Casino SPA

1. In blackjack the house edge is the statistical advantage the casino has over the player. At any blackjack table the dealer is the casino representative. By acting last in a hand, the dealer gains the advantage over the players by seeing their cards, actions and potential mistakes.
2. The basic rules of blackjack are simple. Players try to score as close to 21 as possible without exceeding 21. In contrast to poker, where players compete with each other, blackjack is a one-on-one game between each player and the dealer. As the dealer, the basic rules of blackjack still apply.
3. If your hand is 11 or less, always hit. You can't possibly bust, so the extra card will only help your hand. If your hand is 17 or greater, and the dealer is not showing a Seven or higher, always stand. The risk of busting if you. If your hand is 12 to 16, and the dealer is showing an up card.

Greektown Casino: Small and the blackjack house rules are twisted. See 418 traveler reviews, 27 candid photos, and great deals for Detroit, MI, at Tripadvisor. Blackjack Basic Table Rules When you play the house, you play against the casino, which is represented by the dealer. The dealer deals one card face up to each player, from left to right, with the last card going to the house’s hand, which is face down. The dealer will then deal one card facing up to each player and then the house.

Well, it happened again over the weekend. For the fifth time, I have been backed-off at a blackjack table. This time at El Cortez Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas, NV. This was where I was backed-off the fourth time too, about four weeks ago.

A Fool And His Money Are Soon Parted

I am a blackjack card-counter and I am very good at what I do. If you read my bio in the Meet the Network Section you will see I don’t show my face. This is because we card counters are considered “The Enemy” by blackjack pit personnel. I guess they have a job to do, but so do I. They even have a Black Book where they keep our photos.

You see, blackjack, if understood and played properly, can be beat. However, not all blackjack games are created equally. Every blackjack game is played by a certain set of “table rules” that define the house’s starting advantage. This is the theoretical house win rate, against blackjack players who play perfect Basic Strategy. This number can be very small. As currently constituted, the El Cortez single deck blackjack game has a house starting advantage (edge) of a tiny 0.18%, as shown by the chart, below:

Player Notes: Quick to back off. Sweats green action.

Blackjack Ace Rules

For the record, card counting is NOT illegal. Of course, the casinos want you to think it is. Card counting is a relatively simple method of determining when the house has the edge on the cards remaining to be dealt, and when the player has the edge. All I am doing is using my intellect and basic math skills – addition and subtraction – to keep track of this. What is illegal is collusion with the dealer or using any mechanical device, like a computer, at the table. I don’t do any of that and never have.

But I am pretty sharp at this. We can get into that another time, as that is not the thrust of this article.

Casinos are chickenshit. And El Cortez might now be the new leader in chickenshittedness in Las Vegas, NV.

Casinos cater to the weak and infirm. They serve players complimentary alcohol, as much as the player wants, and extorts the player to play more (and drink more). Especially when he or she is incapacitated. They have zero qualms about taking the Fool’s Money.

Yet, the other side to this is they ban guys like me who know how to play. Why? I don’t really know but it is legal for them to do so. No way am I hurting their bottom line.

Every casino in Nevada (and probably in every other state, too) is considered a private club. They cannot overtly discriminate on the basis of color or creed. Yet, as a private club, they can choose whom to serve (overserve in the case of all the free booze) and whom to not serve, like me, in the case of a player who knows what he is doing.

The casinos and the corporations that run them are all cynical and greedy. They know the masses are not prepared to play any of the games they offer. They offer games with awful rules – like paying 6 to 5 on a Blackjack – and games with huge house edges. They do this because they are greedy and they know their “guests” don’t understand even the most basic math that controls the house edge. As the title states: A Fool And His Money Are Soon Parted.

In the olden days when the real Mob ran Las Vegas, they gave their players a good game and a good gamble. Nowadays, the corporate mobsters who run this town are just plain greedy. They will get you drunk and take your money. But they have no interest in allowing a guy like me to make a tiny profit off of their largesse.

