The switch decision

The correct decision regarding whether to switch is sometimes obvious, particularly when there is the largest difference in advantage. However, bordeline and counter-intuitive cases are relatively common, and switching strategy is hard to summarize. While an often-quoted rule of thumb is to choose the option that forms or preserves the best single hand, this is unreliable; sometimes it is even correct to break up a natural by switching, for instance in the case AT + T[3-8] vs. dealer 7, 8 or 9. The correct switching choice depends on the dealer card in a significant minority of cases. Near-optimal schemes which can be learnt have been developed by several authors: Arnold Snyder presents a protocol for switching decisions based on four categories of hand, “winner”, “push”, “loser” and “chance” ^[1] which he claims reduces the house edge to 0.25% under his ruleset. Cindy Liu presents a scheme based on assigning a point value to the dealt hands and those produced by switching^[2].

Basic strategy after the switch decision

Basic strategy for playing out blackjack switch hands, after the switching decision has been made, is tabulated below, for a game in which the dealer hits soft 17 and peeks for blackjack. Compared to traditional blackjack, in Blackjack Switch there are fewer occasions where doubling or splitting is rewarding, and more occasions where it is correct to hit at the risk of going bust. The differences originate from the push-on-dealer-22 rule.

Key:

S = Stand

H = Hit

D = Double

SP = Split

References

1. ^ Snyder, Arnold (2006). The Big Book of Blackjack. New York: Cardoza Publishing. pp. 229–45. ISBN 1-58042-155-5.
2. ^ Shackleton, Michael (May 2011). “Switching decision”. Retrieved May 8, 2011.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

<iframe width=”480″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/adz0i5RYfgM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Blackjack Switch is a variant of blackjack in which two hands are dealt to each playing position, and the player is initially allowed to exchange (“switch”) the top two cards between hands. For example, if the player is dealt 10-5 and 6-10, then the player may switch to transform the two hands into 10-10 and 6-5. Natural blackjacks are paid 1:1 instead of the standard 3:2, and a dealer hard 22 pushes all player hands except a natural. The initial bets on the two hands must be identical, although during playing out they may be doubled and split independently. The two wagers are resolved separately.

Side bet

Blackjack Switch tables typically allow a side bet, called Super Match, which rewards pairs, three-of-a-kind, two-pairs or four-of-a-kind among the four initial cards comprising the players two hands. For a 6-deck game, the Super Match bet pays out 1 to 1 if there a pair is present, 5 to 1 for three of a kind, 8 to 1 for two pairs and 40 to 1 for four of a kind. ^[1] This seems to mitigate the adverse effect on the player of the case where the two top or bottom cards are identical, which robs the player of a meaningful switching decision, although, like most side bets, playing it increases the house edge.

References

1. ^ “Blackjack Switch”. blackjackswitch.com. Retrieved 2011-04-28.

Links

• Wizard of Odds: Blackjack Switch
• Blackjack Switch Decision Calculator

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

The Blackjack Hall of Fame honors the greatest blackjack experts, authors, and professional players in history. It was launched in 2002, and its physical premises are in San Diego, California.

History

The Blackjack Hall of Fame is housed at the Barona Casino, in San Diego, California. The Barona Casino awards to each inductee a permanent lifetime comp for full room, food, and beverage, in exchange for each member’s agreement never to play on Barona’s tables.^[1]

In winter 2002, a diverse selection of 21 blackjack experts, authors, and professional players were nominated for membership in the Blackjack Hall of Fame. The public was allowed to vote for about a month through the Internet. The final voting was completed at the January 2003 Blackjack Ball, an event open only to selected professional blackjack players and experts and hosted by blackjack author Max Rubin,^[1] whereby the first 7 members were inducted.^[1]

The following year, at the 2004 Blackjack Ball, 2 more inductees were added, again with primary voting done by professional gamblers at the Ball. Nomination of candidates, after 2006, has become the permanent responsibility of the members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame themselves.^[2] The Hall of Famers inducted 2 more members per year through 2006, and then agreed to drop to only 1 person per year.

