Blackjack is a very popular game in all real and virtual establishments. It constantly attracts many players to its tables, and all this is explained by the fact that this interesting game has very high chances of winning, which means that the casino advantage is not very large compared to other games.
Although the rules of playing Blackjack are quite simple at first glance, the game is still fraught with a lot of interesting nuances, which you will learn in a series of lessons provided. After studying these Blackjack lessons, you will learn how to correctly use the basic strategy of the game, as well as study in detail all the possibilities that you can use in the game, you will learn about such an interesting and exciting concept as card counting. And not only will you learn, but also learn how to count cards using the most common and effective methods that exist today.
The presented course of lessons from the Blackjack School series will help you once and for all understand all the mysteries and aspects of the game, and together with basic strategy and simple card counting, you can achieve incredible results.
When you play at the Blackjack tables, you will see for yourself that winning is easy. First, learn the basic strategy of playing Blackjack, this will be the first step to your winnings. Using a basic strategy for playing Blackjack, you can reduce the casino's advantage over the player to a minimum and have a lot of fun and chances of winning throughout the entire time you play at the Blackjack tables. The basic strategy for playing Blackjack was created as a result of many years of research into the probabilities of winning in a given situation that arises during the game; all actions were carefully calculated not only by gamblers, but also by scientists. And the player playing according to this strategy will at least remain with his initial money or lose a not very significant amount, but at the same time, having a lot of opportunities to win.
Blackjack School also includes the study of card counting and provides the most effective methods in this direction. And in combination with a basic strategy and detailed instructions and recommendations presented in the lessons, you can try your luck in a casino where your chances of winning will be quite high. True, this activity requires a lot of perseverance and many hours of practice, but this will bring you not only invaluable experience, but also many pleasant and interesting hours of play.
Blackjack Lessons
Blackjack Lesson 1. Introduction
Blackjack is one of the many casino table games, but as you know, it has quite high chances of winning, and all this is possible with skillful control of the game and the use of a basic strategy, combining it with simple card counting.
Blackjack Lesson 2. Basic strategy for playing Blackjack. Part 1
You are probably already convinced that to win at Blackjack, you need to develop an effective strategy and always follow it. Over the years, many players have been looking for this strategy, some simply watched the games and remembered when it was better to stop,
Blackjack Lesson 3. Basic strategy for playing Blackjack. Part 2
Let's take a closer look at this plate, which at first glance may seem quite complicated and strange to many, but in fact there is nothing scary about it.
Blackjack Lesson 4. The most common mistakes
There are many false strategies and tactics that, in principle, even sound quite logical, but in fact nothing good will come of using them. Let's look at the main ones.
Blackjack Lesson 5. Card Counting
To begin with, I will tell you one thing, card counting is a very complex and difficult business, and not as profitable as it is described in the movies. Maybe twenty years ago, you could make a fortune on this...
Blackjack Lesson 6. Card counting. Theory and practice
How to find out the number of cards of large and small denomination in the deck? Well, first of all, you need to count the cards that came out and calculate how many of them are still left in the deck. True, different counting strategies sometimes differ radically from each other...
Blackjack Lesson 7. Card counting. How it works
Let's take a closer look at the card counting method called plus/minus. This system was developed in 1963. It is based on assigning digital values to the cards that came out:
Blackjack Lesson 8. Card counting. Other counting systems
Now let's look at other systems for playing Blackjack, which can be said to be built on the same principle, but with some deviations and improvements. Some of them are many times more complex than the plus-minus system, but provide better results and guarantees.
Blackjack Lesson 9. Card counting. Rates
We have already looked at different methods of card counting and said that the meaning of all card counting is based on correct bets and making them in a timely manner. But they never touched on this last stage, which is probably the most important in all card counting schemes.
Blackjack is a simple card game that is played by more people than roulette, craps and baccarat combined. Success in blackjack is primarily a matter of luck, but there is also an element of strategy. From this article you will learn how to attract Fortune to your side in one of the most popular games.
Steps
Information for beginners
Understand the value of the cards. In blackjack, the price of cards does not change during the game. The goal of the game is to reach 21 points using as few cards as possible. Cards have the following price values:
- Cards with number: Price is the number on the card.
- Images: All prices are 10.
- Ace: 1 or 11. (Usually) counts as 11, but if the total in your hand is greater than 21, then the Ace counts as 1.
- Thus, an ace and a picture amount to 21 points in two cards, this is blackjack.
