How to win at Blackjack?

[garyt]

I am sure there must be some experts here who consistently win at Blackjack.

So what are some hot tips? Blackjack seems to have a better odd of winning (some skills needed) compared to other games.

 

[bigjohn]

You should probably remove that link. It's a little spammy and may be considered to be suggesting a system which is not looked on favorably here.

 

[mrmark21]

Well systems don't work but you could use the Black Jack Strategy Guide. Whenever I play Live Black Jack and because I deposit a decent chunk (generally $300 once P/W) I like to know that I'm playing perfectly and that there's no room for mistakes. The guide really comes in handy you can have it open on your computer screen at the same time your playing so you will always know when to hit, stand, or double.

 

[SubzeroWins]

Nobody will ever consistently win at any casino game. They'd be out of business pretty soon.

The guide is a good way to play with minimum house edge, but thats still an edge. Means you'll be losing money in the long run

 

[dunover]

I am sure there must be some experts here who consistently win at Blackjack.

So what are some hot tips? Blackjack seems to have a better odd of winning (some skills needed) compared to other games. This article has some cliues but are they any good? -> http://crapmeister.com

Oh, here we go again......

 

[mrmark21]

Nobody will ever consistently win at any casino game. They'd be out of business pretty soon.

The guide is a good way to play with minimum house edge, but thats still and edge. Means you'll be losing money in the long run

That's exactly right. I like to think of it as covering what little advantage against the house I do have, which isn't very much

 

[gagamel]

Best tip:
Stop playing when your run of good luck ends

 

[albrco123]

FWIW my 2 tips are not specific to Blackjack but all gambling.

1. Never gamble with scared money
2. Know when you have Won!!

In other words only gamble with money you are prepared to lose, and set yourself a target at which you will withdraw.

Al

 

[SubzeroWins]

FWIW my 2 tips are not specific to Blackjack but all gambling.

1. Never gamble with scared money
2. Know when you have Won!!

In other words only gamble with money you are prepared to lose, and set yourself a target at which you will withdraw.

Al

Yea these are pretty good, i'd like to add one more. If you win big and decide to gamble some more with the winnings, always withdraw when you are at 75% of your peak balance. Unless you are a TRUE gambler in which case you might as well put it all on red or black

 

[zreb]

The most common way that people attempt to win is called "counting cards." You can look search google for the specifics, but the idea is that you bet small most of the time, but when the odds are in your favor (due to what cards have been removed) you make larger bets. Many casinos will, of course, not look favorably upon this sort of betting pattern.

I would guess that most people who attempt to win by counting cards are not successful, for one reason or another.

 

[SubzeroWins]

The most common way that people attempt to win is called "counting cards." You can look search google for the specifics, but the idea is that you bet small most of the time, but when the odds are in your favor (due to what cards have been removed) you make larger bets. Many casinos will, of course, not look favorably upon this sort of betting pattern.

I would guess that most people who attempt to win by counting cards are not successful, for one reason or another.

Do you happen to know if it's still possible? I heard in most casinos they change the shoe too often for counting cards to work. Would be a bummer, i'd love to give it go since im pretty good at maths and statistics

 

[zreb]

Do you happen to know if it's still possible? I heard in most casinos they change the shoe too often for counting cards to work. Would be a bummer, i'd love to give it go since im pretty good at maths and statistics

I don't count cards myself, but I think there are a few people around here who do. Some casinos will have rule sets and conditions that are more favorable, some less favorable. Half the skill of counting cards is probably in deciding where and whether to play at all.

If I were to venture a guess, there are probably some places around where you could expect to come out ahead, but don't expect things to be easy. There should be plenty of information on the subject around the internet with some searching, but you'll have to try to separate the good from the bad yourself.

While there's nothing wrong with trying to gamble with the best odds you can find, I'd strongly suggest you keep your play at recreational levels unless you know what you're getting into.

 

[Janek12]

Do you happen to know if it's still possible? I heard in most casinos they change the shoe too often for counting cards to work. Would be a bummer, i'd love to give it go since im pretty good at maths and statistics

I honestly think it is not worth the trouble.

Remember, by counting cards you gain an edge of perhaps 1 % at the most. This means you are statistically relying on the "law of the large numbers", if I am saying this correctly.
Which means it can easily happen that you will have to play hundreds of thousands of hands before the edge prevails over the variance.

