Played a Lil BlackJack Lately?

I went out to the casino last night, i had this crazy desire to play some blackjack..
Walking by a green felt table, i saw it printed in big bold black letters
"Blackjack Pays 3 to 2".. "Dealer Hits Soft 17".. Okay this is it, this is the table i want. I squoooze myself in, settled in my seat, fumbled with my purse, pulled out some money laid it on the table. Now i've played before, im not any kind of expert, not a newbie to the game. Just not at the casinos, only at home with friends, table games were never my choice. As i was looking around, i looked up and noticed the dealer was stopped at me, a look she had, an eyebrow raised, i smiled, noticing her eyes moved to my money on the table, ooops i laid a $1 instead of the $100, i apologized and quickly fixed that. I didn't know the rules of table play at blackjack, i learned
it's "whisp" or "tap" the cards for hit, and "wave over" the cards for stay. One more rule i kept breaking over and over again, "only one hand on the cards".. if you are a poker player thats a habit you have to break for blackjack, do it quickly because they don't play around. Now i won't go into it but within 15 minutes i more then doubled my money, winning hands i was betting $10 a hand, 17's through 20's were in my favor along with 4 totaled blackjacks, dealt blackjacks only happen about once every 21 hands i recieved one. Split on a pair of 8's, doubled down on 11 twice, always used insurance if dealer was shown to maybe have a blackjack. I just kept asking myself.. why am i being so lucky, Last hand i played i hit on 16 got a 4, dealer busts. Tipped and thanked the dealer, picked up my chips with the biggest smile and walked ever so chippery to the cage..
I whored and then.. i whored... lol


Now out of all that, here is my question.. i can't find the answer to..

Why is it that you can have only one hand on the table for blackjack and not for poker?
Why is that a rule and so enforced?
Does anyone know this?

Cheating at Blackjack takes many forms. Logically, the dealer can more easily 'track' one hand than two. An example would be a player distracting a dealer with one hand while manipulating chips with the other. A good mechanic, a good magician, can easily drive a dealer crazy with 'sleight of hand' foolishness....

The one hand rule is just one of many methods a casino uses to minimize cheating...the dealers have even more rules to follow...watch as they clap their hands together before leaving a table ....

Thank You so much for the answer, i didn't realize it had something to do with they think you might be cheating, i thought it was some other reason, but why is it that poker you may have 2 hands?

In poker 'shielding' your cards is of utmost importance to the player..many players feel that this process requires two hands. Also, in most poker games, players are playing against each other...not the house (as in BJ) and, it seems, players are less suspicious than justifiably paranoid casino operators.

Brick and mortar casinos have every right to be paranoid since many blatantly dishonest cheating (well, it it's dishonest it must be cheating...duh...to me) schemes have been highly successful.

The one I don't get is the practiced skill of 'counting'...which land casinos consider to be cheating. A card counter can turn the odds in his (her) favor. Certainly not by much...but then the casinos know that the cards will always eventually favor them....and they continue to take the money of willing players without apology. A player, a casino will argue, counting successfully, is not subject to the random distribution of the cards....some players would say that many casinos are not subject to that random distribution either....hmmm....a casino that cheats....nahhhhh....one should especially be suspicious of online casinos, RNG's and a player's inability to win often when holding two ten's...but then the casino, in most cases, has software that can discern what a player has been dealt..and this is the key word...before the dealer is dealt his third card....hmmm..I hate being this cynical....

Thank You most kindly for your answer, very informative, personally when i play the game i don't sit down with cheating on my mind, i sit down with winning, as we know in the ol' western days of poker, players got shot for cheating or even hung so i guess it is a serious issue lol.

I don't get the idea of counting cards, what happen to the idea of "luck of the draw".. does that happen?
Seems to me at some point, it's never in the players favor to win. House always has the advantage, but i do try to find games that puts the player in greaters odds, which even that is difficult, they are there to make money just as much as the player, though i have been extremely lucky at card games, land and online casinos winning the most money over slots.

Congratulations on your win Imagin.ation!

It's alway's good to double (or triple) your money at the Blackjack table. But unless you learn to count, and count well, don't expect this trend to continue for long. Without that skill (and possibly a few others like shuffle tracking, etc.) the casino cannot be beaten for long.