- A hand containing an Ace is called a "soft" hand.
Explore your options: The main advantage of the casino is that the player must go first. If the player “burns out” (collects more than 21), the dealer immediately takes his bet. If the dealer gets burned on the same hand, the player still loses. The dealer plays the hand last. If it's your turn, you have two main options:
- More: Draw another card. You can take cards until you collect more than 21.
- Enough: Save the cards and do nothing.
- There are several other options that can be used in certain situations:
- Insurance: Only available if the dealer has an ace. You doing new bet, and if the dealer has blackjack, you pay 2-1. You lose the main bet (which would have paid 3-2), but you win the insurance, so you keep your money.
- Doubling: you double your bet and get more only one card. Usually doubling is used with the first of your cards being 10 or 11.
- Split: A hand splits into two if both cards have the same value. If both hands win, you get double the winnings. If one wins, you stay with your own. If both lose, you lose twice. Split is done by spreading the cards apart and repeating the original bet.
- Give up: In many casinos, the player can (before and after determining that the dealer will have blackjack) give away half the bet without playing. This option is desirable in cases where the dealer has shown a picture, and the player's hand is likely to burn if he takes another card.
- If the dealer has an ace, he automatically checks to see if he has a blackjack. Early surrender– the player decides to give half the bet before that how the dealer will check if he has blackjack.
Start winning. To win, the player's number must be closer to 21 than the dealer's number, but not more than 21. If the player collects more than 21, he "burns out." In case of a tie, the player and dealer remain at their own. Blackjack - ace and picture or ten.
Rules and strategy
Understanding the rules of the establishment. In most casinos the dealer is always on 17 or more. In some, the dealer will "hit" on a "soft 17" (6 and an ace). In some establishments (this happens rarely) it is required to place an ante, as in poker (the casino advantage with such rules reaches 20%!). YOU will quickly understand the rules of the establishment by simply sitting down at the table and starting the game.
Understand all the nuances of insurance, doubling and surrender splits. All additional actions occur in favor establishments, otherwise the casino would go bankrupt!
- When making an insurance bet, you are betting that the dealer's hidden card is a 10, jack, queen or king, which is less than 30% of all cards in the game. The best time to get insurance is when you black Jack! If the dealer also has blackjack, there will be a draw, but the insurance payout will be 2-1, which better the original bet was 3-2!
- When you double you get only one card. The casino is counting on this card not to help you. Never double if the dealer has an ace or face up (if you have an 11, this is acceptable).
- A split can weaken a great hand, and vice versa. Here are some simple rules: never do a split on fives - the sum is 10; It's better to leave it at 10. Always split on sevens, eights and aces. Splitting sevens and eights turns a likely losing hand into a likely winning one. Splits on aces have advantages, but understand: splits on aces can only be done once, and you can only draw one card for each new hand. Casinos introduced this rule because splitting aces without limits gives the player a significant advantage.
- Again, the rules vary from establishment to establishment.
- Once you have given up, the dealer's actions have no meaning to you. Even if the dealer burns out, you have already dealt your hand.
Counting cards. In fact, you are not counting the value of all the cards that were in the game, no. What some players do is “count the deck,” or more specifically, how many aces, tens, and pictures are left in the game. If there are a lot of such cards left in the game, then they raise bets knowing that the probability of making a good hand is higher.
- The casino, of course, is aware of such tricks, so almost everywhere several decks are used, part of the deck is cut off, after each hand all the cards are shuffled in a shuffler, and so on.
Casino gaming and etiquette
Take a seat at an open table. When the hand is finished (if you are not alone at the table), place your wad of money on the table and tell the dealer what value of chips you would like to receive. He, of course, will happily grab your money, count it and give you chips. Now you can place bets and play!
“For more than half a century, I have been asked most often whether it is still possible to beat the casino using the strategies described in the book Beat the Dealer. And despite the fact that time passes, the answer to this question remains in the affirmative. Using this book, you can quickly learn, without even counting cards, to play on favorable occasions with close to even odds. By mastering basic card counting skills, you can gain a modest advantage. Those gifted readers who are not afraid of the difficulties of training and practical application of what they have learned will be able to reach a professional level.
