Vegas casinos hate America

That's probably why it's so annoying. Basic blackjack strategy is not hard to comprehend. Add 10 to whatever the dealer's up card is, realize you don't have to get 21 every time to win, and go from there. One or two unorthodox decisions isn't too bad, and it's probably coincidence on how it affects you, but if things turn sour it mindfucks you. Makes you think Dingus A did something stupid, so I need to become Dingus B to shift things back the other way. And then everybody's screwed.
The longer it goes on, the worse it gets.

Like DQ, I don't (or didn't; I haven't played in a couple of years) count cards. I generally treated every hand as its own individual event because that's as far as I could track the cards and would quickly go insane if I tried to track it beyond that. I'm not good at advanced math, which is why I became a sports writer.

 

I was rather fond of Spanish 21 for a while. No 10s in the deck, which I'm sure increases the house's edge exponentially, but there were some fun wrinkles. You could split as many times as you want, even with aces, and double down whenever you wanted to. So if you started with 5-2, hit and got a 4, you could double down on your three-card 11. A five-card 21 also paid out regardless of what the dealer wound up with.

 

No, that's a pretty low-edge game. In fact, depending on how the dealer handles soft-17s and how much doubling is allowed, it can have a lower edge than blackjack.

 

A friend uses the easiest counting method from an instructional book and claims to have had better success than when it is not used. Has to be a 2-deck table, 2/1 on blackjacks. Player counts the 5s and Aces. Aces are the best card for the players, 5s are the best card for the dealer. So when an Ace is gone, that is a negative-1; when a 5 is gone, it is a positive-1. If the deck gets to +2 or +3 or more, raise your bet. If it gets to -2 or -3 or more, decrease your bet. Maintain your stock bet if the deck is -1, 0 or +1. Player claims it works and has had success. Been thrown out of one Vegas casino, the Stratosphere. They were polite. "I'm sorry, we will not take your action here anymore."

 

Ya'll are playing the wrong games. Best value in any casino is at the race book, but it requires work beforehand.

 

That's just a simplified version of the MIT teams' strategy. Changing bets is a tell, which is why they had teams.

 

The dealer had to hit a soft 17 (they stay on all 17s in regular blackjack here) and, as I said, you could double at any time. Even doubling on 12 wasn't a terrible play in terms of busting out. I just liked playing it because it was fun. You had to sit there and explain it to people who had never played it before, but it was fun.

 

If you're interested in how various rules affect the house edge, I highly recommend wizardofodds.com ... For tons of games with "strategy," they've gone through and run all the simulations. Really, really interesting stuff.

 

Where do you find a 2-deck table 2/1 on blackjacks?

 

How did they train you to look like an innocent schlub?

 

Oh, conditions can be very favorable at downtown and locals casinos. El Cortez apparently still has a single-deck game paying 3/2 for blackjack. They don't take too kindly to bet spreads, though.