Even with it, as gamblewriter said, your advantage is not great. But it is enough to turn the tables in your favor and start shoving their money in your pockets rather than the other way around most of the time. You will still leave out of pocket on occassion when the cards just won't go your way no matter how good your game is; but it's a good feeling just walking in the door and knowing you're most likely gonna be walkin' out with a pocket full of the casinos' money.

You can learn it if you're really motivated and just can't stand the idea of willingly giving up money when it's totally unneccesary. By that I mean learn it well; well enough to pull it off successfully. Most counting systems are ridiculously easy to just learn. You can do that in about 30 seconds with the most popular ones.

Anyway, good luck and I hope you keep makin' em pay one way or another. Somebody's got to.

Oh yeah, and don't play "dealer hit's soft 17" games if you can avoid it. Since you live in Vegas I'm presuming that you can. That rule just adds to the casino's advantage.

Thank You Kindly Bradwill, and also for your response, Yes i beleive in Vegas, Blackjack is played every kind of way you can think of (not absolutely sure on that, only because i'm new to tables). I sincerely beleive i just had the "beginners luck" and also picking up my chips while ahead, i do think it was just "too easy". I think an experienced player would have stayed.. If i would have stayed, i know house has advantage over staying my welcome and soon enough take my winnings. The house always has excellent hospitality making you comfortable and you're not even knowing it. May i ask why do you vote against playing "dealer hits soft 17" as saying thats more houses advantage? Your response is appreciated most kindly. They say "never come to a table unarmed.. without info they mean".. this is something i beleive to be very true.

You did good to pick up and leave while you were ahead. That's a very hard thing to do sometimes for most people, myself included. You may be sacrificing a little bit of extra profit, but more likely you're saving yourself a loss of at least some of what you've already gained. Especially if you're not counting or using some other form of advantage technique. If not, the house always has the advantage so beginner's luck will only last so long.

Too many times I've been sitting there with a nice pile of chips in front of me and not much time before I'll have to leave. I'll look down at my stack, notice I've got a pretty good lead going, maybe double my by-in or more, and think to myself - "probably the best thing for me to do right now, before I throw that next bet out, is grab these chips, head to the cashier and find something to kill the time for the next hour or so until it's time to leave". Is that what I did? Of course not. Not often enough anyway. Because my next thought is usually - "well damn, I'm on a pretty good winning streak here, it'd be foolish to skip out on that now and loose the extra money!" So I played on. Sometimes I've been right and put back a little more; but more often I've hit a down turn and ended up giving some of it back - and kicking myself for it later.

Now, I'm trying to make it a point in my game not to do this no matter how tempting it may be. I'll set a time goal for how long I need to stop before it's time to leave as long as I've met a certain win goal, and try my best to stick to that. This seems to be just one of the points of disciple you have to have to beat this game.

But that's far from contested among experienced players. Some players and authors take exactly that stance, for various reasons, advocating short sessions exclusively; say 45 min. to 2 hours. With counters and other advantage players this also has a lot to do with trying to avoid casino heat as much as possible. Liming your time in any one casino/pit/shift is one of the best ways to do this. But any serious author/player also knows that the cards can be fickle, no matter how good your game. So some advocate paying close heed to this.

Others take the opposite approach. Arbitrarily cutting you're time at the tables when conditions are good is just throwing away money, they say. Your profit potential is a function of your expected advantage, your average bet per hour, hands played per hour and total number of hours played. It's that simple, supposedly. And this may hold true for a good while, but, as one author I've been reading points out, it's often to their downfall in the long run. That much exposure always catches up with them eventually, and they find themselves unwelcome at casinos all over the place, even entire cities like Vegas.

For most players though, you can bet that greed and the house advantage will eventually catch up with you. So again you probably did yourself a big favor by packing up when you did. That would be a good habit to cultivate for the future when you find yourself in those situations again, imo.

As for the hit S17 rule; this just gives the dealer more opportunities to make a winning hand and beat the table. They will make a winning hand more often with this rule than when they are forced to stand on all 17's. Every rule like this has its advantage/disadvantage for the player given any type of game and rule-set. Knowing these rules and how they will affect your game is crucial to obtaining the best possible edge at the tables.

Good luck, hope you keep on winning!

