Single-Deck Blackjack is not as common as it’s counterpart multi-deck blackjack but you can still find the game played in American casinos in particular Las Vegas it requires frequent shuffling by the dealer and attracts card counters as single deck blackjack has less cards out on the table and thus it is easier for a player to track or count the cards the casino win percentage is smaller in single-deck black jack 21, we hope this single deck blackjack strategy guide helps you make the correct statistical decision of whether to hit, stay, split or double down where ever you choose to play blackjack whether it be online or in a land based casino operation, enjoy playing 21 black jack.

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Action: H = Hit S = Stand D = Double P = Split

Players hard total hands best odds playing blackjack:

What to do with soft blackjack hands:

When to split a blackjack hand ?

Dealer’s Hand Total (faceup card)
Player’s Hand Total on the left.

Action: H = Hit S = Stand D = Double P = Split

• Download a pocket sized basic blackjack strategy guide single-deck .pdf

• Multiple deck blackjack basic strategy charts and guide
• Learn to count cards – to improve your odds using the Hi-Lo Blackjack card count system.

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Action: H = Hit S = Stand D = Double P = Split

BLACKJACK STRATEGY – Hard Totals

BLACKJACK 21 STRATEGY – Soft hand totals

BLACKJACK 21 STRATEGY – When to split a hand

Player’s Hand on the left side.

Dealer’s Card total is top.

* HIT = If double down after splitting is forbidden.

Action: H = Hit S = Stand D = Double P = Split

• Download a pocket sized basic blackjack strategy guide multi-deck .pdf
• Single deck blackjack basic strategy charts and guide
• Blackjack card counting – Learn the Hi-Lo sytem explained

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Money Management

To play to win you first need a bankroll. This is a predetermined amount which you have allocated for playing blackjack. A bankroll in the order of 200 times your maximum unit size is usually recommended. For example, if you are going to place $5 bets then your initial bankroll should be $4,000 assuming a bet spread of 1-4 ( a 1 to 4 bet spread indicates the smallest unit size to be played would be 1 unit and the largest unit size would be 4 units. ). Never bet more that 5% of your total bankroll at any one given session. This will ensure that you will not lose a large portion of your bankroll if you have a few losing sessions.

Your bankroll has to be large enough to withstand some losing sessions. Blackjack can have many fluctuations. The bankroll can be up one moment and then down the next. The player when card counting is at an advantage however the player can and will still lose at times. One of the most common illusions is that when the true count is high, favorable for the player, the player will always win. You do have a greater chance of winning than losing however you may lose in that session. Overall you will be on top.

When playing Blackjack the player should have a nominated bet spread. This will include the number of units the player will bet when the true count is negative and positive. Generally, when the count is negative the bet would be 1 unit ( or the smallest bet size you are using ). When the true count is between 0 and 1, bet 2 units. When the true count is between 1 – 2, bet  3 units etc. In a multi-deck game a bet spread of 1 to 8 units is quite common. Having a larger bet spread can attract “heat” from the casino. Pit bosses become suspicious if you vary your bets a great extent. In a single deck game a bet spread of 1 to 4 is acceptable.

It is also recommended that you never decrease your bet after the last hand is played before the deck is shuffled. This also has a habit of attracting heat.

Smart Players

Smart players should:

• Pick a casino that has the smallest house advantage. This will allow them to increase the number of times they win and decrease your profits.
• Won’t try to cheat.
• If they feel uncomfortable at the table, they will leave.
• Play with a designated amount of money. If they lose that quota they will leave and go home.
• Know when it is time to leave.
• Play within the limits of their finance
• They are always comfortable with the amount they bet.
• Disguise exactly how much money they have won but always display their losses.
• Never talk about Card Counting or Basic Strategy at the casino. If they do they know they may be asked to leave.

For Card Counters:

• Master Basic Strategy so that their play is automatic and instantaneous. This will allow them to put all their efforts into card counting and camouflage.
• Play with a designated amount of money as well as a defined bet spread.
• Choose a bet spread that they feel comfortable playing with.
• Learn to be emotionless with winning or losing.
• If appropriate, then take on an act (camouflage) that is appropriate for their bet size and spread.

If they are going to the casino just to play Basic Strategy then they won’t need an act. If they are Card Counting and have a large bet spread then they will probably need to adopt some kind of act or invent a superstition e.g. “I never win between 6:30pm and 7:00pm” or “I’ve always got to play with my wedding ring off when playing. It gives me good luck” etc.

