Playing A Blackjack Tournament

Tournament Format

I love playing tournaments! I like the excitement of competing against other players instead of just playing against the house. Blackjack tournaments are not as readily found as slot tournaments. This is due largely because of the space problem in holding these types of tournaments. Casinos have thousands of slot machines and it is not a problem to shut down a couple banks of them to hold a tournament. However since the casinos have a smaller number of blackjack tables available, it makes it difficult to close off tables for a tournaments. This is why you will find many of the smaller blackjack tournaments during the week, but some casinos also offer larger invitational tournaments that span several days.

Daly and weekly tournaments are held during the week to attract players into the casino.
tournament usually have a modest entry fee. In some case you may even find a free tournament although these are not as common as the free slot tournaments.
Invitational tournaments are sometimes held as a reward or comp for loyal players. These are by invitation only and not open to the general public. Some of these last two or three days and include free lodging.

Before you enter a tournament here are some things to consider.

What are the prizes?
If you have to pay an entry fee you want to know how much money will be returned to the players. The best paid tournaments to enter are the ones that give back all the entry fees in the form of prizes. The majority of the entry fees should be returned to the players. Casinos hold tournaments to attract players into their establishments. They will be making money from additional play made by the entrants. If the tournament is free the prize money should be enough to justify your time to play. Is the prize money guaranteed? Casinos should list the prizes and make this information available before your enter. . You can take a look at the prize structure of a tournament and determine how much is being returned to the players. If the tournament is free you need to assess if it is worth your time to participate.

What are the rules?
a minimum bet and maximum bet? How many rounds will be played and how long will they last. Not all tournaments are run the same way and you want to make sure you know all the rules before you start. Tournaments that last a few days usually have a Welcome Party where all the rules are given to the players. I suggest that you find out ahead of time what the rules and prizes are before you travel to play in a tournament. If the promoters are hesitant about giving you all the rules up front, you may want to pass on a tournament.

How Much Time Is Involved?
You should know how much time it will take. Some tournaments have you play an early round to qualify with the final rounds later in the day. This is done to ensure that you will stick around and play while you are waiting for next round of the tournament.
What is the cost? Will you be using your own money or will you be given tournament chips? Tournaments that use chips give each player a certain amount of starting chips. These tournaments have a fixed cost. Some of the blackjack tournaments require the player to use their own money.

Registering to play.
Some tournaments let you sign up day in advance but most of the smaller ones have registration a few hours before the tournament starts. The first thing and you will do is visit the registration table. This is where you will pay your entry fee and receive your time and table assignment. You should have already read the rules but this is a good time to take another look at them. If you have any questions about the rules this is the time to ask, not after the tournament has begun.

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Blackjack Tournament Strategy Basics

In tournament blackjack, having just a little knowledge about tournament strategy can dramatically improve your chances of success. In this article, we'll look at the general principles that form the most important ideas in tournament strategy. These concepts will give you a big edge over most opponents, and they're simple enough that you don't have to study to make use of them.

Like most types of informed gambling, effective tournament strategy is all about Risk Management. To win a table, you'll usually have to risk much of your bankroll at some point. The key to long-term success is to make sure that you get full value for every big bet you make. If there's one thought process that's important in every single decision you make at the tournament table, this is it. Weigh the risk and reward of your choices. If you constantly think in those terms, you can assess the value of different strategies according to your current situation at the table.

One of the defining characteristics of blackjack tournament play is that all players are competing against the same dealer. That means that players will generally tend to have similar outcomes on any given hand. If the dealer draws a blackjack, the entire table is likely to have the same result, a loss. While it's certainly possible (and often necessary!) to gain ground by having better cards than one of your opponents, it's a lot easier to gain ground by betting and playing your hand differently than that opponent.

Knowing correct basic strategy is important to your tournament success, but you may be surprised to learn that it's actually not that big a factor on most of your hands. If you're limiting risk by betting small on most hands, then mistakes on those hands won't amount to much. However, playing your big bets incorrectly can be a costly mistake, so solid basic strategy rounds out our trifecta of tournament concepts. That's "Risk and Reward, Similar Outcomes, and Basic Strategy."

Now let's take a look at how to apply these ideas at the table. These examples assume that you're playing a typical elimination-style round, competing solely against the other players at your table.

Risk management starts with bet sizing. Smaller bets reduce, or even eliminate, your risk of ruin at the tournament table. Once you run out of chips during a tournament round, you're done. You can't buy more chips for a second chance. That means that you should choose your battles wisely. Years ago, when most of the competitors were new to tournaments, a conservative minimum-bet strategy would almost always guarantee you a great shot at going into the final few hands of a table with either the lead or at least second or third chip-count. Many players at the time believed that the only way to succeed in tournament play was to make lots of big bets, and amass a mountain of chips. While those players sometimes succeeded, they busted out a lot more frequently. A player who instead preserved his initial bankroll until the final ten hands or so was a big favorite in these events. Although catching those successful big bettors in the end was difficult, it was also not unusual to win a table by default when the dealer was hot and wiped out everyone before the round had even finished. Much of my early success in tournament play was attributable to this simplistic approach. Bet small until the end, then bet large enough to catch the leaders if there are any.

Times have changed a lot, as tournament players have become much more sophisticated. Once lots of players began mimicking this timid approach, its effectiveness declined sharply. In current play, I often base my decision of strategy on how timid or bold my opponents seem to be. If the entire table is making small bets, it's often wise to make an early large bet. However, if I have a few wild bettors at the table, I'm perfectly willing to still use the same simplistic approach I used with great success years ago.

Much more common these days is a hybrid approach, where risk management really starts to shine. By making mostly small bets, and choosing opportunities for large bets, you can effectively combat both styles of players. Since most tables will have a mix of aggressive and minimum bettors, this gives you the ability to carefully choose hands where a large bet will be most effective. In mid-round, I'll usually wait until the button has passed my spot, so that I can see the bets of all my competitors before choosing my bet size. This gives me the ability to bet precisely enough to take the lead, without risking any extra chips. The idea is simple: Betting just enough to get the job done maximizes the value of the chips you're risking. Anytime you're choosing to make a substantial move, remember the key second concept, that all players' results are usually similar. If you bet enough to reach your target even if your opponent also wins his bet, your bet is probably sized appropriately. There are exceptions, particularly when you're substantially trailing the chip leaders. Usually though, betting enough to take the lead if the dealer pays the entire table is your best plan.