Bradwill, that was excellent reading and good information, i truely and respectfully thank you for you time, time is very valuable, appreciating you sharing your points and experiences.

I have a question to ask which i have thought about and that question is, when is it a good time to up the bets or even lower bets not basing it on bankroll amount in hand, or is a steady pace at a steady bet better to stick with, if you have had any experiences on that?
This question above is excluding double downs and splits, i understand how those work.
As far as splits though some are not recommended, are there any that you don't recommend?

Also, this line is very intelligently put i loved it..
"Your profit potential is a function of your expected advantage.."

Hey Imagin.ation, sorry it took so long to get back to you. I've just spent the last day or so losing what little money I had to the casino on video poker. Seems those b****ds have changed the payout on every single nickle machine they've got in the place.  >:( This is the first time I've ever lost every single nickle I walked in with to the casino, so I'm still trying to figure what went wrong. Ok, maybe not every single one - I think left with two still intact plus a few pennies, but pretty darn close. On video poker damn it! Trust me though, they're gonna pay. Oh, yes. They will pay for this.

Anyway, you asked:

"when is it a good time to up the bets or even lower bets not basing it on bankroll amount in hand, or is a steady pace at a steady bet better to stick with

This is not an easy question to answer really. There are lots of different betting systems out there. Chosing one is a matter of the type of games you're playing - single or double deck vs multiple deck - your playing style and tolerance for risk and the amount of your bankroll as well. You've always got to consider your bankroll when determing these types of things because overbetting your bankroll can put you under real fast.

The easiest answer is that you raise your bet when the player has an advantage and lower it when the advantage has shifted to the dealer. Since your advantage is always fluctuating back and forth during the play of the deck(s), no matter how many decks are in play, flat betting is usually the least advantageous system to use. It will often give you a lower expected variance - i.e. lower overall spikes in your bankroll - but also a lower expected return. Some type of bet spread is usually neccessary to beat the games, be they single or multiple decks. Mulptiple decks, especially 6 or more, typically require a much greater spread than single or double deck games.


So, all of this begs the question: "how do you know when you have an advantage or not?" Well, for starters, you need to know what constitutes a player/dealer advantage to begin with. Basically the player has an advantage when there's an imbalance in the deck favoring big cards - tens and aces - and the dealer has an advantage when the imbalance favors smaller cards, 6 or 7 thru 2. There's almost always an imbalance in one direction or the other during play, so the next question is how to detect these shifts during play so as to maximize your favorable betting situations.

But before addressing this you should also be aware of the most favorable playing strategies for situations when the deck maintains a balanced distribution of big/small cards; Basic Strategy. You already seem to be aware of basic strategy since you've played some before and have a feel for the doubling and splitting options. But you really need to be more than aware of it in order to maximize your advantage at the table; you need to know the proper basic strategy for the games your playing backward and forward before you sit down to play - be able to recall and make the proper play in any given situation without much hesitation. This just requires knowing the number of decks that you will be playing and the rules available to you along with some time and memorization of the corresponding charts. Or you can just bring a small copy of the chart to the table with you. Whichever you prefer. Without this knowledge though, betting spreads are pretty pointless. You should also be aware that basic strategy alone, even when played perfectly, is a negative expectation game. It will get you very close to even with the house in most situations but it won't push you over the line. You'll still be expected to lose at a slow but steady rate over the long run.

This is where advantage comes in. It's significant w/respect to both playing strategy and betting strategy, but we're only interested in betting right now. So ideally you would have some way of knowing precisely when, to what degree and in what direction this advantage has shifted. Usually this is done by counting. This is what counting is all about. Or you could look into purchasing one of the covert computer devices I've been reading about which will sort all this out for you and even tell you the dealers hole card with about a 75% accuracy (actually, I think it's close to 100% accuracy 75% of the time - it only knows in 75% of the situations and wisely remains silent when it doesn't). This will only set you back about ten grand and should pay for itself in a fairly short time frame depending on how much table time you can manage.

