BASIC STRATEGY


PLAYER--DEALER--------------DECISION

--8----------2,3,4,7,8,9,10,A-----HIT
--8----------5,6------------------DOUBLE

--9----------2,,7,8,9,10,A--------HIT
--9----------3,4,5,6--------------DOUBLE

--10---------2,8,9,10,A-----------HIT
--10---------3,4,5,6,7------------DOUBLE

--11---------2,9,10,A-------------HIT
--11---------3,4,5,6,7,8----------DOUBLE

--12---------2,3,7,8,9,10,A-------HIT
--12---------4,5,6----------------STAY

--13---------2,3,4,5,6------------STAY
--13---------7,8,9,10,A-----------HIT

--14---------2,3,4,5,6------------STAY
--14---------7,8,9,10,A-----------HIT

--15---------2,3,4,5,6------------STAY
--15---------7,8,9,10,A-----------HIT

--16---------2,3,4,5,6------------STAY
--16---------7,8,9,10,A-----------HIT

ALTERNATE STRATEGY

--15---------2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10---STAY
--15---------A--------------------HIT
--16---------2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10---STAY
--16---------A--------------------HIT

--A*2--------2,3,4,7,8,9,10,A-----HIT
--A*2--------5,6------------------DOUBLE

--A*3--------2,3,7,8,9,10,A-------HIT
--A*3--------4,5,6----------------DOUBLE

--A*4--------2,3,7,8,9,10,A-------HIT
--A*4--------4,5,6----------------DOUBLE

--A*5--------2,3,7,8,9,10,A-------HIT
--A*5--------4,5,6----------------DOUBLE

--A*6--------2,7,8,9,10,A---------HIT
--A*6--------3,4,5,6--------------DOUBLE

--A*7--------2,7,8----------------STAY
--A*7--------3,4,5,6--------------DOUBLE
--A*7--------9,10,A---------------HIT

--A*8--------2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,A-STAY

--A*9--------2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,A-STAY

--A*A--------2,9,10,A-------------HIT
--A*A--------3,4,5,6,7,8----------SPLIT

--2*2--------2,3,4,5,6,7----------SPLIT
--2*2--------8,9,10,A-------------HIT

--3*3--------2,3,4,5,6,7----------SPLIT
--3*3--------8,9,10,A-------------HIT

--4*4--------2,3,7,8,9,10,A-------HIT
--4*4--------4,5,6----------------SPLIT

--5*5--------2,8,9,10,A-----------HIT
--5*5--------3,4,5,6,7------------SPLIT

--6*6--------2,3,4,5,6------------SPLIT
--6*6--------7,8,9,10,A-----------HIT

--7*7--------2,3,4,5,6,7----------SPLIT
--7*7--------8,9,10,A-------------HIT

--8*8--------2,3,4,5,6,7,8--------SPLIT
--8*8--------9,10,A---------------HIT

--9*9--------2,3,4,5,6,8,9--------SPLIT
--9*9--------7,10,A---------------STAY

TABLE 2




MONEY MANAGEMENT


Playing $3 or $5 every hand will only give the casino a better chance to win.
Remember, they still have an advantage and that will, over time, work against you.
You have to raise your bets, but in a disciplined way, and at times when you have the advantage.
Start with your base bet which for example I'll use $5.
You can be daring and begin raising after you win a hand.
Or you can wait until you have won 2 hands in a row, it's your choice.
You should raise at a level of 50% of your base bet.
50% of $5 is $2.50, so I'll use $2 as the raise.
You can use a raise of $3 if you like.
Let's say you win 5 hands in a row bettiing $5 every hand.
Your profit is $25.
Here is what you win using money management.
Hand #1 +$5
Hand #2 +$5   total win $10.
Hand #3 +$7   total win $17
Hand #4 +$10 total win $27
Hand #5 +$15 total win $42

Using money management you increased your profit $17.
Now, if you were lucky enough to get a blackjack or win a double down hand in those 5 hands your profit would have increased dramatically.
Blackjack is a game where players, and yes sometimes dealers, can win many hands in a row.
Take advantage of the times when you are on a winning streak.
Bet small when you are not.
Play a solid basic strategy.
Play alone against the dealer whenever possible.
You you will increase your chances of winning, and will probebly still be at the table wfter all the "I know how to play this game" tourists are long gone.



CARD COUNTING


Many people view card counting as a bit of a cheat.
Casinos view it as a threat to their profits and try every method they can to discourage it.
Sometimes, if the person is exceptionally good at counting and wins a large sum of money, the casino may bar him/her.
As far as your IQ goes, card counting is exactly that, counting.
How intelligent do you need to be to count?
Card counting is a necessary part of the game.
To turn the odds in your favour you have to do it and do it correctly.
The most important thing is to be able to ensure you take account of every card dealt without making a mistake and without being distracted from your own hand.
All this takes is a lot of practice.
The point of card counting is to keep a note of which cards have been played and thereby have some idea of which cards remain undealt.
This information can be used to judge whether the remaining cards will give you an advantage over the dealer.
A deck which is rich in 10s, will favour the player because the dealer is more likely to bust his hand.
The player however, knowing there is an excess of 10s can choose to stand and avoid busting.
The player can also increase the size of his bet to take maximum advantage of his superiority.
Some casinos have dealers place the played cards into an automatic shuffling machine after every hand.
Card counting is ineffective because the cards are continually shuffled and the game never stops for the dealer to shuffle.
The dealer may also be instructed to place the "cut card" (a piece of plastic the shape of a playing card) in the center of the deck.
This means that half of the cards are never played, thus making an accurate count impossible.
Try to find a casino that places the "cut card" toward the back of the dealing shoe.
Or play in a 2 deck hand dealt game where the dealer places the "cut card" toward the back of the deck.
Try to play alone against the dealer.
If you can't always sit at the end seat of the table next to the dealer's left shoulder.
This seat is called "first base">
And try to play at a table that is not full.

A basic count

At the start of a game the ratio of low cards (2-9) to tens is exactly 2 to 1. we are ignoring aces.
As cards are given a points value as follows;
Any ten card is worth 2 and a low card is worth minus 1.
Count off the cards as they are dealt, adding 2 for every 10 and subtracting 1 for every low card, and keep a running total in your head.
The count is always started at zero.
If the cards are well distributed amongst the pack the count will remain at or very near to zero.
If however, the first half of the shoe is lean in tens the count will be mostly low cards giving a negative total.
This means the advantage is shifting towards the player and this is the time when stakes should be increased.
If the first half of the shoe is rich in tens the count will of course be positive.
The advantage is with the dealer and bets should be reduced to the minimum.

So to summarise;

Tens - add 2 points to count
2-9 - take 1 point from count
If the count is negative increase your bets If the count is positive decrease your bets
When the cards are shuffled start the count back at zero.
It will take a lot of practice before you can this becomes second nature to you, but this is what you must do.
I suggest you practice by dealing cards from a deck keeping count as you go.
Practice this slowly and gradually increase the speed.
Accuracy is more important than speed so don't try to rush things.

Using the Count

When you can count cards accurately, you can use this information to vary your bets and take full advantage of a favourable deck.
I would suggest the following rules, although you can decide your own stakes if you wish.

Count Action

0 Use your normal stake
-5 Add 50% to stake
-10 Double original stake
-20 Quadruple original stake
+5 Reduce stakes to minimum bet

Remember, accuracy is paramount, If you can't keep track of the count, you might as well not bother.