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Dealer only has one card on table, player can surrender before the first third card deal out of the shoe.player can surrender on dealer’s ten but not A. so what is the advantage for player for this rule. if ES is +0.7%, what is the advantage for this kind of surrender?
How come when you split Aces and then get another Ace the program will not let you split beyond two hands that is a flaw that needs to be corrected asap. Thanks!
Yes, there is a problem with split Aces in the current version. A completely new trainer is in development and coming along nicely. I’m hoping to launch before the end of the year.
Although the individual lesson pages are somewhat optimized for printing, the pages will print with the comments included.
There is no summarized version available.
I win every time I go to a casino, and I do it without counting cards. I would play more, but I feel like I would get banned if I kept winning at my current pace (at the one place that I play now).
I doubled my seed money in 5 hours playing a consistent 1/20 seed money bet.
It sounds like you are using a progression, perhaps a Martingale where you double up until you win a hand, which produces a profit for the series equal to your initial bet. You don’t have to worry about being banned for that. In fact, quite the opposite. Unfortunately, you also don’t have to worry about continuing to win for the long term. You will eventually hit a long enough streak of losses to wipe you out, and your net result will be negative. You cannot create a winning expectation by making any sequence of negative expectation bets. It just doesn’t work that way.
Nope, not progressive. I bet the same every time. The tables that I play have a max bet just 8x greater than my typical bet. So counting splits, doubles, etc., I would be broke in no time if I were doing progressive.
I could’ve been just really lucky in the past, but how many times or how much money can I win before they start to notice?
I wouldn’t worry. If you are flat-betting with nothing else going on, you’ve just been lucky. As a flat-bettor, you can win a lot before they get worried. In bigger places, $50K cumulative win might be a problem. But if they don’t see anything suspicious in your play, think six figures. In small places that really sweat the money, it can be tough to win $10K without issues, even for players that appear to just be lucky. For this question, your mileage may vary.
so I was wondering about a few things, I cant find a free deviation chart for my game rules… everywhere asks for money any idea where I can get a free one? im looking for 6-8 deck dealer hits soft 17 resplit double after split
also I had one other thing I was over thinking lately when I have a soft 18 vs Dealers 3 4 5 6 I double dealers 7 I stay and vs a 9 10 A I hit I resently just found out im suppose to double vs a 2 aswell, however soft 18 vs a dealers 8 it sez stand, I was thinking I want to be hitting this for a free hit? and isn’t 18 a losing hand? soft 17 vs 7 I hit as a free hit don’t I treat it the same 18 vs 8 ? also uhm… when I have an unnatural soft 18 vs the dealers 2-6 are their different plays for each of these? like uhm.. if I have a A-2 Vs Dealers 4 basic strat sez hit, if I get a 5 and have 8 or 18, do I want to stop there or improve my hand ? I was thinking for some reason I wanted to keep improving it but im guessing im suppose to stay… but is this changed by the count being rich with high or low cards?
With a soft 18 made up of 3 or more cards, obviously you can no longer double, so just use the appropriate fallback strategy according to chart. With (A,3,4) vs a dealer 4 for example, you should stand. The charts from this site show that “DS”, meaning Double if you can, else Stand.
You also asked why you should stand with Soft 18 vs 8. Well, the potential push is a big part of that, but in general try not to worry too much about the “why” of basic strategy. It just works that way. Technically, here are the results with A7v8: Standing returns 0.108 on average, hitting returns only 0.041.
Hello there Ken!
Very, very useful website, and very, very useful replies from you. Thank you!
I have one question: Should i only join the tables that are starting the new shoe (no cards dealt)? So, I’m supposed to walk around and watch when the all cards are dealt, and then sit and play?
And, if I’m playing a 6-deck shoe, immidiately when the true count goes minus 1, i am supposed to walk away? That will happen pretty often right? You said before that it’s happening very often in a double deck game, but i assume that it’s happening in 6-deck as well?
I will probably have a bunch of questions for you in coming weeks, so be prepared 🙂 🙂
Yes, if you leave every 6-deck shoe at -1, you’ll be walking a lot. I personally never left at that minor a negative count. But if you can do it, it does really help the expected results. In 2-deck games, you can afford to play through a lot more negative counts and still have very good overall results. That is why the majority of my play has been at 2-deck games. They are simply a lot easier to beat.
As for sitting down at a shoe already in progress, there’s no problem with it, although you are less likely to reach a positive situation. It’s like playing a game with poor penetration until the first shuffle. Just treat any discards when you begin as unseen decks, just like the cards still in the shoe. For that reason, it’s simpler and better to just come in immediately after a shuffle instead. But you don’t have to wait if you don’t want.
Dealer only has one card on table, player can surrender before the first third card deal out of the shoe.player can surrender on dealer’s ten but not A. so what is the advantage for player for this rule. if ES is +0.7%, what is the advantage for this kind of surrender?
Early surrender against the dealer ten is worth around 0.24%, instead of the 0.70% value of full early surrender.
Thank you very much Ken, love your website.
Is blackjack dying, it’s hard to find a good game, h17, Csm and now way too many 6:5 games are casinos going to make blackjack a dinasor ?