Read about BlackJack Card counting

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Spanish blackjack (21) is a simple variation of regular Blackjack but with several additional options, features and bonus payouts. It is dealt in much the same manner as regular Blackjack and the majority of the Blackjack procedures also apply to Spanish blackjack.

The following is an explanation of the various differences Spanish 21 Blackjack has to regular Blackjack:

The Cards

It is played with eight decks though all the Queens are removed. When a Dealer is checking cards prior to opening the table he/she must also ensure that no Queens are contained in any of the decks.

A Player’s Blackjack always beats the Dealer’s Blackjack, If a Player is dealt Blackjack after the initial deal he/she will be paid immediately even if the Dealer has an Ace or Ten-value card showing. The Player is paid 3-2 on Blackjack.

Surrender

Players can choose to surrender half of their original wager after the initial deal (all players and the dealer have received two cards). The player can surrender at any stage prior to drawing additional cards or standing. If a Player decides to surrender the Dealer will take one half of the Player’s original wager.

Example: If the Player’s original bet is $20, the dealer will split the bet in two and take $10.

Surrender

If the Player has an odd amount wagered the Dealer should give the player half of the value of his/her original bet and take the whole initial wager. In circumstances where the dealer can not pay the player exactly half of his/her bet the dealer will round up the surrender and take the rounded up portion for the house.

Example: A bet of $7.50 will be $3.75 if the player surrenders. As we do not have quarters in the float the dealer will give the player $3.50 and take the $7.50 bet so that the house keeps $4.

The Dealer will not audibly offer surrender unless the Dealer’s up card is an Ace or Ten Value card. In this scenario surrender will be offered by announcing ‘Surrender Available’ and tracing the insurance line with their finger. After the Players have taken or declined the surrender option the Dealer will then offer Insurance if the up card is an Ace. This will be completed in the usual manner of announcing ‘Insurance’ and tracing the insurance line with their finger. Once insurance is closed the Dealer will then check for Blackjack.

If the Dealer’s up card is anything other than an Ace or Ten-value card the dealer will pause for a few seconds after the initial deal is complete. This will give Players the time to decide if they wish to surrender or not. After the brief pause the Dealer will start acting on each players hand in the usual manor. A Player may decide to surrender at any point providing they have not drawn any more cards.

Players cannot surrender on a split hand.

Example: The player splits 8’s and receives a 5 with one of his/her 8’s and asks to surrender – this is not permitted. The player can only surrender after his/her first two cards from the initial deal. A player can still surrender on a double down after splitting.

A Player’s 21 always beats the Dealer’s 21
If a Player takes additional cards and makes 21 he/she will be paid immediately. If the player’s original hand totals 21 and consists of five cards or more he/she will be paid a bonus, the Player will be paid 3-2.

Bonus Payments

A Player will be paid 3-2 for any of the following hands:
• Five or more card 21
• 7-7-7 (Three Sevens for a total of 21)
• 6-7-8 (A Six, Seven and Eight value card for a total of 21)

Bonus payments are not made on Double Down hands.

Splitting Pairs

Players may elect to split any cards of equal value, including Aces, up to a total of four times for a total of five hands. The Player may also hit and double on all split hands including Aces.

Doubling Down

Players can Double Down on any total and any number of cards – two card minimum . Players can also Double Down after Splitting including Aces.

Double Down Surrender

Players can surrender if they are dissatisfied with a non-busted hand after doubling down – including double down’s on split hands. . The player forfeits their original wager and the double down portion of the wager is returned.

Insurance

If the Dealer’s up card is an Ace insurance will be offered after surrender. Insurance will be paid 2-1.

Dealer Hits On Soft 17

The Dealer must take a card on soft 17 . The Dealer stands on hard 17.

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Each time the deck is shuffled the Running Count starts at 0. If the first card is dealt is an Ace the running count is decreased by 1 because the Ace’s count value in the High-Low system is -1. The running count is now -1. If the next card drawn is a 10, the 10 has a count value of -1. The running count gets decreased by 1 and the new running count total is now -2. When the 2 is drawn, a positive value of 1 is added to the existing running count because the 2 card has a count value of +1. This gives a new running total of -1. As each card is draw from the shoe the count point value of that card is added to, or subtracted from, the running count. This progression keeps going until the deck needs to be reshuffled. A counting system is referred to as a “balanced count” if after the whole deck has been dealt the running count returned to 0.

