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This expert strategy guide explains how to play blackjack when you’ve been dealt a pair of 4s. If you want to activate a lower house edge in blackjack games—you need to make the right decisions by using basic blackjack strategy.

BLACKJACK STRATEGY GAMEPLAY WHEN DEALT A PAIR OF 4S

Knowing how to play a pair of 4s can be tricky especially when the stakes are real and the value of the dealer’s upcard is placing you under pressure. This, how to play a pair of 4s blackjack guide is written by blackjack expert Henry Tamburin who’s figured it all out for you, so you’ll know what the best decisions are.

POSSIBLE ACTIONS WHEN DEALT WITH A PAIR OF 4S IN BLACKJACK

When you are dealt a pair of 4s in blackjack you have three viable playing options:

FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN FACED WITH A PAIR OF 4S IN BLACKJACK

Which blackjack strategy you should invoke depends upon:

• what the dealer’s upcard is
• the number of decks of cards being used
• whether double down after pair splitting is allowed

BLACKJACK RULES AND THE USE OF BASIC STRATEGY ON PAIRS OF 4S

When it comes to a pair of 4s (total hand value = 8), if you want to increase your chances of winning, this blackjack tips strategy guide explains in what situations you should hit, split or double down. Because it contains expert, blackjack game odds analysis, it will help you navigate blackjack rules for pairs of 4s and the use of basic strategy.

Pair of 4s blackjack playing strategy #1

The basic strategy for a double- or multi-deck game where doubling down after pair splitting is not allowed (NDAS) is to

• Always hit regardless of the dealer’s upcard

Pair of 4s blackjack playing strategy #2

If the blackjack rules allow doubling down after pair splitting (DAS)

• You should split against a dealer’s upcard of 5 and 6

Pair of 4s blackjack playing strategy #3

In a single-deck game, the basic playing strategy is

• If NDAS, double down your total of 8 against a dealer’s upcard of 5 and 6; otherwise hit
• If DAS, split against dealer’s upcard of 4, 5, or 6; otherwise hit

The following color-coded blackjack charts summarize the basic strategy for a pair of 4s.
(Note: P = Split; H = Hit; Dh = Double Down if allowed otherwise hit.)

DOUBLE- AND MULTI-DECK WITH NDAS

DOUBLE- AND MULTI-DECK WITH DAS

SINGLE-DECK WITH NDAS

SINGLE-DECK WITH DAS

REASON FOR USING BLACKJACK STRATEGIES WHEN DEALT PAIRS OF 4S

Whether you should hit, split, or double down is based on one of these three criteria:

• You will win more money on average
• You will lose less money on average
• You will turn a losing hand into a winning hand on average

EXAMPLES FOR WHEN TO SPLIT PAIRS OF 4S IN BLACKJACK

For example, suppose you are dealt a pair of 4s in a six-deck game with DAS and the dealer’s upcard is a 6, the basic playing strategy (shown in the above chart) states to split. The reason is because using a blackjack splitting strategy has a greater positive expectation of winning than either hitting or doubling down.

In other words, you will win more money in the long run by playing two hands, each starting with a 4, than by either hitting or doubling an 8 (i.e, a pair of 4s).

Here’s another example: suppose you are dealt a pair of 4s in a six-deck game with NDAS and the dealer’s upcard is a 3. Doubling and splitting have negative expectations whereas hitting has a positive expectation, making it the best play.

RESPLITTING A PAIR OF 4S WITH EXAMPLES

Understanding the strategy of blackjack pair splitting and knowing exactly when to resplit those 4s can significantly impact your long-term success at blackjack tables.

A final example is being dealt a pair of 4s in a single-deck game against a dealer’s 6 upcard. If the rules specify NDAS, all three viable playing options (hitting, splitting, and doubling) have positive expectations but doubling is more positive making it the better play.

If the playing rules allow you to resplit a pair of 4s, then it is advantageous for you to use a blackjack resplitting strategy.For example:

1. If you were dealt a pair of 4s against a dealer’s 5 upcard with DAS, you should split.
2. Suppose on the first 4, you are dealt another 4 on the draw. You should resplit to form a third hand.
3. If the casino allows resplits up to a total of four hands, then you should resplit again if you are dealt another 4. Resplitting pairs is a player-favorable option that you should always take advantage of.

IF THE BLACKJACK RULES DON’T ALLOW DOUBLING DOWN ON 8

If the blackjack playing rules don’t allow you to double down on an 8, then you should hit (see single-deck chart above with NDAS).

*** For even more blackjack strategies, check out our article on blackjack side bets. ***

IMPACT OF BLACKJACK RULES AND USE OF BASIC STRATEGY ON PAIRS OF 4S

When facing a pair of 4s in blackjack, mastering basic blackjack strategy is crucial for any player aiming to improve their odds of winning. By integrating this knowledge into your overall approach to learning how to play a pair of 4s in blackjack, you can gain a long-term edge of increasing your chances of winning.

You will always win more or lose less if you follow the above basic playing strategy for splitting, hitting, or doubling down on a pair of 4s.

[For a complete basic playing strategy for any set of playing rules, consult Chapter 3 in the Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.]

Is basic strategy used to decide how to play a pair of 4s?

Yes, because basic strategy is a rule-based structure players can use for playing blackjack when faced with pairs of 4s, basic strategy suggests the mathematically advantageous play in the long run.

Does card counting give you an advantage when playing pairs of 4s?

Using basic strategy, the recommendation is you to split against a dealer’s 5 or 6, but some players deviate from this and double their blackjack hand if the card count is 2 or higher.

Card counting is a higher-level blackjack strategy that deviates from basic strategy rules. With a pair of 4s, card counters could work out that certain value cards are due which could lead them to go against basic strategy and try to gain a stronger advantage over the house.

What is the best way to play a pair of 4s in blackjack?

If a player has a pair of 4s, it’s best to split if the dealer’s upcard is 5 or 6. Also, it’s a strong play to double after splitting (if blackjack rules allow) if the dealer’s upcard is 5 or 6. When the dealer’s upcard value isn’t 5 or 6, the best thing to do is to hit to try and improve your hand.

Should pairs of 4s be resplit in blackjack games?

The best way to play a pair of 4s from a single blackjack hand is to resplit if dealt another 4 and blackjack rules allow resplit. It’s best to continue to resplit multiple pairs of 4s if you can.

When to hit with a pair of 4s in blackjack hands?

Try to improve your pair of 4s hand by hitting if the value of the dealer’s upcard isn’t 5 or 6.

*** For further reading, check out our article on roulette odds andcraps strategy. ***

I was not able to attend this year’s Blackjack Ball because of my wife’s unexpected surgery that occurred the week of the Ball. Nevertheless, my good friends Rick Blaine (co-author of the excellent Blackjack Blueprint book) and Max Rubin (co-host of the Ball) provided me with the details that I used to write this article.

As is always the case, this year’s 24th Blackjack Ball was held at a closely guarded, secret location in Las Vegas. The 103 invited guests, which included some of the most dangerous players from the USA and abroad, gather each year to socialize, cast votes to determine who will be inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame, and compete in a skills competition to determine who will win the title (and bragging rights) for the “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.”

(Note: Thirteen members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame attended. There is also a waiting list of players who would like to be invited to the Ball. Each potential candidate must be approved by a committee of Blackjack Hall of Famers.)

The event begins with hors d’oeuvres with plenty of champagne (each guest is required to bring one bottle of “premium” champagne), a delicious buffet courtesy of Barona Resorts and Casino (guests also pony up $100 to defray some of its cost), a charitable Calcutta, and the 21-question test and table competition. There is also an after-party where guests can continue to schmooze and exchange casino stories and blackjack strategies until early the next morning.

The list of attendees includes some of the world’s best (and most dangerous) active and retired advantage players, as well as others who have contributed to the craft. Some of the attendees may be familiar to you: Edward Thorp (inventor of card counting); Johnny Chang (MIT Team); Don Johnson (who beat several Atlantic City casinos out of $15 million); and James Grosjean (considered by his peers to be the world’s best and brightest blackjack player).

