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About Blackjack |
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Card Counting |
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Where To Play |
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Blackjack Store |
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Newsletter |
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Blackjack Pointers Newsletter.
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Blackjack Myths |
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If you believe any
of the following blackjack myths, you
will lose money. Don't make that error!
Myth 1: The aim of blackjack is to get
as close to 21 as possible
This is NOT the object of the game. The
object is to beat the dealer's hand.
Often, the best strategy is to stand
depending on your hand and the dealer's
up card. Many people lose a hand because
they hit their hands, when according to
basic strategy they should stand.
Myth 2: bad players cause you to lose
Other players have no effect on your
winning or losing long term.
It is true that stupid plays made by
stupid players can affect the outcome of
a hand for everyone else, but it can be
proved mathematically that it is just as
likely that this could result in the
entire table winning.
Myth 3: Always take insurance if you
have a blackjack
Insurance is the stupidest bet in
blackjack. If a person were to take
insurance every time that they had a
blackjack, then they would be giving up
13 percent of the profit that a
blackjack pays.
In order for a player simply to break
even with insurance, you would have to
guess correctly 1 in 3 times, and there
not good odds!
Only if you are card counting should you
ever even consider taking insurance.
Myth 4: The dealer is HOT
Mathematically speaking, when you are
winning, the deck composition is in your
favor, and when you are losing, it is
not in your favor.
The dealer has no choices to make; they
simply follow the house rules. You as a
player do have choices, and it is your
choices that determine how successful
you will be.
Myth 5: People entering the game in the
middle of a shoe can cause you to lose
This is actually the same as a player
taking an extra card, or a player
leaving in the middle of the game.
Neither of which causes you to lose.
Myth 6: You are due a win soon
The dealer has won ten hands
consecutively - you will win soon.
The chance of the player winning the
next hand is independent of what
happened before.
Eventually of course, the number of
hands you will win will be around 48%,
but this can be over a very long period!
In the short term, i.e a single playing
session, the previous hands are
irrelevant.
Myth 7: The deuce (2) is the most
favorable card for the dealer
Not true. We notice the deuce because it
makes the dealers hand frequently,
because there is only one card that can
"bust" the hand, (10), if the total is
12.
Mathematically, players lose more when
the "up card" the dealer has is an Ace
or a 10.
Myth 8: Don't split 9, 9 against the
dealer's 9, you're making two bad hands
When the player has 9 & 9 against the
dealer's 9, the player has 18. This
doesn't beat 19 as of course we assume
that the dealer has a 10 in the hole.
It is proven mathematically a player
will lose less money by splitting the
9's than by standing.
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