Blackjack Strategy

The most legendary team of blackjack players, which beat the casinos for millions of dollars, was the MIT team. Several books (Bringing Down the House, Busting Las Vegas, The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big in Business), movies (21 and The Last Casino), and numerous magazine stories and television shows have been written about their accomplishments.

The one aspect of the game of blackjack that has garnered the most publicity is card counting. Countless number of books have been written about it; a host of internet websites and “chat rooms” discuss it; and card counting has even been featured in several popular Hollywood movies (e.g., Rain Man and 21).

Have you ever wondered why blackjack has been the most popular table game in casinos for the past 50 or so years? Its popularity arises for these four reasons.

In Part 1, I summarized the differences in playing rules between playing blackjack in U.S. vs. abroad, specifically focusing on the no-hole-card rule. In this article, I will discuss the surrender rule.

Blackjack is blackjack: your goal is to beat the dealer whether you play in land-based or online casinos in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Caribbean, or any other part of the world. However, playing live blackjack abroad in a land-based casino has some differences compared to playing in the U.S.

Several years ago, I gave a blackjack seminar in front of an audience of about 100. At the start of my seminar, I posed this question to them. “How does the casino get its edge in blackjack?” 

Basic strategy players and card counters have asked me that question umpteen times over the course of nearly 50 years of playing, teaching, and writing about blackjack. This is what I told them.

Note: Click here to read Part 1 of this article.

I was not able to attend this year’s Blackjack Ball because of my wife’s unexpected surgery that occurred the week of the Ball.

When you are dealt a pair of 4s in blackjack you have three viable playing options:

After nearly 50 years of playing blackjack, I could write a book that would contain all the misinformation on blackjack I’ve read in books and the Internet, and heard in casinos (of all places) and from fellow players. But rather than write the book, I decided instead to write this article for your enlightenment.

If there is one playing decision that seems to confound most blackjack players, it’s knowing when to split a pair (and when not to). Don’t believe me?