Dear Mark,
I was in Atlantic City
last week minding my own business on a blackjack game, when a player
started verbally insulting me on how I played my hands. He told me I was
ruining his hands and always taking the dealer's bust card. Do I really
have that much control over the outcome of the game? Helen L.
First, Helen, it's your money, not theirs, so you should be able to play
your hand any way you want. Second, one of the biggest fallacies in all
of gambling is that your play affects the overall outcome of all hands
dealt. Not true! Each card comes out of the shoe randomly and since you,
the dealer, fellow players and yes, even the nitwit who insulted you,
have no idea what the next card is, poor play will have no consequence
on the game in general. Unfortunately, it does influence the outcome of
"your hand," which leads me to third-playing perfect basic strategy.
Blackjack is a unique casino game because
it allows players to make playing decisions that will affect the outcome
of their bet. Poor play will allow the casino to have a 4-5% edge over
the average player. If however you learn perfect basic strategy, that
edge can be reduced to well under 1%, making it a terrific wager and one
of the best player bets in the casino. Now if the thought of breaking
even against the house does not offer you ample monetary incentive to
take the time to learn basic strategy, maybe knowing that you will place
yourself in the 99th percentile among all players will, as less than one
in every 100 players uses perfect basic strategy. Helen, your goal
should be to join the one percent who do take advantage of this
lucrative way of wagering.
Dear Mark,
On a crap game, why is
the dealer insistent that I make $6 wagers when I want to place either
the 6 or 8? Jeff T.
Because by betting $6 you will get the
correct return for your money. When making a place bet on the 6 or 8,
you should always wager in multiplies of $6 ($12, $18, $24, etc.). The
reason is that 6 and 8 pay off at 7 to 6-win $7 for every $6 bet.
Anything less and the dealer will round
down and you will be short changed.
Dear Mark,
In blackjack, I seem to
lose more hands than I win, even when I play perfect basic strategy
against the house. If the house has only a slight edge against the
player who uses basic strategy, why don't I win close to 50 percent of
my hands? Jason C.
If you employ perfect basic strategy,
Jason, expect to win approximately 43 percent of all blackjack hands,
lose 47 percent and tie 9 percent of the time. Throw out the ties, and
that figure changes to winning 47 percent and losing 53 percent of hands
dealt.
So how is it possible to be on even keel
with the casino when you lose more hands than you win?
Because some winning hands are blackjacks
where you are paid 1.5 times your initial bet, or hands that you split
or double down on that double your initial wager.
With losing hands you are normally
betting and losing only your original bet. It is the blackjacks, double
downs and splits that take you fiscally from red to the black in
blackjack action. That, Jason, is why you can win as much money from 47
percent of your hands than from the casino-captured 53 percent.
