Black jack
Black Jack (also Blackjack ) is the most widely played card game of chance that is offered in casinos . Black Jack is a descendant of the French Vingt ( et ) un (Eng. Twenty-one or Seventeen and Four , see there).
The game
The rules of blackjack are almost uniform internationally, the following description follows the rules that are most favorable for the player. These regulations apply in most German casinos as well as in the Monte Carlo casino and the casinos of Casinos Austria .
The rules
General
Black Jack is played at an approximately semicircular table. The croupier (dealer, banker , dealer) sits on the straight side of the table . Opposite him are the places for up to seven players ( punchers ).
It comes with six packages of French playing cards to 52 cards, so played 312 cards - the blackjack card has Bridge format and supports extra large index character ( large index ) with the English names K, Q and J for the pictures.
The aim of the game is to get closer to 21 points than the croupier with two or more cards without exceeding 21 points.
The values of the individual cards
- Aces are worth one or eleven points at will. (The value of the ace is only determined when the player no longer buys any more cards - then the croupier counts the ace as it is cheaper for the player.)
- Two to ten count according to their eyes.
- Face cards (jacks, queens, kings) are worth ten points.
Game flow
Before starting a game, players place their bets on the designated boxes according to the betting limits set by the casino .
In addition to the owner of the box, other players may also participate in a box; However, players who are bidding have no say and must accept the pit owner's decisions. The bet of the betting players may only be so high that the limit per box set by the casino is not exceeded. If the box owner has already made the maximum possible stake, no other player can bet on this box.
When the bets are made, the croupier begins to deal the cards. Each player and the croupier first receive an open card, then each player - but not the croupier - receives a second open card (see rule variants ).
Starting with the player to the left of the croupier, each participant can now demand more cards ( “hit” , “card” or “carte” ) until he believes he has come close enough to 21 points and does not want any more cards ( “ stood ” , “ stands ” or “ remains ” ). However, anyone who exceeds 21 with his cards ( bust ), has become overbought and loses immediately; the cards and the stake are withdrawn from the croupier.
When all players are served, the croupier draws his second card. If he has 17 or more points, he must stand, if he has 16 or fewer points, he must draw another card (“ Dealer must stand on 17 and must draw to 16 ”).
The following rule applies: the croupier must always count an ace with eleven points, unless it would exceed 21 in this way; only then does he count the ace with a point. Has the croupier z. B. an ace and a six, he must rate the ace with eleven and the hand with seventeen points and may not draw any further cards (“ Dealer stands on soft 17 ”).
If the croupier exceeds 21 points, all remaining participants in the game have automatically won. Otherwise only those players win whose card value is closer to 21 points than that of the croupier.
If a player has the same number of points as the croupier, the game is a draw ( stand off , push , tie , égalité , en cartes ), the player loses nothing, but he also wins nothing.
If a player wins, he receives a profit equal to his stake (1: 1, even money ); however, increased profits will be distributed in the following two cases.
Triple Seven
If a player has 21 points consisting of three sevens ( seven-of-a-kind ), he immediately wins at a ratio of 3: 2, regardless of the croupier's card. The game is over for the box in question after the winnings have been paid out. (This rule is unusual outside of Austria; however, it has also become established in Germany and Switzerland that the guest receives some form of bonus.)
Black jack
After three of a kind , Black Jack , a combination of 21 points, consisting of the first two cards - ace and ten, or ace and picture - is the best result.
If a player has Black Jack but not the croupier, the player receives a 3: 2 win (" Black Jack pays 3 to 2 "). However, if the croupier also has Black Jack , the game is a tie.
If the croupier has a blackjack , all participants still in the game lose, with the exception of those who also have a blackjack ; In particular, those players who hold 21 points also lose. (If a player has three of a kind, he has already received his winnings and is already out of the game.)
Insurance (insurance against blackjack)
If the croupier has an ace as his first card, the players can insure themselves against a blackjack from the croupier by placing a corresponding bet on the insurance line . If the croupier draws a ten or a face card as the second card, he has a blackjack and the insurance is paid out at a ratio of 2: 1 (" Insurance pays 2 to 1 "). However, if the croupier does not have Black Jack , the insurance premium is collected.
If a player has a blackjack and the croupier has an ace as the first card, the player can withdraw a 1: 1 win and end the game. This is exactly the same as taking out insurance, with the player placing half of his original stake on the insurance line .
The insurance against a blackjack of the croupier is basically a side bet, the bank advantage with the insurance is approx. 1/13 = 7.692%.
