Mistakes shouldn't cause
problems
10 March 2000
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I was in Atlantic City last week minding my own
business on a blackjack game, when a player
started verbally insulting me on how I played my
hands. He told me I was ruining his hands and
always taking the dealer's bust card. Do I
really have that much control over the outcome
of the game? Helen L.
First, Helen, it's your money, not theirs, so
you should be able to play your hand any way you
want. Second, one of the biggest fallacies in
all of gambling is that your play affects the
overall outcome of all hands dealt. Not true!
Each card comes out of the shoe randomly and
since you, the dealer, fellow players and yes,
even the nitwit who insulted you, have no idea
what the next card is, poor play will have no
consequence on the game in general.
Unfortunately, it does influence the outcome of
"your hand," which leads me to third-playing
perfect basic strategy.
Blackjack is a unique casino game because it
allows players to make playing decisions that
will affect the outcome of their bet. Poor play
will allow the casino to have a 4-5% edge over
the average player. If however you learn perfect
basic strategy, that edge can be reduced to well
under 1%, making it a terrific wager and one of
the best player bets in the casino. Now if the
thought of breaking even against the house does
not offer you ample monetary incentive to take
the time to learn basic strategy, maybe knowing
that you will place yourself in the 99th
percentile among all players will, as less than
one in every 100 players uses perfect basic
strategy. Helen, your goal should be to join the
one percent who do take advantage of this
lucrative way of wagering.
Dear Mark,
On a crap game, why is the dealer insistent that
I make $6 wagers when I want to place either the
6 or 8? Jeff T.
Because by betting $6 you will get the correct
return for your money. When making a place bet
on the 6 or 8, you should always wager in
multiplies of $6 ($12, $18, $24, etc.). The
reason is that 6 and 8 pay off at 7 to 6-win $7
for every $6 bet.
Anything less and the dealer will round down and
you will be short changed.
Dear Mark,
In blackjack, I seem to lose more hands than I
win, even when I play perfect basic strategy
against the house. If the house has only a
slight edge against the player who uses basic
strategy, why don't I win close to 50 percent of
my hands? Jason C.
If you employ perfect basic strategy, Jason,
expect to win approximately 43 percent of all
blackjack hands, lose 47 percent and tie 9
percent of the time. Throw out the ties, and
that figure changes to winning 47 percent and
losing 53 percent of hands dealt.
So how is it possible to be on even keel with
the casino when you lose more hands than you
win?
Because some winning hands are blackjacks where
you are paid 1.5 times your initial bet, or
hands that you split or double down on that
double your initial wager.
With losing hands you are normally betting and
losing only your original bet. It is the
blackjacks, double downs and splits that take
you fiscally from red to the black in blackjack
action. That, Jason, is why you can win as much
money from 47 percent of your hands than from
the casino-captured 53 percent.
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