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Gaming Guru  Don't Make These Blackjack Mistakes18 April 2021
By John Grochowski Some blackjack players never learn basic strategy. Some memorize the chart but can't quite convince themselves that all the plays are in their best interest. Whatever the cause, some mistakes crop up over and over. Let's look at a few I see frequently. They're not necessarily the costliest mistakes possible, but players don't make errors such as hitting 20. These are mistakes players make all too often. ACE-7 vs. 9: Players stand on soft 18 a LOT more often than on soft 17. It's better to double down if the dealer has anything from 2 through 6 up, but standing is the basic strategy play if the dealer shows 7 or 8. But instead of standing just vs. 7 or 8, a large share of players also stand against 9s, 10 values and Aces. Standing is common in those situations, and I've even had dealers chastise me for hitting Ace-7 vs. 10. The better play is to hit soft 17 if the dealer has a 9 or higher. In each case, the dealer has an edge and you reduce losses by hitting. Among those hands, it's costliest to stand against 9. Your average loss if you stand is 18.3 cents per dollar wagered. If you hit, you trim the average loss to 9.8 cents. Soft 18 isn't a winner vs. 9, 10 or 11, but hitting trims average losses. HARD 16 vs. 7: Even players who know they should hit 16 when the dealer shows 7 or higher sometimes pause at this one. They believe it's a close call. Does the dealer bust often enough with 7 to make waiting it out by standing worthwhile? But hard 16 vs. a dealer’s 7 is not a close call. Hitting is even more important with 16 vs. 7 than with 16 vs. 10. Dealers bust when starting with 7 more often than starting with 10. In a six-deck game in which the dealer hits soft 17, the dealer busts about 26 percent of the time when starting with 7 and 23 percent when starting with 10. However, when you hit 16 and get a draw that doesn’t bust you, you’re more likely to have a total that beats the dealer when the dealer starts with 7 than with 10. When you start with 10-6. If the dealer has 7 and you hit, your average loss per dollar wagered is 40.9 cents. If you stand, the average loss is 47.6 cents. If the dealer has 10, your average losses are 53.5 cents if you hit and 54.1 cents if you stand. That makes 16 vs. 10 a far closer call than 16 vs. 7. 8-8 vs. 10: You're dealt 8-8 against a 10 and you split. You draw a 10 on each so you sit with two 18s. The dealer turns up a 10 to give him 20, and takes your money twice. We've all been there, right? The double-loss nightmare sticks with us, but overall we're dealt good enough hands on our split 8s to cut losses. We lose less money by making the second bet than we would if we just played the 16. Average losses per $1 of the original wager are 53.7 cents if you stand, 53.5 cents if you hit and 47.6 cents if you split. No matter what, 8-8 vs. 10 is a bad situation, and the best you can make of it is to trim your losses. But we have to take what we can get, and the best play here is to split. Look for John Grochowski on Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/7lzdt44) and Twitter (@GrochowskiJ). This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Calculating Loss Per Hour15 April 2021
QUESTION: I was looking through some of your articles, and it caught my eye when you compared the craps field bet to place bets on 5 or 9. You said given equal bet sizes, losses per hour were higher on the field even though the house edge is 2.78 percent on the good version of the field and 4 percent when placing 5 or 9. ... (read more)
Playing Those Traditional Slots11 April 2021
My list of readers I've heard from multiple times includes a corps of players who still love slots with three mechanical reels. Most have adapted to the video age by playing a mix of games. Some have switched to playing video and skipping the reel-spinners. Only a few refuse to play video slots at all. ... (read more)
Dealer Mistakes8 April 2021
Question: I was once at a Three Card Poker table and the dealer paid out all bets even when they didn’t qualify. I never said a word. I figured it wasn’t my job to properly train the dealers or to supervise them. Of course, the benefit was modest. ANSWER: I think most table games players have seen situations where payoffs were made by mistake. ... (read more)
Craps SystemsCraps players love systems, trying to mix and match bets in hopes of finding the magical formula that will beat the casino. Just about any system will work sometimes, and when a player wins with a system, it encourages another try, and another, and another. In the long run, of course, the casino comes out on top. ... (read more)Multi Strike PokerIt was a Friday morning in Joliet, and I'd been playing a little video poker aboard Empress II, waiting for the 11 a.m. opening of Empress I and its video poker room. Soon, if it hasn't already happened by the time you read this, Empress' new barge will open, ending such little scheduling inconveniences, but on this day, I found myself passing time with a little quarter Triple Play Poker. ... (read more)Comps - The BasicsA colleague of mine likes to refer to casino comps as "free stuff." And for those who know their basic strategy in blackjack, optimal strategies for certain video poker games and who know how comping systems work, the "stuff" really is free--the value ... (read more)Basic Strategy for Spanish 21In the last couple of weeks, we've looked at basic strategy in blackjack. Sit down at most blackjack tables in any jurisdiction, play basic strategy and you'll narrow the house edge to a half-percent or so, perhaps a little more or a little less depending on house rules. ... (read more)Single-Deck Basic StrategyThose whose casino memories stretch back far enough may recall a time when the standard "Las Vegas Strip" blackjack game was dealt from a single deck of cards, with the dealer standing on all 17s. That started to change in the 1960s as operators grew ... (read more)John Grochowski |
John Grochowski |
