Blackjack Tips

In 1985, the state of Nevada passed its first “anti-device” law, making computer play, hidden video camera play, etc., illegal for blackjack players. This law was immediately criticized by attorneys as being unconstitutional due to its “vagueness.”

When a blackjack player by the name of Philip Anderson was busted for using a concealed computer in a Las Vegas casino shortly after the anti-device law went into effect, the law was challenged in court. And it was challenged on the basis of its being unconstitutional precisely because it was too vague. To no one’s surprise, the player won his case. The judge acknowledged that the law was simply too vague to be legitimate. (more…)

On April Fools Day, 1984, two players in Las Vegas were arrested at the Marina Casino for using a concealed video camera to peek at the dealer’s hole card. This device was yet another of Keith Taft’s inventions. One player, Keith’s brother Ted, wore the miniature camera in his belt buckle, while the other player, Rodney Weatherford, a Lockheed Engineer, sat in the casino parking lot in the cab of a dump truck that had been fitted with a satellite receiving dish. Rodney’s job was to watch the video images picked up by the table-top-Ievel camera, in order to electronically signal Ted at the table with the value of the dealer’s hole card. (more…)

To the public at large, one of the most incomprehensible things about professional blackjack strategies is hole-card play. Hole-card play is not a single strategy, but a whole range of strategies. The one feature that can be found in all of these strategies is that the player either knows the dealer’s hole card, or has valuable information about that hole card, whether it’s a paint or not. To most casual blackjack players, this seems absolutely incredible and impossible, unless there is some sort of cheating going on. But it’s not impossible, and in fact, most hole-card strategies are perfectly legal. (more…)

This rule is important to remember. Don’t alter your strategy based on prior results. If you keep busting your stiffs when basic strategy tells you to hit, don’t start standing on these bad totals. Never try to second-guess the mathematics of the game. Trust that basic strategy is the best strategy in the long run, and stick to it.

Mistake: The most common mistake beginners make is to stand too often on their stiff hands (12,13,14,15, and 16). Players are naturally afraid to hit these hands because every one of them could bust (make a total of 22 or more) with a single hit. But when the dealer has a high card (7, 8, 9,10, or ace) showing, your best odds of winning come from hitting and giving yourself a chance of making a better total.

Some beginners think the best way to play is to play the same way the dealer plays: Hit all sixteens and stand on all seventeens. This is not true. The object of the game is not to make a hand as close to 21 as possible, but to beat the dealer. Often the best way to do this is to stand with a low total, sometimes as low as 12.

Tip:
Here’s how many players think: (more…)