Blackjack - Using Simple Math to Create Value
Whether you're a blackjack enthusiast or just starting out, I'm sure that you're interested in learning how to create value for your big decisions. If you don't want to leave the table always ending up with less than you aimed for you, you're going to need to start learning the blackjack rules and calculating your moves. Calling staying on 16 when the dealer has a 6 showing is one of those really great felts that many players use to create flexibility in their blackjack betting strategies, and increase their chances of winning. Whether you're at the casino, or online, I'm sure that you, like me, will love to find out how to calculate the odds to guess the value bet that you have placed. That's the subject of another article.
Becoming a mathematically inclined blackjack player isn't for everyone. However, it's possible for those who work at it, and the benefits are fantastic. Mathematicians and gamblers are often at cross purposes, however. It's not your style of math to calculate card counters and such things. However, if you understand simple mathematics and you can, you will increase your value over a period of time.
At the casino, blackjack is shown on many occasions in movies. The sequences are choreographed to show the players at the table how to place their bets, and the way the dealers handle the players is highlighted. In one sequence in particular, a woman is showing her results to a potential buyer. The sequence begins with her showing a 1/5 unit (splits) and improves to 3/5 as she places more money into the 1/5 unit. This is the value bet, and will help to show you how to bet.
In the world of casinos, you want to have a number 3 on your Egp88 bet, and also a number 2 on the one your dealer shows. When you place a $5 bet on the 2's and the dealer has a 2 showing, you win $10 on your $5 bet. You place $5 bet on the 3's and dealer has a 3 showing, you will lose $6 on your $5 bet. Since the dealer's showing card is an Ace, you will have a rough 13% to 27% edge in the game of blackjack. These odds are much better than the true odds, and this is how casinos make their money, specialize in low edge games.
When you see a situation where the odds are in your favor, you can enhance your odds, or turn the odds to your favor. You will do this by doing simple addition, or calculating the probability of what card will be dealt, and bet accordingly. You want the odds to be in your favor and just above. This concept is the basis of gambling for profit.
There are also other methods favored by gamblers to win at blackjack, especially when the casino uses 6 decks of cards in the shoe. Increasing your odds is the basic concept of card counting. If you know the cards which have not yet been dealt, and also the cards that have been played, you can actually calculate the probability of your card counting and bet accordingly.
Card counting is a process by which you can determine if the cards played are high or low cards. Typically, when you see a low card dealt, you add a plus one (-1) to the card counting counter's card. Conversely, when you see a high card, you subtract a plus one from your count, and add a minus one to yours. keeping track of these cards is the key to winning at blackjack.
Basic card counting assigns a positive and negative value to cards played. Any plus value is assigned to cards 2 through 6, while any negative value is assigned to cards 7 though 9. calculates the card count of every card played in the deck. Using this value you can bet on whether the next card will be higher or lower in value.
The plus count is the cards played, and the minus count is the amount of cards still left in the deck. If you know the ratio of high cards to low cards in the deck, you can bet on the high cards or bet on the likelihood that the next card will be lower in value.
When you see the dealer's card, you compare it to the one you have on the table. If the dealers card is higher than your card, you have to place a bet. If the dealers card is lower than your card, you break even. Reducing the casino advantage to less than 1% is a win for you.
If you know the deck contains many tens, you can make bets where the odds are 2:1 or 4:1, depending on what side the dealer is on. By betting $5, you have a chance that you will win 50% of the time, or a total of $100 as your profit.
