best online casinos
RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Blackjack:’

Is Blackjack Really the Easiest Game in a Casino?

11 Dec

For a long time the debate has been going strong over whether or not blackjack is in fact the easiest game to play in casino, in other words that it’s easier to make a profit in blackjack than it is at any other game. In fact the debate has been going back and forth so long you may be wondering why it’s not studied by scientists. Well actually it HAS! A few years ago, It think it was in the 80’s, a group of students from Stanford University actually set out to study the odds of different casino games in order to figure out which games, including blackjack, might be the most potentially profitable games to play in a casino.

Interestingly, the team from Stanford was only interested in house games, that is; games where players aren’t playing against each other but rather when they are playing against the house. It’s interesting to note that blackjack is kind of a combination of the two, because while you are clearly playing against the house, there are other players there as well that have a big impact on the game. The same is true of online blackjack, while you are actually playing against the house, in online blackjack the computer simulates the other players that would normally be seated with you at a casino, and they play at the online blackjack table along with you.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that the university students actually found that YES! Blackjack is in fact the easiest game in a casino, to earn a profit at. But remember they did not count poker. Most people believe that poker is actually the easiest way to earn money in a casino, but that in order to do so you have to be really good. Well the same is true for blackjack. While it may be true that blackjack does provide slightly better odds than any other game at, either a live or online casino, whether or not you will win a profit depends on how GOOD you are! Don’t expect that you’ll be able to sit down at blackjack and make a profit as long as you play enough. It doesn’t work like that. Black jack is a game of skill just as poker is. The university team found that you need to take the time to develop a blackjack strategy, and then once you have developed a strategy you have to employ that strategy over a long period of time in order to make your strategy turn a profit. In other words, the better odds that everyone talks about at a blackjack table, are really only very slight. A person will only gain an advantage over the house if they have a solid strategy and they play for a very long time. But the good news is it actually works. The university students were actually able to make money at every casino they went to, even online casinos. And when the university published its findings in scientific journals, the students that did the work were actually not allowed to set foot in any casinos in the country.

So while it may be possible to get good enough at blackjack that you can actually make money playing it, the moral of the story is, if you can do it, don’t tell anyone, or at least don’t publish it in a journal.

 
Comments Off

Posted in Casino Articles

 

Noble Casino Blackjack Experience

22 Nov

As a fanatic blackjack player I have been playing at different online casinos. Off course it is nice to see that some casinos try to represent the real life blackjack card game. However for me this is not the most important aspect. I am playing online to have the convenience of my living room and flexibility and speed which you can not find in brick and mortar casinos.

Next to some slots and craps I usually play blackjack only. A friend of mine directed me to Noble Casino. This is a fairly new casino, I think they became operational in 2009, but they are very professional. Because my friend referred me to Noble Casino we both received a special referral bonus I could use at the Blackjack tables right away.

My first blackjack games at Noble Casino did not go as planned, I was not adjusted to the Noble Casino interface and therefore clicked wrong a few times which cost me a couple of dollars. But within 10 minutes I got really used to Noble Casino and I started to appreciate to software very much. The interface is quick and clear and the important buttons are presented larger than less important buttons. As soon as I was really acquainted with the software I decided to try my luck and I moved to the higher limit blackjack tables.

From the lobby it was very easy to browse through the different limits and I soon arrived at the $10 blackjack tables. In the meantime my computer was giving me messages I needed to make a backup which I decided to postpone for 1 hour. Back in Noble Casino I had to make my first bets before the dealer could start dealing the cards. My first hand started out with an eight and a three, a perfect start! With the dealer also hitting an ace I was determined to hitting blackjack right away. With a nine as my third card I celebrated a bit inside but I was not safe yet. The dealer slowly turned over his card, it was a five, he therefore decided (automatically) to hit another card, this time it was an eight and dealer was bust! I made $10 profit in my first hand at these limits, and I started to like it!

