edge

The Basic Strategy That Gives You an Edge.

BlackJack: Basic StrategyIn order to increase your edge at blackjack it’s important to follow a few simple rules. Over the course of the last few days players have sent their email messages and advice and the majority opinion seems to follow what the pro’s dictate regularly.
According to The “American MENSA guide to Casino Gambling, if you follow these simple rules you can win at blackjack. More importantly, you can lessen the house’s edge which in turn gives you a better shot at leaving the casino with a bit of their cash.
That is as long as you don’t try your hand at something else before you walk out the front door.

Single Deck Blackjack

You are probably aware that casinos increase their house edge over blackjack players by adding more decks to the shoes. Also by adding more decks to blackjack the advantage for card counting to show an effect lengthens, meaning that counters could go through their bankroll before the advantage is capitalized on. So why are some casinos going back to single deck blackjack, why give players and counters this advantage? Have casinos found their hearts? The answer, as you've probably guessed, is no, they have not!
Most blackjack players have heard that single-deck games offer better odds, so playing with one deck pretty much assures the casino of busy tables. But hidden in this game is a weapon: blackjacks pay only 6-5 instead of the normal 3-2. Bet $10 and get a blackjack, and your payoff is $12 instead of $15.

This makes a key difference to the casino house edge, it adds a whole 1.4 percent to the house advantage, which is a big margin. A single-deck game in which the dealer hits soft 17 would normally have a house edge of just under 0.2 percent.
Take a single-deck game in which the dealer hits soft 17, then have the house pay only 6-5 on blackjacks, and the house edge against a basic strategy player soars to about 1.6 percent - nearly five times as high as the house edge in a good six-deck game.