This year, there were also several invited guests:

• Jean Scott (recently retired “Queen of Comps,” and author of several popular Frugal Gambling books)
• Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale (who lost more than $13 million in bets on the Houston Astros to win the 2019 World Series to hedge a potential $20 million loss on a promotion at his Houston furniture store)
• Todd Dewey (writer for Las Vegas Review Journal, who wrote an article on this year’s Blackjack Ball that appeared in the 3/1/2020 edition of the newspaper)
• Roger Gross (publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine, the leading trade publication for the gaming industry)

NOMINEES FOR THE BLACKJACK HALL OF FAME

Attendees voted for the following nine nominees. (Note: After you read each of the nominees’ accomplishments, whom would you have voted for?)

CAT HULBERT

Cat was selected as one of BBC’s 100 Women of 2016 – an honor given to “high-profile women from the spheres of entertainment, sport, business and politics.” Chosen for being the first woman to break through the glass ceiling of professional blackjack in 1978, she played on the Czechoslovakian blackjack team in over 300 casinos worldwide. Cat’s aggressive play and fearlessness changed many opinions on the mathematical and emotional capabilities of women to bet it up under pressure.

Selected by Card Player Magazine in 1996 as one of the best and smartest card players in the world, she was one of only eight professional gamblers to be included in Richard Munchkin’s book, Gambling Wizards. Along with teaching a women-only poker class for many years at the Hollywood Park Casino, Cat also wrote Outplaying the Boys, a humorous book and guide for women, published in NYC in 2005, teaching ladies how to become more competitive in life and at the tables.

Cat was featured in LA’s The Daily Breeze and the Sunday LA Times for her top-notch card-playing abilities in blackjack and poker. Also a contestant on Blackjack’s Tournament of Champions, Cat has been a guest on numerous radio shows including NPR, Gambling with an Edge, and BBC’s The Conversation. She is often sought out due to her unusual successful life choices and her mission to change how women are viewed – by men and by themselves alike. On December 7, 2016, the BBC published a biographical article based on her remarkable exploits that claimed to have received a million reads the first day it appeared on their homepage.

MIKE MICHALEK

Mike was one of the earliest card counters to realize that there were opportunities in blackjack beyond straight counting. Credited by many for creating some of the earlier shuffle- and ace-tracking methods, he was one of the very few APs who could walk through a casino, see a game or procedure, and often design unique plays to exploit new opportunities “on the spot.”

When Mike’s name comes up among those in the know, the word “creative” often begins that conversation. As the brain behind many successful sports and blackjack projects, many famous APs relied on the lessons learned from Mike to accumulate massive bankrolls and mostly all of them attribute money they’ve made over the years to his influence. Renowned professional blackjack players including Tommy Hyland, Bill Benter, John Chang, Peter Wagner, Richard Dougherty, and many, many more often pay homage to Mike for taking their games to new heights.

Although Mike has been inactive for more than ten years due to serious health issues, some of his more clever blackjack “inventions” are still being used by talented APs across the globe to harvest money from casinos that continue to remain unfamiliar with the unique playing and betting techniques that he created decades ago.

MARK BILLINGS

Starting in 1981, Mark enjoyed a blackjack career that included many of the usual suspects (counting, shuffle-tracking, etc.). In addition, he traveled the world as one of the early computer players, and was instrumental in pioneering advanced non-counting methods of getting an edge. Many of these exploits are recounted in his book, The Ultimate Edge. Roulette was next, taking over where Doyne Farmer and the Eudaemons had left off and succeeding in a way that had to be seen to be believed. (Book to follow.)

RICHARD DOUGHERTY

Richard has long been one of the blackjack players casinos fear the most … and most often. Casinos have sent out literally hundreds of flyers, bulletins, and alerts about Richard during his more than three decades as a blackjack “Road Warrior,” and yet he still marches on.

Throughout his long, illustrious and (in)famous career, blackjack has been Richard’s virtually only source of income. No matter how many times the casinos back him off, assault him, and even go so far as to have him arrested for his legal activities, he never stops his relentless attack on their games.

Not only does Richard refuse to be intimidated by casino and surveillance personnel, he’s also “turned the tables” on casinos and extracted hefty scores via profitable lawsuits after suffering through illegal “back roomings” and outright beatings in front of the public on the casino floor on the Las Vegas Strip! As if that weren’t enough to put Richard in the casinos’ crosshairs, as a fearless and fun-loving casino prankster, he’s also pulled off a number of clever and legendary practical jokes that leave everyone (other than the casinos) laughing with glee.

MARIA “THE GREEK”

Maria is the co-founder and one-time manager of “The Greeks” blackjack team. Having quit their day jobs as very successful New York attorneys, she, her brother, and highly respected colleagues formed the largest single group of players in history; at one time she simultaneously managed over 40 individual players. She recruited only the top talent, having the most notoriously difficult set of tests required to pass in order to get onto the team. Additionally, Maria’s team won countless millions utilizing a “slash and burn” technique in which BPs would wade into the middle of a game, often betting 3 x $10,000. Needless to say, each BP didn’t last long, but the enormous bets resulted in some of the largest card counting wins in history.

An extraordinary businessperson, she utilized her business acumen, extraordinarily high I.Q. (even among the best of the best), along with common sense to guide the most successful single card counting team this century.

Along with being a master at sequencing, tracking, and now a high-stakes poker professional, Maria is also the only woman to have ever won the coveted title of “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player” at the Blackjack Ball (even in the days when arm wrestling, chip shuffling, card tossing, and more were among the 11 events at the final table).

ANTHONY CURTIS

Not only is Anthony the most successful publisher of professional gambling books in history, with over 100 titles to his credit (including eight by members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame), he is also unequivocally the most famous gambling expert in the world.

With a career spanning some 40 years as a highly successful professional player in blackjack, casino tournaments (of all stripes), sports, and other forms of gambling, he is also the creator of “Couponomy,” as featured in his monthly Las Vegas Advisor (in print and Internet form). The latter is the most successful, longest running, and ongoing Las Vegas gaming publication ever written and published.

As well as being featured on countless high-profile television programs ranging from The Today Show to 20/20 and more, he has also consulted as a gambling expert for Premium Movies (Disney, Ocean’s 13, etc.), and acted as the “go to” writer and expert for scores of print media companies, including The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Newsweek, USA Today, The London Times, and more.

NORM WATTENBERGER

Norm is the foremost blackjack software developer in the world today, and his line of Casino Vérité products has come to be known as the quintessential tool for analyzing virtually any problem associated with the game of live blackjack. The incredible graphics and the realism of the practice modes of CV have received the highest praise from the thousands of satisfied customers who have honed their skills on this magnificent product.

Norm has made a great many of his computer studies and applications available free of charge on the internet, and you will be amazed at the sophistication of his analyses as you visit his website at qfit.com. A consummate programmer, Norm is an industry legend who continues to provide computer simulations and studies to answer problems on his blackjackforum.com while continuing his blackjack research. His two-volume Modern Blackjack is perhaps one of the most original and comprehensive treatments of the game in print, and represents hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of computer-generated insights into the game not to be found anywhere else.

BLAIR HULL

Blair was a big player on Frank Salerno’s highly successful blackjack team in the mid-’70s. He began playing solo in 1971 and continued to run his own team in the late ’70s.

In 1977, Blair was intrigued by the financial markets and became a market maker on the Pacific Stock Exchange, where he founded Hull Trading. Using quantitative models, Hull Trading became one of the world’s premier market-making firms, trading on 26 exchanges in nine countries until being sold in 1999 to Goldman Sachs for $531 million. Worth Magazine named him one of “Wall Street’s 25 Smartest Players.”

In 2004, Blair sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in a race that was won by Barack Obama. He currently serves as manager of Hull Tactical Asset Allocation (HTAA), which uses macro-economic, fundamental, and sentiment data along with machine-learning techniques to predict moves in the S&P 500.

LANCE HUMBLE

Lance (deceased in 2016) was a university professor in Toronto who became fascinated with card counting at casino blackjack in the early ’70s after reading Blackjack Hall of Fame member Edward Thorp’s Beat the Dealer. Lance hired Thorp’s computer whiz, BJHoF member Julian Braun, to devise playing strategies for two counting systems he christened as Hi-Opt 1 and Hi-Opt 2 that Braun also tested via computer simulation, finding them to be quite powerful versus the typical Las Vegas rules and conditions. Lance started selling these systems via mail order in the mid-’70s, at which time he founded the International Blackjack Club and started publishing a newsletter that primarily printed reports from card counters on their experiences and win/loss results in Las Vegas casinos. He also hired BJHoF member Peter Griffin to devise multi-parameter (side-count) tables for his Hi-Opt systems.