Failing these (or some other type of hole carding strategy), you're best bet is to simply pay attention. Know the proper card distributions for a balanced deck of cards (i.e. the ratio of high to low cards) and how this relates to the spread of cards on the table with any given number of players. In a balanced deck high cards make up roughly one full third of the deck. The rest are small cards (2's thru 6 or 7's) and what are often called "neutrals" (typically 7's, 8's and 9's which are not supposed to confer much advange on either the player or dealer). How does this knowledge compare to the spread of cards on the table right in front of you? It's surprising to me how many players pay no attention to this information whatsoever even (or especially) when the differences are staring them right in the face. The dealers will even point these discrepancies out directly in some cases. "Wow, that's the second round (on a full 6 person table) I've dealt with almost no small cards coming out!". Or vice versa. I've seen dealers do this many times. The players would be wise to take this information into consideration (if they're not already doing so) and adjust their bets (and play strategy) accordingly. Two tables full of low cards have just been dealt w/almost no aces, what do you think is likely to be coming out on the next round?

Having said all this, really the most significant thing you will want to look into if you are not interested in getting into any kind of formal counting strategy (or even if you are) is some kind of structured betting progression system. Some way of systematically raising and lowering your bets other than the ever popular WAG system (wild ass guess). There are many many types of progression betting systems advocated out there, so you'll just have to start looking around and find one that you're comfortable with or seems logical to your style of play and tolerance for risk.

They come in two basic themes: positive progression systems and negative progression systems - or some combination of the two. Positive progressions basically raise the bets proportionally under winning conditions, while negative progressions raise bets during loses. In a positive system you might bet 5 and win, raise to 10 and win, raise to 15 or 20 and win and so on - only scaling back to your minimum bet (some minimum unit you've designated or the table min.) after experiencing a loss. Or you might scale back after every third or forth hand, win or lose, in anticipation of the loss to come, thereby preventing the loss of all or most of your gains to that point.

Negative progressions on the other hand will raise the bets proportionally (possibly doubling) after each consecutive loss in anticipation of the inevitable win to come. The best known of these is the Martingale, which you may be familiar with. It does just that; double the bet after each successive loss until a win is achieved, guaranting a profit of at least the initial bet. This system is in fact unbeatable given the proper conditions. But it can also be very dangerous and impracticle under real world conditions. It doesn't take very long before those bet amounts start to become pretty hefty, since they're doubling with each loss. And in Blackjack, it won't take too long before those bet amounts exceed the table limits and there goes any potential for profit - if you even had the bankroll to continue that progression to begin with. This only amounts to 10 or 11 consecutive losses I think, which is totally possible in Blackjack. That's why the limits are there in the first place. However, some aspects of this type of system are important in more sophisticated combination systems which attempt to combine the power of each strategy.

My suggestion would be to look into each of these different types of strategies. Go to your local Barnes & Knowbles (or comparable bookstore) and check out the blackjack books (best part about this is you can read 'em all right there without paying a cent  ;)). Check out the different blackjack sites and forums online and see what they have to say about betting styles. As for myself, I use a variation of a combination system I came up with based on the concept of your current loss balance, in conjunction with some dynamic changes made based on information I get from the count. This current loss balance system is described in a book I read specifically about betting on blackjack. It's called . . . Betting on Blackjack. I can't remember the authors full name right now but his last name is Fritz Jacobs (I think his first name is Duncan). You might want to look into something like this. I can tell you it's very effective and is not based on counting techniques, although it can be adapted to counting strategies as well.

I know this was a lot but I hope it helps you out some.

I want you to win!

Oh i know about the video poker.. after keno was sent on it's slow down.. i got into video poker, my most highest payout was a royal on a 5er, i had stuck 100 bill in it, i partied on the strip for days on end, oooh that was a time of my life, went home with quite a bit.Royals for me just came with my touch.. i've hit many and under unusual circumstances. But those days seem over, royals don't come as often as they used to for me, as well as aces with kickers, or kickers with kickers. So i began my days with bonus penny games, not because its cheap,don't let the denomination of coin fool you, its actually not, i just love the games they have. Still i hit the video poker now and then..
Always remember, aces n sevens.. sixes n nines.. tens n fours.. queens n eights, when i'm on a machine i always watch for these types of pairings coming up, when any of them do i seem to always hit a nice one (royal), or alot of 4 kinds. For example: If i see alot of 8's coming in my 4 of a kind is in queens.. or vice versa. Sixes and Nines being the most alot of 4 kinds on those when pairing, holding a 9 with pair of sixes and have hit the 4 kind. same with the pairings i mentioned. If i dont see these i move to another machine lol, though it's not always the case, it's just something i noticed and has worked. But like i said.. i taking risks sometimes gains me knowledge which is very valuable.

