Flat Bet Methods?

[AmericanAirlines]

Anyone know of an effective flat bet method that's not overly complex for a dummy, and still has a +EV?

[Ray Zee]

find a good single deck game with good rules. flat bet. but when the deck is bad take a walk or cut your bet in half. or, only double your bet when you win and the deck is good and leave your bet the same if its bad. still you cant vary too much and stay in one place.
against shoes, count the shoe at the next table and if it gets good move over and bet what you want.

[Homer]

You have three options that I know of:

1) Find a single deck game with great rules that gives the player +EV with basic strategy alone. This is not likely to happen.

2) Find a single deck game with pretty good rules and sit at third base. Keep track of the count but only use it to make playing variations (adjustments to basic strategy based on the count), not to vary bet size. This is discussed in the book Blackbelt in Blackjack. I can't remember the name of the method off-hand.

3) Learn how to count and stand behind a shoe and keep track of the count. Wait until the shoe is +EV and then jump in and flat bet until it becomes -EV. At this point get up and leave. This method is known as "wonging".

....essentially you will have to learn to count to give yourself a +EV. Counting really isn't that hard. Just learn a basic, level one count like Hi-Lo.

-- Homer

[AmericanAirlines]

Hi Homer,
When I was dealing in Vegas, Slots-O-Fun reputedly had a +EV with basic strategy single deck game.

However, they made you deal it differently to minimize the time a counter had to read the cards. The technique was called "pay and pick".

Essentially, rather than paying all the hands then sweeping the cards off to the discard rack, you picked the cards up after paying each player.

Don't know if that game's still there today.

Sincerely,
AA

[Homer]

Last time I went to Vegas, I purchased CBJN (Current BlackJack News) from BJ21.com, which lists the blackjack table conditions at all casinos. I recall that Slots had one of the best single deck games with an EV of close to zero, as you said. It is my understanding that they won't let a counter get away with much before backing them off, for obvious reasons.

-- Homer

[ChipWrecked]

It's also a full table most of the time.