9
Every player around the card table understands that regardless of random events, the strategy that you are using will most likely determine how the game will go. It’s impossible to dive into the game without a plan, so every player sticks to a particular strategy or tactics. For many people, the issue is that many starting players don’t realise that they are subconsciously using a particular strategy, and so, sub-optimal strategies during the game. Then there are those ’lucky’ players out there that intuitively understand when the best or worst moment to pick extra cards is, and this makes their gaming behaviour very effective. However, we can think about intuition as an automatic understanding of a gaming strategy that would appear after many repetitions. In this article, we will attempt to briefly outline the most interesting and important strategies for Blackjack.
Basic strategy
Any strategy begins with the player keeping an eye on the game to see which cards were played out and to work out which cards could follow next. The expectations that certain cards would come out are based on pure mathematics: as we only have 13 different cards in the game, the probability of dealing a card is equal to 1/13. However, as there is a set number of points associated with the particular card and there’re several cards with the same point value associated with a particular number, the dispersion – or the width of the range – is smaller, and that, in turn, makes the probability of dealing a singular card value equal to 1/10. For instance, it’s possible to estimate that a certain player with probability of 4/13 will be dealt a card worth 10 points.
What follows is that if you know the probability of a particular card being drawn, you would be able to determine the outcome of the game straight after dealing. Normally, the players are advised to base their decisions on the dealer’s cards, and this advice is quite logical. If the dealer goes over, the player wins automatically. It’s possible to determine the results of the game depending on which cards the croupier has. There’s a large probability (42-55%) that the croupier would go over if his starting card has a value of 2 to 7 points, whereas the highest odds are associated with cards worth 6 points.
In terms of probabilities, the dealer’s chances to win increase, and as if the card has a value of 8 to 10, their chances to lose get to about 20%. The smallest chances to lose for the dealer go together with an ace – 10-11%.
The same probabilities apply to the player as well, and if the player is okay with applying the same method and ideas to his / her own cards, it would have a large positive effect both on his playing skills and also his strategy.
Let’s look at some possible outcomes. If we are gamblers, we shouldn’t be too concerned if after dealing we have Blackjack or 19-20 points in total. Theoretically, it’s possible that the croupier has drawn an ace, and in this case only two outcomes are possible – either parity, or one side wins, with a probability of 50%.
Let’s analyse the game from the player’s perspective. If a player has cards worth 18 points, it’s not worth to risk getting another card as you can potentially go over. If the cards are worth 10 points, it’s necessary to pick a card, because you are insured against overshooting by two other cards at your disposal.
One potential outcome is when the dealer is insured from overshooting by his cards, and a player needs to pick a card with cards worth about 12. There is a risk of falling into a trap, when you either pick a card and overshoot or don’t pick a card and lose. In this case, the players are advised to jump head in and take a risk by drawing another card. However, it’s up to the player to take this decision.
Split: raising the probability of a win
During the course of a game, a player is allowed to split his starting combination into two equal groups if he has a double as two starting cards, for example, 5 and 5 or 8 and 8. If after extra dealing the player has another double in his hands, it is possible to split again. Different houses have different limits on splits, i.e. the maximum number of possible splits, which tend to be ’no more than four.’ It’s not advised to split all the time, because you can waffle your chance away or give the edge to the dealer.
It’s not advised to split in those cases, when a player has a 10-10 or 5-5 combination. There are also some cases when splitting is mandatory, for example, for ace-ace.
Again, it is best to use dealer’s cards as a clue. This way you can always split (except for 10-10 or 5-5 combinations mentioned above) if the dealer’s open card is worth 2 to 7 points. Experienced players never split if the open card of the dealer is an ace. It is also best not to split if the dealer’s open card is worth 8 to 10, but then it also depends on other factors.
Doubling of bets
Doubling points is a large advantage for the player in Blackjack as it allows to increase your winning chances and adrenaline significantly. Doubling is always profitable if the player has cards worth between 9 and 11 points. The only exception here is the case when the croupier has 10 or ace as the open cards: then it’s a bit risky to double.
It is advisable to double selectively and depending on the cards of the dealer. It’s best not to double when your cards are worth less than 8 points or 12 points exactly. In other cases, doubling can be made if a dealer has a card that would most likely give him an overshot.
As it was mentioned previously, this is the basic strategy, and the best starting point for new players. All other strategies are not as basic as this one, but also quite effective and produce their own results. Let’s take a look at some of the tactical options.
The strategy of drifting bets
This is a very simple strategy, which allows the player to evade large losses and generate significant profits during winning. There are some nuances that will get clearer as you start understanding the idea of a strategy better. The basis of the strategy is simple: the player sets the range for the bets, from minimum to maximum. The game starts with any bet. After the first round, the strategy is executed as follows: if the round was lost, the next bet will be minimal, if the round was won, the next bet is the highest possible.
As you can see, the only narrow point of a strategy is the bets of maximum size as a series of wins is not a set sequence, one win after another. So it’s possible to expand the range of bets, introduce an ’average’ value and periodically bet that value.
Doubling of bets strategy: Martingale
This is one of the most famous strategies in the Blackjack and has been used in many card games as well as in Roulette. The strategy is based on doubling the bet after losing, and this goes on until the player wins. So the win covers all costs, and the gambler benefits.
Card table as a battleground
There are many strategies for Blackjack, both professional and amateurish. Which to select and how to use it? It’s up to the player’s desires and goals as gambling is also a battlefield.
