blackjack . . .

[wildo 0]

. . . is the devil.Wondering if anyone else was ever dumb enough to do this too.So I'm at Paradise Poker completing my raked hand requirements for a PSO promo, 3-tabling 2/4 and 3/6, get bored after a while and see that they have black jack available. Minimum $.10 max 300$ bets, so I try it out and naturally i get bored of betting less than a $ every hand . . .- $1400 later Paradise is deleted from my computer and Im left feeling like a complete moron(which I am) and am going to have to spend the better part of next month winning back the 1/3rd of my BR that I lost.

[allinbluff35 0]

i'm horrible at blackjack but the most I ever lost in one night was $500

[Catamo 0]

Does BlackJack take any skill? I always thought the Dealer had better odds then the player, therefor you cant make money off it.

[Nimbletoe 0]

Does BlackJack take any skill? I always thought the Dealer had better odds then the player, therefor you cant make money off it.

The only way to make money off blackjack in the long run is to count cards, which would be difficult online methinks.

[allinbluff35 0]

Does BlackJack take any skill? I always thought the Dealer had better odds then the player, therefor you cant make money off it.

theres a World Series of Blackjack and numerous strategy guides for it

[TheIceman05 0]

Does BlackJack take any skill? I always thought the Dealer had better odds then the player, therefor you cant make money off it.

You can beat multiple deck blackjack if you count cards. But this is completely and totally void on a computer, because there are no decks, and no cards. Playing blackjack on a computer is like saying to yourself "I've got 1000 dollars. I'm just gonna go ahead and give 50 bucks to the house. Don't spend it all in one place."

[allinbluff35 0]

Does BlackJack take any skill? I always thought the Dealer had better odds then the player, therefor you cant make money off it.

You can beat multiple deck blackjack if you count cards. But this is completely and totally void on a computer, because there are no decks, and no cards. Playing blackjack on a computer is like saying to yourself "I've got 1000 dollars. I'm just gonna go ahead and give 50 bucks to the house. Don't spend it all in one place."

yah I didn't lose a nickel online, i lose it all at the casino

[kad 0]

Blackjack ALWAYS has a house edge. YOu can beat it in the real casino's if you can use Big Number Theory, but since the shoe is shuffled in online version after every hand, you cant beat it.Some poker sites have BJ as side games, which I personally hate

[Nimbletoe 0]

The problem with popular forums is that three people respond with the same answer at the same time

[TheIceman05 0]

The problem with popular forums is that three people respond with the same answer at the same time

I've got 3 grand on the pistons winning the series, which is terrible, because I'm already living and dying with each bucket due to avid fandom. Go 'Stones.Ice

[Scanner313 0]

Does BlackJack take any skill? I always thought the Dealer had better odds then the player, therefor you cant make money off it.

theres a World Series of Blackjack and numerous strategy guides for it

The WSOBJ is purely a betting exercise. It has nothing to do with the cards/game itself. It's purely an exercise in bankroll management which is extremely boring. I've watched it on GSN a few times (only because it's gambling and there's not much else on) and it's just boring. Even the championship match where the guy won $500K was boring.As for making money at BJ, you can. And you don't necessarily have to count cards, although that's a big help. I used to live very close to AC so I was there playing BJ almost every weekend. I lost money over the long haul for the first 2 years or so but once I learned to bet properly I made some money. Unfortunately I'm still down significantly overall though. I moved away once I started making some money at it.Thing is, had I known about the money you can make in poker I would have played it in the casinos. Never dawned on me until I was already out of there. All that wasted time!

[spacoli 0]

"I've got 3 grand on the pistons winning the series, which is terrible, because I'm already living and dying with each bucket due to avid fandom. "Ahh, you broke the most sacred rule of sports betting...don't bet on your favorite team!!!PS The Pistons won me a boatload of $ by sweeping the Lakers last year!!!

[Uppie_ 0]

i am no blackjack expert but that game actually seems beatable for this reason, start out betting a dollar, if you lose bet 2, if you lose bet 4, if you lose bet 8, if you lose bet 16 , if you lose bet 32, and just keep going up, the math says it should be next to impossible to lose more then six hands in a row sense you are 49.5% to win every hand or so. It is a system i have tried with some success it just doesn't work in most casnios because the min and mix bet only works out to be about four losses in a row.