I would watch the table games for long whiles, it is exciting, live games verses the machines, more and more i become interested.

I so much appreciate your writings, alot of things i never thought of and so much you have written makes alot of sense to me.

Starting with this...
This is not an easy question to answer really. There are lots of different betting systems out there. Chosing one is a matter of the type of games you're playing - single or double deck vs multiple deck - your playing style and tolerance for risk and the amount of your bankroll as well. You've always got to consider your bankroll when determing these types of things because overbetting your bankroll can put you under real fast.

I myself found that single deck seems more fair, faster pace (not counting shuffling) and more of an advantage and more wins against the dealer, for me single is alot easier to deal with. Double deck and Mulitdeck.. i'm just not comfortable with, though i have been told that being a beginner it's better to start with those. I don't mind the risk, without risk you are without wins.. kind of either stand on even money or lose.

"So, all of this begs the question: "how do you know when you have an advantage or not?" Well, for starters, you need to know what constitutes a player/dealer advantage to begin with. Basically the player has an advantage when there's an imbalance in the deck favoring big cards - tens and aces - and the dealer has an advantage when the imbalance favors smaller cards, 6 or 7 thru 2. There's almost always an imbalance in one direction or the other during play, so the next question is how to detect these shifts during play so as to maximize your favorable betting situations."


With this you are saying, you need to figure who has which imbalance in their direction and when detected know how to make this to your advantage, no matter which of the imbalances as to whom it belongs.. very interesting.
Blackjack uses a high amount of memory, and mathematical skills, quick thinking at times, especially when there are over 4 players. Weird to me sometimes when i'm looking at the dealers, they seem to know.. they know because they have been playing a long time many hours, sometimes i begin to think there is a cycle, but it can't be because the cards are shuffled and dealt at random, at any moment a player can get up, or another can sit down, so that makes changes or does it?


Failing these (or some other type of hole carding strategy), you're best bet is to simply pay attention. Know the proper card distributions for a balanced deck of cards (i.e. the ratio of high to low cards) and how this relates to the spread of cards on the table with any given number of players. In a balanced deck high cards make up roughly one full third of the deck. The rest are small cards (2's thru 6 or 7's) and what are often called "neutrals" (typically 7's, 8's and 9's which are not supposed to confer much advange on either the player or dealer). How does this knowledge compare to the spread of cards on the table right in front of you? It's surprising to me how many players pay no attention to this information whatsoever even (or especially) when the differences are staring them right in the face. The dealers will even point these discrepancies out directly in some cases. "Wow, that's the second round (on a full 6 person table) I've dealt with almost no small cards coming out!". Or vice versa. I've seen dealers do this many times. The players would be wise to take this information into consideration (if they're not already doing so) and adjust their bets (and play strategy) accordingly. Two tables full of low cards have just been dealt w/almost no aces, what do you think is likely to be coming out on the next round?

Exactly true about this, paying attention.. "cocktails.. drinks.." "ma'am can you spare a cig" "do you happen to know the time" or the guy next to you wants to talk about his 70 cadillac, all distracts me, lose my attention i lose my money, so how do you keep on the ball? You talked about a chart, tell me more about that, i've noticed but didn't know what they were. And am i wrong, or do some tables have a light up display of cards played? I seem to recall that somewhere, i could be wrong.

The positive and negative progressions, as you describe.. both are my kind of game, and the mix.. kind of why Blackjack caught me, the way you describe it makes it easier to understand, verses a book and/or hands-on, i appreciate that.

The raise and/or lower of bets depends on advantage, skill and knowlegde.. and of course paying attention, your bankroll is important, but doesn't particularly depend on it.
Lay 100 bill, 25 a bet, lose because you don't know what you are doing, it's gone in 4 bets.. verses knowing the advantages, you could walk out with that 100 doubled in 4 bets

Bradwill, you are amazing with your talents in writing and blackjack, easy and understandable, i'm hoping you'd write your own book, i'd buy it.

