How To Win More At Blackjack

11 December 2012

By Jerry Stickman

Dear Stickman,

My husband and myself play only Blackjack, here in the UK, usually 'heads up' with the dealer, as we arrive soon as the casino opens. We have exactly two and a half hours to play every day, and usually we each bet £15 – £30 in total. We have a combined bankroll of £1500. We are happy to win £250-£300 each session – and often do.

(So, essentially we are winning about 10 hands)

We seem to win consistently over £4000 over the last two months playing every day. We used to play £100 a hand each – £200 in total and leave after two or three wins winning £250-£300 a day. Usually – though not always – that takes only a few minutes.

Now we like – actually prefer – to play two and a half hours a day. We don't count cards but play pretty much perfect basic strategy. We take the odd risk, now and then on say, splitting tens if there has been plenty of low value cards, and the next are therefore more likely to be high value cards.
My question is: how much do we need change our bet, and bankroll, to win £250-£300 a session, in a two and half hour session?

Do we simply double our bet, and bankroll risking more and simply go for winning five hands, instead of ten? Or is there some other way without counting cards to win £250-£300 a session, and not risk losing twice the bankroll?

Thanks,
Amy

Hi Amy,
First off I must say you and your husband have done very well with your play. To be up £4000 in two months of daily play is quite impressive.

Depending on the rules of the game, playing perfect basic strategy lowers the house edge to around one-half of one percent. It does not turn the tables on the house and generate a player advantage. The only way to do that is to count cards. The fact that you actually have been winning quite regularly simply means that you are riding the positive side of variance that is a part of all random events.

As to your question about increasing your wins, the fewer events – read that as hands – that occur, the more luck comes into play. As you play more and more hands, the math starts to take over giving you a better chance of losing the one-half percent or so of your bankroll over the course of hundreds or thousands of hands.

I understand the desire to play more than the few minutes of play required when betting the higher bets, so you have a choice. You can bet the larger amount and hope for luck to smile on you, you can bet the lower amount and hope for luck as you play more hands, or you can learn to count cards which will put you on the winning side of the math and bet the amount you are comfortable with and ultimately be a winner.

You say you don’t count cards but will split ten-value cards if there are a lot of low cards played so you at least informally count the cards. There is a very simple card counting method called Speed Count that can give you an advantage at blackjack with only a few hours of work. It is described in the book Beat Blackjack Now!: The Easiest Way to Get and Edge! by Frank Scoblete. Check it out on Amazon.com or at your local bookstore.

Amy, as much as I hate to tell you this, it is still true. The only way to win in the long run in blackjack is by learning to count cards. Short of that, you will ultimately lose. The choice is yours.

May all your wins be swift and large and all your losses slow and tiny.

Jerry “Stickman”

Jerry “Stickman” is an expert in craps, blackjack video poker and advantage slot machine play. He is a regular contributor to top gaming magazines. You can contact Jerry “Stickman” at stickmanGTC@aol.com