How Blackjack Works

Testing the concept that a picture is worth a pile of words, this online book takes a look at Blackjack and Card Counting using 145 charts. Simple concepts through advanced techniques are examined. The book won't teach you a Blackjack "system." A hundred such books exist. (For a full, free 540-page book that teaches Blackjack from the ground up, see Free Blackjack Book.) The idea here is to demonstrate the mechanics of Blackjack focusing on the vulnerabilities of both the house and the player. Graphs are used instead of tables of data to provide an instant view of the relative importance of various aspects of Blackjack. From this we can see more clearly areas of exploitation and also the reasons that many card counters don't make it.

An online form was selected for this book because full color books are expensive, it makes for an easy reference, and it is trivial to modify and extend. BlackjackinColor is a living document — suggestions for changes and additions are welcome at Suggestions.

Since later pages build on information and explanations in earlier pages, the easiest method of understanding this site is to start with the first page and use the Next buttons to travel to the end. Alternatively the index can be used below:

Acknowledgment: Many thanks to Don Schlesinger for cleaning up my atrocious use of the Queen's English.

1. Basic Strategy

• 1.1 What Blackjack hands do we get?
• 1.2 What are the good Blackjack hands?
• 1.3 What hands get the money?
• 1.4 What hands do we get including dealer upcards?
• 1.5 What are the effects of common rules?

2. Data by Count

• 2.1 How often do we get each true count?
• 2.2 How valuable is each true count?
• 2.3 How do indexes affect advantages of counts?
• 2.4 How do different manners of true counting differ?
• 2.5 How does the card count affect win/lose/push rates?
• 2.6 How does the count affect splits, double downs, Blackjacks and insurance?
• 2.7 Where do indexes come from?
• 2.8 What about unbalanced card counting frequencies?
• 2.9 What about unbalanced card counting advantages?

3. Data by Depth

• 3.1 Why is depth important in Blackjack?
• 3.2 What is the advantage at different depths?

4. Data by Penetration (SCORE Charts)

• 4.1 How much does penetration matter?
• 4.2 How much do card counting indexes matter?
• 4.3 How much do bet spreads matter?
• 4.4 How much do card counting strategies matter?
• 4.5 What about ace-neutral strategies and ace side counts?
• 4.6 What effect do rules have?
• 4.7 How often should we recalculate true counts?
• 4.8 Where should we sit?
• 4.9 How many hands should we play at once?
• 4.10 Should I bet by half counts?
• 4.11 What if I play the strategy for the wrong rules?

5. Error Data

• 5.1 How do Blackjack dealer errors affect us?
• 5.2 How do player errors affect us?

6. Cover Data

• 6.1 How does cover betting affect max bets?
• 6.2 How does cover betting affect SCOREs?
• 6.3 How does number of players interact with cover betting?
• 6.4 How can the effects of cover betting be reduced?
• 6.5 How do cover plays affect SCOREs?
• 6.6 How does cover Insurance affect SCOREs?
• 6.7 What is the cost of tipping?

7. Variance and Volatility Data

• 7.1 What is the difference between the long and short run?
• 7.2 What is the range of my results?
• 7.3 How many sessions/trips should I win?

8. Bankrolls, Goals, Risk Data

• 8.1 What is my risk of ruin?
• 8.2 What is the probability I will achieve goals?
• 8.3 How many Blackjack hands will it take?
• 8.4 How does changing risk affect win rate?

9. Optimal Betting Data

• 9.1 What effect does penetration have on optimal bets?
• 9.2 How much is lost with rational bet sizes?

10. Effects on Other Players

• 10.1 How does back-counting affect others?
• 10.2 How does changing number of hands affect others?
• 10.3 How does bad-card eating affect others?

11. Unusual Effects and Miscellaneous Data

• 11.1 What is the effect of the cut card?
• 11.2 What is the effect of Floating Advantage on card counting?
• 11.3 Do we spend more time in positive or negative counts?
• 11.4 How many cards are dealt per hand?

12. Side Bet Data

• 12.1 How do we card count Lucky Ladies?

13. Peeking Data

• 13.1 What is the gain from peeking at player downcards?
• 13.2 What is the gain from peeking at burn cards?
• 13.3 What is the gain from peeking at dealer hole cards?
• 13.4 What is the advantage if we know the first card dealt?

14. Voodoo Charts

• 14.1 How do targets and stop losses affect us?
• 14.2 What are dealer hand total and bust frequencies?
• 14.3 How long are streaks?
• 14.4 What does a positive progression session look like?
• 14.5 What does a Martingale session look like?
• 14.6 How does the third base player affect you?

15. Blackjack Shuffle Tracking Charts

• 15.1 How does shuffle tracking affect SCORE?
• 15.2 How does shuffle tracking affect others?
• 15.3 How does shuffle tracking affect the count?

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