I do not know if it is true but I remember reading once about a professional blackjack player who was hundreds of thousands in the red for almost a year. He persevered and finally made profit but imagine the stress under which he must have been all that time - afraid that casinos will ban him, will change the rules, etc.

On a similar note, roulette visual balistics players gain a considerably higher edge than 1 %, perhaps even around 5 % if I recall correctly; and even this does not guarantee them profit because of the variance - I think they mostly bet on smaller sections of the wheel which increases the variance enormously.

 

[gagamel]

The most common way that people attempt to win is called "counting cards." You can look search google for the specifics, but the idea is that you bet small most of the time, but when the odds are in your favor (due to what cards have been removed) you make larger bets. Many casinos will, of course, not look favorably upon this sort of betting pattern.

I would guess that most people who attempt to win by counting cards are not successful, for one reason or another.

Counting cards will bring you a benefit at the end of a deck. Today most casinos play with 6 or 8 decks and they don`t play the full decks. Counting cards is useless.

 

[SubzeroWins]

I honestly think it is not worth the trouble.

Remember, by counting cards you gain an edge of perhaps 1 % at the most. This means you are statistically relying on the "law of the large numbers", if I am saying this correctly.
Which means it can easily happen that you will have to play hundreds of thousands of hands before the edge prevails over the variance.

I do not know if it is true but I remember reading once about a professional blackjack player who was hundreds of thousands in the red for almost a year. He persevered and finally made profit but imagine the stress under which he must have been all that time - afraid that casinos will ban him, will change the rules, etc.

On a similar note, roulette visual balistics players gain a considerably higher edge than 1 %, perhaps even around 5 % if I recall correctly; and even this does not guarantee them profit because of the variance - I think they mostly bet on smaller sections of the wheel which increases the variance enormously.

Yea thats what i thought, just one thing to add: Instead of playing one table and hoping that 1% edge will add up, they wait untill one of multiple tables is rly hot and then bet huge. Im thinking if all the low cards are used up you can have an edge beyond 1%. If im wrong someone pls correct me as im very interested in this subject

 

[zreb]

Yea thats what i thought, just one thing to add: Instead of playing one table and hoping that 1% edge will add up, they wait untill one of multiple tables is rly hot and then bet huge. Im thinking if all the low cards are used up you can have an edge beyond 1%. If im wrong someone pls correct me as im very interested in this subject

Unless you're just asking because you're curious, I think you're barking up the wrong tree here. You're a couple of decades too late if you're looking for an edge greater than 1%. Playing only when the count is good would require you have a team to play with, which you pretty clearly don't, and the edge still probably isn't as high as you think. I think you may have seen one too many movies.

Casinos have gotten a lot smarter about this stuff, including team play (and have had years to do so), while you don't seem to know much of anything about it, nor have demonstrated the ability to find information for yourself (Edit: I had assumed FWDan was OP, so this may not apply as strongly as I stated). You're much better off with an extensive google search than hoping anyone here will give you all the info you need. If you can't find this information yourself, you're not capable of being successful at card counting.

You also probably need a bankroll of at least $2,000 you're prepared to lose to give card counting a try, and probably $20,000 if you want to take it more seriously.

As I said before, you can give card counting a try if you'd like, but I'd really recommend only doing it recreationally (which still takes a lot of $). Apologies if I come off a bit harsh, but it really is one of those things where if you have to ask, it's not for you. You'd potentially be better off playing poker if you want a beatable game, but don't expect any easy winnings there either.

 

[Janek12]

Yea thats what i thought, just one thing to add: Instead of playing one table and hoping that 1% edge will add up, they wait untill one of multiple tables is rly hot and then bet huge.

I would think this will get the players banned from the casino immediately; I would be surprised if the surveillance would not catch on that very fast.

Also you are then not talking about recreational playing at all but about teaming up with others; I am not sure how such collusion is even viewed legally, even though counting cards per se is not illegal.

Im thinking if all the low cards are used up you can have an edge beyond 1%. If im wrong someone pls correct me as im very interested in this subject

I am not an expert but I would think that especially with the current rules, the instances in which the player's edge would be substantially higher than 1 % would be very, very rare.

I saw a video on YouTube about the MIT blackjack team; that was in the 1980s I think. The math is quite well explained there I think.
And it also shows that making a profit required a huge team effort, extensive training and strict discipline.
I presume the current rules in casinos would not let this happen; it was a one-time thing.