But we can all do something about this – no matter where you are in the world! All we have to do is simply refuse to play the lousy games that are being offered to us. If we all voted with our bankrolls and stayed away from casinos that offer bad games with lousy playing conditions, things would change almost immediately. Unfortunately, the corporations know most of their customers are fools, only looking for a “good time,” and are easily parted from their money.

Over the years, I have taught at least two dozen people how to play basic strategy and how to count cards. I am gratified to hear from any of them who report how they won money at the game of blackjack. If any of you reading this are interested in learning how to play correctly, feel free to contact me through this website. And we can practice at the El Cortez and take even more of their money!

Single Deck Blackjack has a 0.15% house edge that puts you almost on a even playing field with the casino.

Blackjack is a popular casino game of luck and skill combined and it is frequently played in land based, online and mobile casinos. The biggest reason for the popularity of the game is that it has one of the lowest house edges of all casino games and with basic or optimal blackjack strategy players can increase their advantage over the casino. Even though luck also plays a role, with appropriate skills they can indeed make a profit. Nowadays blackjack has many different variants suitable for different types of blackjack players. One of it is Single Deck Blackjack and, as the name implies, it is played with one deck of playing cards. The variant offers the best house edge for players and if they are familiar with a basic blackjack strategy, they are ready to play.

How to Play Single Deck Blackjack

The main objective of Single Deck Blackjack is to get a hand value of 21 or as close as possible to 21 before the dealer without busting or going over. An alternative is to stand and have the dealer bust. Before the game starts, you place a bet. Then you and the dealer are dealt cards. The dealer is dealt one face up card and one face down. You are dealt two face up cards. Based on the cards in front of you and the face up card of the dealer you decide whether to stand or stop drawing cards, hit or draw more cards, double down or place another bet or split cards.

The Rules

The following are the rules for playing Single Deck Blackjack:

• Only one deck of cards is used. It is shuffled before the beginning of each gaming session.
• The dealer hits on soft 17.
• The player can split a hand up to three times.
• Aces can be split and the player gets only one card to each Ace. They cannot be re-split.
• A hand comprised of a split Ace and a card with a value of 10 is not blackjack.
• Blackjack pays 3 to 2.
• Wining insurance bets pay 2 to 1.
• Other winning hands pay 1 to 1.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Single Deck Blackjack

Many blackjack fans consider Single Deck Blackjack as the holy grail of standard Blackjack mainly because it gives played the best chance to increase their bankroll. As a rule of a thumb, blackjack games that are played only with one or a few decks have lower house edge than Multi Deck Blackjack games. In Single Deck Blackjack, the house edge is just 0.15%. This may seem quite tempting, but the game also has a few disadvantages.

Advantages

As already mentioned, the biggest advantage of Single Deck Blackjack is that it has the lowest house edge. However, to take advantage of the low house edge, players should understand the game and its rules as well as use good blackjack strategy. Otherwise, the house edge will increase no matter how many decks the game has.

Cosmopolitan Blackjack House Rules

Single Deck Blackjack is also a favorable variant for card counters. When playing blackjack with six or eight decks players wait longer till they get favorable counts. With Single Deck Blackjack, they can get a favorable count fast. However, it should be noted that card counting works when playing the game in brick and mortar casinos, because on the Internet card are shuffled after each hand.

Disadvantages

Single Deck Blackjack also has a few disadvantages. Even though it has low house edge, some casinos modify its rules so the house edge of the variant may end up being higher than that of eight deck blackjack. For example, some casinos pay 6 to 5 for blackjack instead of 3 to 2 increasing the house edge from 0.15% to 1.45%. Having in mind that you can maintain a house edge of around 0.5% with both single and multi deck blackjack games, it might not be worth the effort to search for Single Deck Blackjack games.

Another disadvantage is that casinos usually don’t give many comp points for playing the game because in the long run, due to the low house edge, they won’t win much money from it. Therefore, they aren’t very generous with comp points.