As my friends will tell you, I’m not a serious BlackJack (BJ) player. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a serious game. Just not for me. Keep in mind, it’s only because of my military background that I take anything that seriously, and those things are few and far between: my faith in Christ, liberty, national security, family safety, and abuse of power (I’m big on small government done well).
So, BJ does not make the cut. Is it an opportunity to make good money? Most definitely. And so is craps. In comparison to craps, here is what I dislike about BlackJack:
– BJ Is so slooow – you’re up then down then up up and back down. Over the long run, you can get way up, dollar wise, as long as you build your kitty, all at the rocket speed of max 2.?% with 3 running counts.
— With craps, my advantage might be small over the long run, as in BJ. But, with the right bet progression, I can clean up nicely with a $500 – $1000 buy-in. The only time craps is slow is when the table is full of random shooters with slow dealers – ugh!
– BJ is so antisocial for a card counter. No talking, except to pretend you’re not card counting.
— With craps, most people have lots to say about what’s going on: Looking for a six, shooter! One number to make the Small. Great Roll! (Even dealers will say that). Ever hear a BJ dealer say: "Great game. Over the past 8 hours, you’ve really made bank"? I don’t think so.
– With BJ, you only get a break by leaving the table. Otherwise, concentrate-concentrate-concentrate.
— With craps, when my roll is finally over, my level of focus can ratchet down a lot. How hard is the 5-count, followed by 1 or 2 working bets? Even on a good shooter, bets take only momentary thought.
– With BJ, getting backed off a table or flat bet is only a matter of when, not if.
— With Craps, getting backed off happens, but it happens much less – unless you’ve been made famous by the History Channel.
When I need to take a long break from the craps table, the slowness of BlackJack can be therapeutic. But, what do you do when a lousy, perhaps lazy, BlackJack player like me sits down at your serious table?
When a bad BJ player like me sits down at the table and makes bad decisions relative to even basic strategy, I can tell you right now, Doctor Crapology will leave, saying, "I don’t see any point staying to lose more money?" And that’s ok – good friends should be able to insult each other (I’m sorry, Doc, but I laugh every time I remember).
Here is the challenge: Is a bad BJ player really to blame for a card counter’s losses? And, does another BJ player’s bad decision have any effect on a card counter’s advantage or wins?
I found the answer from Colin Jones, Chief Card Counting Expert, who ran a multi-million dollar blackjack team called Holy Rollers. A documentary was made about him, too. I watch his YouTube channel, because he is a no nonsense guy about card counting – it’s a lot of work and not for everyone, but is very doable. He and his cohosts remind me of our own Golden Touch crew of excellent instructors. I’m not recommending him, I don’t personally know him. He posted a video recently, titled "Bad Blackjack Players: What Should You Do About Them?" https://youtu.be/hJy1AJETKvE.
Spoiler alert – the answer is Nothing! It has ho effect on the game and no effect on the odds. He ran different playing scenarios:
You use perfect basic strategy while betting $10/hand:
– Playing with a poor player.
– Playing with an average player.
– Playing with a perfect basic strategy player.
– Playing with just the dealer.
In all four cases, you will lose an average of $4.31 per hour. No difference at all.
In short, how others play BJ has zero effect on the math of the game. Who knew?
So, Doc, you are welcome to sit at my BJ table anytime.
Replies:
Posted by: Dr Crapology on June 12, 2019, 10:24 pm
Doc
Posted by: Cotton Lob on July 3, 2019, 11:13 pm
Posted by: Skinny on July 4, 2019, 2:14 am
If anyone tries to tell you bad BJ players have an impact on your game you should ignore anything else that comes out of that person’s mouth about BJ. Those folks clearly do not understand the first thing about the math of the game. I would have serious reservations about their judgement when it comes to gaming in general.
In Colin’s video on this subject he responds to a comment he received recently. The spelling in the comment should be your first clue that this person does not know what he is talking about.
Here is the comment, "You should also never play with a bunch of people who don’t know what their doing they don’t follow the basic strategy except for you this causing everyone else to loose"
I’m not even mentioning the syntax and diction in the sentence. Not trying to be elitist here, but someone who is not attentive to grammar is probably not disciplined enough to be serious about math.
Colin Jones does a good job in the video making his point. The house advantage using perfect basic strategy will be the same no matter who else is or is not in the game with you. When playing perfect basic strategy the only thing that effects the HA are the rules of the game you are playing.
Number of decks of cards used
Dealer hits or stands on a soft 17
Player can double after a split
Player can double on: Any first two cards? 9-11 only? 10-11 only?
Player can resplit to: 2 3 4 hands?
Player can resplit aces
Player can hit split aces
Player loses only original bet against dealer BJ
Surrender rule
Blackjack pays
The above rules impact the HA.
In general, for the most common rules used in BJ, the HA when using perfect basic strategy is 0.431%. That means one can expect to lose $4.31 for every $1000 wagered.
I believe Colin Jones misspoke when he said one can expect to lose $4.31 per hour. He probably set up his simulation so that the player wagered $1000 per hour under each of the 4 different scenarios. Hence the 4 simulations most likely did yield a $4.31 loss per hour. But in a real game a player would wager more playing all alone with just a dealer than with a full table of poor players due to the pace of play. The HA would be $4.31 for every $1000 wagered but the hourly rate would vary dependent on the pace of play and number of hands on which one wagered.
Posted by: Cotton Lob on July 4, 2019, 8:09 pm
Whatever game chosen, one has to appreciate the dedication and determination in being the near perfect student in elevating the game. Be it cards, dice, or betting. The stories in that pursuit just keep us fired up.
All the information in-between the words of another gamers experience can give us enough insight to elevate our own experience if you pick out what is useful and throw away what is not useful .
Becoming a smart gambler requires a commitment to time spent learning and practicing when it’s something new. (Some philosophical words in part stolen from Bruce Lee)
And always use spell check. 😀
