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Standard Blackjack Strategy

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Basic strategy is a mathematically calculated set of decisions that can help you win more at blackjack. The Blackjack Basic Strategy Engine above provides a simple way to memorize a variety of different profitable decisions, such as when to split, double, surrender, hit, or stand. Reading the blackjack strategy chart isn't at all complicated. Each chart displays your hand, as well as the dealer's hand. Depending on what cards you receive, and what hands the dealer has, there is a recommended action for each situation. Looking at the blackjack chart, the blackjack strategy card tells us to stand whenever you have 17 points or more in your hand, regardless of what the dealer is showing for an up card. Reduce the value of your hand by one point to 16, and the chart says to stand when the dealer's up card is a 6 or lower.

  1. Standard Blackjack Strategy Poker
  2. Standard Blackjack Strategy Meaning
  3. Standard Blackjack Strategy Builder
  4. Standard Blackjack Strategy Game
  5. Standard Blackjack Strategy

Mar 26, 2014

While poker requires people reading skills to win and roulette just requires a hell of a lot of luck, blackjack on the other hand boasts one of the lowest houses edges in the casino, making it the game to place your bets on, but how can you use mathematics to your advantage?

It doesn't take long to learn perfect basic blackjack strategy, and if you know what you're doing you can even get as far as lowering the house edge to 0.5%.

The house edge alone is not a determining factor in whether you win or lose, since the unexpected always happens in cards, which is why it's called gambling in the first place, but there is a mathematical area for deviation that can give you an insight into your winning and losses.

The secret behind blackjack lies in the mathematics behind statistics, in the variance and its standard deviation.

Deviating from the standard

When you use strategy to lower the house edge down to 0.5%, theoretically this means that after playing a certain amount of time, you'll lose 0.5% of your money, which goes back to the casino.

Some basic blackjack strategy tips:

• Always hit a hard 4 to 8

• Always stand on a hard 17 and on any combination above 18

• Surrender a 16 versus 10

• Double a hard 10 or 11 if more than the dealer

However, real life is not as simple as that, since there is always room for a variation, which mathematically is deemed as the 'variance', which is calculated by measuring the standard deviation.

In statistics, probability is not an act of chaos with no pattern, but rather follows a bell curve, where the middle corresponds with the average, and the distribution shows all the possible outcomes and their probabilities.

The standard deviation is essentially the number marking the number of units falling to each side of the average, which means that 68% of the outcomes will fall within the standard deviation of the average.

Mathematically, this also means that 95% and 99.7% of the outcomes will fall within 2 and 3 standard deviations, respectively.

Standard deviation and its effect on blackjack

If you account for all the blackjack rules and basic strategy of blackjack, the standard deviation of the game falls at the value of 1.14, in general.

This means that in a game with a 0.5% house edge, the standard deviation marks the odds to win and lose on both sides of the bell curve. This means that 68% of the time you'd either win or lose 1.14 units, and 95% of the time win or lose 2.28 units.

But again, statistics also shifts depending on how many hands you play, and the more hands you do play mean that you get closer to the average. Burswood casino map. Thereby by including the variable of your dealt hands, you can predict your winning and losing likelihood by a fixed number.

To calculate the amount you win or lose, you basically take the square root of the number of hands played and multiply by 1.14.

So that means for 100 hands of blackjack, yields a standard deviation of 11.4 in this case. So betting, say, $1 per hand would yield an expected loss of 50cents, since the house edge is 0.5% (for 200 hands, this would go up to $1).

If you play 100 hands, then there is a 68% chance you could win or lose $11.4, for example. While there is room for manoeuvre, you can use standard deviation to budget your losses.

Show me the money

Let's take a more concrete example. Let's see how often you would lose $50 in a game of blackjack using the above examples.

To calculate this you need to factor in the expected loss (50cents for 100 hands) and measure the difference from the actual loss ($50 in this case). So the difference applied here is $49.5.

You then need to apply the standard deviation for your set of hands, so for 100 hands this is 11.4, as seen before, and divide this difference so 49.5/11.4 = 4.34.

This means losing $50 is over 3 standard deviations, so the chances of winning or losing the amount is in the margin of around 0.3% of time.

Standard Blackjack Strategy

Using standard deviation can help you to optimize and minimize your risk. Playing 100 hands of blackjack and betting $1, with setting your maximum loss at $50, means that you're only likely to lose that amount 0.3% of the time.

Standard blackjack strategy

Using standard deviation can help you to optimize and minimize your risk. Playing 100 hands of blackjack and betting $1, with setting your maximum loss at $50, means that you're only likely to lose that amount 0.3% of the time.

To maximize your blackjack game, you simply need a smart strategy and a bit of statistics know-how.

Playing with standard deviation means you can leave your card counting system at home for once, and not get yourself banned from a casino.

Tags: blackjack strategy, card counting system, smart strategy, Standard deviation, Variance


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Real Time Gaming launched as an online casino software company in 1998. There are dozens of licensed Real Time Gaming casinos. Real Time Gaming software offers over 200 casino games in its software suite. This includes a variety of slot machines, video poker games, and table games. There are seven blackjack games offered. All blackjack games have a minimum bet of $1, and a maximum bet of $200. Casino management has the ability to change the bet limits so it will vary from one casino to the next. High rollers may request a bet limit increase. Real Time Gaming casino owners will approve higher limits for qualified players.

Bonus
260% up to $2,600
200% up to $2,000 + 100 Spins
250% up to $2,500 + 50 Spins

Each Real Time Gaming blackjack game will reshuffle after every hand. Players can also check a complete hand history right at the table. Each blackjack table has a tab for the table rules, as well as a help link with a full explanation of the blackjack rules for the table that is open in the software.