Lance is primarily known as the co-author (with Carl Cooper) of The World’s Greatest Blackjack Book, published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1980, with a second edition published in paperback in 1987. Doubleday had extensive distribution and the Hi-Opt systems were soon among the most widely used card-counting systems throughout the ’80s. Because the Hi-Opt systems required a side-count of aces, they fell out of favor with players who preferred the simpler systems, like Hi-Lo. But Lance was responsible for bringing many thousands of serious players into the game in the ’70s and ’80s.

NEWEST INDUCTEE INTO THE BLACKJACK HALL OF FAME

Congratulations to Anthony Curtis for being voted by his peers into the prestigious Blackjack Hall of Fame.

Note: Curtis garnered almost twice as many votes as the second place finisher. The other contenders are listed in the order of votes received: Mike Michalek, Maria the Greek, Blair Hull, Cat Hulbert, Mark Billings, Richard Dougherty, Norm Wattenberger, Lance Humble.

Curtis now joins an illustrious group of blackjack luminaries in the Blackjack Hall of Fame. (You can view the physical Blackjack Hall of Fame at the Barona Resort and Casino, located in San Diego, California.) The up-to-date listing of the members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame (and the year they were inducted) follows:

Al Francesco (2002)
Peter Griffin (2002)
Tommy Hyland (2002)
Arnold Snyder (2002)
Edward O. Thorp (2002)
Ken Uston (2002)
Stanford Wong (2002)
Max Rubin (2004)
Keith Taft (2004)
Julian Bruan (2005)
Lawrence Revere (2005)
John Chang (2006)
James Grosjean (2006)
Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott, collectively known as the “Four Horsemen of Aberdeen” (2008)
Richard Munchkin (2009)
Darryl Purpose (2010)
Zeljko Ranogajec (2011)
Ian Andersen (2012)
Robert Nersesian (2014)
Don Schlesinger (2015)
Bill Benter (2016)
Don Johnson (2017)
Wally Simmons (2018)
Rob Reitzen (2019)
Anthony Curtis (2020)

CALCUTTA

Next on the agenda was the charitable Calcutta, which is sort of pari-mutuel wagering where the attendees can bet on who they think will win the coveted Grosjean Cup and title of “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.” Below is the list of the seeds (i.e., THE PLAYERS) where attendees were slotted into an appropriate grouping. The second column (BEST FINISH) shows the results for each seed in previous Balls. Max posted the opening odds of winning (on his overhead slide at the Ball) for each seed, and then started the bidding. (The first row titled THE FIELD is everyone else who isn’t listed in another team.) Attendees in each seed are also allowed to purchase up to 50% of themselves from the highest bidder.

COMPETITION FOR “WORLD’S GREATEST BLACKJACK PLAYER”

The competition for the title (and bragging rights) as the “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player” consists of several rounds, the first being a challenging 21-question written test followed by a series of subsequent rounds conducted on a blackjack table that test the player’s card-counting skills.

(Note: The written test includes a mix of questions on blackjack, gambling trivia, and general knowledge because, as Rubin puts it, “A world-class blackjack player should know lots of stuff because you never know when it might come in handy.”)

Below are instructions read by Rubin prior to reading the test questions. Put on your thinking cap and try to answer them.

Blackjack Ball 2020: Round One Questions

In order to eliminate opportunities for mischief, as always, as you fill out your game card, you must completely answer each true or false question or multiple-choice question and fill in the blank before we move on to the next question. All answers must be marked with dark ink. You cannot change your answer once you have marked your card. If there are any blanks or changed answers when your graded card is turned in, you will be disqualified. It’s happened before, right Anthony? So be sure to complete every answer. One time only ‒ with NO revisions.

Please write your name on your card now to make sure that your pens are working. If they aren’t, hold up your hand and we’ll bring you another one.

Also, those who look at their cell phones for any reason, other than to take an emergency call ‒ in which case we will all wait until that emergency has been dealt with ‒ will also be disqualified from play. You are allowed to use the back of your playing card to calculate your answers.

You may only play with one card and only write on the back of that card. All who haven’t completed their single cards within 45 seconds after the last question has been asked will be eliminated.

Anyone on a team can buy a piece, including if you’re in the field, you can buy a pro-rata share, so EVERYBODY CAN BE IN ACTION.

MAKE SURE YOU PENS WORK. READY? HERE WE GO.

I’ll read each question twice. Ready?

1. True or False? In his playing career, Hall-of-Famer James Grosjean has had a royal flush ON THE BOARD in Ultimate Texas Hold’Em; five Aces WITH A PAIR in Pai Gow Poker; and suited Quads in a 5-deck Spanish 21 game (meaning his first two cards and the dealer’s upcard and hole card were all the exact same rank and suit). In the past year, Hall-of-Famer Darryl Purpose had five consecutive blackjacks on the same spot in an 8-deck blackjack game. True or False? Darryl’s feat of five consecutive blackjacks is the most unlikely out of these rare hands.

2. Which of these games that modern blackjack evolved from is the oldest? You may pick one of two answers that are correct.

a) Quince from France
b) Vingt-et-Un from France
c) Treinte y Uno from Spain
d) Trentuno from Italy
e) Sette e Mezzo from Italy
f) None of the above

3. How many standard clay casino chips would you have to stack to equal the height of a single chip standing up on its edge?
Fill in the blank: _______________

4. True or False? The “Data on the Nevada Gaming Abstract” from December 31, 2010 and ending on December 31, 2019, spans precisely nine years.

5. Which one of these businesses was founded as a Playing Card Company?

a) GLI
b) Bally’s
c) Nintendo
d) Harrah’s
e) Atari
f) None of the above

6. Spell Souvenir.

7. True or False? In 1910, Nevada passed a law outlawing all forms of legalized gambling. However, in 1915, Nevada legalized blackjack.

8. Another from blackjack’s Jedi Master (aka James Grosjean): Your aspiring blackjack wizard nephew tells you that for his 18th birthday this Tuesday, he wants to go to the Indigo Sky casino and turn his $5 bankroll into a fortune, without any help from you. He has only $5 on this earth. What additional bad news will you have to tell him about his plan?

a) The gambling age there is 21, so he will have to find a different casino.
b) There is almost no chance of finding a $5 table at the Indigo Sky.
c) Even if he finds a $5 table, he’ll need to give his ID to get a player’s card.
d) Casino security might ask him to remove his “MAGA” hat at the door.
e) The Indigo Sky has only slot machines, no table games.

9. This one could be a little tough for all of you, since by coming to the Blackjack Ball you’re all on your honor to NOT play at Barona. Now, while Barona generally has the most full-pay, pitch 21 games in the world (because they don’t have to worry about your setting up shop down there) and they’ll NEVER rip off their players with those ridiculous 6/5 games, Barona does have a LOT of other different blackjack games, because their players love them. Which one of these blackjack games is NOT currently being played at Barona?

a) Blackjack Switch
b) Dragon Blackjack
c) Down Under Blackjack
d) Zap it Blackjack
e) Zombie Blackjack
f) Double Deck Free Bet Blackjack

10. True or False? According to several respected publications, blackjack, in which players receive a bonus for having a natural, was invented, named such, and began play on riverboats and Wild West casinos in the 19th century. So according to those publications, the name blackjack and the enhanced 3/2 payout were invented, introduced, and played for the first time within the confines of the current contiguous 48 United States.

11. This is another Grosjean special: You walk into a Midwest casino and see that every table has a posted maximum of $100. If you knew that your starting two cards would be a suited Ace and King, which game would be worth the most money, assuming you only play the main game, and not the side bets?

a) 6:5 single-deck
b) 6:5 single-deck with “even money” allowed if the dealer shows an Ace up
c) Three Card Poker
d) Ultimate Texas Hold’Em
e) Mississippi Stud

12. Fact: As of December 31, 2019, downtown Las Vegas had fewer blackjack games of all stripes than they had as of December 31, 2010. Within 50, how many games were lost?

13. True or False? In Deuces Wild video poker with any pay schedule, you are exactly 10 times as likely to be dealt a wild royal flush (i.e., a royal flush containing one, two, or three deuces) than you are to be dealt four deuces.

