Best Blackjack Betting Strategy Reddit

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I analyze all sorts of blackjack strategies and rank them for your fun and profit.

There are all sorts of 'systems' to beat blackjack, and one of the most popular is progressive betting, or martingale betting. But does it actually work? This is no better than betting a random amount and arguably in a minuscule way worse than random. There is no reliable betting strategy unless you are keeping track of the cards dealt so far in some way. Unless you learn to count the best bet is no bet, and the next best is table minimum.

In every single movie about Las Vegas and the gangsters that run it, some character says to another character, “The house always wins.”

Yet that doesn’t stop all of us from trying to beat the casino. Specifically blackjack. We all think we’re better than blackjack.

I am betting on sports and roulette for more than 10 years now. 2 months ago when me and my friend were talking about betting and my friend told me he is playing and winning big on blackjack, i wanted him to show me how this works and i researched blackjack for a week, i found out about the basic strategy and how to play the game basicly. Btw, I love the Bengals! Very fun team to watch. I think they'll lose to Denver or New England, but regardless you cannot beat 35:1 odds on a team that's currently undefeated. That's what futures are all about: striking at the best value that won't be available later.

We’re not, of course. But we think we are. I compiled this list of 11 popular strategies for beating blackjack and ranked them here, starting with the least effective and building toward the most effective.

11 Superstitions

I’ve seen tons of blackjack superstitions. None of these actually do anything — but either do lucky shirts, avoiding black cats, turning off the light switch three times to keep Charlie from dying, or any of the other day-to-day superstitions people swear by.

So it’s not going to change your blackjack fortunes if you violate your superstitions — even if you let new players enter during a shoe… you don’t bother saying “Nice hit” to someone who gets a six on a 15… you wish yourself good luck on your first-card ace… you tap twice instead of scratching the felt to hit… or forget your lucky cowboy hat. Gamblor is immune to superstition.

Best Blackjack Betting Strategy Reddit

10 Gut feelings

It seems that most people who sit down at a blackjack table have a rough understanding of textbook blackjack strategy. At least on the most basic level. The “gut feelings” strategy is a mix of playing with basic blackjack strategy but also having feelings. For example: “I’m going to stay on this 16, I just know the next card is a 10.” (I’ve seen my friend Bruce almost attack people for that statement. More than once.)

The problem here, from a mathematical perspective — aka my favorite perspective — is that blackjack strategy is constructed to give you an edge if you adhere to it without deviation and play for a long, long time. It’s like a thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters — eventually they’re going to write A Tale of Two Cities. But as soon as you deviate from the strategy for a gut feeling, that’s like telling your monkeys that they’re now trying to accidentally write Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue: An American Life.

9 Easy card counting

I have three different levels of card counting on this list, because not all card counting is created equal. Some methods are so basic that you can learn them in 15 minutes. Some take months or years of practice.

Easy card counting might give you a small bump. One strategy like this is called ace/five — that’s where you start with the number zero, add one for every five dealt and subtract one for every ace. If the count is more than two, you double your previous bet. If the count is less than two, you bet the minimum. It’s simple, and marginally effective across a large data set.

Another easy card counting style is the famed “I feel like I’ve seen a lot of big cards” strategy. This is the one where you’re paying like 80 percent attention, but you feel like you’ve seen a lot of big cards come out already so you scale back your bets. This somewhat resembles wearing shorts outside in February because you feel like there have been so many snowy days that some sun is due.

Best Blackjack Betting Strategy Reddit

8 Avoiding elderly female Korean dealers

This isn’t necessarily a winning strategy but more of an “avoid losing” strategy. Simply put: If you stand up and walk away every time there’s a dealer switch and an elderly female Korean assassin takes over your table, it will probably save you thousands of dollars in your lifetime.

7 Bet incrementing

Bet incrementing is like card counting without the card counting. It’s more like streak counting. There are different systems but they all basically come down to this: If you’re winning, keep increasing your bet; if you’re losing, don’t increase your bet.