RTG does not disclose the number of decks in their blackjack games. For the purpose of our house advantage, we used four decks. Our research shows that this is most likely the number of decks used for Real Time Gaming blackjack.

Standard Blackjack (99.46%)


There is a basic version of blackjack offered by Real Time Gaming. In this version, players may play one or two hands at the same time. The Standard Blackjack game is the only Real Time Gaming blackjack game that allows a player to play more than one hand at a time. The rules are:

  • Dealer hits soft 17
  • Double down any two cards
  • Double down after any split except on aces
  • Split pairs other than aces to a total of three hands
  • One card only on aces

Perfect Pairs Side Bet (99.46%)

Perfect Pairs is the exact game as the standard blackjack game with two exceptions. The first exception is that players may only play one hand. There is also a Perfect Pair side bet. Ruby slots 2020 free chip. This side bet has the following payouts:

  • Suited Pair – 25-1
  • Same Colored Pair – 12-1
  • Different Colored Pair – 6-1

European Blackjack (99.43%)

Standard Blackjack Strategy Poker

European Blackjack is different from American Blackjack in one way. The dealer does not take their down card until after the player has acted. This means that players can lose double their bet if they split or double, and the dealer ends up with a natural blackjack. The dealer does not know if they have a blackjack until all players have acted and they draw their second card.

The strategy changes a bit from American Blackjack as a player should never double down or split against an ace showing unless the player is splitting aces. Against a ten, players should only split aces and double on 11. All other splits and double downs become a hit. No hands should be split against a ten value card. The rules for Real Time Gaming European Blackjack are as follows:

  • Dealer stays on all 17s
  • Double down only on hard 9-11
  • Double down after split only on hard 9-11
  • Split pairs other than aces up to a total of three hands
  • One card only on split aces

Face Up 21 (99.25%)

Face Up 21 is dealt without down cards. The player can see the both of the dealer's up cards when deciding what action to take. The player must beat the dealer, as the dealer will win any push. The exception is that the player automatically wins on a blackjack, even if the dealer also has one. This means that if you do not have more than the dealer does, you must hit, otherwise you will lose. The rules are:

  • Blackjack pays even money
  • Dealer hits soft 17
  • Double down on 9-11 only
  • Double down after split on 9-11 only
  • Split pairs other than aces up to a total of three hands

Match Play 21 (99.27%)

Match Play 21 is similar to Spanish 21 that can be found in brick and mortar casinos. There are no tens in the Match Play 21 decks but there are jacks, queens and kings. The fewer ten value cards give the dealer an advantage. To offset that advantage, a player has several special payouts:

  • Match Play 21 (Suited 777 that matches suit of dealer's 7 up card) – 40-1
  • 777 Spades – 3-1
  • 678 Spades – 3-1
  • 7+ card 21 – 3-1
  • 777 Suited (except spades) – 2-1
  • 678 Suited (except spades) – 2-1
  • Six card 21 – 2-1
  • Any 777 (not suited) – 3-2
  • Any 678 (not suited) – 3-2
  • Five card 21 – 3-2

The rules in dealing Match Play 21 are as follows:

  • Dealer hits soft 17
  • Player automatically wins natural blackjack
  • Player automatically wins with 21
  • Double down on any number of cards
  • Double down on any number of cards after splitting
  • Late Surrender after dealer checks for blackjack
  • Surrender after doubling down
  • Split all pairs up to three times

Pontoon (99.35%)

Pontoon is an unusual blackjack variation typically found in Australian brick and mortar casinos. In Pontoon, both of the dealer's cards are dealt face down. A player must draw blindly to beat the dealer. To make up for this player disadvantage, a player gets paid 2-1 on a Pontoon. A Pontoon is a natural blackjack hand containing an ace and a ten value card. The second best hand is a 'Five Card Trick'. A Five Card Trick is a five card hand that did not bust. The dealer wins all ties. If a player splits aces and receives a face card, the split hand is considered a Pontoon. A player must hit until they have at least 15, or a Five Card Trick. The rules are:

  • Dealer hits soft 17
  • Double down on 2, 3, or 4 cards
  • If a double down hand is less than 15 another card must be drawn
  • Hit after double down
  • Split pairs other than aces up to a total of three hands
  • Double down after split
  • Dealer wins all ties

Super 21 (98.94%)

Super 21 is a blackjack variation with many fun rules, but one unfriendly player rule to offset it. The unfriendly player rule is that all blackjacks pay even money, except for a diamond blackjack, which pay 2-1. The player automatically wins on blackjack. A player with a six card charlie, meaning six cards that do not bust, automatically wins too. A player that makes a total of 21 in five or six cards will receive a 2-1 payout. The game rules are:

Standard Blackjack Strategy Meaning

  • Dealer hits soft 17
  • Double down at any time, even after drawing
  • Double down after split
  • Surrender
  • Surrender after doubling down
  • Surrender after splitting
  • Surrender after hitting
  • Split pairs other than aces up to a total of three hands

Standard Blackjack Strategy Builder

Suit 'em Up (97.3%)

Suit 'em Up is a blackjack variation that plays like a standard game, but features a side bet that can pay off handsomely. The game is played with 2, 6, or 8 decks depending on the version you play, and pays 3-2. The game payouts are:

  • Suited aces pays 60-1
  • Suited blackjack pays 10-1
  • Suited pair pays 5-1
  • Suited eleven pays 3-1
  • Any other suited pair pays 2-1

Standard Blackjack Strategy Game

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