I ended up playing for three straight hours at the blackjack tables of Noble Casino, it was really exciting and even though I had some ups and downs I ended up with a small profit (just over $500) which I kept in my account for the next day.

Playing blackjack at Noble Casino was really giving me the excitement a casino should provide. It was a clear and nicely designed interface which definitely met up to all my expectations. A few weeks later I suddenly received an email from Noble Casino giving me a reload bonus if I decided to come back to the blackjack tables, what a very nice way to treat your customers!

Looking back Noble Casino is definitely a great casino to play games and especially blackjack.

This article is written by Tom. Tom has been a casino blackjack player for over 10 years and enjoys the possibilities of online casino’s and especially casino bonuses. An estimated guess would bring his total bonus winnings at about $6,000.

 
1 Comment

Posted in Casino Articles

 

West Virginia Blackjack – West Virginia Casinos

12 Nov

For a long time, gamblers in West Virginia had to travel somewhere else to play blackjack games, craps games, roulette games, etc. The only casino gambling action available to them was slot machine gambling and horse betting. But recently, Wheeling Island Gaming and Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort received permission to add table games to their offerings. So the gamblers who used to travel to Indiana can now get their blackjack fix a little closer to home.

Blackjack isn’t the only new game that’s available to gamblers in the area. Texas holdem grows ever more popular, and both of the locations already mentioned now have poker card rooms where aspiring Doyle Brunsons can now go all-in and hope they don’t get a bad flop.

Wheeling Island Gaming

Wheeling Island Gaming is located on an island in the Ohio River. The casino offers a tropical island ambience including a waterfall and multiple faux-palm trees. The island itself is only about 2 miles long, and Wheeling Island Casino offers several restaurants and bars. Be warned that this casino is extremely popular, and the blackjack games there are a big attraction. You should be prepared to wait if you want to play blackjack at any stakes lower than $50 per hand. (The higher stakes tables aren’t as crowded.)

Gamblers who are tired of slot machines, blackjack, and craps can step outside and spend some time betting on the dog races that are also offered at the location. Or if you’re not the rough and rugged outdoors-y type, you can watch the races from inside as well.

Mountaineer Casino Racetrack

The Mountaineer Casino Racetrack is located in the countryside, somewhat removed from the rest of civilization. Like Wheeling Island Gaming, the Mountaineer offers multiple restaurants and bars. They have a radically different decor and theme though, favoring a 1920’s gangster/speakeasy decor over the tropical island theme present at Wheeling Island. The casino is a little bit larger, and finding a lower stakes blackjack table with a seat open is a little bit easier here.

And if you get tired of gambling, a golf resort is located nearby, so you can get some fresh air and exercise while taking a break from the tables and the slot machines.

Some Blackjack Advice

If you’re new to blackjack strategy, here are a few tips for how to minimize the house edge:

  • When you’re not sure about the correct play, assume that the dealer has a ten as her hole card, and also assume that you’re going to be dealt a ten. The deck has more tens in it than any other card, so this is a decent assumption about what’s going to happen next, and the basic strategy decisions become pretty obvious.
  • Always split aces and eights. If you’ve got aces, you get twice as many chances at a blackjack by splitting. And you’ll often draw a ten when you hit. 10+8=18, which is a mighty respectable blackjack hand any time.
  • Never split fours, fives, or tens. A pair of fours is a hard total of eight, which means you’re next card, if it’s a ten, will be an eighteen, which is a mighty good hand. (Two hands with a total of fourteen each would be a bummer to play though.) A pair of fives is a total of ten, so doubling down is a good idea here, since you’re hoping to catch an ace for a 21 or a ten for a total of 20. And a pair of tens is a total of 20, which is an outstanding hand no matter what.
  • Don’t play with money you can’t afford to lose.
  • For more blackjack strategy advice, including a hand-by-hand guide to basic strategy, visit Blackjack Hero’s blackjack basic strategy tutorial.
  • To practice a little blackjack online before your tips, try the free blackjack games available with no download at Free Flash Blackjack.