Once in the lead, you should still remember that similar outcomes are the rule. Making minimum bets as the leader just gives all your opponents free chances to pass you. Instead, see if you can margin their bets by betting a similar amount. Though you'll often be the victim of poor cards, and see them pass you as a result, risking a medium sized bet to match your trailing players is the stronger strategy.

Choosing your battles means not placing a large bet unless you have a reason. Players who habitually bet medium-size amounts on most hands are severely handicapping their chance of success. Those bets individually can't accomplish much, yet the cumulative effect on risk of ruin is considerable. I tend to be a player of extremes. You'll usually see me making very small bets or very large bets. If I place a medium sized bet, it's for one of two reasons: Either I'm in the lead and margining my opponent's bets, or a medium-sized bet is large enough to accomplish my immediate goal, and thus it's really a large bet of sorts.

Consider a situation where you're trailing by nearly a full max bet. If the leader has made a small bet, you should consider the risk and reward of making a max bet on this hand to take the lead. You're likely risking most of your bankroll, but the reward is possibly substantial. Depending on how many hands are left in the round, this may be the last opportunity to retake the lead with a single bet. If you decide that the time is right for that risk, determine how much you really need to bet to accomplish the goal of being chip leader. You might not need to make a full max bet. If possible, bet enough to take the lead if the leader also wins his small bet, or perhaps even a double down. The main idea here is don't make a medium-sized bet and hope to gradually get there. If you need to take the lead, do it all in one hand if possible. It may seem paradoxical that minimizing risk means risking your entire bankroll on one hand. But, one successful large risk can eliminate the need for many medium-sized risks.

The advice to not risk extra chips has one common exception. Anytime you're risking so much in a bet that your remaining chips would be ineffective if you lose the bet, you should go all-in. That is, if you're late in the round, and need to bet $350 of your $400 bankroll to take the lead, you should probably bet the $400 instead. Otherwise, the $50 you could have left over is probably just dead money. Going all-in has its disadvantages since you can't split, but if you need to win an amount that is more than half your bankroll, you're better off trying to do it with a single bet win instead of hoping for a good double or split hand.

Those ideas will go a long way toward insuring long-term tournament success. Most tournaments are won with just the basics and a little luck.

by Kenneth R Smith

Blackjack Tournament Strategy Basics

In tournament blackjack, having just a little knowledge about tournament strategy can dramatically improve your chances of success. In this article, we'll look at the general principles that form the most important ideas in tournament strategy. These concepts will give you a big edge over most opponents, and they're simple enough that you don't have to study to make use of them.

Like most types of informed gambling, effective tournament strategy is all about Risk Management. To win a table, you'll usually have to risk much of your bankroll at some point. The key to long-term success is to make sure that you get full value for every big bet you make. If there's one thought process that's important in every single decision you make at the tournament table, this is it. Weigh the risk and reward of your choices. If you constantly think in those terms, you can assess the value of different strategies according to your current situation at the table.

One of the defining characteristics of blackjack tournament play is that all players are competing against the same dealer. That means that players will generally tend to have similar outcomes on any given hand. If the dealer draws a blackjack, the entire table is likely to have the same result, a loss. While it's certainly possible (and often necessary!) to gain ground by having better cards than one of your opponents, it's a lot easier to gain ground by betting and playing your hand differently than that opponent.

Knowing correct basic strategy is important to your tournament success, but you may be surprised to learn that it's actually not that big a factor on most of your hands. If you're limiting risk by betting small on most hands, then mistakes on those hands won't amount to much. However, playing your big bets incorrectly can be a costly mistake, so solid basic strategy rounds out our trifecta of tournament concepts. That's "Risk and Reward, Similar Outcomes, and Basic Strategy."

Now let's take a look at how to apply these ideas at the table. These examples assume that you're playing a typical elimination-style round, competing solely against the other players at your table.

Risk management starts with bet sizing. Smaller bets reduce, or even eliminate, your risk of ruin at the tournament table. Once you run out of chips during a tournament round, you're done. You can't buy more chips for a second chance. That means that you should choose your battles wisely. Years ago, when most of the competitors were new to tournaments, a conservative minimum-bet strategy would almost always guarantee you a great shot at going into the final few hands of a table with either the lead or at least second or third chip-count. Many players at the time believed that the only way to succeed in tournament play was to make lots of big bets, and amass a mountain of chips. While those players sometimes succeeded, they busted out a lot more frequently. A player who instead preserved his initial bankroll until the final ten hands or so was a big favorite in these events. Although catching those successful big bettors in the end was difficult, it was also not unusual to win a table by default when the dealer was hot and wiped out everyone before the round had even finished. Much of my early success in tournament play was attributable to this simplistic approach. Bet small until the end, then bet large enough to catch the leaders if there are any.

Times have changed a lot, as tournament players have become much more sophisticated. Once lots of players began mimicking this timid approach, its effectiveness declined sharply. In current play, I often base my decision of strategy on how timid or bold my opponents seem to be. If the entire table is making small bets, it's often wise to make an early large bet. However, if I have a few wild bettors at the table, I'm perfectly willing to still use the same simplistic approach I used with great success years ago.

Much more common these days is a hybrid approach, where risk management really starts to shine. By making mostly small bets, and choosing opportunities for large bets, you can effectively combat both styles of players. Since most tables will have a mix of aggressive and minimum bettors, this gives you the ability to carefully choose hands where a large bet will be most effective. In mid-round, I'll usually wait until the button has passed my spot, so that I can see the bets of all my competitors before choosing my bet size. This gives me the ability to bet precisely enough to take the lead, without risking any extra chips. The idea is simple: Betting just enough to get the job done maximizes the value of the chips you're risking. Anytime you're choosing to make a substantial move, remember the key second concept, that all players' results are usually similar. If you bet enough to reach your target even if your opponent also wins his bet, your bet is probably sized appropriately. There are exceptions, particularly when you're substantially trailing the chip leaders. Usually though, betting enough to take the lead if the dealer pays the entire table is your best plan.

