Posted by Barbara | Posted in Blackjack | Posted on 20-03-2010
Black jack Basic Strategy, played perfectly in a casino game with favorable rules, will reduce the advantage towards you to about one half of one percent, the greatest odds of any game in the casino.
But still – it’s a adverse edge. While you possibly can win in the short term on any provided day, in the prolonged term that .5 per cent edge towards you’ll eventually grind you down if you ever bet on lengthy adequate and frequently sufficient.
An advanced basic strategy – or what we call Basic Strategy Plus – is needed for you to step up from being a casual gambler to getting a serious leisure gambler who has a much better chance of winning over the long term.
To minimize the small edge against you with Basic System even further, and at times even turn it into a optimistic edge in your favor, you merely must pay attention to the cards about the table and develop a few sense of the proportion of high cards versus small cards remaining in the deck. This is precisely what a card counter does.
Except you don’t have to spend the hundreds of hours it takes to become a skillful card counter. You can acquire a basic sense of the proportion of great versus low cards by doing something called "counting the table".
Counting the table basically means that in any given hand, you glance at the exposed cards for all hands on the table (including the dealer’s hand). Do a fast count of all the great cards (10, J, Q, K) and all of the lower cards (2 – 5). You will discover an equal range of these superior and reduced cards.
If there are a much larger variety of lower cards showing than good cards (at least 6 far more low cards than superior cards in a six deck casino game), odds are that the deck now is slightly richer in great cards, which is favorable for the gambler. Conversely, if there are many far more high cards showing than lower cards (again, at least 6 more), odds are the deck is now a little bit richer in low cards, which is bad for the gambler.
Armed with the info gained from this quick table count, you’ll be able to now adjust your play accordingly and thus be wagering a little more like a professional.
For example, you’ll find a number of basic strategy moves which are so close that they could go either way. If you’re doing a table count, you’ve additional data that may possibly indicate a change in what basic technique says to do in particular of these close call situations.
To illustrate, let’s take the example of one of the most dreaded hands in Pontoon: your 16 count versus the dealers 10 up card. Basic strategy says to hit your sixteen towards a dealer’s 10, but this is an very close call. You very badly need a 4 or five so that you can tie or win if the croupier also has a ten card down.
So, using the table count, here’s what you do. If the table count shows at least 6 more lows than highs, then stand on your sixteen towards a ten. A disproportionate amount of low cards have been given out and this reduces your odds of obtaining a minimal card to point where you ought to now stand with your 16.