Blackjack Strategy - Putting Simple Online Blackjack Strategy to the Test

Okay, so I put the simple blackjack strategy to the test at Rushmore Casino - just as I laid it out in the previous gambling tip. To be honest, I don't remember exactly where I picked up this strategy at, although I am pretty sure it was online at one of those "Blackjack Strategy" sites and/or in one of those confident sounding articles that show up in Google when you do a search for Blackjack Strategy or Blackjack Tips.

I gave myself $59 to bet with - no more, no less. I also stuck to $5 chips, which in retrospect, was probably not that good of an idea. Don't they say your bankroll should be so many times over the size of your chips? At $5 a pop, my bankroll was not even twelve times over. I should have played $2 chips (Rushmore let's you go as low as $1 per hand).Things started off pretty balanced, if you know what I mean. After about fifteen minutes of play, I was still holding onto my original bankroll, give or take a few bucks. At one point I was up about $15, which turned out being the most profit I held at one time during the session.

After about thirty minutes I was dry. At one point I got down to only nine bucks left, then proceeded to make a comeback, fluctuated for a while, then went on an unlucky-ridden losing streak that cleared me out. Although I was seriously hit with some bad luck (I don't even know how the dealer won some of the hands that he did), my overall assessment of the strategy is that it falls short. Sure, it was easier to put to use. But my intuition is telling me the extra options the full strategy offers are what will make the difference. The simplified strategy has you double down whenever you are dealt a 10 or 11, regardless of what the dealer is shown. Ya, I got burned a couple of times when the dealer was showing a ten. Also, there were other times when doubling down would have paid off.

Another rule I had a hard time with was standing on hands of 12 when the dealer had anything less than a 6 showing. I know the odds say the dealer has a better chance of busting, but it seemed like he never did! At one point I almost threw the rule out but held true to the guidelines anyways (for the sake of my test). Everybody says that you have to stick to the exact rules of the Blackjack strategy in order to get the lowest Casinos Edge. Statistically, they are probably right. But I can tell you that if I stuck to my hunches, I probably would still be playing right now. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to take Insurance, and would have been right if I had!

I do have to say that although the dealer never seemed to bust when I stood on a 12, their came a few times when this guideline paid off. It seemed like all my strategic gambling went on streaks of working and not working. The only guidelines that paid off the majority of the time were standing on a seventeen or higher (duh) and all of the guidelines governing soft hands. These were to always hit on hands of Ace/2 through Ace/6 and to always stand on hands of Ace/7 through Ace/10.

That being said, considering my bankroll to stake ratio, I think I will give the simplified strategy one more chance (and will update this article when I do). Depending on how it goes, I may eventually end up adopting all the soft hand rules, dropping the "Stand on 12 when the dealer shows 6 or less" rule and picking up all the double down guidelines of the full strategy. We shall see. Overall, I want to say that a string of bad luck really took me out on this particular gambling session at the blackjack tables.

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October '07 | November 2007