Once in the lead, you should still remember that similar outcomes are the rule. Making minimum bets as the leader just gives all your opponents free chances to pass you. Instead, see if you can margin their bets by betting a similar amount. Though you'll often be the victim of poor cards, and see them pass you as a result, risking a medium sized bet to match your trailing players is the stronger strategy.

Choosing your battles means not placing a large bet unless you have a reason. Players who habitually bet medium-size amounts on most hands are severely handicapping their chance of success. Those bets individually can't accomplish much, yet the cumulative effect on risk of ruin is considerable. I tend to be a player of extremes. You'll usually see me making very small bets or very large bets. If I place a medium sized bet, it's for one of two reasons: Either I'm in the lead and margining my opponent's bets, or a medium-sized bet is large enough to accomplish my immediate goal, and thus it's really a large bet of sorts.

Consider a situation where you're trailing by nearly a full max bet. If the leader has made a small bet, you should consider the risk and reward of making a max bet on this hand to take the lead. You're likely risking most of your bankroll, but the reward is possibly substantial. Depending on how many hands are left in the round, this may be the last opportunity to retake the lead with a single bet. If you decide that the time is right for that risk, determine how much you really need to bet to accomplish the goal of being chip leader. You might not need to make a full max bet. If possible, bet enough to take the lead if the leader also wins his small bet, or perhaps even a double down. The main idea here is don't make a medium-sized bet and hope to gradually get there. If you need to take the lead, do it all in one hand if possible. It may seem paradoxical that minimizing risk means risking your entire bankroll on one hand. But, one successful large risk can eliminate the need for many medium-sized risks.

The advice to not risk extra chips has one common exception. Anytime you're risking so much in a bet that your remaining chips would be ineffective if you lose the bet, you should go all-in. That is, if you're late in the round, and need to bet $350 of your $400 bankroll to take the lead, you should probably bet the $400 instead. Otherwise, the $50 you could have left over is probably just dead money. Going all-in has its disadvantages since you can't split, but if you need to win an amount that is more than half your bankroll, you're better off trying to do it with a single bet win instead of hoping for a good double or split hand.

Those ideas will go a long way toward insuring long-term tournament success. Most tournaments are won with just the basics and a little luck.

by Kenneth R Smith

Hacking Las Vegas

THE INSIDE STORY OF THE MIT BLACKJACK TEAM'S CONQUEST OF THE CASINOS.
By Ben Mezrich
The Back-Spotter
The Back-Spotter can count cards without even being seated at the blackjack table. When the count gets hot — meaning the house is at a statistical disadvantage — this player will signal for the team’s bettors to swoop in.

The Spotter
The Spotter counts cards while playing at the table. Casinos screen for counters by watching for dramatic rises or drops in bets — a sure sign that a deck has gone hot or cold. A Spotter avoids detection by resolutely sticking to the minimum bet on each hand. When it’s time to start betting big to take advantage of a favorable deck, he tips off his teammates.

The Gorilla
The Gorilla doesn’t count at all: He just bets big, all the time. Typically, he adopts the pose of a drunken millionaire who has green to burn. The Spotters ensure the Gorilla’s “luck” by steering him to tables where he’s got greater than even odds of winning against the house.

The Big Player
The Big Player appears to be a type well known to the casinos: the high-rolling recreational gambler who’s content to slowly bleed his money away through hours of competent play. In reality, he’s a Spotter with a Gorilla’s bankroll. He’s not only counting cards, he’s tracking the shuffle for the high cards that rob the house of its advantage. A BP always plays a good deck, so he never has to lower his bets by much.

Fifty thousand dollars strapped to each thigh. A hundred thousand dollars, in 10 bricks of hundreds, taped across my upper back. Fifty thousand more Velcroed to my chest.



From left: The back-spotter (standing); the spotter (in yellow); the gorilla(center); the big player (far right).

I try to control my breathing as I stroll through Logan International Airport. Terminal C is buzzing and chaotic, an over-air-conditioned hive of college students escaping Boston for a long weekend. I am dressed like everyone else: baggy jeans, baseball hat, scuffed sneakers. But in my mind, I have as much chance of blending in as a radioactive circus clown. There's enough money hidden under my clothes to buy a two-bedroom condo. And to top it off, there's $100,000 worth of yellow plastic casino chips jammed into the backpack slung over my right shoulder.
My anxiety increases as I reach the security checkpoint. I want to turn and run, but the security guard is staring at me, and I have no choice: I show him my ticket. America West, flight 69, Boston to Vegas. The Friday night Neon Express.
He gestures with his head, and I drop my backpack onto the conveyor belt. I know the chips will show up on the X-ray machine, but even if the guard makes me open the backpack, he won't realize how much money the yellow hunks of plastic represent.
The $100 bills are another matter. This is an airport; they can drag me to a windowless room in the basement and handcuff me to a chair. They can confiscate my stash, call in the DEA, FBI, and IRS. It will be up to me to prove that I'm not a drug dealer. To customs agents, $100 bills smell like cocaine.
In reality, I'm a writer, with six pulpy thrillers under my belt, but today I'm on the scent of a real life story even more high-octane than any of my fictional jaunts. I'm ferrying money for Kevin Lewis, one of the best card counters alive. He's taking me back to his glory days when he ran a card team that hit Vegas for millions.
The guard doesn't seem to be bothered by the bulges under my clothes. He waves me through the metal detector, and I stumble toward my gate.
My heart rate has almost returned to normal when I spot Lewis standing near the back of the line of college kids waiting to board flight 69. He doesn't look up, waiting until I am right next to him to show me the edges of a mischievous grin.
"Pretty intense," he says.
I nod. His voice is full of bravado, a stark contrast to his appearance. Dressed in a gray sweatshirt and khaki shorts, Lewis looks like a stereotypical college student. His features are ethnic, but beyond that, indeterminate. He could be Asian, Latino, even Italian or Russian. He is a carbon copy of thousands of other kids who call Boston home.
"There's got to be an easier way to carry your stake," I finally say, adjusting the bricks of $100 bills that are sliding down my legs.
"Sure," Lewis responds. "We went through a gadget phase. You know, James Bond kind of stuff. But hollow crutches are a lot harder to explain to the FBI than Velcro."He isn't joking.
The truth is, Kevin Lewis isn't his real name. This amiable kid lived a double life for more than four years. In Boston, he was a straight-A engineering major at MIT. In Las Vegas, he was something more akin to a rock star. He partied with Michael Jordan and Howard Stern. He dated a cheerleader from the Los Angeles Rams and got drunk with Playboy centerfolds. He was chased off a riverboat in Louisiana and narrowly avoided being thrown into a Bahamian jail. He was audited by the IRS, tailed by private investigators, and had his picture faxed around the globe.
Along the way, he amassed a small fortune, which he keeps in neat stacks of Benjamins in a closet by his bed. It's rumored he made somewhere between $1 million and $5 million.