Split
A player can split his hand if the first two cards are tied (e.g. two sixes or jack and queen); he then continues to play with a “ split hand ” with two separate bets, whereby multiple splits ( resplit ) are possible ( multiple splits are generally not permitted in German casinos). For each split hand, an additional bet equal to the original bet must be made. The player now receives any number of cards in each hand that is split.
Exception : If a player splits two aces, he only receives one additional card for each ace. If this is another ace, it can still be split again.
In a split hand, the combination of ace and picture or ace and ten does not count as blackjack , but as 21 points, since the card combination was not achieved with the first two cards.
Double down
A player can, after receiving his first two cards, double his bet . The value of the two cards is irrelevant ( double down on any two ). If a player doubles up, he is dealt exactly one more card.
A doubling after splitting is possible ( double down on split pairs ) (see rule variants ).
A betting player in a box can only double if the box owner doubles his stake.
Surrender (surrender)
If surrender is offered, the player can resign after receiving his first two cards. Here he loses half of his original bet; he gets the other half back.
The most common version of this is late surrender ; in this case the player can only give up when the dealer has checked his hand for a blackjack; if the dealer has a blackjack, no surrender is possible and the player loses his full stake. With early surrender, giving up is also common against a potential blackjack of the opponent. This variant is considerably rarer.
Bust
In many casinos a player can bet before the card is dealt that the dealer will bust himself in this round ( dealer busts or bust for short ).
If the dealer gets 22 or more eyes and thus overbought, which happens with a probability of 28.16% - that is, on average in a little less than two out of seven cases - this side bet is paid out at a ratio of 5: 2, otherwise the Stake collected on this bet. The bank advantage with this type of bet is 1.44%.
Rule variants
Many casinos restrict player choices to varying degrees. This can tweak the bank advantage in both directions. change significantly. There are many of these "house rules" in Blackjack; the following table shows a selection of them. The more common variant is printed in bold:
| rule | Cheaper variant | Less favorable variant | Difference bank advantage (percentage points) | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack payout percentage | Payout 3: 2 | Payout 6: 5 | 1.39 | |
| Rule for dealers at Soft 17 | Dealer stands still ("Dealer must stand on all 17s") | Dealer draws ("Dealer must hit Soft 17") | 0.22 | The second variant is mainly used in America. |
| Bank checks blackjack immediately | Yes (USA) | No (EUR) | 0.11 | See note at the bottom of the table |
| Multiple splitting (resplit) | Allowed | Not allowed | 0.10 | |
| Doubling a split hand | Allowed | Not allowed | 0.14 | |
| Hands that can double up | All hands | Only 9, 10 and 11 points | 0.09 | There are many cheap "soft hand doubles" - see the "Strategy" section |
| Giving up (surrender / late surrender) | Allowed | Not allowed | 0.07 | |
| More cards after splitting two aces | Drawing more cards allowed | Player receives only one card for each ace | 0.19 | |
| 5 Card Charlie (5 card trick) | Yes | No | 1.46 | |
| Pays 2: 1 for 21 with 5 or more cards | Yes | No | 0.24 | |
| Number of decks of cards used | Less decks | More decks (usually 6 or 8 decks in the casino) | (each compared to 8 decks)
0.02 (6 decks) 0.03 (5 decks) 0.06 (4 decks) 0.19 (2 decks) 0.48 (1 deck) |
The fewer packages are used, the greater the influence of individual cards on the composition of the rest of the card package, so the probability of blackjack is 4.83% when using only one package, but only 4.75% when using eight packages %. In addition, using fewer packages makes card counting easier. |
Note : Rule variant: Bank checks Black Jack immediately : In the USA, the croupier usually receives his second card immediately after all players have received their first two cards - not only after all players have explained themselves and have been served. In this case, however, the croupier's second card is dealt face down and only turned over when the last player has been served. If the croupier's first card shows an ace or a card with the value ten, the dealer checks whether he has a blackjack - this procedure has the advantage for the player that he only makes a single bet in any case when the dealer gets blackjack loses and not the bet increased by splitting or doubling. However, this difference is practically completely insignificant, since as a player you should only double or split in a few exceptional cases if the dealer has an ace or a card with a value of ten as his first card.
analysis
If you look at the rules of Black Jack , you will notice a number of asymmetries that the player prefers at first glance.
The player's advantages
- If a player wins with Black Jack , he wins in a ratio of 3: 2; however, if the croupier wins with Black Jack , he only wins in a ratio of 1: 1.
- The player is free to decide whether he should ask for a card or not, or how he should rate an ace - he can make these decisions depending on the value of the croupier's first card. The croupier, however, is bound by a rigid rule in his way of playing.
