The question is always presented,
where did Blackjack
originate? The history of
Blackjack is
disputed although it is known that it was born out of
the French games such as chemin de fer and French Ferme.
Blackjack
originated in French casinos around the 1200's but the
exact year is difficult to determine.
Blackjack
has been in the United States since
the early years of the 1800's. The name of
Blackjack
originated from an early bet that involved a player
getting a jack of spades and an ace of spades, both of
the black suit as the first two cards. As you can see a
combination of history is where
Blackjack
really has originated from.
Mathematics was
applied to the game of
Blackjack
in the year of 1953. The pioneers of
Blackjack
used calculators and probability to reduce house
advantage, which in that time was legal. Roger Baldwin
wrote a paper in the Journal of American Statistical
Association titled "The Optimum Strategy in
Blackjack". This really was not the best strategy
because they really needed a computer to refine their
system. The calculator was slow in figuring and
computing so the game could take much longer.
In the year 1962,
Edward O. Thorp refined the basic strategy and
understanding of
Blackjack
and
developed the first card counting techniques without the
use a calculator. What was done from that point, was he
wrote a book to share all the information he had
gathered about Blackjack. He added his results in his book " Beat
the Dealer". This book was hated by the casinos because
they were starting to lose more money because of this
book. The casinos were not happy because it told the
public how to beat the house and money was paid out over
and over again. They wanted to change the rules of
Blackjack
to
make it harder to win. However, this did not last long
due to people protesting the new rules of
Blackjack
that made it more difficult for gamblers to win. The
loss of revenue forced the casinos to go back to the old
rules quickly even if the gamblers were using books to
beat the odds of losing.
To better the Casinos odds, they did
make some changes to the game of
Blackjack
over the years. The casinos introduced
new technology like shuffling machines, and multiple
decks to help beat the odds of those who were counting
cards and watching decks. These changes along with the
realization that the methods in the books were hard to
master brought back the casinos edge to which they
considered acceptable.
In Blackjack, you and the dealer (the
computer) are dealt two cards to start. The objective of
online Blackjack is to accumulate cards that add up
closer to 21 than that of the dealer's cards, without
going over 21.
Cards are worth their face value
with the exception of Kings, Queens, and Jacks which are
each worth 10 and Aces which are worth either 1 or 11.
If the value of your hand is closer to 21 than that of
the dealer you win. If the value of the dealer's hand is
higher than yours you lose. If the hands are of equal
value the deal is a push and your money is returned. If
you have a total of 22 or higher (a busted hand), you
lose regardless of whether the dealer also busts.
Online Blackjack is played with
eight fifty-two card decks. After each game has been
played, the used cards are shuffled back into the deck.
All face cards are valued at ten and the cards from 2-10
are valued as indicated.
Aces can be valued at either one or
eleven; if counting the ace as eleven would put the hand
over twenty-one, the ace is automatically counted as one
instead. You do not need to specify which value the Ace
has as it's always assumed to have the value that makes
the best hand. The value of a hand is the sum of the
values of the individual cards. For example, a hand
containing a Jack, 3, and 4 has a value of 17.
You begin a hand of online
Blackjack by placing a bet on the table. You will then
receive two cards face up. The dealer will receive one
card face up and one face down. Once you have been dealt
your two cards (and based on the nature of these cards)
you can do the following:
Hit
Requests another card. You can request
a hit as many times as you like, but if your total goes
over twenty-one, you will bust and lose the hand.
Stand
Requests that you receive no more cards. The hand as it
currently stands will be judged against the dealers.
Split
If you have two cards of the same
denomination, a Split button will appear. You can split
your cards into two hands and play each hand separately.
Your original bet will be duplicated for the new hand.
Each hand will be played out as
usual except when splitting Aces, where only one
additional card per hand is dealt. The split option can
only be used once per hand -- you cannot split part of a
split hand. Any winning 21 obtained after splitting a
pair is paid 1-to-1.
Double Down
If you
select this option, two things will happen: you will get
exactly one more card, your turn will end, and your bet
will be doubled.
Insurance
Whenever the dealer's up-card is an
Ace, the player has an option of taking insurance. The
player may opt to take insurance by clicking on the
Insurance button. If you do not wish to take insurance,
you simply click on the Pass button to proceed with the
rest of the hand. If the player believes that the
dealer's down-card is a 10 ranking card, then the player
is permitted to place a side bet of half the original
wager as insurance.
If the dealer does have a 10
ranking card, the player is immediately paid 2-to-1 on
the insurance bet, but the original wager is lost unless
the player too has a Blackjack and pushes with the
dealer. Here the player is simply betting that the
dealer's unseen card is a 10 valued card.
The Double Down and Split options
will only be available immediately after you receive
your first two cards. If the dealer has an Ace showing,
you will be offered a chance to buy Insurance for half
of the amount you bet. When you buy insurance you are,
in effect, making a second bet. You are betting that the
dealer has a natural Blackjack. If the dealer does have
a natural Blackjack (in other words, his down card is a
ten or a face card), you will collect a payoff of 2 to 1
on your insurance.