[budfox427 0]

I like watching the WSOBJ purely to just oogle the card countinn and math skills of the players. The button in that game makes it interesting, and some of those guys have some pretty sick minds. Other than that, the game makes me want to yank out my fingernails. The worst is when you are sitting at a table and someone there doesn't have the faintest clue how to play and keeps hitting his 13 with a 5 showing, therefore busting the whole table.

[Scanner313 0]

i am no blackjack expert but  that game actually seems beatable for this reason, start out betting a dollar, if you lose bet 2, if you lose bet 4, if you lose bet 8, if you lose bet 16 , if you lose bet 32, and just keep going up, the math says it should be next to impossible to lose more then six hands in a row sense you are 49.5% to win every hand or so. It is a system i have tried with some success it just doesn't work in most casnios because the min and mix bet only works out to be about four losses in a row.

Me and my friend made some decent money using this system on the even money bets on Roulette, until the dreaded day when I was betting $320 to recoup a lousy $10 initial bet. When it didn't hit, I dumped it for good. It didn't work for me that day, and I don't recommend anyone using this sytem. The odds definitely don't always work in your favor. You're much better increasing 50% of your bet on each win, and hope you hit a win streak as opposed to snapping a losing streak. You risk much less of your bankroll and can make money a whole lot faster if you hit the streak.

[Scanner313 0]

The worst is when you are sitting at a table and someone there doesn't have the faintest clue how to play and keeps hitting his 13 with a 5 showing, therefore busting the whole table.

I encountered 2 guys in my years of blackjack that absolutely took the cake, in my opinion. These guys ALWAYS doubled down on 12. Yes that's right, TWELVE!!! Their justification? "It's a good bet, because you have many more cards in the deck that CAN'T bust you than the ones that can." :shock: So basically these clowns felt that losing twice their original bet on a single draw card was better than just taking a hit and hoping for a decent draw. My answer to them was always "Well then why don't you double 13 & 14 as well? You still have better than a 50% chance of not busting?". They would answer "Because that's just pushing it. I'm playing the odds here and once you're above 12 you're risking the extra bet".I usually stopped talking to them at that point and just snickered to myself whenever they would draw that 10 on their doubled 12. Needless to say I was always at the table long after they left. Idiots, the both of them.

[gleam 0]

i am no blackjack expert but  that game actually seems beatable for this reason, start out betting a dollar, if you lose bet 2, if you lose bet 4, if you lose bet 8, if you lose bet 16 , if you lose bet 32, and just keep going up, the math says it should be next to impossible to lose more then six hands in a row sense you are 49.5% to win every hand or so. It is a system i have tried with some success it just doesn't work in most casnios because the min and mix bet only works out to be about four losses in a row.

You've bought in to one of the most basic mistakes of probability here -- you think prior losses or wins have an effect on future hands.If you flip a coin 10 times, and it comes up heads the first 9 times, the odds of it coming up heads the tenth time are still 1/2. The odds of having that long string of heads is low, but on any individual event the odds are still 1/2. This is the same for roulette, craps, etc.Blackjack in a real casino is sometimes slightly different -- losing hands in blackjack are normally heavy on the 2-7 cards, the same cards that get a negative count if you're counting cards. If you've played 5 hands and the decks haven't been reshuffled, and you've lost all 5, it's quite possible that the count is now in your favor since more small cards may have shown up than large cards.HOWEVER, you can have 5 losses without having the count go in your favor, so this isn't a reliable method. The only ways to gain legal advantage in blackjack are to count cards, shuffle track, and read the body language of the dealer, many of whom have tells. Most casinos will bar you or otherwise mess with you if you try #1 or #2. But all this card counting business is, as so many others have said, moot online. Online the computer's random number generator "shuffles" the "deck" for each hand. Since prior events in this case can't influence future events, you're guaranteed to lose money over the long haul.As others have said, playing blackjack online guarantees that you will never have an edge on the house. It's like getting 201:200 odds on a flip of the coin. And that's assuming you're playing perfect strategy. Every $100 you bet costs you $0.50 in the long run. You make 100 $100 bets, you've just given up $50, on average, to the house.

[Scanner313 0]

...and read the body language of the dealer, many of whom have tells.