This certainly helps avoid the break-even rut that blackjack can fall into — where you sit there for hours and never swing more than 25 percent or so from your buy-in. With incrementing, you’re either blowing money quickly or raking it in quickly.

But it’s not really a system to beat the house… just one to help you channel your luck. Incrementing coupled with counting can actually increase your winning percentage (or, more accurately, shave a small amount off the house edge). But incrementing without counting is like having sexual relations with multiple people and eschewing condoms until you catch an STD, then going back to condoms again.

6 Cheating

I put this in the middle of the list because it can go either way. If you spend hours going from casino to casino searching for a rookie dealer who might occasionally expose the very bottom burn card, that’s ineffective and inefficient cheating.

If you hide cards in your sleeve or try to subtlety double your bet when you get a good hand, those are more effective cheating strategies. Sure, you’ll end up getting dragged into a windowless room in the bowels of the casino and getting beat — fittingly — with a blackjack. But you’ll win some serious cash in the process.

5 Shuffle Tracking

In most of the big Vegas casinos you can’t do this anymore — the dealer doesn’t shuffle, he just puts the cards in a machine that automatically shuffles them. (Or, if you’re more of a conspiracy theorist, that sequences them to make sure you all get screwed.)

But if you’re playing blackjack and the dealer is manually shuffling, this actually can be moderately effective. You have to pay detailed attention to the sequence that the cards come out, because you’re looking for clusters. Maybe you try to remember the number and suit of the two cards that lead up to every ace. You expect that, during a human shuffle, some of those clusters will stay together — and you might have a little edge in knowing when the aces are coming.

It requires a lot of concentration, but might actually help you make a better decision on one or two hands every two or three shoes. It’s a long-term play. Continuing the analogy motif of this list, it’s like getting three green shells on the first lap in Mario Kart 64 and holding them indefinitely, hoping that you’ll be in a situation eventually where they’ll benefit you.

4 Basic strategy and time

Basic strategy is the calling card of blackjack — if you play with proper strategy, blackjack gives you the best odds in the casino over time. (People forget the “over time” aspect. We’re a culture that freaks out over small sample sizes. They’re the only thing keeping Around the Horn on the air.)

And over time, basic strategy really can make a difference — infinite computer simulations have proven it. But you need to have the discipline to hit 12 and 13 against a 2… hit soft 18 against a 9, 10 or ace… split 8s against a 10 even if you’re on a cold streak… and refuse to take even money for blackjacks. Every single time you play, with no exceptions, for your entire life.

3 Medium-difficulty card counting

This is the kind of card counting that the common man can learn and try to employ. You don’t need an entire team of MIT-educated math geniuses to work as spotters and helpers and trainers to make it work. (It’d be hard to get that team together anyway, what with them knowing they’d be whitewashed if a movie was made about your adventures.)

These medium strategies are more advanced than the counting strategies I talked about earlier. Here you might try something like the current “hot” counting style, called the Zen Count. (You subtract one for an ace; add one for a 2, 3 or 7; add two for a 4, 5 or 6; and subtract two for a ten.) This requires practice and concentration, *might* get you kicked out of a casino but probably not, and will give you more of an advantage than you’re used to.

Of course, if you’re doing this, you can’t really drink — so that’s a $6-$32 per hour loss, depending on the efficiency of your waitress and your willingness to consume Long Island iced teas in the middle of the afternoon. So make sure to factor that in.

2 Hard card counting team effort

These are the card counting systems you would see in movies like 21 and others. (No, I can’t actually name others, I just assume there are others.) Basically, you and your genius friends develop an advanced card counting strategy. Then you all watch and card count different tables and signal each other when a table is about to start paying off. The money guy goes to that table, bets a ton, then gets the hell out as soon as the pit bosses start whispering to each other and casting furtive glances in your direction.

On the downside, this is the kind of thing that casinos are on the lookout for and that might only exist in fantasy at this point. On the upside, if you do choose this method, you get to wear cool disguises and play different characters at the table! So if you and your friends from differential calculus class started an improv troupe, you were born for this.