Thank You for your time, looking forward to anything you ever would like to contribute it is a complete pleasure and honor to read and have your presence.

Yes, this video poker business is frustrating me. Up until a couple of weeks ago I never would've lost as much as I have the last 2 or 3 sessions. I wasn't making much on it either, but I've usually stayed pretty close to even - a little ahead or a little behind. Of course I'm still learning some of the games but I had a strategy going that was allowing me to consistently build a little on whatever I invested in it. Now, I can't seem to ever get ahead enough to make that happen. Machines that were lasting one or two hours on just a couple of dollars I can't even get two minutes on now. It seems that the casino has just lowered the payouts on all of their 5-10-25 cent machines. It's too bad since this is the only way I was able to access some of my cashback awards from the casino. They have to be played on the slots, which includes video poker. Just have to keep trying I guess and see if they turn around.

But, back to blackjack . . .

"I myself found that single deck seems more fair, faster pace (not counting shuffling) and more of an advantage and more wins against the dealer, for me single is alot easier to deal with."


Single deck is the most advantageous for the player. The more decks that are in play the higher the player's handicap is, leveling off at about 6 to 8 decks. I only play 6 deck shoes currently because those are the best games available to me where I play. They have double deck games as well but they're cut 50% which makes them not worth the time. 6 decks can still be beaten though. But, if you have decent single deck games available, those are the way to go.

"With this you are saying, you need to figure who has which imbalance in their direction and when detected know how to make this to your advantage, no matter which of the imbalances as to whom it belongs.. "

Yes, the more you know about this the better you are able to optimally determine your bets and playing strategy. Single decks offer the best opportunities to keep track of this info, whether it's done informally or with a formal counting system (except that they're normally dealt face down which complicates things). There are 16 ten valued cards in a single deck, and of course 4 aces. You'll get two to three rounds of play at a full table depending on how deeply they deal the deck. So if half to a third of that number of 10's come out and one or two aces on each round you've got a pretty balanced situation; exactly what basic strategy was designed for. Anything over or under that amount and an advantage is building for either the player or dealer. If the tens and aces are underrepresented on the first round, then an advantage for the player has developed. If they're overrepresented the dealers advantage has increased, so you'd want to be betting less on the next round in that case.

"sometimes i begin to think there is a cycle, but it can't be because the cards are shuffled and dealt at random, at any moment a player can get up, or another can sit down, so that makes changes or does it?"

Actually, most shuffling techniques are not random. Some break the cards up more thoroughly than others but they all redistribute the cards in a very predictable way. All except for washing anyway,which is the first step in a new deck where the cards are just put in a big pile and moved around in different directions until they're mixed pretty well. Other techniques, especially the common riffle, are very patterned. This means that quite often any given deck or pack of cards can maintain a certain personality where pairs or constellations of cards can keep recurring on certain positions or adjacent positions, depending on the type of shuffle used and the stability of the table. For instance, if the deck is riffled 3 times, cards that were back to back (i.e. previously dealt out as hand pairs or to adjacent hands) will now be 8 cards apart on average (given a near perfect riffle). 7 cards will have been placed between them - not counting breaks in the stack to create smaller sections. If you have a table that consistently maintains 7 players, those cards are likely to return to a common position or at least be very close together. So there can be a discernable cycle that recurs if the shuffle techniques are in synch w/a consistent number of players on a table. This patterned predictability is what shuffle tracking is based on (the patterned redistribution of the cards that is, not the number of players). It's also why some players will represent more than one spot if a player or two gets up and leaves the table. They don't want to have the order of the cards disrupted. Very often though, this disruption in the "order of the cards" is more perceived than real and may or may not have an impact on their game.

"... paying attention.. "cocktails.. drinks.." "ma'am can you spare a cig" "do you happen to know the time" or the guy next to you wants to talk about his 70 cadillac, all distracts me, lose my attention i lose my money, so how do you keep on the ball?"