- With a promising hand, the player can double the stake before making a purchase and thus force the croupier to continue the game for double the amount.
- The player can split two cards of equal value and thus possibly win against the croupier with two hands.
The advantage of the casino
These advantages are offset by a - hidden - advantage of the casino. If a player exceeds 21 points, he immediately loses his bet. If the croupier now also exceeds 21 points in the same game, the game remains lost for the player and is not considered to be a draw, he no longer gets his stake back.
This inequality results in the bank advantage , which mathematically corresponds to the expected value for the casino income per amount wagered. In blackjack , this value depends on the chosen game strategy .
Mathematical analysis
The first mathematical analysis of blackjack was published in 1956. An optimal strategy for the player was calculated on the assumption that the game is played with an infinite number of packages, i.e. This means that about the probability that the next card will be e.g. For example, drawing an ace is always 1/13 - regardless of how many aces and how many cards have already been drawn from the slide. The results obtained in this way represent a good approximation for the real game with 312 cards.
If a player starts a round with a stake of € 100 and he makes an optimal decision in every situation in terms of the calculation of probability , he increases his stake to an average of € 111.67 and loses - due to the possibility of dividing or doubling on average € 0.53 per game. The bank advantage is then just 0.475%, which is very low compared to other games that can be found in casinos.
For comparison: the bank advantage with the single chances of roulette is 1.35%, with the multiple chances it is 2.70%.
strategy
Basic strategy
If the player adheres to the following rules - known as basic strategy - he minimizes the bank advantage.
The strategy given here is optimal with regard to the above regulations, as is common in European casinos. Deviations from the rules also require changes to the optimal strategy.
Draw or stand
Hard hands
As Hard hand is when it is counted with a dot denotes all combinations without an ace and a hand with an ace. So is z. B. the combination A-5-7 a Hard 13 .
- If the dealer holds an ace, 10, 9, 8 or 7, you should buy on hard 16 and stand on hard 17.
- If the dealer holds a 6, 5 or 4, you should buy on a hard 11, but stop on a hard 12 or higher.
- If the dealer holds a 3 or 2, you should buy on a hard 12, but stop on a hard 13 or higher.
Soft hands
A soft hand is a hand with an ace that is valued at eleven points. So z. For example, an ace-six hand counts as 17 points.
- If you have a soft hand with 19 or more points, you should never buy.
- With a soft 18 consisting of three or more cards, you should only buy if the dealer has a 9, 10 or ace.
- You should always buy with a soft 17 or less consisting of three or more cards.
Note : If a soft hand is formed from only two cards, doubling up may also be useful. The corresponding rules can be found in the following section ( Soft hand doubles ).
Doubles
Soft hand doubles
- A hand of A-2 (soft 13) should only be doubled against a 6, in all other cases the player should buy.
- A hand of A-3 (soft 14) or A-4 (soft 15) should be doubled against a 6 or 5, in all other cases the player should buy.
- A hand of A-5 (soft 16) should be doubled against a 6, 5 or 4, in all other cases the player should buy.
- A hand of A-6 (soft 17) should be doubled against a 6, 5, 4 or 3, in all other cases the player should buy.
- A hand of A-7 (soft 18) is to be doubled against a 6, 5, 4 or 3; the player should stand against a 2, 7 or 8 and buy against a 9, 10 or ace.
- With a hand of A-8, A-9 or A-10 (Black Jack) you should never double but always stand (see above).
For a hand with two aces (soft 12) see splits.
Note : In accordance with the rules customary in American casinos that the croupier immediately checks his hand for blackjack, the following deviations apply:
- A-2 (soft 13) should also be doubled against a 5.
- A-4 (soft 15) should also be doubled against a 4.
Hard hand doubles
- A hard hand of 8 points or less should never be doubled.
- A two-card hand of 9 points (excluding an ace) should only be doubled if the dealer has a 6, 5, 4, or 3.
- A hand of 10 or 11 points (without an ace) consisting of two cards should always be doubled unless the dealer has 10 or A.
- A hard hand with 12 or more points should never be doubled.
Splits
- You should always split two aces, except if the dealer has an ace - in this case you count the hand as soft 12 and ask for another card.
- Twos, threes, and sevens should only be split if the dealer has a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7.
- Two fours should only be split if the dealer has a 5 or 6.
- You should never divide fives and tens.
- Two sixes should only be split if the dealer has a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.
- You should always split two eights, unless the dealer has 10 or ace.
- Two nines should always be split, unless the dealer has a 7, 10 or ace.