THE BABY-FACED CARD COUNTERS TURNED "21" INTO A HIGH-ROLLING ARBITRAGE GAME.
For six years in the 1990s, Lewis was a principal member of the MIT Blackjack Team, an infamous cabal of hyper-geniuses and anarchistic whiz kids who devised a method of card counting that took the gaming world completely by surprise. Funded, in part, by shadowy investors and trained in mock casinos set up in classrooms, dingy apartments, and underground warehouses across Boston, Lewis and his gang used their smarts to give themselves an incredible advantage at the only truly beatable game in the pit. A baby-faced card-counting team possessed with impressive mathematical skills — here was a novelty that turned blackjack into an arbitrage opportunity. Their system was so successful, it took nearly two years before the casinos began to catch on — engaging in a cat-and-mouse war with the well-trained MIT conspirators.
To the casinos, there's no difference between legal card counters like Lewis, who use their brains to beat the game, and the brash, increasingly high tech cheaters who steal tens of millions of dollars from the resorts every year. In response, the casinos have developed equally sophisticated means of identifying, tracking, and eliminating their enemies: i.e., anyone who doesn't consistently lose.
"It's Robin Hood against the Sheriff," Lewis says, summing it up as we wait with the Vegas-bound crowd. It's an interesting analogy, yet it falls severely short. In this story Robin Hood is stealing from the rich to give to himself. And the sheriff has a thousand eyes, covering every inch of the sky.

The Team
"It started the summer after my junior year," Lewis recalls. "I had these two friends who were always disappearing for long weekends. Both had dropped out of MIT, and neither one seemed to be interested in getting a job. And yet they always seemed to have tons of money. Hundred-dollar bills, all over the apartment."
Andre Martinez and Steve Fisher (their names, like those of the other members of the MIT Blackjack Team, have been changed) were brilliant kids with a shared anarchistic streak: Martinez had mysteriously left MIT his senior year; Fisher had likewise quit with a semester to go before graduation. Lewis was surprised when they asked to meet him late at night in a classroom on the Infinite Corridor, the long hallway that runs down the center of the MIT campus. There, he was presented to a roomful of students he recognized from his math and science courses — the core of the MIT Blackjack Team. At the helm was a man in his mid-thirties with frighteningly bad teeth and equally poor hygiene, a former assistant professor who went by the name Micky Rosa.
As Rosa explained it, the team had been around for nearly two decades. In the beginning, it was more of an after-school club, a place for mathematical geniuses to play cards and pontificate on card-counting theory. MIT being MIT — the world's premier stable of brilliant young math and science prodigies (many of whom had always been a little too smart for their own good) — it wasn't long before the blackjack club had reached an elite level of play. In recent years, their after-school hobby had become a business. Rosa had gathered more than $1 million in seed money and was organizing regular assaults on Vegas and other casino centers around the country: riverboats in Louisiana, Chicago, and Mississippi, and Indian reservations in Connecticut and Michigan. He was recruiting a select group of students, and Lewis fit the profile.
At first, Lewis was skeptical. "I'd read a bit about blackjack, and I always thought of card counters the same way the casinos thought of them. Bald white men with glasses, hunched over the cards, scrapping out their tiny advantage. But Micky was talking about something much bigger."

The Game
Blackjack is beatable.
Walk into any bookstore and head to the section on gambling. An entire industry has been spawned by the belief that a mix of mathematics and practice can unlock the casinos' coffers. Beginning with the publication of Edward Thorp's Beat the Dealer, back in 1962, an arsenal of card-counting systems has bolstered the popular notion that blackjack is the one game in the casino where the player can have an edge over the house. Unlike roulette and craps, blackjack has a memory; past play can affect future outcomes. By keeping track of the past, goes the theory, it's possible to predict, and thus take advantage of, the future.
On paper, the theory looks pretty good. Blackjack itself is a simple game. The player gets cards, the dealer gets cards, and whoever gets closer to 21 wins. Though most novices believe the object is to get the best hand possible, the real point of blackjack is merely to beat the dealer's hand. If the dealer busts (goes over 21), the player automatically wins. Since the dealer has to keep hitting until he reaches 17, a deck with more high cards than low is dangerous to the dealer.

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Interview of Las Vegas Blackjack dealer

It's in the cards.
Guide: How much of a kick do you get out of 'beating' customers?

Sandy: None at all! Only the idiots get a kick out of beating customers. Customers are our bread and butter. They're tokes! You want them to win. Oh, now and then, I love sticking it to some customers. Some get pretty damned obnoxious, you know. I have a dealer friend who once had a male customer pee on her feet. Yes! Right under the table. Peed on her feet while she was dealing. Think she minded beating him? They threw him out after the peeing thing though. I once had one that picked his nose and wiped his finger on the cards where I could see what he was putting there. I had enjoyed beating him because of the language that he was using towards me before that. He was told to take his business elsewhere. I had one lady who always lost, no matter who dealt to her.

Her husband used to sit on a stool nearby to watch her play. He didn't play. She once put up a nickel for herself ($5.00 bet) and a quarter for me ($25.00 bet). Then she said to me, "I hope you lose it, bitch." Can you imagine if I liked beating her or not? Then it's not like I'm beating anyone. I have to play by the book, and I can't manipulate the cards in a shoe. So the rules are beating you along with your own way of playing the game. It's not me. I've had people flip their cards at me like Frisbees. They lose their money, then want to take it out on the dealer. Being cursed at is very common.