However, in late 2007, 4 new members, were inducted in the Hall of Fame “as a group”.^[3]

Inductees

The current members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame are the following:

Al Francesco, 2002, one of the founders of the concept of blackjack teams.
Peter Griffin, 2002, mathematician, theoretical pioneer and author of The Theory of Blackjack
Arnold Snyder, 2002, former professional player, author and editor of Blackjack Forum
Edward O. Thorp, 2002, author of the 1960s classic Beat the Dealer
Ken Uston, 2002, professional player and author who popularized the concept of team play, often playing in disguise and successfully suing the Atlantic City casinos for the rights of card counters
Stanford Wong, 2002, author and popularizer of the strategy known as “Wonging”
Tommy Hyland, 2002, manager of one of the longest-running blackjack teams
Max Rubin, 2004, known for media reporting about gambling events, and optimizing casino comps
Keith Taft, 2004, inventor who manufactured hidden computerized devices to aid with play
Julian Braun, 2005, pioneering author who used computers to analyze blackjack statistics
Lawrence Revere, 2005, author of Playing Blackjack as a Business and blackjack teacher
James Grosjean, 2006, computer analyst and professional player, author of the classic Beyond Counting, who successfully sued casinos and the Griffin Agency
John Chang, 2007, former MIT team manager and basis for the Mickey Rosa character in the movie 21
Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott, (2008), collectively known as “The Four Horsemen of Aberdeen”, who, while serving in the U.S. Army in the fifties, discovered and published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association the first accurate basic strategy for Blackjack, using only desk calculators.

References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Aces and eights is the name of a blackjack strategy for splitting initial cards. In blackjack there are rules that vary across gambling establishments regarding resplitting, doubling, multiple card draws, and the payout for blackjack. Additionally, there are conditional strategic responses that depend upon the number of decks used, the frequency of shuffling and dealer’s cards. However, regardless of the various situations a blackjack player could be in, the common strategic wisdom in the blackjack community is to “Always split aces and eights” when dealt either pair as initial cards.^[1] This is generally the first rule of any splitting strategy.^[2]

History

Blackjack’s “Four Horsemen” (Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott) determined using adding machines that splitting eights was less costly than playing the pair of eights as a 16.^[3] They were part of a 1950s philosophical movement that discovered that strategy could reduce the house edge to almost zero in blackjack.^[4] Now a typical strategy involves the following sequence of playing decisions: one decides whether to surrender, whether to split, whether to double down, and whether to hit or stand.^[5]

One of the earliest proponents of the strategy of splitting eights is Ed Thorp, who developed the strategy on a IBM 704 using Fortran as part of an overall blackjack strategic theory published in Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One in 1962.^[4][6][7] Thorp was the originator of the card counting system for blackjack.^[4]

General

The object of blackjack is for a player to defeat the dealer by obtaining a total as close to 21 as possible without accumulating a total that exceeds this number.^[8] In blackjack, the standard rule is that if the player is dealt a pair of identically ranked initial cards, known as a pair, the player is allowed to split them into separate hands and ask for a new second card for each while placing a full initial bet identical to the original wager with each. Thus, during that round of play, the player can bet each split pair separately as a normal set of initial cards. After placing the wager for the split hands the dealer gives the player an additional card for each split card. The two hands created by splitting are considered independently in competition against the dealer.^[9][10] Doubling allows the gambler to turn a bad hand into one or two hands with a good possibility of winning. It also allows the player to double the bet when the dealer busts.^[2]

Some rules even allow for resplitting until the player has as many as four hands.^[9] Some gambling establishments allow doubling the bet after a split so that each hand has a bet double the original.^[11][12] However, the standard rules are that when a bet is doubled on a hand, the player is only allowed to draw one more card for that hand.^[13][14] Also, some establishments use multiple-decks of cards or reshuffle the deck after each hand, which affects the odds.^[11] Also, some cards should only be split conditionally, with the condition being the total of the cards that the dealer is showing.^[11] Splitting strategies are dependent upon dealers up card and the house rules. Thus, depending on the rules, different cards are better split candidates. However, aces and eights should be split regardless of the rules.^[15] Even proponents of strategies that don’t always split aces and eights admit that such strategies are not highly regarded by experienced blackjack players.^[16]

Aces

A pair of aces gives the blackjack player a starting hand value of either a 2 or a soft 12 which is a problematic starting hand in either case.^[2][17] Splitting aces gives a player two chances to hit 21.^[18] Splitting aces is so favorable to the player that most gambling establishments have rules limiting the player’s rights to do so.^[2][17] In some casinos the player is only allowed to draw one card on each split ace.^[13][17] Some establishments do not recognize a split ace followed by a card with a value of 10 to be a natural blackjack (any combination where the first two cards total 21) and do not reward the bonus for the natural blackjack to the player.^[11] Prohibiting resplitting and redoubling is also common.^[2] Regardless of the payout for blackjack, the rules for resplitting, the rules for doubling, the rules for multiple card draws and the dealer’s cards, one should always split aces.^[15][17][19]