14. In which of the following video poker games would the value of a suited AK be greater than the value of a suited AQ?

a) Triple Bonus Poker
b) Triple Bonus Poker Plus
c) Triple Double Bonus Poker
d) A suited AK is always more valuable than a suited AQ in these games.
e) A suited AK is never more valuable than a suited AQ in these games.

15. This is a two-part question: What are the most points that either a Division 1 NCAA or NFL football team can lose by in overtime? You must have the correct number and league.

16. True or False? The Silver Reef Casino that offers blackjack in Washington State is geographically north of the Casino de Montreal, in Montreal, and the Woodbine in Toronto.

17. You are playing head’s up No Limit Texas Hold’Em and are dealt AK of hearts. Would it be easier to flop a set, or flop a 3-of-a-kind from this position?

a) Flopping a set would be easier.
b) Flopping 3-of-a-kind would be easier.
c) They are the same.

18. Here’s another beauty from James. Although the law was later overturned, in 2010 the Black Hawk city council passed an ordinance banning which one of the following from all its casinos?

a) Bicycles
b) Dice games
c) Smoking
d) Bets exceeding $100

19. True or False? The Rolex Pearlmaster Oyster Perpetual Date Just is a lovely watch that will set you back $40,000 to purchase – or what some gentlemen in this room would call a cheap watch. True or False? The numbers on the watch are all typical Roman numerals – other than the twelve, which is replaced by the Rolex logo, and the three, which is replaced by the current day of the month.

20. You’re a BP in a casino where no one knows basic strategy at all, so cover plays are unnecessary. The dealer has a 2 upcard. You hit your hard 8 and make a 16, and your beast of a hole-card spotter tells you to stand. Which of the following is not true?

a) The dealer could have a 2 in the hole.
b) The dealer could have a 9 in the hole.
c) The dealer could have a 10 in the hole.
d) As a BP, my job is to follow signals, not try to infer what the hole card is.
e) They are all true.

21. And we finish with one last question courtesy of James. Make sure to answer this one and everything else on your card within 45 seconds after I repeat it. Here we go: Assuming the dealer always plays out her hand and you’re playing blackjack on a six-deck, H17 game in which everyone still in action ties if the dealer busts with a 22, within one percent, what are the chances that the dealer will bust with exactly 22? I’m going to repeat the question one more time and then you will have exactly 45 seconds to finish your card. Any blank answers will result in a DQ. I’ll repeat it one more time. And good luck.

Note: You’ll find the answers to the test questions in Part 2 of this article (including the names of the players who had the most correct answers) as well as a summary of the subsequent rounds in the competition for the “World’s Greatest Player,” and who won the competition.

For more details on the background of the Ball, read my article on the 2019 Ball or the section on the Blackjack Ball in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.

Roulette is a game of numbers with three colors thrown in; red, black and green (sometimes the color blue substitutes for green). Players can bet on one number and on as many as 37 numbers in the European game and 38 numbers in the American game. They can also bet on the propositions of red or black, high or low, odd or even.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The European game of roulette, called the single zero (0) game, has the numbers 1-36 with every other number colored as red or black and with one single number, the 0, colored green or blue. The American game of roulette, which is the most popular roulette game in the world, has the numbers 1-36 in either red or black, and a zero (0) and double-zero (00) in green or blue.

[Please note: Strangely enough, the American double-zero game (0, 00), which is the most popular in the world, is not as good a game as the European single-zero game (0). The American game is almost twice as tough to beat.]

While the game of roulette is somewhat leisurely in the average number of decisions played each hour, the house edges are somewhat challenging. The American game has a house edge of 5.26 percent, while the European game has an edge of 2.7 percent. Translated into money, the American game costs the player an average of $5.26 per $100 wagered, while the European game comes in with an average loss of $2.70 per $100 wagered. Given a choice, the roulette player should play the European game.

Saying something has an average loss of “x” amount for $100 wagered does not mean that for every $100 wagered the player is out “x” amount. It means that over time the losses will average as “x” amount for every $100 wagered. Players can win; they can lose, and they can break even on any given session.

[Please note: In 1958, the “Jones Boys” won $32,000 at roulette in Las Vegas. Many players have won more than that because a large win can also mean the player might be betting a large amount.]

First let me give you how the edges at the game are determined and then I’ll take most of the bets and we’ll see how these fit right in with the overall house advantage.

Interestingly enough, there is one option at the game that can give players only half the house edge at roulette at some casinos at some bets. I’ll get to these later in this article.

HOW THE HOUSE EDGE IS ESTABLISHED

The American double-zero wheels have a 38 number game for the players. On average each number should appear once every 38 spins. In a fair game, meaning a game where the casino has no edge whatsoever, a win for the player should return $37 for every $1 wagered. The player will, however, lose $37 and thus the game is an even contest.

An even contest cannot be a long-term win for the casino, so the payback for the game is altered to give the casino a 5.26 percent edge. How is the payback altered? For every one-dollar wagered, the casino will only award a win of $35 on a number instead of $37. That $2 difference gives the casino its edge. Just divide 38 numbers into 2 and you get 5.26 percent.

[Please note: The Pierre Basieux Team won $153,000 in Bad Wiessee. Germany in 1981]

Some players consider that 5.26 percent edge as a tax the casino charges the player to play. Calling it a tax is fine with me. Whatever a player wishes to call it simply means the casino actually takes away money from a player’s payout in order to pay its bills. I guess even casinos have bills.

The European wheel operates the exact same way with one major difference. It has only 37 numbers. So instead of paying the player $36 for a winning bet of $1 in a fair game; it pays $35 and keeps $1, making the edge 2.7 percent. Just divide 37 into 1 and it equals 2.7 percent; an average loss of $2.70 per $100 wagered. Those darn taxes!

When a player bets directly on an individual number or directly on more than one number, such a bet is called an inside bet or a straight bet or a straight up bet. The more money bet this way means all that money is subject to the house edge. It doesn’t matter if you are betting $50 on one number or $50 spread out on five numbers, the house edge relentlessly grinds away at that $50.

[Please note: In 1873, Joseph Jaggers won $325,000 in Monte Carlo. Imagine what the inflation rate of that amount would be!]

You can also bet inside by putting a single chip on a line that incorporates two or more numbers. In this way you do not have to bet more money to cover more numbers. The house edge remains the same for these bets. Here are some inside bets of this type:

The Split Bet: If you want to bet two numbers just put your chip(s) on the line between those numbers. A win pays 17 to 1.

The Street Bet (also called the side bet, the trio, or the 3-number bet): Yes, this bet has a lot of names but they all mean the same thing; you are betting three numbers. You put the bet on the outside line that contains the three numbers on which you wish to wager. A win pays 11 to 1.

The Corner Bet (also called the square or the 4-number bet): Bet is placed on the square where all four numbers meet. A win pays 8 to 1.

The Beast Bet (also called every dirty name in the book!): Here you are betting that the first five numbers will hit. This bet (hold your breath!) has a 7.89 percent house edge and can only be found at the American game. A win pays 6 to 1 and perhaps proves you’ve lost your mind. Do not bet this monster.

The Line Bet (or the sixline bet or 6-number bet): You’d think this bet would be called the half-dozen bet. The roulette payout is 5 to 1.

[Please note: In 1951, the Helmut Berlin team won $420,000 in Mar del Plato in Argentina.]

OUTSIDE PROPOSITION BETS

These bets can be found along the outside of the main layout. You are betting on a proposition that contains many numbers. The house edge remains 5.26 percent for the American game and 2.70 percent for the European game. There is one (beautiful) exception which I will get to in the end. This exception gives the players a big, big break at the game of roulette.

THE COLUMN BET

You are wagering that one of the columns of numbers on the layout will have the winning number. You place your bet at the bottom of the column that you think will win. A winning bet is paid 2 to 1. Each roulette column has 12 numbers. The 0 or 00 are not a part of either column so if either one of these two show the wager is lost.

THE DOZENS BET

The bet is whether one of a roulette dozen numbers on the layout will hit. These are not a dozen consecutive numbers on the wheel; they are strictly layout numbers. You place this bet on First Dozen, Second Dozen or Third Dozen. You can bet two of the dozens. The payout is 2 to 1. Again the 0 or 00 will cause your bet to lose.