Guide: How often do you catch customers trying to cheat?

Sandy: With shoe play, it's rare anymore that anyone is caught cheating. I'm paying attention to the play of the customer, and so is the floorman and the surveillance cameras up above. It's hard for a customer to cheat anymore. Marking cards and card counting used to be the most popular methods, but there is little, if any, single deck blackjack around anymore for the normal customer. Your more likely to find a dealer trying to steal these days. Why, I guess because as long as you're dealing with money, someone will be around who tries to steal it. Mind you, there is less stealing by dealers then there used to be. The security cameras took care of that. These days they are all over the place, and most of the action is recorded on tape. It's not worth the black check that you 'might' get away with.

Guide: How much do you enjoy dealing?

Sandy: To be honest with you, I don't enjoy it. I haven't 'enjoyed' it for years. Oh, I loved it once. It was good money, and it was fun. Then, the corporations moved in, the IRS moved in, the dealers ceased to be a close knit group, and my feet and hands started to feel bad. It got boring. Right now, my hands can barely hold a deck of cards. Here I am twenty years later, and I don't feel like I accomplished anything. That my biggest gripe. I wouldn't recommend it other than as an easy way to make good money.

Guide: Is it time to become a floorperson?

If my hands get worse, that's what I will have to do. I'll tell them that I'm interested in training for floor, and hopefully they'll let me. I'll have to learn a couple more games, but I can handle that. Although, I don't know if I can handle the responsibility. You have to watch four to six tables, rate customers, and a lot more. The thing that scares me most is getting into the rat race of competition to move up in the casino management line. What will I turn into? I've seen too many dealers go to the floor and become Gestapo-like animals. I don't want to be like that, but I can understand where it might be necessary to move up. My hands will let me know what I have to do. My hands are the whole job.

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Interview of Las Vegas Blackjack dealer

Deal Again!!!

Every one that comes to Las Vegas to live or as a tourists wonders what it would be like to be a dealer. The following is an interview by your site guide of a single parent of two and grandmother of three, an attractive lady in her late forties, that we will call Sandy, a Las Vegas Blackjack dealer.

Guide: How did you get into the casino business?

Sandy: Actually, I started out as a front desk clerk in the Westward Ho. When I turned twenty-one, I got a job as a baccarat shill in the Sands. I went from making $90.00 a week in wages to $500.00 a week in tokes and $1.60 and hour in pay. Being a shill has to be the easiest job I ever had. You just play the game with the house's money until enough real players come to the table, then you take a break until the table needs you again. I could see that the dealers were making the really big bucks though.

I decided then, that I wanted to deal. There was only one female dealer in the blackjack pits when I started to shill in 1972, a black woman. When I decided to do it in 1980, women were starting to deal in all of the casinos.

Guide: You've been dealing for twenty years, then. Where?

Sandy: All over. You see, you keep switching to get a better job. Money wise, that is. Tokes. I started out Downtown at the Mint. In those days you worked Downtown for three to five years before you could even get to the Strip. Now, you can do it in a year and a half. I then did the Fremont, the Silver Dollar, a country and western place that used to be on Boulder Highway, the Westward Ho again, the Union Plaza, the Maxim and the Rio.

Guide: What games?

Sandy: Just Blackjack and Pai Gao. I would say that Blackjack and Roulette are basic to moving up. I know. It doesn't speak well of my ambition that I don't deal Roulette, but I've always been fast at Blackjack, so I moved up some, but not to the jobs at Caesar's, Paris or Bellagio, that kind of place.

Guide: What kind of money did you make in those years?

Sandy: Well, Downtown I made about thirty thousand a year, forty to fifty on the Strip. Bellagio is about fifty to sixty thousand and Caesar's, which has always been the best, about eighty thousand. But you buy a job there or you have to know somebody. You know, juice. The wages to deal in almost all of these places is little more than minimum wage. You make your money in tokes.

Guide: Dealers were most envied for their money back before the IRS cracked down on their tokes. How does the IRS handle the toke situation?

Sandy: Before the middle '80s, it was fine. We were taxed on our wages, which were damned near nothing, while we picked up our tokes in cash in an envelope every day. Depending on what you felt the IRS should get, you declared so much for tokes and paid taxes accordingly. After IRS got on to us, each casino had to set up a toke committee that would split the tokes and report the daily envelope amount to the IRS every two weeks. The payroll office would use your whole pay check to pay taxes and you would be informed whether you needed to pay more taxes for the period or not. If you needed to pay, you worked payment out with payroll. Now, most places have gone to giving you your tokes every two weeks as part of your paycheck. The taxes are already taken out. I don't like it. Don't know anybody that does.

Guide: Would you join a union?

Sandy: I would, and so would most dealers that I know. You see, things have really changed, money wise for dealers, because things have changed in the casinos. What I mean is, in the old days, the houses were owned by people that made money for themselves and their families. You know, strong individuals. They 'gave the house away' to attract the high roller and keep them. The players toked the dealer, and the dealer spent the money. Now, the corporations own the joints. They feel that the toke that you get is theirmoney. Money that you shouldn't be taking from them. The IRS gets their part of all of your wages and all of your tokes, and the wages are minimum. This is a right to work state. I've been told that I was laid off by phone, with no explanation given. They can do that. For example; before, many of the places had retirement plans. Now they got 401Ks. With a union we could go for higher wages and try to get back some of the esteem that we used to have. I don't think that you'll see the dealers organized in the near future, though. The houses don't want to see it.

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Blackjack Rules

The game of casino blackjack, or 21, is by far the most popular table game offered in gambling establishments. If you are unfamiliar with the rules of casino blackjack, or simply need some clarification on the finer points, you've come to the right place! This page will tell you everything you need to know to play the game, and describe the various rules that can differ from one casino to another.