Beat the Dealer has sold more than a million copies, and thousands of readers have told me how it affected them. Some used it as an enrichment guide. Others were more interested in the stories it told and the opportunity to peer into the mysteries of the world of gambling. Readers from a background in mathematics, science, and engineering were interested in learning about innovative uses of computer programming and probability theory. My favorite stories are from readers who have applied what they learned in this book to the world beyond the casino. Blackjack bankrolls spawned horse racing syndicates, stock trading firms and investment fund managers. The method I used and popularized in blackjack for determining the size of bets in each situation is now used by investors, brokers and asset managers in the equity and debt markets.” (E. Thorpe)
The work belongs to the genre of educational literature. It was published in 1966 by ABC-Atticus. On our website you can download the book "Beat the Dealer: Winning Blackjack Strategy" in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. The book's rating is 4 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also turn to reviews from readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In our partner's online store you can buy and read the book in paper form.
There are many legends about players who supposedly played professionally before the publication of basic strategy for single-deck games in 1958 by the Americans Kantay, McDermott, Macel and Baldwin. But everything that came before them remains only a legend. The four statisticians made their calculations using an ordinary calculator. However, it was with their publication in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, which aroused great interest among players and statisticians, that blackjack began to be regarded as a potentially profitable game for the player. Due to the popularity of the magazine article, which was copied and memorized by many players, its authors published the book Winning Blackjack. This book is now a rare edition, a fixture on the bookshelf of many professional players.
In 1962, Edward O. Thorpe, already using computer technology, calculated and published in his book “Beat The Dealer” not only the basic strategy of the game, but also card counting. In the book, Thorpe states that blackjack is different from roulette and craps because, unlike these and other games of chance, the outcome of each hand in blackjack depends on the previous hand and what cards were dealt and remained in the deck. Much of what Thorpe calculated is still accurate, but all serious current players should read this book for historical interest only.
Thorpe's gaming system, which he called the "10-index system," was aimed at the single-deck game that was flourishing in all Nevada casinos at the time. It was extremely difficult to learn, so most players who started learning it stopped halfway. However, Nevada casinos have limited some rules, such as keeping doubles to only 11 points. The media told the whole world about this and Thorpe and his book gained worldwide popularity, and the casinos, which appeared in an unfavorable light, were forced to return the previous rules. Realizing that legions of card counters would now try to steal money from the casinos, gambling house operators introduced two procedures - shuffling the deck after the cut card came out and multi-deck games.
In practice, Thorpe's systems were very difficult to implement. And maybe the game would have remained at the same level if not for the computer conference in Las Vegas in 1963. The conference organizers, on a whim, decided to include a section on "Using Computers in Games of Chance and Skill." Thorpe spoke in the section as chairman of a panel of experts on various casino games, including blackjack, roulette and baccarat. Computer gamers completely filled the room allotted to them. Hundreds of conference visitors pushed and shoved to somehow squeeze inside. Everyone, of course, was expecting Thorpe's speech and hoped that he would tell something important that would help them immediately after the conference go and “beat the dealer.”
After several speeches that mostly tweaked and modified Thorpe's system, Harvey Dubner was introduced. He described his system. Dubner divided the cards into high (10, J, Q, K, A) and low (2,3,4,5,6), the rest (7, 8, 9) were not taken into account when counting, calling this system “hi-low” " (Hi-Low). When he finished explaining, the audience applauded him - this was truly a really practical gaming system that could easily be used in a casino.
In his new edition of Beat the Dealer in 1966, Thorpe added a high-low system and since then there have been more than 100 professional books on blackjack, team games, hidden computers, shuffle tracking and sleepless nights for casino security around the world.
- “Blackjack Blueprint-How to Play like a Pro”:In addition to strategies and recommendations, this book examines the structure of the game. It will help you think like a pro and help you become a great player. Learn strategy, very important.
- "Professional Blackjack":The author of this book is Stanford Wong. It presents quite interesting methods based on mathematical calculations, with the help of which it is possible to win.
- "Beat the dealer":the book was written by Edward Thorpe. It describes some pretty good strategies that can lead you to victory. The author is considered the founder of the card account. And the value of this publication is guaranteed by the authority of the author.
- "Casino hit":a very famous book, based on which several films were made. It tells the story of the lives of several students who, thanks to their strategies, beat the gambling establishments of Las Vegas.
- "Big Book of Blackjack":the author of the book, Arnold Snyder, lays out a lot of tips and strategies; in it you can find some pretty interesting materials from the history of the game.
- "The World's Greatest Blackjack Books": in this tutorial, the author Lance Humble described how to place bets correctly and provided several game strategies. necessary for both beginners and regular players of the game.
What books still exist?