Eights

If a player is dealt a pair of eights, the total of 16 is considered a troublesome hand. In fact, the value 16 is said to be the worst hand one can have in blackjack.^[17] However, since sixteen of the other fifty cards are have a value of 10 and four have a value of 11, there is a strong chance of getting at least an 18 with either or both split cards. Having a total of 18 or 19 is a much stronger than having a 16.^[11] Splitting eights limits one’s losses and improves one’s hand.^[15][17][18] Probabilistic research of expected value scenarios shows that by splitting eights one can convert a hand that presents an expected loss to two hands that may present an expected profit or a reduced loss, depending on what the dealer is showing.^[20] A split pair of eights is expected to win against dealer upcards of 2 through 7 and to lose less against dealer upcards of 8 through ace.^[21] If a player hits on a pair of eights, he is expected to lose $52 for a $100 bet. If the player splits the eights, he is expected to lose only $43 for a $100 bet.^[22]

Notes

References

• Dunki-Jacobs, Frits. Betting on Blackjack: A non-counter’s Breakthrough Guide to Making Profits at the Tables. Adams Media. pp. 28–34. ISBN 1-58062-951-2.
• Gros, Roger. The Winner’s Guide To Casino Gambling. Carlton Books Limited. pp. 44–69. ISBN 1-85868-899-X.
• Hagen, Tom & Sonia Weiss (2005). The Everything Blackjack Strategy Book: Surefire ways to beat the house every time. Adams Media. pp. 66–68. ISBN 1-59337-306-6.
• Jensen, Marten (2003). Beat Multiple Deck Blackjack. Cardoza Publishing. pp. 22–23, 51–56. ISBN 1-58042-069-9.
• Ortiz, Darwin. Casino Gambling For The Clueless. Carol Publishing Group. pp. 55–59. ISBN 0-8184-0609-7.
• Schneider, Meg Elaine. The Everything Casino Gambling Book (2nd ed.). Adams Media. pp. 47–49. ISBN 1-59337-125-X.
• Thorp, Ed (1966). Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One. Vintage. ISBN 0394703103.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

In 2002, professional gamblers around the world were invited to nominate great blackjack players for admission into the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Seven members were inducted in 2002, with new people inducted every year after. The Hall of Fame is at the Barona Casino in San Diego. Members include Edward O. Thorp, author of the 1960s book Beat the Dealer which proved that the game could be beaten with a combination of basic strategy and card counting; Ken Uston, who popularized the concept of team play; Arnold Snyder, author and editor of the Blackjack Forum trade journal; Stanford Wong, author and popularizer of the “Wonging” technique of only playing at a positive count, and several others.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Pontoon is an English variation of blackjack with significant rule and strategy differences. However, in Australia and Malaysia, Pontoon is an unlicensed version of the American game Spanish 21 played without a hole card; despite the name, it bears no relation to English Pontoon.

Spanish 21 provides players with many liberal blackjack rules, such as doubling down any number of cards (with the option to ‘rescue’, or surrender only one wager to the house), payout bonuses for five or more card 21s, 6-7-8 21s, 7-7-7 21s, late surrender, and player blackjacks always winning and player 21s always winning, at the cost of having no 10 cards in the deck (though there are jacks, queens, and kings).

21st-Century Blackjack (also known as “Vegas Style” Blackjack) is commonly found in many California card rooms. In this form of the game, a player bust does not always result in an automatic loss; there are a handful of situations where the player can still push if the dealer busts as well, provided that the dealer busts with a higher total.

Certain rule changes are employed to create new variant games. These changes, while attracting the novice player, actually increase the house edge in these games. Double Exposure Blackjack is a variant in which the dealer’s cards are both face-up. This game increases house edge by paying even money on blackjacks and players losing ties. Double Attack Blackjack has very liberal blackjack rules and the option of increasing one’s wager after seeing the dealer’s up card. This game is dealt from a Spanish shoe, and blackjacks only pay even money.

The French and German variant “Vingt-et-un” (Twenty-one) and “Siebzehn und Vier” (Seventeen and Four) don’t include splitting. An ace can only count as eleven, but two aces count as a blackjack. This variant is seldom found in casinos but is more common in private circles and barracks.

Chinese Blackjack is played by many in Asia. It has no splitting of cards,and includes other card combination regulations. Kampung Blackjack is a Malaysian variant of the Chinese Blackjack

Another variant is Blackjack Switch, a version in which a player is dealt two hands and is allowed to switch cards. For example, if the player is dealt 10-6 and 5-10, then the player can switch two cards to make hands of 10-10 and 6-5. Natural blackjacks are paid 1:1 instead of the standard 3:2, and a dealer 22 is a push.

