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Las Vegas Gambling Tips: Blackjack Deals and Traps |
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On The Town With Vegas Vic
By: Victor H. Royer
Welcome to Las Vegas! My name is Victor H. Royer, but everyone just calls me Vegas Vic. I was named after that famous neon sign in Downtown Las Vegas, that cowboy with the hat on top of the Pioneer Club, always waving his hand and beckoning to his long love, Sassy Sally, on the other side of the street. I will be writing a few articles for AccessVegas.com, so I hope you enjoy them.
Blackjack Deals and Traps
 I have written 18 books on casino games and gaming, and over the past 20 years have written hundreds of various magazine articles. The second most frequent question I am asked is: Can Blackjack really be beaten? The answer to that is a resounding Yes - but with a qualification. First, you need to know a little background for the game of Blackjack.
What we now know as American-style Blackjack evolved from a French game called Ving-et-un, meaning, literarily, twenty-and-one. It was played by the French soldiers of WW I, along with different versions by the Australians and New Zealanders. The American soldiers picked up on it, and as is the custom in America, improved on it. It is that version that made its way into the mainstream of US casinos, and it is that game that was originally played in Las Vegas casinos of the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's and 19070's.
That game was dealt from a 52 card deck, no Jokers or wild cards, and all the cards were dealt from the first to the last before the next shuffle. This meant that every player was able to see all the cards from the deck, and all the cards were played. There were no burn cards and no cut cards. Based on this, some very clever gamblers in the 1950's developed what later became the basis for a card-counting strategy. Later, in the 1960's, Edward O. Thorp published his now-famous book: Beat The Dealer, in which he introduced the very first card-counting method. Later, IBM mathematician and computer wiz Julian Braun quantified the game of Blackjack, and came up with a series of decisions based on the dealer's up card, and these became the basis for what is now called Basic Strategy. Still later, Blackjack players and experts like Ken Uston and Sanford Wong, and others, created the card-counting strategies that are now so widely known in just about all books on Blackjack.
So, now that you know how this all came to be, what about the answer to our question? Well, Blackjack can still be beaten by using one of the card-counting systems, such as the Plus-Minus count, also known as the Hi-Lo count. However, most modern casinos will no longer allow you to play it to the best possible outcome. Burn cards, frequent shuffles, shallow penetration, cut cards, shuffling machines, and all sorts of other tricks of the trade have rendered all of these traditional card counting systems all but impossible to still use well. What is left are some of the more adventurous versions of card counting methods, or some of the various progressive strategies, such as those that I have shown in my books Powerful Profits from Blackjack and Winning Strategies for Casino Games.
Finally, the biggest Blackjack trap of them all is this: - Many of the casinos in Las Vegas have started to pay off on natural 21's, known as Blackjacks, at the payoff rate of 5-to-6, instead of the traditional 3-to-2. This is very bad for you as a player. Consider this: If you are playing $10 a spot, and you get a Blackjack, the Natural 21, normally you would expect to get $15 for your bet - which is 3:2. But in many casinos you will only get $12 - which is 6:5. This means you have just handed the casino an extra $3 for nothing. Worse, you were paid $3 less for something that in many other casinos pays the correct $15. Don't fall for this trap. If you are in a casino that plays Blackjack at this terrible payoff, tell them you are leaving and keep on walking. There are plenty of casinos in Las Vegas, so don't play in one where you are getting shortchanged this badly.
That's it for now. Good luck!
For more information about Blackjack, please read my books: Powerful Profits from Blackjack, and Winning Strategies for Casino Games.
Victor H. Royer is the Author of 18 books, more than 50 casino reports, profiles, and manufacturing analyses, and a business consultant. He can be contacted at: vicnvegas@aol.com , or visit his Web site at: http://hometown.aol.com/vicnvegas/myhomepage/newsletter.html
His books can be ordered through this website, by following the link provided.
(c) Copyright 2004 Victor H. Royer. All rights reserved. For syndication purposes, contact MRM Entertainment Inc. at: vicnvegas@aol.com
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