coleslaw

In preparation for my vacation to Vegas in a few weeks, I started playing a few games of blackjack in a simulator online.

600 hands later, I was up $2702.50! Oh how I wish that was real money!

And for those of you saying, oh, it's easy to make lots of money in a blackjack simulator if they give you $1000 at the beginning - all you have to do is make really big bets! Well, try playing 600 hands and see how well your method holds up...

I always adhere to the basic blackjack strategy and never stray from it. I also follow the "increase as you win" progressive betting method of the 1-2-3-5-7-10 variety.

A link to the flash version of the blackjack strategy trainer can be found on this page. It's more fun and realistic if you turn off the strategy coach, too.

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dbax791

A better way is to play double-deck and "count" the # of 10s/Aces vs the total cards dealt. When not many 10s/Aces have been played it favors the player, when a lot of been played (more than a 5/13 ratio) it favors the dealer.

So I usually bet $5/hand but when the deck gets rich in 10s I bet $10/hand. Worked pretty well last time I was there.

I will check out that simulator tho!

gear02

Exactly how does this progressive betting work? How does this increase your winnings and such?

nickel

and i'm thinkin, what forum am i in?

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coleslaw

I'll try to briefly explain the progressive betting method, as entire books have been written about the subject.

Basically, there are two schools of thought for progressive betting: the "increase as you lose" method and the "increase as you win" method.

In the "increase as you lose" method, you begin by betting the table minimum. If you lose, you bet twice the table minimum. If you lose again, thrice the minimum, etc. With this method, you are assuming that losing goes in streaks and that you will eventually win. Therefore, if you win at any point, you will essentially win back the money that you had previously lost. The only problem with this is that there is a set limit on the amount that you can bet per hand, so you can basically get screwed by the table limit if you go on a long losing streak. With this method, when you win, you simply bet the table minimum on the next hand and hope that you win again.

The "increase as you win" method once again starts with the table minimum bet. However, when you win, you increase your bet for the next hand by a certain amount. Some people double the bet; others follow other betting schedules for streaks of winning. I usually follow the 1-2-3-5-7-10 schedule, but I stay on the current increment for two wins. For example, when I am on a winning streak on a $10 table, I will bet 10-10-20-20-30-30-50-50-70-70-100-100 and will continue betting $100 until I lose. With this method, you are only betting the money that the house has previously given you, so it is more difficult to lose money. This method is not effective if you spend the night alternating between winning and losing with the dealer because if you had been betting a constant amount every time, you would break even. However, blackjack is generally a game of streaks, so this method tends to work better and I can verify that it does.

If you study the basic strategy charts and follow some sort of betting method, the advantage that the house has over you is greatly decreased - and, at some tables or casinos, you may even have the advantage over the house.

dave

Dude... You gotta be careful when you use an acronym like "BJ". People with dirty minds like myself may get royally confused.

For the most part, I follow the common blackjack rules, but don't always count on counting high cards (A's and 10's). For one, it's hard to find a table with 2 decks. Most casinos now have progressively mixed decks, the sort that they feed to a mixing machine after every hand, or 6 decks and leave around 1/3 when they cut it. This defeats the purpose of counting cards.