I actually addressed exactly this in a recent blog post:
The State of Blackjack: Opportunity Amidst the Apocalypse?
How come when you split Aces and then get another Ace the program will not let you split beyond two hands that is a flaw that needs to be corrected asap. Thanks!
Yes, there is a problem with split Aces in the current version. A completely new trainer is in development and coming along nicely. I’m hoping to launch before the end of the year.
Any chance you have a variations chart for 6 deck but the dealer must hit soft 17?
The only place I have the H17 indexes at the moment is on the Cartes de stratégie avancée.
hey, is this whole course available in a printer frendly version? please reply to [email protected]
Although the individual lesson pages are somewhat optimized for printing, the pages will print with the comments included.
There is no summarized version available.
However, the GameMaster also published this material along with much more in his book, available at Amazon:
The (Darn Near) Complete Guide to Winning Blackjack.
Hey all,
I win every time I go to a casino, and I do it without counting cards. I would play more, but I feel like I would get banned if I kept winning at my current pace (at the one place that I play now).
I doubled my seed money in 5 hours playing a consistent 1/20 seed money bet.
It sounds like you are using a progression, perhaps a Martingale where you double up until you win a hand, which produces a profit for the series equal to your initial bet. You don’t have to worry about being banned for that. In fact, quite the opposite. Unfortunately, you also don’t have to worry about continuing to win for the long term. You will eventually hit a long enough streak of losses to wipe you out, and your net result will be negative. You cannot create a winning expectation by making any sequence of negative expectation bets. It just doesn’t work that way.
Nope, not progressive. I bet the same every time. The tables that I play have a max bet just 8x greater than my typical bet. So counting splits, doubles, etc., I would be broke in no time if I were doing progressive.
I could’ve been just really lucky in the past, but how many times or how much money can I win before they start to notice?
Merci.
I wouldn’t worry. If you are flat-betting with nothing else going on, you’ve just been lucky. As a flat-bettor, you can win a lot before they get worried. In bigger places, $50K cumulative win might be a problem. But if they don’t see anything suspicious in your play, think six figures. In small places that really sweat the money, it can be tough to win $10K without issues, even for players that appear to just be lucky. For this question, your mileage may vary.
Very interesting. Thanks for the words of wisdom, Ken.
so I was wondering about a few things, I cant find a free deviation chart for my game rules… everywhere asks for money any idea where I can get a free one? im looking for 6-8 deck dealer hits soft 17 resplit double after split
also I had one other thing I was over thinking lately when I have a soft 18 vs Dealers 3 4 5 6 I double dealers 7 I stay and vs a 9 10 A I hit I resently just found out im suppose to double vs a 2 aswell, however soft 18 vs a dealers 8 it sez stand, I was thinking I want to be hitting this for a free hit? and isn’t 18 a losing hand? soft 17 vs 7 I hit as a free hit don’t I treat it the same 18 vs 8 ? also uhm… when I have an unnatural soft 18 vs the dealers 2-6 are their different plays for each of these? like uhm.. if I have a A-2 Vs Dealers 4 basic strat sez hit, if I get a 5 and have 8 or 18, do I want to stop there or improve my hand ? I was thinking for some reason I wanted to keep improving it but im guessing im suppose to stay… but is this changed by the count being rich with high or low cards?
With a soft 18 made up of 3 or more cards, obviously you can no longer double, so just use the appropriate fallback strategy according to chart. With (A,3,4) vs a dealer 4 for example, you should stand. The charts from this site show that “DS”, meaning Double if you can, else Stand.
You also asked why you should stand with Soft 18 vs 8. Well, the potential push is a big part of that, but in general try not to worry too much about the “why” of basic strategy. It just works that way. Technically, here are the results with A7v8: Standing returns 0.108 on average, hitting returns only 0.041.
Hello there Ken!
Very, very useful website, and very, very useful replies from you. Thank you!
I have one question: Should i only join the tables that are starting the new shoe (no cards dealt)? So, I’m supposed to walk around and watch when the all cards are dealt, and then sit and play?
And, if I’m playing a 6-deck shoe, immidiately when the true count goes minus 1, i am supposed to walk away? That will happen pretty often right? You said before that it’s happening very often in a double deck game, but i assume that it’s happening in 6-deck as well?
I will probably have a bunch of questions for you in coming weeks, so be prepared 🙂 🙂
Thank you again, really!
Yes, if you leave every 6-deck shoe at -1, you’ll be walking a lot. I personally never left at that minor a negative count. But if you can do it, it does really help the expected results. In 2-deck games, you can afford to play through a lot more negative counts and still have very good overall results. That is why the majority of my play has been at 2-deck games. They are simply a lot easier to beat.
As for sitting down at a shoe already in progress, there’s no problem with it, although you are less likely to reach a positive situation. It’s like playing a game with poor penetration until the first shuffle. Just treat any discards when you begin as unseen decks, just like the cards still in the shoe. For that reason, it’s simpler and better to just come in immediately after a shuffle instead. But you don’t have to wait if you don’t want.