(Side note: I bet that improv troupe would have a kitschy name like “RDRR” or “Nothing Derivative” or “Kristen Cavalieri’s Principle.”)

1 Autistic brother

Show me the money! Feel the need for speed! I want the truth! You’re glib!

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I love playing blackjack! I have been playing blackjack for over 20 years in all forms – casinos, online and mobile, in all environments – social, tournaments, teaching and of course studying.

I have spent countless hours, days, months studying blackjack to become the best player as possible.

Unfortunately, to become a blackjack expert, it just doesn’t happen overnight. And I feel that this is often lost on people who want to become blackjack experts. But with little bit of effort you can become a very good player. Quite often I am asked “so what’s the best blackjack strategy you know of and will I be able to easily learn it?”

The are so many strategies out there. The first thing I recommend is to check out the site Blackjackinfo.com. This site has a lot of information, tips and tricks that is great for all levels of blackjack players.

Blackjack Training

What I always recommend for beginners is to play at a virtual blackjack trainer. All the great players start out with training wheels and they learn from the experience. Of course, it’s not 100% exactly the same as playing for real money but it’s pretty darn close. So get started with slowly learning the rules. You will be able to find a lot of online blackjack trainors – blackjackinfo.com has one and it’s great.

Winning blackjack betting strategies

With practise, you will soon get the hang of it and in a short time know the basics.

Have fun with Blackjack Online

Having fun online is the best. You can easily refer to Blackjack strategy charts, having them handy on the side, as and when you play. For American’s, the best payment method I recommend is PayNearMe. This method allows you to quickly convert your cash to digital, super convenient and super fast.

If you live in Germany, Sweden, Finland or Estonia, then Pay N Play is the way to go. Pay N Play is the only payment method that I know of that doesn’t require you to create a member online account. You can use your own bank account directly as the account to play from.

When having fun, recognize that you are playing a casino game that is almost equal contest between you and the casino. Blackjack is the only game that has a casino edge of 50c for every $100 wagered. This is awesome for any player that knows how to use basic blackjack strategy.

Bank Roll

Blackjack betting guide

It goes hand in hand with fun, only play with money that you can afford to lose. Hence, I recommend the PayNearMe method for American’s, as it uses cash that you have and not on credit. Avoid borrowing money to bank roll your online account.

Choose betting limits that are within your comfort zone. It’s no fun if you are going for glory with the highest bet limit on one hand and use up your bank roll in one minute. Play within your bet limits.

Know your Betting Charts

Blackjack Betting Charts are everywhere on the internet.

Blackjack betting charts give you the statistical best play for every scenario that may arise in a blackjack hand. Be careful to use the right blackjack betting chart because they vary depending on the variation of the blackjack being played.

BlackjackInfo has a good strategy chart builder. I highly recommend using their blackjack betting chart builder, it’s very easy and quick to use.

Martingale Betting System

Introducing Martingale

The Martingale betting system is one of the simplest and most effective betting strategies for blackjack. I recall back in my college days that many of my friends formulated the same strategy – without knowing that Martingale had already coined it! Such is the simplicity of the strategy, that you may already be using it. From this betting system there can be many variations.

NO CARD COUNTING IS NEEDED

We shall start with the original betting strategy.

The Martingale Betting System Explained

In the original Martingale betting system we assume that each Wager pays out even money. That is, if you bet $1, you will get back $1 in pay out.

RoundWagerBank Roll
111
223
347
4815
51631
63263
764127
8128255
9256511
105121,023

The original true, tried and tested betting strategy works as follows.

Round 1 – In the first round (Round 1) you bet $1. And if you win, you begin your next round (staying at Round 1) with $1 dollar again, and pocket $1 profit. If you lose, you proceed to Round 2.

Round 2 – You increase your bet, by doubling the previous wager that you lost. In this round you therefore Wager $2. If you win, you profit $1 (remember you lost $1 in the previous round) and you start back to Round 1 and bet with $1 again. If you lose you proceed to Round 3.

