Blackjack

I am curious why blackjack is in the favor of the house. The way I see it there is nothing that would tilt it in the houses favor. With the extra payout of a blackjack I would think that it is in the players favor if the player plays by the same hit/stand standards that the dealer has to use. I would think it would be even more in the players favor if they used a better strategy. Anyone care to explain why blackjack favors the house?

[Wildbill]

Pretty simple, you go first. If you bust and the dealer busts, the dealer wins. Its not all that complicated when you think about it...

[Ed Miller]

Okay, another question. If a person never took a hit in a situation that could bust him, and never used a double down or split, what is the probabiltiy of losing 10 hands in a row?

[Wildbill]

Probably better than you think. Even at optimal play a player is only likely to win around 44% of his hands. Playing so poorly like that makes it even worse. Imagine if the dealer had a 7 showing and the player didn't hit a 12, that is a horrendous EV play. I am sure someone has a good computer program and might be able to calculate it but I am sure with such a bad playing strategy you would be facing a 10 losses in a row situation every now and then, certainly more often than if you were aggressive and played to win.

Actually never doubling always helps with your chances of
winning the hand, even though you tend to lose more money overall.
Forgetting the splits a moment, the chance of winning the hand is about 47.8% in a typical shoe game with no double. You just multiply .478 by .478... to get the probability of a losing streak. But such calculations are pointless, since anonymous has clearly discovered the martingale system and believes he cannot lose ten hands in a row. He can. He can and will twenty hands+ in a row if he plays long enough. There is no way to beat blackjack by bet manipulation alone.

[Wildbill]

Especially in blackjack, there is no streakier game than this in the casino. Seems like when you play you accept losing sessions for awhile and then BAM you have a motherlode session where the dealer never makes a hand and you 3 out of 10 hands for you is a blackjack. The days to live for...

Anyone trying a martingale on this game definitely needs to get their head checked. Imagine you have 11 and the dealer has a 6, but to keep to this system you don't double. Nice move.

[bernie]

"Okay, another question. If a person never took a hit in a situation that could bust him, and never used a double down or split, what is the probabiltiy of losing 10 hands in a row? "

before asking an easy strategy question like this, which really wont help your game, ask yourself this....

what is the goal of the (knowledgable) player in the game of blackjack? meaning the key strategy part of the whole game from the players perspective...

cya

b