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Using a nickel to
protect a penny
Dear Mark,
Using Atlantic City Blackjack rules
with my computer, I ran an experiment and I played many
hundred of hands. When I was dealt two hard tens and the
dealer had either a five or six showing, instead of
standing pat, I split the tens and doubled down. At
least 75 percent of the time the dealer broke, and I won
on both hands.
I realize this is an unorthodox play, but it seemed to
work, at least when I do it on the computer. I also have
done it at Atlantic City much to the chagrin of other
players, and I would guess I have won about 75 percent
of the time there too.
Am I on to something good or should I
revert to the standard play of standing with this hand?
Morris S.
Except for John Scarne, all gaming writers I have
ever read recommend against ever splitting 10s in the
standard version of blackjack. But John Scarneıs book,
Scarne on Cards, was first published in 1949, well
before computers could analyze blackjack with
multi-million hand simulations. Consequently, since
1962, when Edward Thorp, (the first blackjack specialist
using a computer (IBM 704)) published his book, Beat the
Dealer, no blackjack author recommends splitting
10sunder any circumstances. Our friend Scarne stands
aloneexcept for you, of course.
While running a couple hundred computer hands can warm
up your fingers, itıs no way to accurate evaluate
splitting 10s. Heck, you can flip a fair coin 200 times
and have it come down heads 75% of the time, but we both
know that in the long run, itıs a 50/50 proposition.
But your question is an intriguing one, Morris, so Iıve
gone a step further and took the liberty of running a 20
million-hand simulation test using a piece of software
called BJ Trainer. The results clearly favored no
splittum, the technical term for leaving those 10s alone
rather than splitting them against a 5 or 6.
There is, however, one time when it is proper basic
strategy to split 10s and that is on a Face-up Blackjack
game. In Face-up Blackjack, all the cards dealt are
exposed, including both of the dealerıs cards. Only
here does correct strategy call for splitting 10s
against a dealerıs 13, 14, 15, or 16.
But, before scampering to the nearest Face-up game and
twinning those tens, reflect on the fee involved: the
casino edge on regular blackjack, using perfect basic
strategy, is 0.4% and on Face-up itıs five times
thatyup, 2.0 fat percent. Wow! And why is that?
Because in Face-up you lose when you push (tie).
Dear Mark,
Recently, a dealer was not even
halfway through the shoe and the cut card appeared and
she shuffled-up. Next round, even fewer cards were dealt
before she had to shuffle again. Seems she was doing
more shuffling than dealing. What gives? Stewart S.
"This gives," Stewart. Management at the
joint where you played is panicky over the possibility
that some customersı cerebra are alivetheyıre
thinking! There might be here and there among them CARD
COUNTERS!
Personally, I believe if those timorous stewards of
gambling were to conduct time and motion studies of
their blackjack games, they would find out that
blackjack becomes more profitable for the casino when
the dealerıs shuffle points are deeper. By allowing
additional deck penetration, the dealers will deal more
hands per hour, the extra action more than making up for
an occasional loss to a card sharpie.
Besides, since they employ pit bulls to run off the
counters anyway, theyıre just erecting a super umbrella
over their standard umbrella, and, I think, using a
nickel to protect a penny.
Gambling quote of the week: "I figure the
casino management summit was held late last year and the
conspiracy developed from there. How else do you explain
the downgrading of so many machines in quick
succession?" Gayle Mitchell, Gaming writer
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