This is such a long shot issue though. The only thing the dealer could possibly give away is whether or they have a 4 in the hole when they do the pre-draw look at their hole card when checking to see if they have a blackjack.It's been said that if the dealer has a 10 showing, and they have to double check their hole card only to announce they don't have BJ, then their hole card is probably a 4. This is because from an angle the 4 can sometimes look like an A. And if they have to recheck it means they had some doubt as to their hole card. This, of course, can be used to great advantage if you catch it.Aside from this, I've never seen any situation where the dealer could give anything away with a tell. If you have, I'd definitely be interested to hear them.

[gleam 0]

This is such a long shot issue though.  The only thing the dealer could possibly give away is whether or not they have an ace in the hole when they do the pre-draw look at their hole card in the event they might have a blackjack.It's been said that if the dealer has a 10 showing, and they have to quickly look back at their hole card, then they announce they do not have a blackjack that their hole card is probably a 4.  This is because from an angle the 4 can sometimes look like an A.  And if they have to recheck it means they had some doubt as to their hole card.  This, of course, can be used to great advantage if you catch it.Aside from this, I've never seen any situation where the dealer could give anything away with a tell.  If you have, I'd definitely be interested to hear them.

Agreed, it's definitely a long shot. I don't think anyone reliably gains an edge from dealer tells. That being said, the house edge is so low that even a very small advantage can make a significant difference.And besides, most casinos now have computers that can tell if the hole card is a ten or an ace. You slide the corner of the card over a little sensor, and it goes red of the dealer has blackjack. The dealer never risks flashing their hole cards or giving any information away.In terms of the dealer tells, if the dealer is peeking and they've got, say, 20, and they know they're going to stand pat, they'll lean away from the table unconsciously, as if to say "you don't really want a hit, do you?" If they know they're going to have to draw, they lean closer to the players. But, again, it's a very inexact science, and dealers at most casinos don't peek at their hole cards anymore anyways.

[KidKanuck 0]

While you can't count cards online...you can pretty much reduce the edge to nil (assuming the programming is as random as a shoe of cards)the nice thing is....you can always play perfect blackjack online as you can have a basic strategy guide in front of you at all times(some casinos will allow you to do this too). Just by doing that you are limiting the house edge to about 50.5% - 49.5% depending on the rules ( a good game if you can find it will get the edge down to about 50.2 - 49.8 ) If you add to that a simple betting strategy and BR management strategy...you can almost cut it to 50-50. Like poker the odds are based on trials over millions of hands...practically speaking blackjack is a game of streaks over the short term and a good strategy is one that capitalizes on those streaks. Of course on To answer the OPs question...I've done the same thing recently(not the same amount) and yes it does feel sickening :xGL rebuilding your BR everybody has to do it at some point sometimes many times...don't stress just make it happen :wink: KK

[bascomeb 0]

. . . is the devil.Wondering if anyone else was ever dumb enough to do this too.So I'm at Paradise Poker completing my raked hand requirements for a PSO promo, 3-tabling 2/4 and 3/6, get bored after a while and see that they have black jack available. Minimum $.10 max 300$ bets, so I try it out and naturally i get bored of betting less than a $ every hand . . .- $1400 later Paradise is deleted from my computer and Im left feeling like a complete moron(which I am) and am going to have to spend the better part of next month winning back the 1/3rd of my BR that I lost.

all i can say is this...hahahhahhahahah. another tj cloutier we have here

[gleam 0]

If you add to that a simple betting strategy and BR management strategy...you can almost cut it to 50-50. Like poker the odds are based on trials over millions of hands...practically speaking blackjack is a game of streaks over the short term and a good strategy is one that capitalizes on those streaks.

While I agreed with everything up to this point -- getting the effective edge down to about a .4% house advantage (hence 201:200 odds), I don't see how betting strategy would have any effect.The entire concept of a streak is flawed. Yes, you can have 5 winning hands in a row, but again, that doesn't mean you're more or less likely to have another winning hand for your 6th hand. The odds are exactly the same.No betting strategy will escape the cold, hard truth that the house will ALWAYS have an edge in online blackjack. Again, you can win money in the short or even medium term, but you cannot make a reliable living playing blackjack online. If you have some mathematics-based reason why a certain betting strategy works, I'd love to hear it. But with online blackjack each hand is a discrete event, with no bearing on the other hands. Betting strategies, at least as everyone else has been describing theirs, necessarily involve beleiving this to not be true. But it is true. If your odds of winning the hand are 49.8%, and you lose fifty hands in a row, your odds of winning the 51st hand are STILL 49.8%. It's not suddenly over 50% because you've lost a lot of hands. It just doesn't work that way.