Also, I do not mean to preach to you but the effort invested into trying to make money by counting cards in BJ would bring far more profit and overall benefit if invested in normal business enterprise.
IMO gambling is just for playfully taunting Lady Luck - and most preferably in a safe way so that no one gets hurt financially or emotionally or otherwise. Trying to make some serious money from gambling is a road to hell IMO.
Some years ago when I started to play online, I researched quite a bit about all this and it really put me off - the stories of seriously gambling individuals, even if they were very successful for some period of time, are invariably very sad life stories.
You have been warned , I rest my case.

 

[zreb]

Also, I do not mean to preach to you but the effort invested into trying to make money by counting cards in BJ would bring far more profit and overall benefit if invested in normal business enterprise.

I think this is one of the most important points - anyone capable of winning at blackjack could probably do just as well, with less stress, doing something else. Best to just play for fun, card-counting or not.

 

[SubzeroWins]

Unless you're just asking because you're curious, I think you're barking up the wrong tree here. You're a couple of decades too late if you're looking for an edge greater than 1%. Playing only when the count is good would require you have a team to play with, which you pretty clearly don't, and the edge still probably isn't as high as you think. I think you may have seen one too many movies.

Casinos have gotten a lot smarter about this stuff, including team play (and have had years to do so), while you don't seem to know much of anything about it, nor have demonstrated the ability to find information for yourself (Edit: I had assumed FWDan was OP, so this may not apply as strongly as I stated). You're much better off with an extensive google search than hoping anyone here will give you all the info you need. If you can't find this information yourself, you're not capable of being successful at card counting.

You also probably need a bankroll of at least $2,000 you're prepared to lose to give card counting a try, and probably $20,000 if you want to take it more seriously.

As I said before, you can give card counting a try if you'd like, but I'd really recommend only doing it recreationally (which still takes a lot of $). Apologies if I come off a bit harsh, but it really is one of those things where if you have to ask, it's not for you. You'd potentially be better off playing poker if you want a beatable game, but don't expect any easy winnings there either.

you are taking this a bit too seriously. did you actually think i was gonna put a team together and try to pull this off
no, what i ment was, maybe i can learn to count cards just for fun and perhaps have a smaller house edge in casino's (insignificant as that may be).
And why should i not expect any winnings from poker? I do win with it.. not that hard actually at the lower stakes

 

[zreb]

you are taking this a bit too seriously. did you actually think i was gonna put a team together and try to pull this off
no, what i ment was, maybe i can learn to count cards just for fun and perhaps have a smaller house edge in casino's (insignificant as that may be).
And why should i not expect any winnings from poker? I do win with it.. not that hard actually at the lower stakes

Sounds good. Sometimes people get some kind of "winning system" stuck in their head, and it usually turns out poorly, so just wanted to make sure.

Didn't say not to expect winnings from poker, just not to expect "easy" winnings. Just like in any form of gambling, when your luck is better than average, it feels like the easiest thing in the world. But hit an extended set of bad luck, and it'll feel like you just as well might have thrown your computer out the window instead of playing. "Hard way to make an easy living," the saying goes.

 

[garyt]

There are professional gamblers who are skilled at Blackjack who win consistently but you won't get to hear of them openly. It is like there are consistent winners in stock speculation but very very few of them. But overall, the house will win for sure. If not, then all casinos will close shop

 

[SubzeroWins]

There are professional gamblers who are skilled at Blackjack who win consistently but you won't get to hear of them openly. It is like there are consistent winners in stock speculation but very very few of them. But overall, the house will win for sure. If not, then all casinos will close shop

I dont think that is a very good comparison since with the stock market there is a bit of skill involved. You could use bad and good news from the financial sector to your advantage, whereas with blackjack you're just betting on odds.

 

[Vegasbum]

You can't count cards online. You can only do this at live casinos and as soon as they catch you they will 86 you. It is legal to count and it is also legal for casinos to ask you to leave and not return.
Still there are many counter around and some who do quite well. Richard Munchkins is the best I know of.

 

[BlackJack King]

skill

Gary

you can win, but online is much different than live. i have a system that has worked well, but i charge for it. if you are interested, email me at <snip>

 

[me_and_ed]

Gary

you can win, but online is much different than live. i have a system that has worked well, but i charge for it. if you are interested, email me at <snip>

Run Gary!!