How to Win at Blackjack

Dealer: Alright players, make your bets. Here we go. 5, 6, 8, 9, 8, 9. Andy Bloch: It doesn't matter what card the dealer gets, I know that the basic strategy card says to always split 8s. Now, let's look at the girls' hands and see what basic strategy would advise them to do. Always hit or double down when you have 11 or less. You can't bust. Dealer: 8 hits. 15. 15 on a 9. Andy Bloch: When you have a hard 15 and the dealer has a 9, you've got to take a hit. Dealer: 20. Congratulations. 9 on a 9. Andy Bloch: You already know to always hit or double down when you have 11 or less. Dealer: Hit.17. 17 on a 9. Stay. Andy Bloch: OK, my turn. Let's look at the order in which I make my basic strategy decisions. My first decision is whether or not to split, or surrender. We already know to always split 8s. Dealer: 8s. Andy Bloch: Now I have 2 hands. Dealer: 11. Andy Bloch: My second decision is whether or not to double down. With an 11 against a dealer's 9, I should double down. Male Speaker: Double that. Dealer: Double down, here we go. 21. Andy Bloch: It's always fun when it works. Dealer: 15. Andy Bloch: My final decision is whether to hit or stand. You've got to hit a 15 versus the dealer's 9. Dealer: Hit again. 25 Andy Bloch: Oh well. That happens too. At least I know I played it right. Dealer: 16 against a 9. Blonde: Can I surrender? Andy Bloch: She can do whatever the hell she wants. Dealer: You can surrender. Andy Bloch: Many beginners haven't even heard of surrender and most casinos don't offer it, but it's favorable if you know when to surrender. The basic strategy card will tell|you when you should surrender. Just one more reason to learn the card, folks. Dealer: Dealer opens up 14. 14 hits. 24. Congratulations. You guys win. Blonde: Let me get this straight, so the only way to win money in blackjack is by counting cards? Dealer: Basically. Brunette: Don't you have to be a genius to do that? Andy Bloch: Don't you have to be a genius to count cards? Not at all. In fact, on the MIT team, we used to say, we could teach plywood to count cards. But before I show you how simple counting really is, let me explain why it works. Blackjack professionals count because as cards are taken out of the shoe, the edge swings towards you or towards the casino depending on what the remaining cards are. When there are a lot of 10s and Aces left in the deck, and fewer low cards, the deck favors the player. That's mostly because blackjack becomes more likely, and the player gets paid a 50% bonus on every blackjack. The card counting system I'm going to teach is called Hi-Lo. It's simple to learn, yet powerful enough to serve as the preferred counting system for the MIT blackjack team. Here's how it works. Low cards, 2 through 6, are good when removed, and are assigned the value plus 1. High cards, 10s through Aces, are bad when removed, and are assigned the value negative 1. The middle cards, 7, 8, and 9, are mostly neutral, and assigned the value of 0. You always want to start counting at the beginning of a shoe, starting with 0. Let's practice. The 5 is a low card. Plus 1. The 7 is worth 0, so the count stays at plus 1. The 5 is worth 1, so the count goes to plus 2. Another low card brings us to plus 3. 8s are zero, we stay at plus 3. An Ace is minus 1.|The count drops to plus 2. The 6 is worth 1 and brings us to plus 3. The soft 18 would double down. So would the 11. The Queen is worth minus 1, so our running count goes down to plus 2. Plus 3. Plus 4. Plus 3. See, you don't have to be a genius to count cards. You just have to practice. Let's try it a little faster now, and I'll only say the running count, not the value of each card,|starting again at zero. Plus 1. Plus 2. Plus 1. Plus 2. Plus 3. Plus 2. Plus 3. Once again, a little faster,|starting from zero, with no yellow numbers to help you. Minus 1. Minus 1. Zero. Plus 1. Zero. Zero. Plus 1. Plus 2. Plus 2. Plus 3. Plus 2. Here are a few practice drills that we found effective on the MIT team. You should always carry a deck with you. Count down an entire deck. If you do it correctly, the count will come out to zero. Try determining if the last card is going to be low, middle, or high. When you're counting right, you'll know what it is. Deal cards on a table while keeping the count. Deal the cards out while saying the total of each hand. If you can get a friend to deal to you, there are some great drills you can do with a partner. Have a partner deal to you, as you try to play and count at the same time. Do the same thing, but this time have the dealer say the card values out loud. The stress test, or the check-out. While your partner deals and tries to distract you, count down and play 3 full shoes. If you can get through all 3 shoes making less than 3 mistakes total, you're ready to try your new skill in a casino. Okay, we have a new shoe, time to start counting. In a casino environment, counting cards is much more difficult than in a practice environment. Sometimes, you only get to peek at the cards that have been dealt. Try your best to spot the cards and keep the correct count. Do you know the count? If you got zero, good for you! Dealer: 13 on a 5. Stay. 16 on a 5. Brunette: Let me see this thing. Andy Bloch: I hope she didn't buy that chart from a casino gift shop. Some of them are wrong and for different rules. Brunette: I want to stay. Dealer: Stay. Andy Bloch: Double that. Dealer: Soft 16 double. Here we go. 19. Andy Bloch: Alright. Blonde: I'll stay. Dealer: 19. Stay. Dealer opens up 15. Hit the 15. 17. Andy Bloch: Okay. So what's the count? The count is plus 1. If you are correct, good job. If you weren't, don't worry, this is gonna take some practice. One thing that makes counting cards easier is grouping pairs of cards in your head that cancel each other out. Let's take a look at that same hand again, and let's not start counting until the second face up cards are dealt. That way, we can pair cards together more easily. I wish this dealer would get his big head out of the way. The queen and the 3 cancel. The 6 and the Jack cancel. My Ace and 5 cancel. I don't even pay attention to the 9. After all my training, the 7s, 8s, and 9s are practically invisible. My eyes jump right over them. So I'll group this 10 with the dealer's 5. The 10 and the 5 cancel. So right now, the count is zero. Dealer: 13 on a 5. Stay. 16 on a 5. Brunette: I'm going to stay. Dealer: Stay. Andy Bloch: Double that. Dealer: Soft 16 double. Here we go. Andy Bloch: The 3 makes the count plus 1. 19. Blonde: I'll stay. Dealer: 19. Stay. Dealer opens up 15. Hit the 15. 17. Andy Bloch: The two cards we hadn't|seen yet, the Queen and the 2, also cancel. The count remains plus 1. Now that you have the correct count, it's important to remember this number as we move to the next hand. Dealer: Alright players.