Category: Blackjack Odds

70% Off of Blackjack Insurance

Before you get all excited, this is not a sale. If you are in a blackjack game where you are wagering $20 per hand and an insurance wager costs you $10, this does not mean that for a limited time insurance will only cost $3. Sorry, if casinos are going to try to hang on to their house edge they are not about to put a sale on insurance.

When I say 70% off of insurance I am talking about the odds of a dealer

Dealer Standing on Soft 17 Better than a Dealer Who Hits a Soft 17

The astute blackjack player pays attention to the house rules set by the casino or online casino for their blackjack games. This is why you do not see professional blackjack players playing variations of the game or at blackjack tables with poor house rules.

One such house rule that is of poor quality is allowing a dealer to hit a soft 17.

While on the surface this house rule does not like it would be all that damaging to a player

What are your Odds of Winning in Blackjack?

Do you know? Are you sure you know?

Yes, blackjack offers some good odds when compared to other casino games. But really, what are your chances of winning?

Excluding pushes (the times that you and the dealer have the same total), you have a 48% shot of winning while the dealer has a 52% shot of beating you.

Realistically those are high odds for players. And they are much better than what you odds would be of winning roulette or slots. But, yes, the house still has the edge. Even when you are using basic strategy.

Depending on what house rules are in play, the house will start out with a 2% to 5% edge over you. But playing all of your hands

Sneaky, Sneaky Blackjack Insurance

Imagine that there is a way to protect your blackjack wager. A sort of insurance that will cover your wager so that you do not lose it in case the dealer turns up that natural blackjack.

Such a thing exists. And it is called insurance in blackjack. But it is not as rosy of a picture as casinos would like for you to believe.

Insurance is offered when the dealer has an Ace for an up card. It is offered because an Ace is required for a natural blackjack, and is the less common of the two cards needed. So the feeling is that if the less common required card is present, there is a good chance that the hole card will have a value of 10.

This is what casinos would like for you to think. But let

Blackjack with a Shoe vs. a CSM

A CSM is a Continuous Shuffle Machine. This is a device typically found in casinos on blackjack tables. And the purpose of this moderately sized device? To shuffle the cards after each round of blackjack.

On the surface a CSM may not seem all that bad, but it is a sneaky moderately sized device and does do something to your bankroll that is not pleasing.

What CSMs really do is speed up the rate of play, meaning that you will play more hands per hour at a blackjack table with a CSM than you would at a blackjack table with just an ordinary shoe.

A shoe is a small device, as compared to the moderately sized device that is a CSM, that shuffles multiple decks, usually six or more, before the first round. The dealer will then draw from the shoe until near the end of the deck when the cards must all be reshuffled and placed back in the shoe.

On average there will be 20% more hands per hour when playing at blackjack table with a CSM than when playing at a table with a shoe.

Now in blackjack, even when played with basic strategy, the house will still have the edge. On average players will only win 48% of the time and lose 52%.

Follow the theory and you will see that players stand to lose more hands than they win. So the more hands you play per hour increases the number of hands you lose per hour, and increase the amount of money the casino will make off of your blackjack game.

While casinos adore their moderately sized CSMs, it is better for a player

Missing Queens from Blackjack

The majority of the time casinos will offer an honest blackjack game, meaning they are not trying to pull anything sneaky. Just the standard blackjack rules that might scoot the edge more in favor of the house, such as hitting soft 17s. But sometimes you cannot help thinking that the casino is pulling a fast one when you are on a bad losing streak.

Again, majority of the time you will find honest blackjack games. But sometimes shoes malfunction or a really seedy casino might with hold cards. What does such a thing do to your blackjack odds?

Well if the missing cards are queens or another of the cards worth 10 it can hurt your odds badly. And thinking realistically, a card worth 10 would be the most likely card to be removed from the deck, not just because it favors the player, but because there are more 10 value cards in a deck and is less likely to immediately be noticed.

Tricky, yes?

So what does a missing 10 value card do to your blackjack odds?

Quite a bit actually. Ten value cards are one of the cards that favor players, the other being Aces. The hit to your blackjack odds is 0.49, just shy of half of a percent. Keep in mind all the rounds of playing perfect basic strategy to lower the house edge to that 0.5% and you can be hit with the same amount from having just one card removed.

The reason for the hit is that with less ten cards, such as a single queen being removed, cuts down on the chances of a player being dealt a natural blackjack and on being paid that 3-2 payout. It also cuts down on the number of strong hands, such as 20s from double downs, pairs of 10s, and three or more cards adding up to 21.

So since removing a single 10 value card from a deck cuts down on the number of player blackjacks and strong hands, the player

Surrendering to Blackjack

Okay, this is more about a play used in blackjack rather than some romantical notion of giving in to desires hidden beneath the surface.

Players in blackjack have one of the most awesome ways to exit a round of blackjack in which the odds are just too high against them to win: surrender. Sometimes the underdog stays under. And if it looks like a round is just not in your favor, you need to get out.

With this blackjack rule, players can give up half of their original wager, keep the other half and exit the round. There is no other cost for exiting a round other than that half of your original wager.

Not too bad considering blackjack and poker are the only casino games that give players a way out of an unfavorable round

Odds on Insurance

Insurance is a common debate in blackjack regardless of whether you play online blackjack or blackjack in a brick and mortar casino. There are some that say insurance is a sure thing and to take it when offered. Then there are those who say insurance is the devil, that it will hurt your odds and to avoid taking it. Then there are so who are uncertain because they are not really sure what insurance truly is.

So we will start there. Insurance is offered when the dealer is showing an Ace, one of the cards that is key to having a natural blackjack and beating all other hands. Players can take insurance for half the cost of their original wager. If the dealer