The running count is updated every time a card is drawn from the shoe. The more decks that are being played, the greater the tendency for the count to go very negative or very positive. It is imperative that the running count be remembered between individual Blackjack games and until the deck is to be reshuffled. When the deck is shuffled and play stopped, the running count is returned to 0. However, the running count is not used for any play decisions, the true count mentioned below is.

True Count

All of a player’s decisions, when card counting, are based upon the true count. The true count is derived by dividing the running count by the estimated number of remaining decks in the shoe. The resultant figure will determine how much advantage a player has. When the true count is positive the player has an advantage over the casino. Conversely, when the true count is negative the casino has a greater advantage over the player. For every true count increment the player increases his advantage by roughly 0.5%. Therefore, if you are playing at a casino with a house edge of 0.5% then when the true count is +1 the player is roughly playing even with the casino, that is 0% advantage for the player or casino. When the true count is greater than 1 the player has the advantage over the house.

In order to accurately determine the true count one needs to know the number of decks remaining in the shoe. The easiest way to try estimating this is by looking at the discarded cards. Determine approximately how many decks have been played since the last shuffle. Subtract this number from the overall number of decks that have been played. The number of decks remaining can be rounded to the nearest half deck for conversion purposes. The true count value is the running count divided by this value.

Read more about betting strategies while card counting

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Face Up Blackjack is a simple variation of regular Blackjack, the major difference is that both the Dealer’s cards will be exposed face up. There are several restrictions on the player’s options plus Blackjacks are paid even money. All pushes lose except when both the player and Dealer have Blackjack.

The Cards

Face Up Blackjack is dealt using eight decks of cards. Both of the Dealer’s cards will be dealt face up.

Please Note: Although the hole card is to be exposed, it will still be brought out of the shoe and slid under the top card as normal. The reason for this is to reduce the risk of a dealer going to a regular blackjack game and exposing his/her hole card. This could easily happen if the dealer is allowed to get used to immediately turning over the hole card on a face up game.

The dealer will deal two cards to each player and two cards to him/herself the same as regular blackjack. Once the hole card is in place the top card shall be picked up by the dealer and used to turn over the hole card.

Playing Strategy

The dealer will announce the point total of his/her hand and then deal to each player’s hand in turn.

Pushes

The dealer except for when a player has Blackjack will take all pushes. A player’s Blackjack against a Dealer’s Blackjack will be the only push.

Blackjack

Blackjack will be paid even money.

Insurance

There will be no insurance.

Doubling Down

The player can only double down when his/her first two cards total 9 (Nine), 10 (Ten) and (Eleven) ~ this includes split hands.

Splitting Pairs

The player can split cards of the same value one time only. Splitting aces is the same as regular Blackjack, the player can only draw one card.

Dealer Stands On 17

Dealer draws to 16 (Sixteen) and stands on 17 (Seventeen).

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Counting cards provides players with a slight edge when faced with difficult decisions like a player’s hand of 16 against the Dealers face card (10). Does one Stand or Hit? Most players would want to Stand. Bearing in mind that there are only 5 cards – the Ace, 2, 3, 4 and 5 that could possibly improve your hand without busting. Basic Blackjack Strategy rules state that you should Hit when faced with this scenario, however if you are Counting Cards could make the mathematically correct decision thereby increasing your odds of winning the hand. If for instance you knew that there are more 10 value cards than low cards remaining to be dealt in the shoe, it may at times be a better decision to stand on 16.

The odds advantage when playing perfect basic strategy gained by drawing on 16 against a Dealers 10 is only around 4% i.e. the player will win 4 more hands out of every 100 hands played. This is rather small advantage but one that in the long run makes a sizable difference to your bankroll. If you determined by card counting that there were substantially more ten value cards in the deck which would increase your likelihood of busting you may alter your decision to hit as per basic strategy and rather stay when faced with these border line Blackjack decisions.

Blackjack Basic Strategy is based on the concept that each hand is independent of the preceding and following hands, the best odds are determined by simulating each possible play millions of times on a computer to find the best result. Blackjack is one of the few casino games that are card dependent each card dealt affects the game itself by altering the odds. Take the game of roulette as an example, each spin is independent of the previous spin or the next spin, the wheel has no preference, craps too is roll independent. The roll on the preceding round has no influence on the current or future rolls. Blackjack Card-counting allows the player to gain a slight advantage by tracking the previous cards that have already been played and using the knowledge gained to assist in future decisions.