Choosing a table

Before playing the game, you'll need to find an appropriate table at which to play. If you're a newcomer to this process, there are a few items to keep in mind. You'll want to pay attention to several details about each table that you approach. The most important item is the sign declaring betting limits. Both the minimum and the maximum allowable bets should be clearly posted on a sign on the table-top. Look around to find a table that suits your bet sizes. Often, you'll find that the lower limit ($3 or $5) tables are quite crowded. In most casinos, the signs are color-coded to match the minimum bets posted on them: Red for $5, Green for $25, and Black for $100 minimum tables. Next, you'll want to make sure that the table you have selected is actually for blackjack, and not another of the various table games offered at the casino. Blackjack tables will almost certainly have the phrase "Blackjack pays 3 to 2" printed on the table felt. The next item to observe is the type of game being dealt. Beginners are usually better off playing the "shoe" games where 6 or 8 decks are used. The advantage for beginners in this game is that all of the player's cards are dealt face-up in front of each player, and the dealer can help with playing questions and decisions. Notice: Once you become proficient at the game, you might want to switch to a game with fewer decks. The casino's advantage is lower with fewer decks in play. But for now, let's stick with the multi-deck games for the ease-of-play advantage.

Buying chips

Once you are seated at a table, you'll need to purchase some chips from the dealer for your bets. Wait for a break in the action, and place your cash out in front of you on the table felt. (Some casinos might make you wait until the dealer shuffles to join the game.) An appropriate buy-in amount is anywhere from 10 to 20 times your average bet. If you are a $5 bettor, this means a buy-in of $50-$100 is typical. Don't try to hand your cash to the dealer. For security reasons, he can't take anything from your hands. Simply lay the cash on the table; he'll pick it up and change it for an equal value of playing chips. You won't be getting any change back either. He'll change the entire amount, push the chips across the table to you, and then drop the cash into a slot in the table top. Chip colors are fairly standardized in the casino industry, with red chips representing $5, green chips representing $25, and black chips representing $100. You'll also see $1 value chips (usually white) or $1 tokens (silver) on the table as well. Some casinos also use a $2.50 chip that is usually pink in color. Chip colors above the $100 denomination vary widely, with purple a common choice for $500 chips. Take a quick look at the chips to make sure that you know the values, and that you were given the correct amount for your cash. If you have any questions, just ask the dealer. Part of his job is to help players learn the game.

Making a bet

On the table felt in front of your position, you'll find a circle or box for your bets. Before each hand begins, place your desired bet into the circle in one stack. If you are betting multiple denominations of chips, place the larger valued chips on the bottom of the stack, and the smaller value chips on top. Once the cards have been dealt, you aren't allowed to touch the bet in the circle. If you need to know how much you have bet for doubling or splitting (explained later), the dealer will count down the chips for you. Once the hand is over, the dealer will move around the table to each position in turn, paying winners and collecting the chips from losing hands. After the dealer has paid you, you can remove your chips from the circle, and place your next bet. If you want to let your winnings ride, you'll need to form one stack of chips from the two or more stacks on the table after the dealer pays you. Remember, big chips should be placed on the bottom.

Cashing in

When you're finished playing, you'll want to take your chips to the cashier to exchange them for cash. If you have groups of smaller denomination chips in front of you, the dealer will probably want to "color up" your chips. This simply means exchanging groups of smaller denomination chips for larger valued chips. Wait until the end of a hand, then simply push your chips out in front of you between the betting boxes, so it can't be confused for a bet. The dealer will count down the chips, and return to you a smaller stack of chips of equal value. You can take these to the cashier for cash, or to another table for more play.

Premise of the game

The basic premise of the game is that you want to have a hand value that is closer to 21 than that of the dealer, without going over 21. Other players at the table are of no concern. Your hand is strictly played out against the hand of the dealer. The rules of play for the dealer are strictly dictated, leaving no decisions up to the dealer. Therefore, there is not a problem with the dealer or any of the other players at the table seeing the cards in your hand. Indeed, if you're playing at a shoe game, the player cards are all dealt face up. In any event, when you're just learning to play, don't hesitate to show the dealer or other players your cards and ask questions.

Values of the cards

In blackjack, the cards are valued as follows: An Ace can count as either 1 or 11, as demonstrated below. The cards from 2 through 9 are valued as indicated. The 10, Jack, Queen, and King are all valued at 10.
The suits of the cards do not have any meaning in the game.
The value of a hand is simply the sum of the point counts of each card in the hand. For example, a hand containing (5,7,9) has the value of 21. The Ace can be counted as either 1 or 11. You need not specify which value the Ace has. It's assumed to always have the value that makes the best hand. An example will illustrate: Suppose that you have the beginning hand (Ace, 6). This hand can be either 7 or 17. If you stop there, it will be 17. Let's assume that you draw another card to the hand and now have (Ace, 6, 3). Your total hand is now 20, counting the Ace as 11. Let's backtrack and assume that you had instead drawn a third card which was an 8. The hand is now (Ace, 6, 8) which totals 15. Notice that now the Ace must be counted as only 1 to avoid going over 21.
A hand that contains an Ace is called a "soft" total if the Ace can be counted as either 1 or 11 without the total going over 21. For example (Ace, 6) is a soft 17. The description stems from the fact that the player can always draw another card to a soft total with no danger of "busting" by going over 21. The hand (Ace,6,10) on the other hand is a "hard" 17, since now the Ace must be counted as only 1, again because counting it as 11 would make the hand go over 21.

The deal of the cards

Once all the bets are made, the dealer will deal the cards to the players. He'll make two passes around the table starting at his left (your right) so that the players and the dealer have two cards each. (European and Australian players: See exception at the bottom of this section.) The dealer will flip one of his cards over, exposing its value.
In the shoe games, the players cards will be dealt face-up, and the players are not allowed to touch the cards. If you're just beginning, you'll probably want to start at the shoe game where you don't have to worry about handling the cards.
In the hand-held games, the player's cards are dealt face down, and the players pick up the cards. When handling the cards in a hand-held game, here are a few important things to remember.

- You are only allowed to touch the cards with one hand. If you're a poker player, this can take some effort to break old habits!
- You must keep the cards over the table.
- Any cards that the dealer subsequently deals to your hand must be left on the table, not added to the cards in your hand.

