Streaks

5 December 2020

By John Marchel

During any blackjack session you will sometimes experience a “streak.”

In the beginning of a session, you might see periods of give and take or back and forth between you and the dealer in the types of cards received. Then something seems to happen and the dealer will start to get great hands and win maybe four or five hands in a row.

On the other hand, you might begin to get great hands like 20 or a lot of blackjacks in a short period of time. This is known as a “streak.” Streaks are inevitable at the table and we don’t always know why, but they do happen and you should be alert for them. Streaks can last through a whole deck or through most of a shoe and sometimes two shoes.

Streaks will occur from time to time while playing blackjack. Not everyone agrees why that happens. However, most professionals will tell you there are four types of situations of dealer/player actions that constitute a streak. They are:

1 - player hot (the player receives good cards or makes good hands)

2 - player cold (the player receives poor cards or cannot make good hands)

3 - dealer hot (the dealer receives good cards or makes good hands

4 - dealer cold (the dealer receives poor cards or cannot make good hands)

This then relates to four types of situations of streaks:

1 - player hot/dealer hot

2 - player cold/dealer cold

3 - player hot/dealer cold

4 - player cold/dealer hot

In situations 1 or 2, you would play very conservatively, and not expect to see a long run of good or bad cards. It will seem like you win a few, and the dealer wins a few, making it an even game. On the other hand, in situations 3 and 4 you might see long swings of wins and losses. If you the player, get hot and the dealer appears cold as in situation 3 you would increase your bet very rapidly.

On the other side in situation 4, you would reduce you wager to the minimum or even move to another table if the dealer continues to get or make good hands round after round.

Streaks seem to be an “x” factor in the game of blackjack. Some experts’ claim it has something to do with shuffling, others chalk it up to the “luck of the game.” The fact remains streaks do occur and you should be alert to them and be prepared to take advantage of them when they do happen.


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