Card counting is not about remembering the cards that have been displayed as in the movie “Rain Man Card counting is based on the assumption that 10s are more beneficial for the player. Lower value cards, particularly the 5 and 6 cards, are more beneficial to the Dealer or house. In general the middle cards, 7 thru 9, have no advantage for the player or the Dealer. By keeping track of the proportion between lower and higher value cards, a player is able to determine when he has an advantage over the Dealer/casino. This proportion, or otherwise known as the “Running Count”, is kept by assigning a positive value to the lower cards ( 2 through 6 ) and negative value to the higher cards ( Aces and ten value cards ).

The reason why high value cards are advantageous to the player is that the casino has to follow a strict set of rules. The Dealer must draw to 17. Therefore the richer the shoe is in 10 value cards, the higher the probability of the Dealer busting. Conversely, if there are lower valued cards, remaining in the shoe, the better chance the Dealer has of not busting and achieving a good hand.

Card Counters gain the most advantage from counting when faced with the following plays:

• 15 or 16 against the Dealer’s 10 up-card
• Making Insurance decisions
• Making Side bet decisions (e.g. Over / Under)
• Playing on 12 against the Dealer’s 2 and 3 up-card

Many Casino’s now have automatic shufflers otherwise known as continuous shuffles like the popular one2six shufflers, these machines render card counting obsolete as obviously if the cards are constantly shuffled your card counting skills would be rendered somewhat useless.

The blackjack card counting systems mentioned are similar if not exactly the same as those so flamboyantly shown in the movie 21 where 5 MIT students count cards and make lots of money, 4 of the MIT card counting team were playing the table’s minimum while counting cards when there was a favorable count they would signal to the bigger player who would then join their table and make big bets exploiting the odds of the Casino to their favor. While the card counting theory behind the movie 21 may be correct to an extent the movie exploits the wins as being the norm, this is not the case, card counters do not win every session and loose often it’s the overall win percentage they are chasing after.

Card Counting Systems

Blue + Black neutral 0 Red -

Blackjack Card Counting systems that have a maximum step size or increment of 1 are called Level 1 counting systems. Level 2 counting systems are systems with a maximum step size of 2. As a general rule, the more levels a card count system has, the more efficient and accurate the system is. Counting systems that have the Ace as a 0 value are also known as Ace neutral card counting systems.

Read more about running counts and true counts

The way it works is one counts the cards are dealt i.e. J(-1) ,8 (0), 2 (+1) will give you your count value of 0 which is a neutral count giving the edge to neither the casino nor the player, the basics of the system work as follows the higher your positive count the better your odds are of winning the next blackjack hand and the lower “-” the more chance you have of losing the next hand. The percentages are marginal but so is the house win percentage if one plays by basic blackjack strategy.

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Other factors that come into play are the number of cards dealt from the shoe as well as the number of decks used. The less cards left to go in the shoe with the highest positive count is your most favorable opportunity and is the time to increase your bets to gain that extra edge over the house. The same goes for the number of decks used look for single deck blackjack as there are less cards and look for dealers who cut the deck thick enabling you to see more cards to base your play on.

Professional card counters will tend to sit at 3rd base (the last position on the table) giving him the opportunity to see all the cards that have been dealt and have the last play. This is a very easy counting system combined with good basic strategy play and lots of practice you can get great results.

You can practice counting cards by going through a deck card by card and keeping track of your count total while gradually increasing your speed, you can also stand at the back of a table and observe a blackjack game in progress to see how refined your skills are. Remember what makes a good card-counter is practice, practice, practice and more practice. Try honing your card-counting skills playing online in the comfort of your home on your computer online games can be played for free and even though the cards are probably shuffled each hand it could give you the needed edge and practice.

Many Casino’s now have automatic shufflers otherwise known as continuous shuffles like the popular one2six shufflers, these machines render card counting obsolete as obviously if the cards are constantly shuffled your High – Low card count would be rendered useless.

The blackjack hi lo card count systems mentioned are similar if not the same as so flamboyantly shown in the movie 21 where 5 MIT students count cards and make loads of money, 4 of the count team were playing the table’s minimum and counting cards when there was a high or favorable count they would signal to the big player who would then join their table and make big bets exploiting the odds of the Casino in their favor. While the theory may be correct to an extent the movie exploits the wins as being the norm, this is not the case, card counters do not win every session and loose often it’s the overall win they are after.

Read more about Card Counting and other Blackjack card counting systems

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