Once the cards are dealt, play proceeds around the table, starting at the first seat to the dealer's left, also called first base. Each player in turn indicates to the dealer how he wishes to play the hand. The various player decisions are covered in their own section below. After each player has finished his hand, the dealer will complete his hand, and then pay or collect the player bets.
Now, the exception I mentioned: Some casinos, mostly in Europe, give the dealer only one card face up until all the players have finished their hands. The dealer then deals his second card, and finishes his hand. This is called the European No Hole Card rule. This can change a player's strategy if, and only if, the dealer collects all player bets in the event of a dealer blackjack. Some casinos that deal only one card at first to the dealer will refund any double-down or split bets if the dealer turns out to have a blackjack. This type of no hole card rule does not have any effect on the player's optimal strategy, and should not be described as European No Hole Card rules.

How the dealer plays his hand

The dealer must play his hand in a specific way, with no choices allowed. There are two popular rule variations that determine what totals the dealer must draw to. In any given casino, you can tell which rule is in effect by looking at the blackjack tabletop. It should be clearly labeled with one of these rules:
- "Dealer stands on all 17s": This is the most common rule. In this case, the dealer must continue to take cards ("hit") until his total is 17 or greater. An Ace in the dealer's hand is always counted as 11 if possible without the dealer going over 21. For example, (Ace,8) would be 19 and the dealer would stop drawing cards ("stand"). Also, (Ace,6) is 17 and again the dealer will stand. (Ace,5) is only 16, so the dealer would hit. He will continue to draw cards until the hand's value is 17 or more. For example, (Ace,5,7) is only 13 so he hits again. (Ace,5,7,5) makes 18 so he would stop ("stand") at that point.
- "Dealer hits soft 17": Some casinos use this rule variation instead. This rule is identical except for what happens when the dealer has a soft total of 17. Hands such as (Ace,6), (Ace,5,Ace), and (Ace, 2, 4) are all examples of soft 17. The dealer hits these hands, and stands on soft 18 or higher, or hard 17 or higher. When this rule is used, the house advantage against the players is slightly increased.

Again, the dealer has no choices to make in the play of his hand. He cannot split pairs, but must instead simply hit until he reaches at least 17 or busts by going over 21.

What is a Blackjack, or a natural?

A blackjack, or natural, is a total of 21 in your first two cards. A blackjack is therefore an Ace and any ten-valued card, with the additional requirement that these be your first two cards. If you split a pair of Aces for example, and then draw a ten-valued card on one of the Aces, this is not a blackjack, but rather a total of 21. The distinction is important, because a winning blackjack pays the player odds of 3 to 2. A bet of \\$10 wins \\$15 if the player makes a blackjack. A player blackjack beats any dealer total other than a dealer's blackjack, including a dealer's regular 21. If both a player and the dealer make blackjack, the hand is a tie or push.

The dealer will usually pay your winning blackjack bet immediately when it is your turn to play. In the face down games, this means that you should show the blackjack to the dealer at that time. Some casinos may postpone paying the blackjack until after the hand is over if the dealer has a 10 card up and has not checked for a dealer blackjack. Other casinos check under both 10 and Ace dealer upcards, and would therefore pay the blackjack immediately. Regardless, when you are dealt a blackjack, turn the cards face up, and smile. It only happens about once every 21 hands, but it accounts for a lot of the fun of the game.

Surrender

We start with one of the least common decisions, but it is appropriate to begin with surrender, because this decision must be made before any other choice about playing your hand. Not every game offers surrender, and those that do fall into two categories which bear expanation: Early vs Late.

Surrender offers you as a player the choice to fold your hand, at the cost of half of the original bet. You must make that decision prior to taking any other action on the hand. For example, once you draw a third card, or split, or double down, surrender is no longer an option.

The two varieties of surrender, early and late, differ only in the way a dealer blackjack is handled. In an early surrender game, a player may choose to surrender before the dealer checks his cards for a blackjack, offering a cheap way out even if the dealer turns out to have a blackjack. Because this offers a healthy advantage to the player, this version (early surrender) is rarely offered. The much more common variation is late surrender, where the dealer checks for blackjack first, and then only if he does not have blackjack will allow players to surrender their hands.

Surrender is a nice rule to have available for players who use it wisely. Unfortunately, many players surrender far too many hands. If you play in a game with surrender, use the Strategy Engine to determine when surrender is the appropriate play. To see how bad a hand must be to properly be surrendered, consider the following: To lose less with surrender, you must be only 25% likely to win the hand (ignoring pushes). That is, if you lose 75% of the time, and win only 25% of the time, your net loss is about 50% of your bets, equal to the amount you'll lose guaranteed by surrendering. So, learn to use the surrender option, but make sure you know when it is appropriate.

It's worth mentioning again that the vast majority of surrender is LATE surrender, after the dealer checks for BJ. Make sure you choose the right option over on the Strategy Engine. And if you do find a game that offers early surrender, drop me a note. Good opportunities like that are rare.

Hitting/Standing

The most common decision a player must make during the game is whether to draw another card to the hand ("hit"), or stop at the current total ("stand"). The method you use to indicate your decisions to the dealer depend on which kind of game you are playing.
In the face-up shoe game, you indicate that you want another card by tapping the table behind your cards with a finger. You'll be required to make the hand signals, rather than just announcing "hit" or "stand" to the dealer. This is to eliminate any confusion or ambiguity in what you choose, and also for the benefit of the ever-present surveillance cameras. If you go over 21, or "bust", the dealer will collect your bet, and remove your cards from the table immediately. When you decide to stand, just wave your hand in a horizontal motion over your cards.

In the face-down game, things are a little different. You'll hold the first two cards with one hand. To draw another card to your hand, simply scrape your cards across the table felt lightly. Watch another player at first to see how this works. The dealer will deal your additional cards on the table in front of your bet. Add them to your total hand value, but leave the actual cards on the table.
If you go over 21, just toss the two cards in your hand face up on the table. The dealer will collect your bet, and discard your hand. When you decide to stand, you should tuck the two cards you are holding face-down under the chips that you have bet. This can be a bit tricky the first few times. Don't pick up the bet to place the cards underneath. Remember, once the cards are dealt, you can't touch the chips in the circle. Simply slide the corner of the cards under the chips. The descriptions are a lot tougher than the actual play. Just pay attention to what other players are doing and you'll fit right in.

