead. I just used KO Rookie for the most part but here lately have been using KO Preferred with the top four index numbers most of the time now.

 

[TimeKeeper]

Can someone here please tell me if Yahoo! Games Blackjack is reliable? Someone who was up 100k+ told me tonight that she wasn't counting cards because you can't with Yahoo. "The cards are random" she said. This is what I thought, but Mikeaber here got up to $60k. So I really don't know...

 

[Mikeaber]

I will check this allegation of non-randomness by using a single deck game. I can only check to see if cards are indeed shuffled after a shoe is finished and not re dealt as with a CSM. I know of no way to validate allegations that the cards remaining in the deck are not "intelligently" selected to insure that the player lost.

My question to those doubting the integrity of that game is this: WHY would Yahoo game providers go to that trouble? This isn't real money. There is no contest or payoff to be had. It's strictly entertainment.

I've seen that accusation on message threads on Yahoo's Blackjack forum but attribute that to someone playing with no clue as to strategy (either betting OR playing)

Believe me, you'll get an education playing there with others at the table!

 

[Mikeaber]

Okay. I just ran thru a single deck on Yahoo. Might as well be a CSM type game though they "fake" a shuffle after a specified number of decks. I saw the same card multiple times during a single shuffle. The one I spotted first was the 2c. It hit twice in different hands. Same thing with an 8c.

I can form no further dedutions from this. My "counting" on Yahoo was good exercise, but worthless in terms of betting strategy. Maybe I'll start splitting 10's on every hand over there <LOL>

So, using Yahoo's game is of no value other than in a beginner gaining speed in counting and you can do that by dealing to yourself or working with one of the computer simulations. The unique thing about Yahoo would have been that you would see more or less what you'd see on the table at a casino with multiple players making unpredictable plays. Too Bad.