In Multiple Action Blackjack the player places between 2 or 3 bets on a single hand. The dealer then gets a hand for each bet the player places on a hand. This essentially doubles the number of hands a single dealer can play per hour. Splitting and doubling are still allowed, but often limited due to limited space on th felt for additional chips. Strategy for this game is the same as strategy for conventional blackjack regardless of how many places are bet.

Many casinos offer optional side bets at standard blackjack tables. For example, one common side-bet is “Royal Match”, in which the player is paid if his first two cards are in the same suit, and receives a higher payout if they are a suited queen and king (and a jackpot payout if both the player and the dealer have a suited queen-king hand). Another increasingly common variant is “21+3,” in which the player’s two cards and the dealer’s up card form a three-card poker hand; players are paid 9 to 1 on a straight, flush or three of a kind. These side bets invariably offer worse odds than well-played blackjack.

In April 2007, a new version of blackjack, called “three card blackjack” was approved for play in the State of Washington and is played with one deck of 52 cards. In this version of the game, the players place an ante bet. The players and dealer are then dealt 3 cards each. The players make the best blackjack (21) hand they can using 2 or all 3 cards. If the player likes his hand he makes a play bet that is equivalent to the ante bet. The dealer must qualify with an 18 or better. If the dealer qualifies and the player beats the dealer, the player is paid 1-1 on both the ante and play bets. If the dealer does not qualify, the player is paid 1-1 on his ante bet and play bet pushes. There is no hitting and no busting. At the same time that the player makes the ante bet, he has the option of making an “ace plus” bet. If the player has one ace in his hand of 3 cards, he gets paid 1-1. An ace and a 10 or face card pays 3-1. An ace and two 10′s or face cards is paid 5-1. Two aces pays 15-1. Three aces pays 100-1.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Blackjack can be played in tournament form, where players start with equal numbers of chips and the aim is to finish among the top chip-holders. Depending on the number of competitors, tournaments may be held over several rounds, with one or two players qualifying from each table after a set number of deals to meet the qualifiers from the other tables in the next round. Alternatively the Elimination Blackjack format drops the lowest-stacked player from the table at pre-determined points in the tournament, for instance after every four deals. Good strategy for blackjack tournaments can be very different from non-tournament strategy, and has the added dimension of choosing the amount to be wagered. As in poker tournaments, players pay the casino an initial entry fee to participate in a tournament, and re-buys are sometimes permitted.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

In many casinos, usually at tables with the lowest table minimums and single-deck games, a blackjack pays only 6:5 or even 1:1 instead of the usual 3:2. Among common rule variations in the U.S., these altered payouts for blackjack are the most damaging to the player, causing the greatest increase in house edge. Since blackjack occurs in approximately 4.8% of hands, the 1:1 game increases the house edge by 2.3%, while the 6:5 game adds 1.4% to the house edge. The 1:1 payout for video blackjack is a key reason why it has never approached the table version in terms of popularity (as well as the fact that cards are shuffled after every deal, which renders counting schemes much less effective). The 6:5 rule is most commonly employed on table blackjack at single deck games – which are otherwise the most attractive game for a basic strategy player.^[1]

Notes

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Each casino has a rule about whether or not the dealer hits soft 17, a rule which is printed on the table itself. In the “S17″ game, the dealer stands on all 17s. In the “H17″ game, the dealer hits on soft 17s. Of course, the dealer always stands on hard 17s. In either case, the dealer has no choice; he either must or must not hit. The “Hit soft 17″ game is less favorable to the player with about a 0.2% higher house advantage.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

The blackjack player will encounter many rule variations which affect the house advantage and therefore affect his chances of winning. Some rules are determined by law or regulation, others by the casino itself. Not all rules are posted, so the player may have to ask either beforehand or when the situation occurs. Over 100 variations exist.^[1]

The casino has a “house advantage” at blackjack just as it does at any other casino game. The primary house advantage in blackjack comes from the fact that if the player busts he loses, irrespective of whether the dealer subsequently busts. If a particular casino game has a house advantage of 5%, it means that – over the long run – the casino will win about 5% of any initial bet. As long as the blackjack player uses the best possible strategy (a strategy which is known as “basic strategy”), the house advantage in blackjack is usually less than 1%. This is very favorable to the player compared to other casino games. Of course, many blackjack players do not know basic strategy or do not follow it, so the true house advantage in those cases may be much higher.

Notes

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.