Page 8 - Jackpot Magazine South ~ March, 2022

PLAY TO WIN
Understanding misunderstood ‘21’ concepts
“At gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck.”
— Ian Fleming
It seems no matter how long blackjack has been around, people still have misconceptions about the game. Well, I should say misconceptions about winning and losing at the game. There have been books and articles published about blackjack, and the game is one of the most studied in the world. But still, there are players who... well, they just don’t understand some of the basics.
Gaming expert and author Henry Tamburin took a look at some of the most misunderstood blackjack concepts in a column previously published
in Jackpot! The author of many best-selling books on gambling, including Blackjack: Take the Money and Run, Tamburin, a longtime contributor to Jackpot!, examined it all, starting with the luck of the game. Let’s see what he said about that.
Blackjack is all luck.
Nothing could be further from the truth because blackjack is different than all other games of chance. If the roulette ball lands on a red number, or a shooter tosses a 7, or someone just hit a jackpot on a slot machine, these results have no bearing on, and will not influence, the next spin of the roulette wheel, or toss of the dice, or spin of the reels. The odds in these casino games remain fixed from one decision to the next.
But, if you remove, say, one ace from a deck of cards, the odds in the game of blackjack will change (i.e., they do not remain fixed from one hand to the next). This fact makes blackjack a beatable game.
Taking even money.
Many players believe that taking even
money is the best play
in the entire casino
because you’ll get paid
instantly when you hold
a blackjack even if the
dealer also has a blackjack. What most players don’t understand is that the dealer more often will not have a blackjack, and therefore, if you decline even money you will get paid at 3-2 odds (which will more than make up for the times that the dealer will blackjack and you push).
Splitting 10s against a dealer’s 6.
You see players make this play all the time. They mistakenly believe that because the dealer has a high probability of busting with a six showing, that it makes sense to split 10s to win two hands instead
of one.
The bottom line
here is that you will win a lot more money by staying on your 20 than you will by playing two hands starting with a 10
on each.
If I lose five hands in a row, I’m due to win the next hand.
You have roughly a 44 percent chance of winning a hand in blackjack. Even if you lost the previous five hands, your chance of winning the next hand is still 44 percent. The only thing that influences your chances of winning the hand is the ratio of high and low cards in the undealt cards.
I can beat the casino by using a progressive betting system.
For the reasons cited above, progressive betting systems don’t work, and you can’t and won’t beat the casinos using them.
Being a genius to be a card counter. The casinos would
like you to believe this.
So would the Hollywood movie producers who portray card counters as brilliant students from elite universities. The fact is that card counting is not voodoo and it a skill that can be learned by any player with average intelligence. There are even simple card counting systems, like Speed Count, that an average player can
master.
Clueless players will affect my chances of winning.
Negative. It doesn’t make any difference how your fellow players play their hands as far as your long-term chances of winning at blackjack. Certainly the outcome of any one hand could be different depending upon whether one (or more) players misplay their hand, but sometimes it could result in the table losing, and other times, everyone could win. In the long run, it’s a wash. So, don’t worry about how your fellow players play their hands. Instead, focus on what cards they had in their hands because that is what will influence your chances of winning in the long run (specifically the ratio of low cards to high cards).
I need a big bankroll to win.
No, what is important is not the size of your bankroll but rather the ratio of your maximum bet to your bankroll. If your bankroll is small, you should bet for low stakes, and only when your bankroll begins to increase, should you increase your bet size. Most wannabe card counters fail to follow this concept and over bet in relation to their bankroll, and, sooner or later, they will go broke.
Do you have a question on the best way to play to win? Email jackpotmagazine@gmail.com.
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8 JACKPOT! MAGAZINE • March 2022
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