Good luck at the tables in West Virginia. The house has the edge unless you’re counting cards, but you’re the one having big fun.

Another great blackjack resource for new blackjack players is Blackjack Tactics.

 
Comments Off

Posted in Casino Articles

 

The MIT Blackjack Team Story

04 Oct

What’s the first thing that enters your mind when you think of MIT, the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology: engineering genius, mathematical wizard, visionary, geek, hacker? If you chose any one of those, you would be correct. Mix them all together, add some smoke and mirrors, big-time anonymous investors, a dash of anarchy for good measure, and you get one of the best scams of all times–the MIT Blackjack Team–the ultimate in high stakes, genius-backed hacking! Infamy is nothing new to MIT. Some of the world’s wiliest hackers hailed from the hallowed halls of MIT; but when one gifted math professor and six gifted students banded together, they propelled organized hacking to dizzying heights and snookered organized gambling to the tune of millions! That was sweet music to the ears of millions who have left behind small fortunes in their quest to beat the casinos.

After school club

The MIT Blackjack team began as an after-school club held in campus classrooms where students assembled to apply their genius to card games, unwind (at least, by MIT standards), and have fun. The club eventually evolved into serious business. The team set up a complete underground system of casino mock-ups spanning apartments, warehouses, and classrooms scattered across Boston where they worked diligently to perfect their scheme. Before advancing to live play in the casino, each player had to pass a rigorous battery of tests encompassing all of the roles under simulated casino conditions, including distraction and harassment. Still, they were not ready for the big league until further honing their skills in Boston’s Chinatown before heading to Las Vegas.

Card Counting

Card counting, the heart of their system, is a proven winning technique. Blackjack odds offer the one opportunity for those with skill, dogged determination, and discipline to consistently beat the house. The casinos know that Blackjack is vulnerable (that smart, disciplined players actually have a fighting chance of winning), and that is why they ban the big winners and harass and threaten potential big winners.

Casino management further understands that it takes only one or two mistakes to turn a player’s winning system into a house win, and that is the only reason that they tolerate card counting–until it turns against them. They rely on human frailties, such as lack of discipline and distraction, to return the advantage to the house.

The MIT team used card counting as the foundation of their system; it was only one among a number of tools in their magical tool box, and even then, it wasn’t traditional card counting. It added a high-low system, based on the statistical probability of receiving high or low cards, and they added an additional technique for cutting the cards that further skewed the odds in their favor.

Team members traveled together, seemingly as total strangers. Each assumed one of a number of well-crafted fake identities, the teams included several types of players, each member playing a well-defined role. Anonymous investors provided the stake and expected a return on their investment. One such outing netted a 154% ROI after expenses. Transporting huge amounts of cash back and forth was another obstacle they overcame with ingenuity. Cash traveled in every conceivable manner: strapped to bodies, on “mules,” in hollow crutches, just to name a few.

High Tech vs Low Tech

Their reign spanned a good part of the 1990s when they traveled the casino circuit with total abandon. Their $400,000 winning weekend in Las Vegas is legendary. Casino technology was not yet at a stage where it could match wits with MIT genius. At least, it had not made its way to practical application in Las Vegas, Ironically, it would be low-tech sloppiness that brought the team down in the end.

The casinos had learned to deal with the card counters long before the MIT pikers hit the scene. When they identified a card counter, they would ensure that his play at the tables was a living nightmare, and should the card counter take the house for a large sum, they would immediately ban him. Technology in the 1990s had matured to a point where bad news traveled fast. When the card counter was detected at one casino, it became nearly impossible to escape detection at any other casino.

Profiled MIT Blackjack Team

Las Vegas casino bosses relied on a long-established profile of the Blackjack card counter, but since the MIT team ran counter to the profile, that also worked in their favor, helping them to escape detection. The profile assumed one lone card counter. The team’s nonchalant, seemingly random style of play also ran counter to the profile. But they were crazy like foxes–until they were no more.