Surrender (if offered)
- If the dealer holds a 9, you should give up with hard 16 (not in the form of 88).
- If the dealer holds a 10, you should give up with hard 14-16 (also 77, 88).
- If the dealer holds an ace, you should give up with hard 5-7 and hard 12-17 (including pairs).
Insurance
It does not make sense to insure yourself against a blackjack from the croupier or, if the croupier has an ace as the first card, to have a blackjack paid out at a ratio of 1: 1.
Bust
The bust side bet that the croupier busts is far more disadvantageous than the actual game; therefore it does not make sense to place this bet.
Card counting
It used to be common practice for the cards used in one game to be set aside and for the next game to be drawn from the remaining pile from the card slide. When the deck was about three-quarters down, the discarded cards were shuffled with the rest of the stock and a new waistline began.
In this way, the composition of the deck of cards was very different in each game. Came z. For example, in the first coup after shuffling only a few high cards, the probability of high cards falling in the next coup naturally increased.
In 1961, the American mathematician Edward O. Thorp developed a game system that gave players an advantage over the casino. In 1962 Thorp published a more extensive version as the book Beat the Dealer . As a player, by counting the high cards ( card counting ) , one could identify advantageous compositions of the card deck and in these cases risk a higher stake.
The casinos then took countermeasures:
- The number of card packages used has been increased; originally it was played with only one package, later with four and today mostly with six packages. This reduces the meaningfulness of the cards already played - if four aces are played, the probability of an additional ace is zero with only one package, with six packages there are still 20 aces in the stack.
- The deck of cards is no longer played to the end, but a quarter to a third of the pile is "cut off".
- The player's options have been partially restricted (see rule variants).
Despite these countermeasures, card counting continued to offer the player an opportunity to improve their chances.
Many European casinos now use so-called shuffle stars , special card slides with a built-in card shuffling machine. The cards used in a single game are returned to the sledge immediately after the coup and are immediately mixed up with the other cards - in this way the individual coups in Black Jack are independent of one another , just like the individual coups in roulette . As a result, card counting is fundamentally obsolete.
Contrary to an occasionally rumored claim, card counting in casinos is neither punishable nor unlawful under German law (also in the USA) ; However, this does not necessarily mean that casinos do not impose a house ban on identified card counters .
Third base
A very widespread misconception in blackjack is the opinion that the player who sits directly to the croupier's right - this position at the table is called third base - can influence the croupier's result with his way of playing, after all, one would be required of him Otherwise the croupier receives the card or the croupier receives the one card that he no longer buys.
However, since the next card is not known, there is no advantage for the player from this position at the table .
As a player, however, you are often criticized by the other participants regarding the style of play at this place, which is why this place should be avoided.
Five card trick
The so-called five-card trick ( Five Card Trick or Five Card Charlie ) has been abandoned earlier: A player who held five cards in hand, while the 21 points was not exceeded, immediately gained in the ratio 1: 1, unless the dealer had a blackjack . In this case the bank won - but there were also different rules. With this additional profit opportunity, you can even find a winning strategy that does not require card counting.
The five-card trick is rarely found today, and when it does, there are always other restrictions on the player's options, so that overall a variant that is less promising for the player is created.
Black Jack Switch
Black Jack Switch is a modern twist on the game invented by Geoff Hall . In Black Jack Switch, the player always plays two hands as if they belonged to two different players. The same amount must be wagered on both hands.
After the first two cards per hand and the cards for the dealer have been dealt, the player can decide whether to switch the top card of both hands or not. For example, A-5 and 6-10, i.e. soft 16 and hard 16, can be switched to A-10 and 5-6, which offer significantly better profit expectations. Then both hands are played normally one after the other.
The usual rules are (although there are also differences here):
- Payout for Black Jack: 1: 1
- Dealer pulls on Soft-17
- 6 or 8 decks
- Each hand can be split into up to 4 hands (as usual)
- Doubling a split hand is allowed
- Bank checks blackjack directly
- Surrender is usually not allowed
A 21 generated by swapping (as in the example above) does not count as Blackjack.
The advantage created by the switch option is compensated for by the "Push 22" rule, for which Geoff Hall also has the patent. If the dealer reaches exactly 22 points (as a hard hand), the remaining hands are not paid out, but only get their stake back (as in a tie). Only Black Jacks win at Push 22 and are paid out 1: 1.
The bank advantage with the above rules and optimal strategy is 0.58%. If the dealer stops at Soft-17, the bank advantage is reduced to 0.28%.
In the casino in Bregenz operated by Casinos Austria , the game is offered under the name "Blackjack X-change".