It's not easy, but for me it moslty comes down to practice and experience. To be succesfull in counting you have to be able to do all of the mental tracking it requires in the midst of all that potential confusion and distraction, and you've got to not only maintain some sense of composure and act like it doesn't bother you but most of the time try and participate to some degree and act like you find it engaging. Otherwise you'll just look too obvious. Nothing stands out to pit bosses on a blackjack table more than someone who looks like their analyzing a tough situation in a hand of poker. Thinking is most definately not welcome. So most authorities recommend you practice your counting skills with as much confusion around as you can tolerate, which is what I did. You should be able to keep an accurate count while keeping up with whatever's on television, carrying on a conversation with one or two people next to you and trying not to burn your dinner that's on the stove. There's just too much to deal with in the casino otherwise. And you sure can't just tell the dealer "hey wait a minute man, I'm trying to catch up!". But if it's my turn to play and I'm trying to concentrate on the play at hand while someone's asking me a question or a waitress is tapping me on the shoulder for a drink order I'll just ignore 'em. It's pretty rude to be doing that when you know someone's trying focus on their play anyway.

"You talked about a chart, tell me more about that"

I was referring to the basic strategy charts that give the best move for any possible hand against any dealer up card. Like this one https://jswqzs.com/blackjack.html, which looks to be based on a single deck. Or this one LINK REMOVED which is for six deck games. You can usually get compact versions of these at the casino, and they don't normally mind if you use them at the table.

"And am i wrong, or do some tables have a light up display of cards played?"

Not sure what you're talking about here but I doubt it. Not for blackjack anyway. Every counter in the country and then some would descend on that casino. They wouldn't last two minutes doing that.

"Lay 100 bill, 25 a bet, lose because you don't know what you are doing, it's gone in 4 bets.. verses knowing the advantages, you could walk out with that 100 doubled in 4 bets"

Even with an advantage you can still walk out with a pocket full of nothing doing that. But, you would be more likely to double or at least come out ahead than if you didn't have one.

". . . i'm hoping you'd write your own book, i'd buy it."

Well, thanks for the compliment but the last thing we need is another book on blackjack - unless it's laying out something new and exciting that the game has never seen before. And that's not likely to come from me; at least, not at this point in time. Where do you think I got all this info from anyway?

Hope some of it helps.

Hi bradwill,

I have removed the link to the other site as this site contains affiliate links and whilst these may not be yours, I'm sorry but you cannot post them on LCB.

Thanks for your co-operation in not posting any further links such as this as should you choose to do so, you will be banned.  If you are not sure if a link can be posted or not, please do check with one of the site admin/moderators.

Thanks.

blue

So basically no posting of sites that are not confined to this one is the general rule? Sorry, I wasn't aware of that. I'll be more carefull in the future.

hmmm interesting post since i was at a casino a few months back.

Probably the 1st time I had been to 1 and it was after a long night out drinking.

It really didnt feel like how i expected it. My thoughts of it would be people coming round with wine for players... but nope... there was an old woman at a disgusting looking small bar serving and it all cost money.

1 pint of larger cost me nearly £4 ($6 ). Usually larger is classed as pricey when its being sold for £2.90 a pint lol.

I did go to the blackjack table and it was certainly weird.

The dealer was some african man who couldnt speak a great deal of english. I went to pass him some notes to change into chips and he kept telling me I had to put the notes on the table for him to change it. He must of been the grumpiest sod i have ever met. His tone of voice was really low and sounded like he was falling asleep or just really fed up with it.

No idea how many hands I put on the table because I was very drunk. Almost spilt my pint over the table and on the cards. Funny looking back on it now. imagine that. 4am, and the casino is all quiet. Then me come in, drunk and I sit at the tabel and plonk my pint down on the felt table which was slightly absorbing small bits of beer that dripped down the pint glass.

Definately the experience wasnt for me and I wont be doing it again in a  hurry. But interesting to know about the 1 hand on table thing

LOl Sparz.. nice read here.. but sounds like maybe you had a nitemare, though it has me laughing, forgive me for that.

Yes thats true, you do have to lay your money down before they will exchange it, you cannot go from hand to hand. I always think it's where the term came from "lay your money down" it's origination.

As far as drinks.. here in Las Vegas if you are gambling your drinks are free, infact if you are say in a grocery store, or corner 7-11, though no booze in these types of establishments, coffee, soda, water all free.

Not one casino i have ever been in had sleepy dealers or old women behind sloppy bars.. the casinos are pretty much glamourous and well groomed.

But this is Las Vegas, and as far as Live Blackjack, Live Poker i am still learning, i lay my money down every now and then!