Finally, sloppiness brought them to their knees. Eventually, they lost their discipline and their cool; the well-oiled machine built with the precision of a Swiss watch began to fall apart. They began to fraternize, and not just with the usual Las Vegas temptations, but with each other–in public. A total chance spotting of the teams relaxing and playing at a Las Vegas pool blew their cover. The tale of their unraveling wound its way back to the back streets of Boston before they finally disbanded. The odds had finally turned against them, and the stakes were far too high for even the geniuses from MIT.

The last remaining team player was escorted from the table with the parting words, “You can’t play here. You’re too good for us.”

Blackjack Team in the News

The tale of the MIT Blackjack Team doesn’t end with its demise. ABC, CNN, History Channel, and CBS’s 60 Minutes all picked up the story. Bringing Down the House : The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions (Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, 2002), by Ben Mezrich, chronicles the escapades of the team from its inception to the end of the line through the eyes of team member, Kevin Lewis (not his real name). One enterprising former member currently offers seminars based on the system.

The final irony has yet to play itself out. Kevin Spacey is producing the movie version of the book, due to be released by MGM sometime in 2006. One has to wonder if the movie will help MGM recover its losses to the MIT Blackjack Team.

Want to learn more about Blackjack Strategy and other types of casino games? Casino Gambling Watchdogs is a collection of free articles related to online casino gambling.

 
Comments Off

Posted in Gambling Articles

 

Blackjack Strategy and Gambling Strategies

13 Sep

Today blackjack is the most popular casino banking game in the world. Like any other form of gambling, blackjack too has some strategies, following which the chance of winning becomes high. Gambling strategies especially blackjack strategy can be mustered and practiced by everybody. Blackjack strategy is followed while playing hard hands, split pairs as well as soft hands.

Now what is a hard hand? It is called a hard hand when the two starting cards do not contain an ace.

The idea is that if a player has a total of eight or less then he should always hit. Such gambling strategies or in other words such a blackjack strategy helps the player to attain a higher number. If the dealer has a number between three and six and the player has nine then the player should double it otherwise he should hit. Blackjack strategy or for that matter any other gambling strategies involves cunningness and hence it is required of the player to observe the dealer and the other players constantly.

If the player has points between seventeen and twenty one he should always stand. These are a few basic gambling strategies that need to be kept in mind while playing a hard hand.

A soft hand means that one of the starting hands of a player contains an ace. In this scenario if the player has an ace, a two or an ace and three and the dealer have five or six he should otherwise hit.

If the player has an ace and six, double it if the dealer has three, four, five or six, otherwise hit. If the player on the other hand has an ace and an eight or an ace and a nine then he should always stand.

Today, thanks to the popularity of gambling especially blackjack many websites have been dedicated to providing blackjack strategy.

Now we discuss a blackjack strategy when played in pairs. If say a player has an ace and an eight he should always split.

If on the other hand, he has a pair of twos and threes then he should only split if the dealer has two, three, four, five, six or seven. If the player has a pair of nines then he should only split if the dealer has two, three, four, five, six, eight and nine and should stand if the dealer has seven, ten or ace.

But if the player has a pair of tens then he should always stand and not think of splitting. Now if you are new to the game then before learning any gambling strategies or any blackjack strategy you should first familiarize yourself with the terms commonly associated with blackjack.

Hit, here means that the player should pick up another card.

Stand, means that the player should not take anymore new cards.

Pair, here means that the player has two cards of similar number.

Splitting would be separating the pairs by placing a second equal bet on the betting box beside the original bet.

When playing with a good Blackjack Strategy you can give yourself an edge. Maximize your odds by playing with our online gambling strategies. Learn the best online Gambling strategies such as Blackjack strategy craps strategy and further strategies.

 
Comments Off

Posted in Gambling Articles

 
« Older Entries