Money Crafter

If you are new to gambling, or you are the kind of player that enjoys games with rules that are easy to learn, but difficult to master, then Blackjack is would be a good place to go. While the rules are very quickly learned, there are many influences that a player must understand before achieving any type of proficiency with this timeless classic. It is a good entry game to gambling, before you step up to a game like Poker.

The first thing that you must understand is that the odds in Blackjack favour the house. For example, it's not uncommon for both the dealer and the player to go over twenty-one, or "bust." If this happens to you will lose your wager. However, unlike Roulette, each game of cards is not an independent event. Therefore it is possible to tip the odds slightly in your favour in this game.

If you are unsure of the rules, then start with this article:
Rules of Black Jack

Card Counting

Basic strategy provides the player with the optimal play for any blackjack situation, based on millions of hands played in the long run. However in the short run, as the cards are dealt from the deck, the remaining deck is no longer complete. By keeping track of the cards that have already been played, it is possible to know when the cards remaining in the deck are advantageous for the player.

Basics of Card Counting
The fundamental principle behind counting cards in blackjack is that a deck of cards with a higher proportion of high cards (tens and aces) to low cards is good for the player, while the reverse is true for the dealer. A deck rich in tens and aces improves the player's odds because blackjacks (which offer a higher payout than other winning hands) become more common, the dealer is more likely to bust a stiff hand, and double-downs are more successful.

Card counters raise their bets when the ratio of high cards to low cards in the deck is skewed in their favour. They also make strategy adjustments based on the ratio of high cards to low cards. These two adjustments to their betting and playing strategy can give players a mathematical advantage over the house.

Contrary to the popular myth, card counters do not need savant qualities in order to count cards, because they are not tracking and memorizing specific cards. Instead, card counters assign a heuristic point score to each card they see and then track only the total score. (This score is called the "count".)

For example, in the Hi-Lo system the cards 2 through 6 are assigned a value of +1. Tens (and face cards) through aces are assigned a value of -1. Cards 7, 8 and 9 have a value of zero (so they can be ignored).

Here are some common BlackJack strategies and the way they count the cards:

Between 70% and 90% of the player edge when counting cards comes from placing larger bets when the count is favorable to the player. (The rest of the edge comes from changes to basic strategy based on the count.) A mathematical principle called the Kelly criterion indicates that bet increases should be proportional to the player advantage. In practice, this means that the higher the count, the more a player should bet on each hand in order to take advantage of the player edge. Taken to its ultimate conclusion, the Kelly criterion would demand that a player not bet anything at all when the deck doesn't offer a positive expectation. When this is actually done in practice it is called "wonging", after Stanford Wong, who popularised the idea in Edward O. Thorp's Beat the Dealer.

Profits
Blackjack played with perfect strategy typically offers a house edge of less than 0.50%, but a typical card counter who ranges his bets appropriately in a game with six decks will have an advantage of approximately 1% over the casino. This amount varies based on the counter's skill level and the playing conditions, and the variance in blackjack is high, so generating an hourly profit can take hundreds of hours of play. The deck will only have a positive enough count for the player to raise his bets 25% of the time.

At a table where a player makes a $1,000 average bet, a 1% advantage means a player will win on average $10 per hand. This translates into an average hourly winning of $500 if the player is dealt 50 hands per hour.

With typical bet ranging, a player's variance per hour is normally almost one hundred times his average bet per hand, meaning that a player whose strategy yields an average profit of $50 per hour will likely face a variance in the neighborhood of $5000 per hour. Therefore, it is highly advisable for counters to set aside a large dedicated bankroll; one popular rule of thumb dictates a bankroll of 250 times the average bet per hand at count = 0.

Another interesting aspect of the probability of card counting is the fact that, at higher counts, the player's probability of winning a hand is actually lower than at lower counts - so that, with an optimal strategy, the player places his highest bets on hands whose probability of losing is actually the highest. The player's edge over the house on such hands comes not from his probability of winning the hands, but from his ability to perform certain actions, like doubling down and splitting, that are not available to the house.

The Verdict
Despite the fact that you don't hear as much about BlackJack as you do Poker, it is very possible to make profits at BlackJack. Indeed, casinos go to great lenghts to thwart and bar card counters wherever possible, and offer BlackJack knowing it is a game where they can't necessarily hold an advantage.

However, the variance of the game is high, and you need a large initial bankroll to return a profit. It is also a game you must go into a casino to play, you can't gain the advantage by playing it online. If you fit that criteria however, it's possible to make a good return from playing BlackJack. Just hope that the casino doesn't throw you out.