Doubling Down

Among the more profitable player options available is the choice to "double down". This can only be done with a two card hand, before another card has been drawn. Doubling down allows you to double your bet and receive one, and only one, additional card to the hand. A good example of a doubling opportunity is when you hold a total of 11, say a (6,5) against a dealer's upcard of 5. In this case, you have a good chance of winning the hand by drawing one additional card, so you might as well increase your bet in this advantageous situation. If you are playing in a face-down game, just toss the two cards face-up on the table in front of your bet. In either type of game, add an additional bet to the betting circle. Place the additional bet adjacent to the original bet, not on top of it. The dealer will deal one additional card to the hand. In the face-down game, he'll probably tuck it face-down under your bet, to be revealed later.
Players are allowed to double down for any amount up to the original bet amount, so you could double down "for less" if you wanted. Just remember that you do give up something for being allowed to increase your bet: the ability to draw more than one additional card. If the correct play is to double down, you should always double for the full amount if possible.

Splitting Pairs

When you are dealt a matching pair of cards (remember, ignore the suits), you have the ability to split the hand into two separate hands, and play them independently. Let's say you are dealt a pair of eights for a total of sixteen. Sixteen is the worst possible player hand, since it is unlikely to win as is, but is very likely to bust if you draw to it. Here's a great chance to improve a bad situation.

If you are playing a hand-held game, toss the cards face-up in front of your bet just like a double down. Then, in either type of game, place a matching bet beside the original bet in the circle. Note that you must bet the same amount on a split, unlike a double-down, where you are allowed to double for less. The dealer will separate the two cards, and treat them as two independent hands. Let's say you draw a 3 on the first 8, for a total of 11. Many casinos will allow you to double down on that hand total of 11 at this point. When this is allowed, the rule is called "Double after Split", predictably enough. Regardless, you can play the first hand to completion, at which point the dealer will deal a second card to the second hand, and you can begin making play decisions on it.

If you get additional pairs (in the first two cards of a hand), most casinos will allow you to resplit, making yet another hand. The most common rule allows a player to split up to 3 times, making 4 separate hands, with 4 separate bets. If double after split is allowed, you could have up to 8 times your initial bet on the table if you chose! Some casinos restrict resplitting, and some allow unlimited splitting. Another fine point is that you are allowed to split any 10-valued cards, so you could split a (Jack, Queen) hand. However, this is usually a bad play: Keep the 20.

The other complication for pair splits concerns splitting Aces. Splitting Aces is a very strong player move, so the casino restricts you to drawing only one additional card on each Ace. Also, if you draw a ten-valued card on one of your split Aces, the hand is not considered a Blackjack, but is instead treated as a normal 21, and therefore does not collect 3:2 odds. Some casinos allow resplitting Aces if you draw another, while many do not allow resplitting Aces although they often do allow resplitting of any other pairs. With all these restrictions, you may wonder whether it makes sense to split Aces. The answer is a resounding YES. Always split pairs of Aces.

Insurance and Even Money

Insurance is perhaps the least understood of all the commonly available rules for Blackjack. This is not necessarily a bad thing because the insurance bet is normally a poor bet for the player, with a high house advantage. However, that's not always the case. So, here we go:
If the dealer turns an up-card of an Ace, he will offer "Insurance" to the players. Insurance bets can be made by betting up to half your original bet amount in the insurance betting stripe in front of your bet. The dealer will check to see if he has a 10-value card underneath his Ace, and if he does have Blackjack, your winning Insurance bet will be paid at odds of 2:1. You'll lose your original bet of course (unless you also have a Blackjack), so the net effect is that you break even (assuming you bet the full half bet for insurance.) This is why the bet is described as "insurance", since it seems to protect your original bet against a dealer blackjack. Of course, if the dealer does not have blackjack, you'll lose the insurance bet, and still have to play the original bet out.

In the simplest description, Insurance is a side-bet, where you are offered 2:1 odds that the dealer has a 10-valued card underneath ("in the hole"). A quick check of the odds yields this: In a single deck game, there are 16 ten-valued cards. Assuming that you don't see any other cards, including your own, the tens compose 16 out of 51 remaining cards after the dealer's Ace was removed. For the insurance bet to be a break-even bet, the hole card would have to be a ten 1 out of 3 times, but 16/51 is only 1 in 3.1875.

The situation is often thought to be different when you have a Blackjack. The dealer is likely to offer you "even money" instead of the insurance bet. This is just the same old insurance bet with a simplification thrown in. Let's ignore the "even money" name, and look at what happens when you insure a Blackjack. Let's say you bet \\$10, and have a Blackjack. You would normally collect $15 for this, unless the dealer also has a blackjack, in which case you push or tie.Let's assume that the dealer has an Ace up, and you decide to take insurance for the full amount, or \\$5. Now, two things can happen:
1) The dealer has a Blackjack. I tie with the \\$10, but collect 2:1 on the \\$5 insurance bet for a total profit of $10.
2) The dealer does not have Blackjack. I lose the \\$5, but collect \\$15 for my BJ. Total profit, again $10.In either case, once I make the insurance bet, I'm guaranteed a profit of \\$10, or even money for my original bet.So, casinos allow me to eliminate the insurance bet altogether, and simply declare that I want even money for my blackjack when the dealer has an Ace showing.

You're probably thinking that sounds like a pretty good deal. You're guaranteed a profit even if the dealer does have Blackjack. Just remember that the guaranteed profit comes at a price. You'll win more money in the long run by holding out for the \\$15, even though you'll sometimes end up empty-handed. Nonetheless, many players are adamant that they prefer to take even money when offered. Just be aware that you're costing yourself money when you make that choice.

The basic strategy player should simply never take the insurance bet, even the "even money" variety. Card counters on the other hand can often detect situations where more than one-third of the remaining cards are ten-valued, and the bet is then a profitable one. So, unless you know the bet is favorable, just ignore it.

Summary

That's really all there is to know. If you've never played the game before, it can be a little intimidating at first. Just sit down at a table with a friendly-looking dealer and give it a try. After 10 minutes, all these details will be easy. Like many things, it's easier done than said!

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