Dear Mark,
In casual conversation with a pit boss while noting that everyone on our blackjack
table was losing, I asked him how he thought the casino was doing that evening.
He replied; "we're probably going to hold about 50%." Seems
high, especially since you have stated that blackjack is one of the best games
in the casino to play. Harry S.
Don't confuse, Harry, the "house edge," which is nil against
a perfect basic strategy player and approximately 5% against the Average Joe
who plays by the seat of his pants, with what the pit boss referred to as the
"casino hold."
The "hold" percentage is nothing more than the ratio of chips the
casino keeps to the total amount of chips sold, generally measured over an eight
hour period, which in your case, was probably swing shift. For example, if the
blackjack table you were on sold $10,000 in chips and dropped the currency in
the box, and the table ended up keeping $5,000 of those chips (players cashing
in the other $5,000), then that particular table game would hold 50% for the
evening. If every player were to lose their entire purchase of chips they bought
off the game, then the hold would be 100%. (It can even exceed 100%, Harry,
if players purchase chips from one table and lose them on another, like the
table you were on).
Dear Mark,
My brother-in-law seems to think that by mimicking the dealer in blackjack,
the house has no advantage, even on a shoe game in AC. For instance, he always
hits up to 16, and always stands on a soft 17 or more. What do you think of
his system? Clark B.
Listen up, brother-in-law of Clark B., the only advantage the dealer has over
you in blackjack is that you must act on your hand before the dealer takes action
on his. Rule variations have some effect on the player's expected return, but
not on the casino's sole advantage of having players whack away and bust
before the dealer exposes the hole card. The one advantage most players have
over the casino is the ability to quit while ahead, though that probably would
exclude your B-in-L when making use of the foolhardy system of mimicking the
dealer.
