Insight 5 – The only way to win in a Casino is to decide the limit of winning. On your lucky day, you will actually win that limit. If you do otherwise, you will be bankrupt even in your most lucky day. Enough of this monologue, let's try some hands-on exercise. Here are a few exercise you can try solving and reply back in the comment section. In short, the best ways to win Blackjack at casinos are: Stick to the basic guide, relentlessly. You can win with just using the basics, and you won't lose more than it hurts. Search 'blackjack. If the dealer has a BlackJack, the player loses his original bet (although he would win his insurance bet if he made that side-bet). If the player has a BlackJack, he wins his original bet plus one-half his original bet; for example, a ten dollar bet would win the player $15 in addition to getting back his original ten dollars. Basically you just look at your total and the face up card the dealer has and find the corresponding cell on the table. If you have an ace follow the soft total chart otherwise follow the hard total chart. Shoutouts to r/CardCounters and r/Blackjack! Actually, this is how to lose the slowest at Blackjack. This card is what we call 'basic strategy.' By following this alone, you will get 90+ cents on every dollar you bet over the course of infinite hands but you will never make money this way.
Math isn't something that most gamblers want to think about when they're gambling, but it can help in so many ways. Blackjack is a casino game that shows exactly how much knowing a little bit of math can improve results.
In fact, if you embrace the arithmetic behind the game, you can actually win more than you lose when you play blackjack.
Here are seven mathematical facts that every blackjack player needs to know.
1 – Odds Based on a Specific Set of Cards
The best thing about playing blackjack for real money is that everything that happens when you play is controlled by a specific set of cards. Most blackjack players don't think about the game this way, but there are only 52 cards in a deck.
Even if the game is using six or eight decks of cards, there are still only 52 possible cards. And the base game of blackjack really only uses 13 sets of cards. This is because the jack of diamonds and jack of spades are the same. And because there are 13 ranks of cards, there are only 13 sets of cards that matter, no matter how many decks are being used.
This might not seem like it matters much, but once you understand why this is important and how you can use it, it helps you make smart decisions at the blackjack table.
If you have a hard 16 and the dealer is showing a six, do you know what the correct play is? You're going to learn more about strategy cards in a different section. But if you don't have a strategy card, you can get a good idea of the correct play using the fact that there are only 13 possible card ranks in the deck.
If you hit and get any card of six through king, you bust. If you bust, it doesn't matter what happens to the dealer hand. This means that eight cards will make you bust, and only five help your hand.
You also know that the dealer has one of the 13 cards as his or her face down card. If the dealer has a 10 through king, they have a hard 16 and have the same chance to bust as you. You also know that if they have a six through nine, they have to hit and have a decent chance to bust. This means that eight out of 13 cards are bad for the dealer.
If these are the only things you know, it's clear that the best play is to stand. This is why a specific set of cards is valuable to you when you play blackjack. You can use this information every time you play.
2 – Splitting Eights
Now, you can see some specific ways to use the information you learned about in the first section. Consider your hand if you start with a pair of eights.
You have to place another wager, but it's worth it to avoid starting with a hard 16. You receive another card on each of your eights.
Here's a list of cards that help you a great deal on an eight. A two, three, nine, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace all put you in a good spot. This is eight out of 13 cards. Even a four through seven is better than a hard 16. This means that, by splitting, you can't possibly be in a worse spot than playing it as a hard hand.
If you get another eight, you can split again.
3 – Splitting Aces
When you start with a pair of aces, you have either two or 12. Neither of these is a good starting total. But when you split aces, you have an opportunity to improve by a large amount.
Any of the cards 10 through king give you a total of 21. A six through nine all give you a soft 17 or better. The only cards that don't help you much are two through five, and you still have a soft hand with each of these. You still have a chance to win. This is another situation where eight out of the 13 possibilities improve your hand quite a bit.
You can see how the mathematics of blackjack help you improve your chances to win by the examples in these first three sections.
4 – Doubling Down
The usefulness of mathematics in blackjack doesn't stop with the examples above. It's also useful in situations where you need to determine how to get more money in play when you have a good chance to win.
When you have a hard 11, 10, or nine, it's often more profitable to double down than to hit. When you double down, you get twice as much money in play on the hand, and you receive one more card to complete your hand.