[KidKanuck 0]

This is such a long shot issue though. The only thing the dealer could possibly give away is whether or not they have an ace in the hole when they do the pre-draw look at their hole card in the event they might have a blackjack.It's been said that if the dealer has a 10 showing, and they have to quickly look back at their hole card, then they announce they do not have a blackjack that their hole card is probably a 4. This is because from an angle the 4 can sometimes look like an A. And if they have to recheck it means they had some doubt as to their hole card. This, of course, can be used to great advantage if you catch it.Aside from this, I've never seen any situation where the dealer could give anything away with a tell. If you have, I'd definitely be interested to hear them.

Agreed, it's definitely a long shot. I don't think anyone reliably gains an edge from dealer tells. That being said, the house edge is so low that even a very small advantage can make a significant difference.And besides, most casinos now have computers that can tell if the hole card is a ten or an ace. You slide the corner of the card over a little sensor, and it goes red of the dealer has blackjack. The dealer never risks flashing their hole cards or giving any information away.In terms of the dealer tells, if the dealer is peeking and they've got, say, 20, and they know they're going to stand pat, they'll lean away from the table unconsciously, as if to say "you don't really want a hit, do you?" If they know they're going to have to draw, they lean closer to the players. But, again, it's a very inexact science, and dealers at most casinos don't peek at their hole cards anymore anyways.

as far a dealer tells....most dealers if they have any are very small any don't give much of an edge if you catch em.others however intentionally try to give info to players that they like. I had this happen to me once playing in AC....I tipped the dealer well and played alot of hands on his behalf...we got along like best buddies and he started rolling his eyes slightly when he had BJ for insurance bets (I made 18 straight correct insurance bets) he would crack a very slight smile when he had a bust hole card...I made about 5000 buck in 12 hours at the 10$ table he was dealing at...and I only caught on to the tells about 7 hours into it.

[gleam 0]

I tipped the dealer well and played alot of hands on his behalf...we got along like best buddies and he started rolling his eyes slightly when he had BJ for insurance bets (I made 18 straight correct insurance bets) he would crack a very slight smile when he had a bust hole card...I made about 5000 buck in 12 hours at the 10$ table he was dealing at...and I only caught on to the tells about 7 hours into it.

What do you mean by "18 straight correct insurance bets"?I can only assume you mean you were offered insurance 18 times and declined it all 18 times.Taking insurance is NEVER the correct bet.Besides, I've never seen a blackjack table where the dealer checked their hole card before asking for insurance. They always offer insurance and then check the hole card afterwards.If the dealer was rolling their eyes when offering insurance it was because they were saying "Insurance is for suckers. Don't bother."

[Scanner313 0]

And besides, most casinos now have computers that can tell if the hole card is a ten or an ace. The dealer never risks flashing their hole cards or giving any information away.In terms of the dealer tells, if the dealer is peeking and they've got, say, 20, and they know they're going to stand pat, they'll lean away from the table unconsciously, as if to say "you don't really want a hit, do you?" If they know they're going to have to draw, they lean closer to the players.

I think the reason most casinos are going to the automated readers is because the dealers might be inclined to tip you off to the strength of their checked hand in order to induce a bigger tip. I've had 1 instance where a dealer was using the manual card checker (the one with the mirror that shows the dealer the card value) and he gave me a heads up. I think I had 11 to the dealer Ace. He didn't have the BJ but I was contemplating a double with a large original bet. When I placed it he looked at me and said "Are you sure about that?", kind of in a hinting way. I thought about it for a second and pulled it back. I took the hit and ended up with 17 or 18. He flipped his cards over and had a 9. Needless to say I was very happy about the fact that I didn't just blow a decent sized bet on a bad double. I made sure to tip this guy well until he was rotated away.That's the only time I've ever gotten assistance from a dealer other than them accidentally paying off my losing hand.