Round 3 – You increase your bet, by doubling the previous wager that you lost. In this round you therefore Wager $4. If you win, you profit $1 (remember you lost $1 in Round 1 and $2 in Round 2) and you start back to Round 1 and bet with $1 again. If you lose you proceed to Round 4 and so on.

You can see that at each round that you win, your net profit is $1, and is always $1. This is because your bank roll is accumulating to cover previous losses. The below chart shows that as you lose your wager amount continues to double along with your bank roll.

So what does the Martingale chart mean?

I will ask you, what are the odds of you losing 10 hands of blackjack in a row? Assuming equal odds between Dealer and Player, the probability is 0.1%. That is 1 in 1,000 of you losing 10 blackjack hands straight, which means highly unlikely.

Therefore, you can play knowing that you will be able to profit $1 using this strategy. You need to have a bank roll of $1,023 per the chart to play 10 rounds. Of course if you want to extend the rounds you will need to increase your bank roll. If you do this, the probability of a string of losses in a row more than 10 rounds reduces even further.

The beauty of using the Martingale betting system for blackjack, is that sometimes the payout ratio is more that 1 to 1! When you hit blackjack (or even 21) at some online casinos you will be paid at 2 to 1! This means your profits will rise faster.

If you want to see a visual of Martingale in graphics click here.

Martingale Key Points

  • double your wager after each loss
  • have a good solid bank roll
  • the more rounds, the greater the odds of success and assured of winning

Blackjack Superstitions

Blackjack superstitions are a great way to socialize and interact with fellow players. But don’t believe in the hype. I usually “pretend” to believe in them, especially with a very superstitious bunch of players. I’d rather play along with the excitement, than argue till the cows come home about why a particular myth should be on Mythbusters and be busted. So remember, there are some strong superstitions that fellow players believe in, sometimes its better to go with the flow and not disturb the peace.

Here are a few superstitions:

Superstition: Bad players at the table will cause you to lose

Truth: This cannot be further than the truth. People playing at other positions of the table cannot cause you to lose or win. So please do not get upset if you feel that another has played their hand incorrectly and/or should have sacrificed their position for the greater good of others.

Superstition: A picture card will always follow a picture card

Truth: In a deck of 52 cards, 16 of them are picture cards. This means that there is a 31% chance of a picture card following another picture card. If you see pictures cards are being drawn, then the percentage of a picture card following a picture card will fall. Therefore, this superstition is not true.

Superstition: Never hit on a 12, because you will always bust

Truth: Some people believe that if you hit on a 12 a flow of picture cards will come. Following from the previous superstition, there is a 31% chance or less that a picture card will follow. There odds will always be higher for smaller cards than pictures cards to be dealt.

Superstition: A dealer change will cause me to win orlose

Truth: A dealer has no influence on the odds at which cards are dealt out. Do not blame a dealer for a losing streak, or a change from winning to losing.

Superstition: I’m on a winning streak so I should increase bets

Truth: Winning streaks or hot vs cold tables are simply not true. Winning or losing patterns do not influence or alter the probability of the cards.

Superstition: I can control the game with multiple hands

Truth: Some players like to play many hands, as they believe this allows them to “control” the game. This cannot be further than the truth. The casino edge remains the same no matter how many hands are played. You could think of it in another way, are the odds better if players colluded? No, the odds do not change, as per the first superstition. There are no bad players and there are no good players. You cannot influence the odds with a group of “good players”.

Best Betting System For Blackjack

Other Resources for Blackjack Betting Systems

There is a lot of websites that provide good quality blackjack information. But there’s also a lot of noise.

My favorites and highly recommended are as follows:

BlackjackInfo’s Blackjack School – This website has it all. Check it out, the forums are active, and the knowledge base is very insightful and detailed. If you follow their training and strategies, you will become an expert in no time.

Best Blackjack Betting Strategy Reddit Sites

GamblingGurus.com – Explains a lot of other strategies that include: the Martingale, Manhattan and Oscar betting systems. These three strategies utilize money management on wagered amounts as a way to increase winnings.