[Please note: The roulette wheel and the roulette layout are two totally different things. The numbers on the wheel are not in order, in fact most of the numbers are directly across from each other, as in 2 is across from 1, but the layout has the numbers in numerical order. Strange as this seems, some roulette players are not aware that the wheel and the layout handle the numbers differently.]

RED OR BLACK BET

This is another even-money bet that you can pick the color of the number that will hit. There are 18 black numbers and 18 red numbers. Again, if the 0 or 00 hits, the bet is lost and this factor maintains the house edge.

On all the even-money bets the player has 18 ways to win and 20 ways to lose in the American game and 18 ways to win and 19 ways to lose in the European game.

[Please note: In 1971 Richard Jarecki won 1,280,000 in Monte Carlo and San Remo.]

TWO GREAT EXCEPTIONS

We saw that the beast bet of five numbers at the American game (0, 00, 1, 2, and 3) came in with a ridiculously large 7.89 percent house edge – an average $7.89 loss per $100 wagered. Otherwise all the house edges on all the bets at the American game and the European game remain the same. But there is a good “however” to this fact. Some casinos offer you a better game on the even-money bets, a far better game than normal. In fact, a game that allows the percent of the house edge to be reduced in half.

SURRENDER IS GOOD

There are some casinos offering the American 0 and 00 game that will take only half of your losing even-money bets should the 0 or 00 be the decision. That means a $10 bettor will only lose $5 on the even-money bet.

Is this a good thing? It sure is. The house edge is reduced from 5.26 percent down to 2.63 percent!

You might have to ask the dealer if this bonus is available at their casino. Most of the time you will not see a sign indicating the casino offers surrender. So ask! Playing roulette on the even-money bets with surrender is the only way to go at the game when this option is available.

WHY NOT GO TO PRISON?

The European single 0 game has its own version of surrender titled en prison which also cuts the house edge in half. If the 0 comes up and the player’s bet loses, the bet stays in the box for the next decision. This bonus cuts that 2.7 percent house edge down to 1.35 percent. Now the even-money bets at the game become some of the best roulettebets in the casino.

Just as with the surrender option at the American roulette game, it would be foolish not to wager exclusively on the even-money bets at the European game. Again, you’d have to ask if the casino allows this bonus.

[Please note: If you are a high roller, it is possible that the casino might allow you to play those even-money bets with either surrender or en prison. Casinos will sometimes make special exceptions for the high rollers. Indeed, some casinos will offer to give back half of a high-rolling player’s losses.]

SUMMARY

Roulette is certainly a numbers game and the biggest numbers are how much money you have as a bankroll and how much money your betting levels are. You must stay on top of your wins and losses and never bet over your head when the enthusiasm and thrills get to you.

[Please note: From 1986 through 1989, the Billy Walters Team won $4,810,000 in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.]

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Several years ago, I gave a blackjack seminar in front of an audience of about 100. At the start of my seminar, I posed this question to them. “How does the casino get its edge in blackjack?”

A few folks attributed the casino edge to “the poor play of most blackjack players” but that’s not what gives them their initial edge. Simply put, the house gets its edge in blackjack due to the “double bust” rule. After I stated this, I could see glary eyes and raised eyebrows from attendees. “Say what?” yelled one attendee.

First, it rather floored me that not one person knew how the casino creates its edge. Nevertheless, I forged on and explained the double bust rule to the attendees as follows.

If a player’s hand exceeds 21, he automatically losses even if the dealer’s hand exceeds 21 in the same round. This is known as the “double bust rule,” and it is what creates the casino’s initial advantage over blackjack players.

To explain the double bust a different way, I asked the audience what happens if you get 17 and the blackjack dealer gets 17? About everyone yelled, “it’s a push.” Then I asked them what happens if a player gets 22 and the dealer gets 22? Is it still a push? The answer of course is no, you lose. I could see a smile on faces of the attendees, as they finally really understood how the double bust works against players.

You might be wondering how much the double bust is roughly worth for the casino. This is easy to determine. The dealer busts on average about 28% of the time. Consider a player who plays his hand exactly like the dealer (always hit 16 or less and stand on 17 or more). He will also bust 28% of the time; therefore, a double bust in the same round will occur roughly 8% of the time (28% x 28%). Voilà, the casino’s initial advantage over players would be 8% assuming all else were equal. However, all else is not equal and for good reason.

Historically, when blackjack was first introduced into the casinos in the 1930s and 1940s, casino owners mistakenly believed the game could not be beaten. They understood the basis of their advantage (double bust) but realized their edge was too strong, and reasoned that if players consistently lost, they would stop playing. Therefore, they decided to give players a casino bonus payout for an untied blackjack hand. They also implemented additional player benefits in the way of playing options available only to players (not the dealer), which could reduce the house edge to a level that players would tolerate. The result was a game of uneven rules between player and dealer.

The following table summarizes the differences in the rules between the player and the dealer, and who has the advantage (from Blackjack Bluebook II by Fred Renzey).

If you peruse the table, you’ll see that except for acting first, all the other rules favor the player over the dealer. This means a smart player who knows how to take advantage of these rules can significantly reduce that initial 8% disadvantage to less than one percent. Here’s how this is done.

The first player perk — paying all player blackjacks at 3 to 2 while the dealer wins only even money with a blackjack — is a gimme and is worth 2.25% in a 6-deck game. Learning when to draw and when not to (as opposed to the dealer who has no playing options) gives the player roughly a 3.25% gain. Likewise, by maximizing your options to double down and split pairs you’ll gain about an additional 1.50% and 0.5% respectively. Surrender, if allowed, gives the player an additional 0.07% gain (assumes surrender after dealer checks for blackjack). Therefore, if you add up all the player gains and subtract them from the initial 8% player disadvantage, you’ll arrive at a player disadvantage (or house advantage) of about half a percent without surrender, and approximately four tenths of a percent with surrender. (The previous percentages differ slightly based on the number of decks of cards and mix of playing rules.) That, my dear readers, is about the lowest house edge you’ll find in any game on the casino floor.

The key to whittling down the initial disadvantage is to take maximum advantage of the playing options. You can do this by learning the basic blackjack strategy, which is a set of decision rules that a player should always follow to know when to hit, stand, double down, pair split, and surrender. The basic playing strategy is not based on opinion, common sense, hunches, or intuition; rather it’s the computer derived, mathematically correct way to play your hand when the only information available is the cards that comprise your hand and the dealer’s upcard (it does not depend on other player’s cards or previously played cards). There is only one right play in blackjack and it’s the basic strategy play. Period.

Note: If you want to learn the basic playing strategy for any set of blackjack rules, see Chapter 3 in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

One of the questions I often get from blackjack players is this: My favorite live casino just installed a double-deck blackjack game. What changes do I need to make to my playing and betting strategy compared to a six- or eight-deck game?

I’ve had a lot of experience playing all of the above games, but my favorites were thesingle- and double-deck games. Toward the end of my playing career, I stopped playing single-deck games when the casinos began shorting the payoff on blackjack hands (from 3-2 to 6-5). My main focus, thereafter, was double-deck games, and I’ll explain below what changes you need to make when switching from a six- or eight-deck game to a double-deck game (both for a basic blackjack strategy player and card counter).

DOUBLE-DECK RULES & PLAYING STRATEGY

I’ll assume that the six- or eight-deck game allows doubling after pair splitting (DAS) and surrender is not offered. I’ll cover the strategy changes for two scenarios: when the dealer must stand on soft 17 (S17) or hit soft 17 (H17).

If Playing Rules are S17 and DAS
The playing strategy changes that you should make when switching from a six- or eight-deck game to a double-deck game with the above rules are as follows.

• Double down hard 9 against a dealer deuce
• Double down hard 11 against a dealer ace.
• Split 6-6 against a dealer 7.
• Split 7-7 against a dealer 8.

If Double Deck Playing Rules are H17 and DAS
If the double-deck rules specify that the dealer must hit soft 17 (H17) rather than stand (S17), then you should include these three additional changes to the above S17 strategy.

• Double down A-3 (soft 14) against a dealer 4.
• Double down A-7 (soft 18) against a dealer deuce
• Double down A-8 (soft 19) against a dealer 6

You’ll be facing the lowest house edge by incorporating the above in your playing decisions and playing all your other hands accurately. (House edge is –0.18% for S17/DAS and –0.38% for H17/DAS.)

