Simple Blackjack System

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: Blackjack
• Date: Jul 5,2008

Today we are going to discuss some strategies related to playing blackjack online.  This is game that unlike many others can be played alone.

We covered the rules in a previous post, so now here are some tips to help us get to grips with the game. 

Firstly – when playing blackjack many people seem to think that unless you are a card-counter, you will LOOSE.  This is partially true – but the fact I need to re-iterate time and time again to people is if you play alone chances are you will LOOSE. 

What we are looking for are full tables.  Full table means we can see more cards, this means we can predict the dealer-cards and as a result this increases the odds in our favour to some extent, as we can "count the cards" and work it all out.

Later on we’ll do an article about how to card-count but it takes a bit of practice.  If you don’t know how to do it, don’t worry; you can still play Blackjack.

Use these rules for a guideline, and when you get a bit more successful adapt them.  We honestly prefer European roulette to Blackjack, but both games are enjoyable!

1) Blackjack is HARD. Why? because you are playing against the dealer and he is always one-step behind you. 

2) Split when your pair is higher then the dealers "Up" card.

3)Don’t double down 11 vs Ace, unless you are playing a tournament

4) If you are playing at a full table, and you have some medium cards i.e. 12 – 15 stand.  Remember the other advantage at playing at a table is the dealer is not out to get just you, he has other fish to fry so let him!

5) This one breaks all the rules, but sometimes it is just necessary.  Follow your gut.  Sometimes intuition pays off

Good luck!

The Money Pot

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: General
• Date: Jul 3,2008

Everyone is looking for that perfect system that will give them the edge.  Everyone hears about that ‘player’ who stole millions from the casino with his unbeatable system, and chances are you’ve had a few of ‘those’ e-mails that tell you about this magical system that will double your winnings and let you turn gambling from a hobby into a career.

We’re a professional site, and we actually receive countless invitations from these unscrupulous individuals to post links about systems that don’t work. 

Today; following on from our previous post we are going to take a little look as to WHY the martingale and other flat-betting systems don’t always work.

Let’s begin:

Imagine we are playing at a roulette table, the maximum bet is $100.  You are betting on the ball landing in a red pocket.  We are going to carry on from yesterdays run of betting.  Assume it is the same table and we haven’t stopped since bet one.

Bet 1 : red $1 = win {+1}
Bet 2 : red $1 = win {+2}
Bet 3 : red $1 = loose {+1}  
Bet 4 : red $2 = loose {-1}
Bet 5 : red $4 = win {+3}
Bet 6 : red $1 = win {+4}
Bet 7 : red $2 = lose {+2}
Bet 8 : red $4 = lose {-2} 
Bet 9 : red $8 = lose {-10}

Bet 10 : red $16 = win{+6}
Bet 11 : red $1 = lose {+5}
Bet 12 : red $2 = lose {+3}
Bet 13 : red $4 = lose {-1}
Bet 14 : red $8 = lose {-9}
Bet 15 : red $16 = lose {-25}
Bet 16 : red $32 = lose {-57}
Bet 17 : red $64 = lose {-121}
Bet 18 : red $128 = lose {system dead}

Notice – we’re now screwed.  I’ve been playing casino games a long time, and a 8 or 9 run loss is not unimaginable.  It can and does happen especially online.  When we can realistically predict numbers, I’ll be the first to tell you.  But – martingale is a system doomed to failure, unless you do one thing.

Match it with a stop-loss.

Not just any old stop-loss, we need a trailing stop-loss so if we do profit, our stop-loss takes this into account.    So let’s re run the numbers again, with a stop-loss of $-20.  We end up coming out at bet 14 with a loss of $9 dollars.  But lets add into this a rule that says 3 wins and we quit -  we come out with +4 dollars.

One last thing to consider is matching it in with what I call a risk-profit strategy.  This means we gamble until we have sufficient profit to use as a main stake.  Then its no-risk gambling, but getting the wins to secure the amount needed is not easy. 

Martingale Exposed

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: Roulette
• Date: Jul 1,2008

In the past few days we have covered a fair few tips and rules that can help us all when we play any sort of betting or gambling game.

Today we’re going to look at some basic systems that we can integrate with good money management so that the end result = more profit. This post is written for your information only. It needs to be made clear that out of the box betting systems such as martingale etc, are doomed to fail if you don’t adapt them and become aware of their inherit weaknesses.

So before we start; let’s re-cap

We don’t play unless we have a large enough gaming bankroll
We don’t play unless we have a large enough session bankroll
We watch our losses
We track our wins

So with those rules, we can develop a system. Let’s say for example we’re developing a roulette system. We know that roulette is a game where flat betting is an option, so martingale or any flat betting system can be adapted.

What we need to do now; is take the elements of the game – what can we bet; what are the odds and transpose them into our system. So, in roulette we are most ‘advantaged’ in the spots that offer even money – i.e. black / white / odd / even / 1^st 18 – 2^nd 18, these bets have a just under 50% chance to win, hence the odds are low. So – put martingale into effect and we can start our system.

Bet 1 : red $1 = win {+1}
Bet2 : red $1 = win {+2}
Bet 3 : red $1 = loose {+1}
Bet 4 : red $2 = loose {-1}
Bet 5 : red $4 = win {+3}
Bet 6 : red $1 = win {+4}
Bet 7 : red $2 = lose {+2}
Bet 8 : red $4 = lose {-2}
Bet 9 : red $8 = lose {-10}

So that was our betting run. You can see that Martingale ‘seems’ to work; but before you try any system out, make sure you know its risks. Next time we will take a detailed analysis of martingale.