Great match
Super Match is a common side bet where the player can bet on having at least one pair among the first four cards in their two hands. The payout is usually as follows:
| combination | Payout |
|---|---|
| Quadruplets | 40: 1 |
| 2 pairs | 8: 1 |
| Triplet | 5: 1 |
| 1 pair | 1: 1 |
The bank edge of the bet in this form is around 2.55%.
Black Jack Free Bet
This variant was also invented by Geoff Hall and also uses the "Push 22" rule.
With Black Jack Free Bet all splits and doubles of hands with 9-11 points are free. Other hands can, as usual, be doubled for a fee.
In the case of a free split or double (free bet), the dealer places a special chip instead of the usual second bet. This has no monetary value, but if you win, the original stake will also be paid out for each of these free bets, i.e. H. in a doubled or split hand you can win two bets but only lose one.
This changes the strategy considerably; free doubles should always be performed whenever possible; also free splits, except for 5-5 (double) and 10-10 (stay).
As with Black Jack Switch, if the dealer has 22 eyes, all hands (except Black Jacks) are counted as a tie.
Even with Black Jack Free Bet, the dealer usually draws on Soft-17. Black Jacks pay 3: 2.
At 1.04%, the bank advantage is considerably higher than with standard Black Jack and Black Jack Switch .
literature
- Casinos Austria rulebook
- Jörg Bewersdorff : Luck, Logic and Bluff: Mathematics in Play - Methods, Results and Limits , Vieweg + Teubner Verlag, 5th edition 2010, ISBN 3-8348-0775-3 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-8348-9696- 4 , pp. 81-93 (contains an explanation of the mathematical analysis)
- Charles Cordonnier: Black Jack - Game and Strategy , printul Verlag, Munich 1985
- Charles Cordonnier: Black Jack for Beginners - 60 strategy examples in words and pictures , printul Verlag, Munich 1988
- Claus Grupp: Games of chance with balls, dice and cards , Falken Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1976
- Konrad Kelbratowski: Black Jack. Casino Game Rules and Strategies . Falken Verlag, Niedernhausen, Ts, 1984
- Albert H. Morehead, Richard L. Frey, Geoffrey Mott-Smith: The New Complete Hoyle Revised , New York 1991
- Albert H. Morehead, Geoffrey Mott-Smith: Hoyle's Rules of Games 2nd revised edition. A Signet Book, 1983
- David Parlett : The Oxford Dictionary of Card Games , Oxford 1992
- David Parlett: The Oxford Guide to Card Games , Oxford 1990
- Michael Rüsenberg: Black Jack - Handbook for Strategists , Printul Verlag, Geretsried, 2003
- Michael Rüsenberg: Black Jack for Beginners , Printul Verlag, Geretsried, 2006
- Alexander B. Szanto: Roulette, Trente-et-Quarante, Baccara, Black Jack , Perlen Reihe , Volume 645, Vienna, 1977
- Edward O. Thorp: Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One , New York 1962, ISBN 0-394-70310-3
- Andreas Witte: Card counting in Black Jack from a criminal law perspective , in: JR 2012, 97-102.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Blackjack Rule Variations. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
- ^ Roger R. Baldwin, Wilbert E. Cantey, Herbert Maisel, James P. McDermott: The Optimum Strategy In Blackjack , Journal of the American Statistical Association, Volume 51, Issue 275, 1956, pp. 429-439, JSTOR i314154 , PDF (1.1 MB).
- ^ Blackjack Basic Strategy - Wizard of Odds. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
- ^ Edward Thorp: A Favorable Strategy for Twenty-One. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . Volume 47, Number 1, January 1961, pp. 110-112, PMID 16590802 , PMC 285252 (free full text), JSTOR 70615
- ↑ 17 and 4: Formel des Glücks , Der Spiegel, 1964, Issue 18, April 29, 1964, pp. 127-131 ( online ).
- ^ Edward O. Thorp: Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One , New York 1962, ISBN 0-394-70310-3
- ^ Andreas Witte: "Card counting" in Black Jack from a criminal law perspective, in: Juristische Rundschau 2012, Issue 3, 97-102
- ↑ Card ban - casinos ban Ben Affleck from the blackjack table. In: spiegel.de . September 19, 2014, accessed June 23, 2020.
- ↑ ThePOGG Interviews - Geoff Hall - Creator of Blackjack Switch. In: thepogg.com. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Blackjack Switch. In: wizardofodds.com. Retrieved June 18, 2020 .
- ↑ Free Bet Blackjack. In: wizardofodds.com. November 11, 2015, accessed June 11, 2020 .