Tip: Before you jump in and start playing any double-deck game, make sure you check the blackjack rules and the payoff for a blackjack. For example, some casinos are paying only 6-5 for a blackjack (instead of 3-2). Others don’t allow doubling down after pair splitting. (These are horrible games that should be avoided.) Play only double-deck games where a blackjack is paid at 3-2, you can double down after pair splitting (DAS), and ideally, with S17. (If the playing rules specify H17, that’s acceptable, even though it is not as favorable as an S17 game.)

Note: For the complete basic playing strategy charts for a double-deck game with S17 and H17, see Chapter 3 of my free Ultimate Guide to Blackjack.

DOUBLE-DECK CARD COUNTING

Card counting in a double-deck game requires several changes to your betting strategy. The reason is there are two primary differences in counting a double-deck vs. a six-deck game:

• the true count tends to rise and fall more frequently, and
• you’ll be playing more hands where you have the edge.

Card counters have to be patient when they play, say, a six-deck game because it often takes several rounds after the shuffle before the count goes sufficiently positive, meaning the edge swings in their favor (and the counter will increase his bets). Sometimes the count will never get positive during the entire six-deck shoe. However, on the bright side, once the count goes positive it tends to stay positive for several rounds allowing the counter to fire away with big bets.

When you play a double-deck game, the true count is more volatile. It can quickly go positive after a round or two but just as quickly fall into negative territory. You’ll also be playing more hands where you have the edge so you don’t need as big a bet spread as you would for a six-deck game. (This is why card counters need a bigger bet spread in a six- or eight-deck game; they need to bet a lot more when they have the edge to compensate for the more frequent hands they play where they don’t have the edge.) For example, you’ll need a 1‒10 or 1‒12 bet spread to get a respectable edge in a six-deck game; however, for a double-deck game, a 1‒6 or 1‒8 spread often will suffice.

Penetration, or the percentage of cards dealt until the shuffle, is very important in double-deck games. Many casinos instruct their live dealers to place the cut card at 50%, meaning that, after one deck is played, the decks are shuffled. A double-deck game with 50% penetration is less profitable for a card counter then a similar game with 60% to 75% penetration (1.2 to 1.5 decks played). Therefore, if you are a card counter, you need to be sure the penetration is greater than 50%.

Here’s another tip I used that can come in handy when you are counting a double-deck game. Because there are only 104 cards in a double-deck game, just a few extra cards that are put into play before the cards are shuffled can significantly increase your advantage. Therefore, if the count is positive and you know that the next round will be the last one before the shuffle, spread and play two (or three) spots. You’ll be playing more hands where you have the edge in the game while consuming more of the undealt cards, which results in deeper penetration (advantageous for the play of the additional hand or hands). (However, don’t use this ploy at the end of every positive deal, because it will attract too much attention from pit supervisors.)

SUMMARY

I played mostly double-deck games with good rules and deep penetration during my playing career. They were profitable for me but you must be discreet with your card counting and betting. (For details on camouflaging your card counting skills, see Chapter 10 in my Ultimate Guide to Blackjack.)

When I first started playing video poker some 25 years ago, I knew about the importance of playing with an edge. At the start of my video poker playing career, it was fairly common to find video poker games that had a theoretical return over 100%, especially in the local’s casinos in Las Vegas (and in one casino in Mississippi). Most of the time, my wife and I played a deuces wild game called Full Pay Deuces Wild (or FPDW), which returned 5 coins per coin played for 4-of-a-kind and 15 coins for 5-of-a-kind. By playing every hand accurately, the game had a theoretical return of 100.76% (meaning you had an edge of 0.76% over the casino).

You had to play every hand perfectly so my wife and I learned the video poker strategy for FPDW using a video poker software training program on our home PC until our playing accuracy was virtually 100%, and to be sure we played every hand accurately, we also brought along a strategy card when we played in case we weren’t absolutely sure of how to play a specific hand. I also played another game in Las Vegas that had a theoretical return of 100.17% (known as 10/7 Double Bonus; although this game had a higher variance than FPDW, meaning the ups and downs in your bankroll were steeper and thus required more bankroll). But it wasn’t long before the casinos started downgrading the pay schedules of both games so that the theoretical returns were below 100%. This made us change our focus to not only playing video poker games with the highest theoretical return that were offered in casinos but also with the best Player’s Club benefits to boost our overall return to greater than 100%.

Then along came THE game in a Mississippi casino (circa 2012) that blew me away. This particular casino offered a bank of progressive video poker machines that included 9/6 Jacks or Better (JOB) at a dollar denomination.

A traditional 9/6 JOB game (where the royal flush payout is 4,000 coins) has a theoretical return of 99.54%, which allows you to get over a 100% return if the casino’s benefits exceed 0.5%. But this particular casino had a progressive meter for the royal flush on its machines. If I recollect, it was a 1% meter, meaning the amount of the progressive jackpot for a royal flush increased 10 cents per $10 played. (This means the amount of the royal flush jackpot when playing five coins at a dollar denomination was often in the $4,200 to $4,500 range before it was hit. The latter depends, of course, on how much play the machine gets. I started playing weekly, and on each visit, most of the time the jackpot was in the above range.)

As a rule of thumb when playing progressive video poker games, the theoretical return of a game will increase by 0.5% for every 1,000 coins above the 4,000 coin base for the royal flush payout. For example, if the payout for the royal flush was at, say, $4,200 (dollar denomination), the theoretical return of the game would increase from 99.54% to 100.54% (99.54% + 1.0% = 100.54%.) Bottom Line: Most of the time I played, my theoretical return on the game exceeded 100%. But wait, there’s more to this story.

This casino, like most, had a Player’s Club. On Monday’s, they would have a 24-hour casino promotion where you played a silly game on a kiosk, and if you were lucky you could get up to 7-times points on all of your play for that day. However, if you were in the top tier of their Player’s Club (which I was), you would automatically get a guaranteed 7-times points multiplier every time you played the kiosk game. The result: With a base rate of 0.13%, I was getting another 0.91% return on my play. (The other perk was this: there was no limit to the number of points you could earn on Monday that would be multiplied by 7.)

The points you earned after the 7-times multiplication could not be cashed out; however, they could be downloaded as free play on the same 9/6 JOB progressive machines. This was yet another perk, since some Mississippi casinos during this time started implementing a new procedure where your earned slot points could only be used as free play in slots (i.e., video poker machines were excluded).

Lastly, as I began playing every Monday, I was racking up a lot of base points on my Player’s Club account and was receiving hefty amounts of weekly free play in my monthly mailers. I don’t recollect the exact amounts, but it added roughly another half a percent to my overall return.

There was a limited number of video poker machines that had the juicy 9/6 JOB progressives. (I believe there were a total of eight bar-top machines.) With a potential theoretical return that easily could be 100.2% or greater (depending on the amount of the jackpot for the royal flush and the number of hours you played on Monday to take advantage of the promotion), I knew that other local astute video poker players would be flocking to play these machines. I had to get a seat before they tied up all the machines, so this is what I did.

Fortunately, I had a great host at this particular casino who told me when the casino’s Player’s Club “clock” would start each day. You would assume it would be midnight, but at this casino it was 3:00 a.m. Therefore, for the next several months, every Sunday evening I drove from my primary residence in Alabama to this casino, slept for a few hours in a comped suite, woke up at about 1:30 a.m., checked out, and took a seat at the progressive machines. By around 2:30 a.m., the bank of the machines was filled with astute players. None of us played, we just sat there waiting for 3 a.m. when the 7-times multiplier would be activated. (Some read the newspaper; others ate their breakfast at the machines, but nobody played; we just patiently waited.) When the clock finally struck 3 a.m. on Monday, the automatic 7-times promotion began and all of us started shoving hundreds of dollars into the machines and playing for hours on end. (On most of my visits, I generally played 5–8 hours; sometimes more.)

You may find it strange that I would do something like this every week but when it came to being an advantage video poker player, you often had to take advantage of a juicy game or promotion before it ended. Fortunately, I also hit an inordinate number of royal flushes during the time I played this promotion. (A total of eight royal flushes over a two- month period that began one of the most memorable royal flush streaks I ever experienced playing video poker. I’ll describe this streak in a future article.)

Between the bonus payouts on the royal flushes, and the large amounts of free play I was earning with the 7-times promotion (I often had $500 to $800 in free play each week), I was earning quite an impressive amount of money from this juicy game and promotion. But alas, it all came to a screeching halt when I got a call from my casino host one day.