You will also lose your original
wager, unless you have a natural Blackjack too. If the
dealer does not have a natural twenty-one, the rest of
the hand is played out as usual and you will lose your
insurance money.
Payouts
If you win the hand, you will get back
your original bet plus the same amount in profit. A hand
that consists of an Ace and any ten value card is called
a natural twenty-one, or a natural Blackjack (except in
the case of a Split hand - see details above). If you
win with a natural Blackjack, you will be paid off at
three-to-two, which means you get your original bet back
plus 150% profit. (So if you bet $50 and win with a
natural twenty-one, you get $50 (your bet) plus $75
(your bet plus half of your bet), which totals to$125.
Basic Blackjack strategy is defined as the proper play
of cards knowing only your hand and the dealer's exposed
card. It does not involve card counting (an advantage
lost in playing with 8 decks reshuffled after each hand)
or remembering which cards were played previously.
The basic Blackjack
strategy is created through intensive computer
simulations which perform a complete combinatorial
analysis. In this method, the computer "plays" tens of
thousands of hands for each online Blackjack situation
possible and statistically decides which decision best
favours the player.
Basic strategy is
usually printed as tables with the dealer's up card the
first row and your two card combination the first
column. The other entries in the table tell you what to
do (Stand, Hit, Double-Down, Split) with the different
combinations of dealer and player's hands. Basic
Blackjack strategy tables for casino rules (8 decks,
dealer stands on soft 17, double-down on any two cards,
double after split allowed, no re-splitting of cards
allowed, no surrender) are shown below for hard totals,
soft totals, and pairs along with a legend.
|
LEGEND |
|
S |
Stand |
|
H |
Hit |
|
D |
Double |
|
Y |
Yes, split |
|
N |
No, don`t split |
|
Hard Totals |
|
YOUR
CARDS |
DEALERS UPCARD |
| |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
|
17 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
|
16 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 15 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
|
14 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 13 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 12 |
H |
H |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 11 |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
| 10 |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
| 9 |
H |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 8 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Probably of
busting if you hit:
|
Hand value |
% Bust if hit |
|
21 |
100% |
|
20 |
92% |
|
19 |
85% |
|
18 |
77% |
|
17 |
69% |
|
16 |
62% |
|
15 |
58% |
|
14 |
56% |
|
13 |
39% |
|
12 |
31% |
|
11 or less |
0% |
Dealer final hand probabilities:
|
Dealer Final Hand
Value |
% |
Cumulative % Total |
|
Natural 21 |
4.82% |
4.83% |
| 21 (3 or more
cards) |
7.36% |
12.19% |
|
20 |
17.58% |
29.77% |
|
19 |
13.48% |
43.25% |
|
18 |
13.81% |
57.06% |
|
17 |
14.58% |
71.64% |
|
16 |
28.36% |
100.00% |
Two-card count frequencies:
|
Two card count |
% Frequency |
|
Natural 21 |
4.8% |
| Hard standing
(17-20) |
30.0 % |
|
Decision hands
(1-16) |
38.7% |
| No-bust |
26.5% |
|
TOTAL |
100.0% |
Player advantage
vs. dealer upcard:
|
Dealer Final Hand
Value |
% |
Cumulative % Total |
|
2 |
35.30% |
9.8% |
| 3 |
37.56% |
13.4% |
|
4 |
40.28% |
18.0% |
| 5 |
42.89% |
23.2% |
|
6 |
42.08% |
23.9% |
|
7 |
25.99% |
14.3% |
|
8 |
23.86% |
5.4% |
|
9 |
23.34% |
-4.3% |
|
J,Q,K |
21.43% |
-16.9% |
|
A |
11.65% |
-16.0% |
According to The "American MENSA
guide to Casino Gambling, if you follow these simple
rules you can win at Blackjack. More
importantly, you can lessen the house's edge which in
turn gives you a better shot at leaving the casino with
a bit of their cash.
That is as long as you don't try
your hand at something else before you walk out the
front door.
If you have: - You should:
9 or lower - hit
10 or 11
- double down if
your cards add up to more than the dealer's upcard.
12 thru 16 - hit
when dealer's upcard is 7 or higher; stand otherwise.
17 or higher -
Stand
With Soft hands, things change a bit. A soft hand
includes any hand that uses an Ace as an 11 instead of a
1, such as a "Soft 17", which includes and ace and a 6.
13 thru 18 -
Double down when dealer's upcard is 5 or 6
17 or lower -
hit
18 hit when
dealer's card is six or less; stand when dealer's card
is seven or more
19 or higher -
stand
Pairs
Always split Aces and eights
Never split 10s, 4s or 5s
Split all other pairs when
dealer's upcard is 6 or less
Never take insurance playing blackjack
