Month: January 2019

Blackjack Attack, 3rd Edition Review

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This is the 3rd and last edition for author Don Schlesinger, of his Blackjack Attack books. It is his largest and probably best reference book, with well over 500 pages and more than 400 tables and charts.

The book includes a compilation of 13 years of articles that were published through Arnold Snyder’s Blackjack Forum.  The Blackjack Forum has been and still is a great resource for any level blackjack player. It also includes brand-new material that has never been published.

Being the third edition, it is targeted at the more advanced blackjack player.  If you’re a beginner or less experienced player, you might feel much of it is over your head.  Though it reviews the basics, it is for the player who understands basic concepts and is looking to get their game to that next level of  profitable blackjack on a consistent basis.

He has gotten contributions from some of the sharpest minds in blackjack research. Working together with these other experts, they explain how they’ve broken new ground in many different ways.  Through their research, they feel they have “The World’s Greatest Blackjack Simulation”  system.  It gives you the complete set of 8-deck charts, optimal betting ramps, risk-of-ruin equations, and how to test the formulas’ accuracy, providing the reader great new research.

What you will find new in this edition are chapters 9, 12, and 13.  Respectively, the enhanced SCORE (Standardized Comparison of Risk and Expectation), article, explaining the differences of various blackjack games and card counting systems, is new for chapter 9.  Chapter 12 takes you on a walk down the Vegas Strip, and Chapter 13 shows the research on shoe-departure points, as well as risk-averse strategies.  And there are new appendices with new and revised tables, strategy expectation tables, how rules variations can effect play, and much, much more.

As a final note, this “Ultimate Weapon” third edition of Blackjack Attack provides essentially all the tools that an advanced blackjack player should have in their arsenal of knowledge, to exact a full-out mugging on the casinos.

Click here to perfect your game!

What is the House Edge

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The house edge can be described as the built in advantage the casino has in games, in order for the casino to make money. It is the casino’s average profit on a player’s bet. It is well known that blackjack has the lowest house edge in all casino games, which explains the popularity of the game.

If you’ve ever wondered why blackjack has the best odds for the player, it’s because the casino has just one advantage in blackjack, which is the fact that the player makes the first move in the game.

Think about it, if the player decides to take a hit and busts, the house wins right away, without making a move. Even if the dealer busts later in the deal, that player that already busted, still loses.

Ok, say you try the strategy of never busting yourself. With that, the dealer will make 17 or better more often than you, so you still lose in the long run. When the first player to bust automatically loses, the player who has to act first, is at a distinct disadvantage. That distinct disadvantage has been calculated to be 8% for the player.

Yes, that is a ridiculous advantage for the house, so that’s why the developers of the game decided on rules that would bring down that percentage, making it a more enticing game to play.

PLAYER-FAVORED RULES

  • Blackjack paying 3-to-2 vs. even money
  • Hit/Stand at will vs. dealer hitting on 16 and standing on 17
  • May double down vs. dealer no doubling
  • May split pairs vs. dealer no splitting

As you look at the above rules, it does show that basically all the rules favor the player, except for the fact that the player must act first. The dealer also has to follow strict rules that must be played exactly the same, every time, so the dealer plays like a robot.

Maybe that’s why some dealers seem a bit grouchy! You sometimes hear players saying certain dealers are tougher than others, when actually every dealer plays by the exact same rules! In reality, no dealer is tougher than another. Therefore, the house edge over a player is ultimately decided by how well the player uses the favorable rules of the game!

PLAYER OPTIONS TO CUT HOUSE EDGE

  • 3-to-2 blackjack payout cuts house edge by 2.25%
  • Correct hitting/standing strategy cuts house edge by 3.25%
  • Correct doubling down strategy cuts house edge by 1.5%
  • Correct pair splitting cuts house edge by .5%

That totals a 7.5% player advantage if perfect strategy is used by the player, leaving the .5% house edge for casinos.

The casino doesn’t have to beat every player every time. Even the tiniest margin, as in blackjack, is enough to make it a viable game for the casino to offer players. All the casino has to do is make it a game that you will play and the casino will win in the long run.  That’s how and why the house edge works.

It can be said that there is some skill involved with blackjack. If you learn basic blackjack strategy, you can practically erase the house edge and actually enjoy profitable gambling when playing blackjack! However, as I have stated before, it is a game of chance and winning cannot be guaranteed, considering the house edge, but the chance at winning with blackjack is much better than any other casino game.

Why Play Blackjack

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Getting down to brass tacks, it’s a very simple game to understand and actually play.  If you find yourself in a casino and want to “try” a table game, blackjack rules are quite simply to figure out.  As a player, your card total must beat the dealer’s card total, without going over 21.  What can be more simple than that?



Let’s keep in mind that casino games are there as a revenue source for the casino!  All casino games were developed to be mathematically difficult to beat over the long run.  The casino wants to stay in business, so if you, as a player, had a chance at beating the casino on a regular basis, that casino would not be in business for very long.

So, the best way for a casino to stay in business is to have games of chance that use the element of “replacement,” such as roulette or craps.

Replacement, in this instance, refers to the concept of “independent results” occurring after each round of play.

With roulette, if the number 17 comes up, that number remains in play for the next spin of the wheel, it is not taken out.  In craps, if 9 is rolled with the dice, all faces that add up to 9 remain in play for the next roll of the dice.  Therefore, 17 is just as likely to come up again in roulette and 9 is just as likely to come up again in craps, on the very next turn of play in the two games.

Since there is no “process of elimination,” no number is ever “due to come up.”  The odds will never change for the next roll of the dice or spin of the wheel.

With blackjack, it would be like having the cards shuffled after every deal. That doesn’t happen.

Unmatched Advantage

Blackjack is one of the few casino games where the player can make a decision after the bet has been made.  Whatever the decision is, will either increase or decrease the chance of the player winning the bet.  For example, if you know that “hitting” in a certain situation, will win 53% of the time, as opposed to “standing,” winning 46%  of the time, you definitely want to hit, to give yourself a better shot at winning.  Therefore, depending on how well you know the correct move, blackjack can be more profitable in the long run than other casino games.

Because of the thousands of computer-generated hands played, a knowledgeable blackjack player will only give up a 1/2% edge to the house in a typical multi-deck game, by just playing according to a basic strategy chart. When most casino table games average about a 3% edge for the house, you have to agree 1/2% is a bargain!

The second advantage goes back to the replacement theory.  Once a card is played in blackjack, it goes to a discard pile and not used again until a shuffle occurs.  It is a game of “dependent results.”  As more cards are dealt, certain hands become easier to make and other hands more difficult to make. The player’s odds continue to shift with every card dealt.

It’s been determined that a player’s chance of being dealt a blackjack can be anywhere from 1 in 17, to 1 in 25, depending on how the cards have played.  That type of thing just doesn’t happen in other casino games!

Blackjack, hands down, gives you the best odds! It is the most freely beatable over the long run, of all casino games.