Up till then, I had been invited to comped golf outings by my host that were held for “high rollers” while I had been playing at this casino. They owned a golf course and these golf outings were something else; free transportation; free breakfast, free lunch; and just about everyone received a cash prize, oodles of free play, or a $100 or greater gift at the end of the tournament. Anyway, my host basically told me one day he couldn’t invite me to any more video poker tournaments, and that I would be contacted by the casino manager for the reasons why.

I knew exactly what was about to go down and it eventually did. The casino zeroed out my player’s club account, meaning I wouldn’t earn any points when I played and I wouldn’t be receiving any more monthly mailings. But what really annoyed me was they also deleted nearly $2,000 of comps I had earned from my account. (I could have filed a complaint to the Mississippi Gaming Commission for this, and based on prior cases that I knew of, they would have had to give me back my comps. But I decided not to pursue this since if I did, I would have been persona non grata in all the casinos in Mississippi.)

I didn’t tell this story to brag of my good fortune for finding and playing this juicy game but rather to let you know that being an advantage video poker player has its risks, and sometimes you will experience what I experienced. If something like this happens, you do what I did: just forget about it and move on to another casino that offers a (juicy) playable game.

What was ironic about the above experience is that a few weeks later, this casino went and severely downgraded all their video poker pay tables (including the former 9/6 JOB progressives) that basically made all the video poker machines in this casino unplayable for smart players.

Basic strategy players and card counters have asked me that question umpteen times over the course of nearly 50 years of playing, teaching, and writing about blackjack. This is what I told them.

BASIC STRATEGY PLAYER

Most basic strategy players believe they play every hand perfectly; however, that is not often the case. Most make mistakes, and what’s sad is they don’t even know it. That’s because a dealer isn’t going to tell a player that he just made a “bad” play. (Most dealers don’t know the basic playing strategy anyway, and even for those that do, most casinos forbid them from coaching a player.) Certainly, the floor supervisor isn’t going to rush to a table to correct a mistake a player just made. In addition, if you are depending on your tablemates to tell you how to play a hand, good luck with that ploy.

When you play blackjack, there is one, and only one, mathematically correct way to play every hand dealt to you. When a player uses intuition, gut feeling, or just plain guessing when deciding how to play a hand, the end result is a greater house edge and increased monetary losses. Therefore, it’s important that you play every hand perfectly, and the only way to know if you are doing this is to test yourself beforehand.

Note: Chapter 3 in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide contains several tips on how you can learn the basic playing strategy at home and then test yourself to be sure you know the strategy cold. You can also bring a blackjack strategy card with you when you play and refer to it if you are not sure of how to play any blackjack hand. (That will guarantee you won’t make any costly playing mistakes.)

Let’s suppose that you master the basic blackjack strategy and are playing every hand perfectly. Will this guarantee you won’t lose? Nope, and here’s why.

Even though you may be playing perfectly, your results on a session-by-session basis will fluctuate widely from the expected result. In some sessions, you will win, in others you will lose, but the results will always be skewed toward the losing side (because the house has the edge over a basic strategy player). Over time, your losses will equal roughly half a percent times the total amount of your wagers. That, my dear readers, is a mathematical fact about the game of blackjack, and no betting system or other voodoo is going to change it.

CARD COUNTING

Many blackjack players who advance to learn card counting mistakenly believe that they should win every time they play. That just isn’t going to happen.

Here’s an example that often occurred with students who attended and completed my four-week card-counting class. They would contact me several weeks later complaining that they were still “losing.” When I asked how long they’d been playing, the answer was usually “a few sessions.”

Folks, it takes more than a “few sessions” before knowing whether your losses are due to the “variance” in the game, or to mistakes in keeping the count, making the correct size bet, or implementing the correct strategy deviations. This is why I always told my students these five important points during their last class:

• After you complete the final take-home practice exercises, contact me so I can check you out before you head to the casino.
• It takes at least 250 hours of play before knowing whether your “losses” are due to variance or due to making mistakes in your playing or betting strategy.
• You need the bankroll amount (discussed in the class) set aside in a money market (or other) account, specifically to tide you over the short-term variability (meaning the ups and downs in your bankroll).
• The math of blackjack will always work out in the long term if you execute the strategies learned in the course perfectly.
• Your edge is small even playing perfectly, and just a few mistakes can wipe out that edge.

The students who embraced the above five blackjack tips did well with card counting. (I know because many contacted me to let me know how they were doing.) The ones who didn’t pay attention during class invariably were the ones that didn’t bother to be checked out by me. This was a free benefit I offered to all my students who took only about 30 minutes of table play to evaluate their playing 100% accurately, and I gave him or her more practice exercises to do at home followed by another check-out by me.

The only way to know if you are playing perfectly is to test yourself. (Alternatively, if you took a card counting class, ask the instructor to test you.) There are also tutorial software programs that you can purchase that will test your counting skills. In fact, there is a free Interactive Card Counting Trainer that you can use to practice and sharpen your counting skills in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.

The point is this: When you play free blackjack, you have to play like a machine, meaning you must make all (not most) playing decisions accurately, keep the count accurately, and make the correct bets and strategy deviations accurately. If not, you’ll continue to experience losses that exceed the mathematical expectations.

Winning lines

Most machines have multiple winning lines on the reels, so options are given for how many lines the player wants to bet. Each line is equal to one bet, so on a five-cent machine, betting on five lines would equate to betting 25 cents.

Credit meter

A credit meter keeps track of how much credit the player currently has as well as winnings when the reels are spun.

Credits are often used instead of showing actual cash amounts because, to the player, losing credits may not seem as negative as losing money.

Arm or button

Once the player has selected how many lines they want to bet, pulling the arm or pressing the bet button locks the settings, selects a random number, and spins the reels.

We all need to get away. And if you’re like me, you want to go to one of the world’s top gambling cities, a place where legal gaming tops the menu. Casinosmake great bases out of which to vacation. Of course, there is the clang of slot machines, the tumble of dice and the divvying of cards at the blackjack table.

Just as importantly, though, when you are in a great casino there is so much to do. The world’s best casinos function as self-contained hotspots.

They come complete with top-notch restaurants, luxurious spas, round-the-clock room service, usually a fabulous swimming pool and some iteration of top-flight entertainment. Then, of course, there is the gambling and the fact that casinos tend to be located in cool cities.

Wishing you pleasant travels, here is a list of the five greatest gambling cities in the world and why you should visit them.

LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas, situated on the edge of America’s Mojave Desert, has long reigned as the king of gambling locales.

Taking into account the number of casinos there, it ranks as the biggest casino city in the world. Las Vegas has more than 170 casinos and over 90 casino hotels – that is, places to stay where gambling is on offer. It’s also a place with different gambling neighborhoods to accommodate the budgets and lifestyles of visitors.

Everywhere features non-stop games and great sports betting. The sports books all have giant TVs and comfy seats that make it a pleasure to hang out and watch the basketball or football or whatever-kind-of-ball unfold with wagers that make it all the more exciting.

Most famously, there is the Vegas Strip, with the fanciest hotels, highest stakes gambling and best-known restaurants. Top places to stay at on the Strip include Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas, Cosmopolitan and Fontainebleau.

Fontainebleau is the newest, it boasts terrific restaurants such as Mother Wolf and Papi Steak, a private club on the top floor and a cool nightclub called Liv.

Bellagio has the famous fountains, its own clutch of great dining spots and a poker room where pros like to play.Cosmopolitan skews a little younger and splashier with the semi-private Talon Club for high rollers.

Created by taste-maker Steve Wynn, Wynn Las Vegas is known for posh accommodations, mega high limits, a poker room of its own and great entertainment with resident performers like the magician David Blaine.

A more suburban experience is to be had in the neighborhood known as Summerlin, where Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa rules the roost. It’s a Strip-quality casino with easy access to hiking and more rural explorations.

Downtown Vegas is an older precinct where the best place, for my money, is Circa. A great feature there is Stadium Swim, a pool that never closes, which essentially functions as an outdoor sports book with games being shown on a giant screen. Barry’s Downtown Prime is a phenomenal, subterranean steakhouse and Saginaw’s Delicatessen serves the best pastrami in town.

If you love gambling, Las Vegas is a place that you must visit.

MACAU

A ferry ride away from Hong Kong, Macau is often referred to as Las Vegas of the East. The name is justified, considering that Macau is the biggest gambling city in Asia.

In fact, in terms of gambling revenue, it often outshines Las Vegas. There are 24 casinos on Macau Peninsula, which is the original gambling hub there, and 17 in a second gambling ‘hood, referred to as the Cotai Strip.

Visitors to Vegas will recognize familiar names in Macau. The city boasts outposts of Wynn, MGM Grand and Venetian.

Similar to what is found in Las Vegas, Macau’s joints offer 24/7 action on the casino floor and all the sports betting you can desire.

Native casinos include the old school Lisboa, Macau Palace (on the water, it is often described as a “floating casino”) and City of Dreams with its Michelin-starred restaurants, four hotels and high-energy vibe.

One thing unique to Macau is the overriding love of playing baccarat. That game rules in the casinos. It’s not unusual for baccarat tables to roll out for as far as the eye can see.

When visiting Macau, make like a local, sip from a glass of milky tea and buy into a game of baccarat. From there, your only decision will be whether you should wager on the banker or player.

MONTE CARLO

If you’ve seen the James Bond movies “Never Say Never Again” and “Golden Eye,” you would naturally be thirsting for a visit to Monte Carlo.

Besides being a top gambling destination, it ranks as one of the world’s most luxurious destinations (regardless of the gaming). Yachts crowd the waterfront, Michelin-starred restaurants warrant a visit and the casino gambling experience is as opulent as it gets. The must-play spot there is Casino de Monte Carlo.

The elite gambling den opened in 1856 and still retains a sense of old-world elegance with high-stakes blackjack, baccarat, craps and roulette among the games of choice.

One thing unlikely to repeat from the old days: in 1913, the ball in a roulette game is said to have landed on black 26 times in a row. Millions of francs were blown, as bettors wagered on the streak being broken. It finally was, of course, but, by then, the casino had loaded up on winnings.

If you gamble high enough, angle for a comped room at Hotel de Paris, in close proximity to Casino de Monte Carlo and dripping one-of-a-kind elegance.

SINGAPORE

Everyone knows that Singapore is a great food city, but it is also one of the top gambling cities in the world.

Marina Bay Sands there is fantastic for more than gambling, and clearly appeals to players who believe that bigger is better. The largest gambling resort in the world, Marina Bay Sands houses 2,500 rooms, enough swimming pools that you will never get bored of paddling around and an outpost of Universal Studios for the kid in all of us.

But of course, we are there for the gambling and there is no shortage of that.

The gaming floor boasts more than 600 table games – including craps, blackjack and baccarat, with every variation and side-bet that you may desire – plus 2,300 slot machines. And when you get hungry from all the action, check out eateries from celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Ramsey and Daniel Bolud.

LONDON

With all there is to do in the capital city of England, you might not think of casino gambling as being a key attraction. But, in fact, London counts itself among the world’s greatest gambling cities and the place is completely poker crazy.

There are more than 20 casinos, with the Hippodrome and the Empire, both in Leister Square, ranking among great places for a punt.

On the other end of things, there are private casinos such as Crockfords (where Kelly Sun and Phil Ivey attempted to pull off their high-flying baccarat play via edge sorting before it all unraveled) and Crown London Aspinalls. They are designed for high rollers and operate on intimate scales.

Whatever you go for, though, you will surely have a blast in one of the world’s hottest casino destinations.

We all hope to hit it big at the casino. For most of us, winning a few thousand dollars would be the dream come true. Then there are those who lived the dream writ large. They won millions instead of thousands, and the payoffs were life changing. Making these victories even more special, they got snagged in single sessions, not over the course of multiple nights spent grinding it out.

What does it take to rack up a jaw-dropping win? Sometimes, you need strategy and a knowledge of the game you’re playing. Always, there looms the unpredictable luck factor, which invariably plays a key role in massive payoffs at the tables. And finally, since one never knows when luck will strike, there is something to be said for putting up the money and being game to go for it.

Here are some of our favorite big winners, people we salute for their abilities to keep wagering and to not quit until they got to where they wanted to end up.

Kerry Packer holds the crown for being one of the biggest and most prolific gamblers in the world. The Australian billionaire’s winningest night of all? A 1997 run he had at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He is said to have played blackjack for $200,000 per hand, covering six spots at a time. So, each of the dealer’s hands had $1.2 million on the table with Packer giving himself six opportunities to win or lose.

During this infamous streak, he clearly won more than he lost. In fact, the wins are so large that it is unclear exactly how much he ultimately took down. While it’s reported to be as much as $40 million, a pal who was there has claimed that the total is closer to $26 million. Whatever the case, the sum was jaw dropping. And not just for him. When all was said and done, Packer reportedly tipped the MGM crew $1 million. Clearly, it was a good night for everyone – except for the holders of purse strings at MGM Grand.

It’s Never Too Late to Score Millions

While it’s easy to believe that gambling is best enjoyed by young people, Johanna Heundl is an exception to that rule.

She proved her mettle in 2002 while celebrating her 74th birthday in Las Vegas. Like almost everyone visitor to Sin City, she figured that she would take lady luck for a spin.

Heundl did it via a progressive slot machine at Bally’s, laying out $100 to try winning the $3,000 progressive. But that didn’t work out. Her money got drained. Rather than quitting and heading off for eggs or pancakes or whatever, Heundl ponied up another 100 bucks.

Things were not looking good on the rebuy until, some $70 in, she hit a jackpot that far exceeded $3,000. Heundl was thrilled with what she believed to be a $2 million payday. When staff strolled by, though, she found out that she was wrong.

In fact, her payout was $22.6 million. Clearly, it was the greatest birthday present imaginable and nobody complained about her being late for breakfast.

Squeezing Tropicana

The professional gambler Don Johnson has won tons of money and reaped loads of comps from casinos around the world. But his most stunning win has got to be the one that he engineered at the Tropicana in Atlantic City.

As with Packer, Johnson excelled at blackjack. He found his edge by demanding advantageous rules: a hand-shuffled six deck game, re-splitting Aces, dealer stands on soft 17 and a 20 percent discount on losses.

All of that, combined with incredible luck – as Johnson has acknowledged to me – allowed the blackjack whiz to fleece the Tropicana out of nearly $6 million over the course of an on-fire 12-hour-long session in 2010.

For obvious reasons, Johnson was unenthusiastic about the world getting wind of his massive takedown. But that became impossible after bosses at the casino made public that its poor financial showing for a particular quarter was due to the win of a player named Don Johnson.

The revelation gave Johnson notoriety in the gambling world, but it also led to casino managers handling him with care and, eventually, not providing him with the rules he needed to keep winning. But Johnson doesn’t mind all that much. Blackjack was just a side hustle for him. He makes his real money handicapping horse racing, and that continues to go strong.

Clocking the Wheel

In his book “Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk,” the world-class sports bettor Billy Walters writes about clocking roulette wheels.

He put together a team of people who traveled to casinos around the United States and found biases on the wheels. After all, they are mechanical devices and prone to mechanical glitches. Recognizing the wheels with specific biases that resulted in certain numbers hitting more often than they would if the game was completely randomize, he set out to win millions of dollars.

Among his biggest scores: nearly $4 million, aced during a 38-hour session at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, which was then owned by Steve Wynn. Walters bet $2,000 per spin on the same five numbers: 7, 10, 20, 27 and 36. He managed a magnificent profit at a game that statistically comes out on top against gamblers. Of course, though, with his hard-earned knowledge, Walters was not exactly gambling.

Putin’s Prize

This, strictly speaking, is not a gambling win, but it did come down in a Vegas casino, it did happen in a single session and it is too juicy to not include among our favorites.

In 2018, the Russian UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov successfully defended his lightweight title in a match against Conor McGregor. According to UFC President Dana White, Nurmagomedov was on his way to the dressing room when he received a call from Vladimir Putin. The Russian strong man, according to White, “gave him and his father like $20 million worth of property in Russia.” As far as we’re concerned, that’s a heck of a Vegas win.

Maybe Putin was impressed by Nurmagomedov post-victory tactics: He jumped into the crowd and mixed it up with a teammate of McGregor.

And while the real estate windfall is nice, it’s hard to keep from wondering what Putin might have done if Nurmagomedov had lost the match.