With an 11, you should double down every time except when the dealer has an ace showing. With a hard 10, doubling down is the most profitable play except when the dealer has an ace or 10 point card showing. And with a nine, you should double down when the dealer shows a three through six.
A few soft hands also are more profitable to double down with, and you can learn more about these hands by using a strategy card. You can learn more about strategy cards in the next section.
5 – Casino Strategy Cards
Now that you see how valuable it is to use math when gambling, you might be wondering if you need to do all of the math yourself. I'm going to put your mind at ease. Someone else has already done all the blackjack math for you and put it in an easy-to-use strategy card.
You can get a strategy card and use it every time you play blackjack. The card has all of the best possible plays, so you simply follow the card on every hand. It covers hard hands, pairs, and soft hands.
6 – Counting Cards
Even if you use a strategy card, you still are fighting a house edge. This means that you're losing money playing blackjack, even though you're playing with a small house edge.
But you can use math to help you turn this around and get a small edge against the casino. The way to do this is to use card counting.
If you play blackjack, you should learn more about counting cards. It's not as hard as you probably think, and once you learn how to use proper card counting systems, you can benefit every time you play.
7 – Sizing Your Bets
Math is also helpful when it comes to figuring out how much you need to bet when you play blackjack. And it's actually pretty simple to figure this out.
When you play blackjack and the casino has an edge, you need to bet the lowest amount possible. This means that every time you play blackjack and aren't counting cards, you need to make the table's minimum wager.
Even when you're using a strategy card, the casino has an edge. It isn't a big edge, but it's still an edge. This means that the bigger your bets are, the more you lose.
Depending on the size of your bankroll, you should bet as much as possible when you have an edge. In real life, it's hard to always bet the least and the most possible depending on the situation. But you're going to learn how to do this as you learn more about counting cards.
Conclusion
The power of blackjack math starts with the 13 ranks of cards in the deck. Once you understand how you can use this knowledge, your results are going to improve right away.
Use the math behind a blackjack strategy card to get started, then learn how to count cards. If you practice long enough, you can learn how to get an edge every time you play.
The 1326 gambling strategy
The 1-3-2-6 system is a gambling strategy that works well on bets which are close to evens chance (i.e. 50/50, like a coin toss) - particularly in Baccarat and Roulette. It also works on the simple bets in Sic Bo. NB There are no actual 50/50 chances in casino games (for example, the Zero in Roulette means that even Red / Black isn't quite 50/50) but some bets come close and these are where the 1-3-2-6 can be useful.
In the 1-3-2-6 gambling system, the sequence of winning bets is simply
1, 3, 2, 6.
If a bet wins, you progress to the next bet in the sequence.
If a bet loses, you go back to the start.
If you win all four bets and complete the sequence, you go back to the start, having made 12 units profit!
NB the bets relate to a number of units, so if you're betting in £10 units, your bet sequence is 10, 30, 20, 40.
What should you look for in a gambling strategy?
No gambling system can guarantee success. If someone invented one, they certainly wouldn't sell it(!) and the casinos would be very quick to ban its use.
A good gambling strategy is one which gives you the best chance of success over a large enough number of games, by taking into account the mathematics of the specific game you're playing (the 'house edge').
The 1-3-2-6 is a popular and generally successful strategy which can be employed very well on Evens chance bets. If your preference is for the straightforward bets in Roulette and Sic Bo (e.g. Red / Black, High / Low) the 1-3-2-6 may well suit your needs.
But it has two major flaws:
- It risks accrued profits
- In Baccarat, it doesn't take the vigorish into account
These two flaws are discussed in detail in this article, but were the driving force for us to devise the 1-3-2-4 system back in 2006 - a system which we feel is a refinement and improvement on the 1-3-2-6 for Baccarat players.
Four wins in a row
The best Strategy casino?
Guts Casino have a great range of games on offer, including 25 Live Roulette and 5 Live Baccarat tables, including the excellent Squeeze and Speed varieties. They also offer a range of inventive bonuses to get you started!
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Bovada Casino are offering new players 3 deposit match bonuses up to $1,000 each, that you can use on Baccarat with wagering of just 42x!
Play Baccarat at Bovada now »This gambling system works best in games where four consecutive wins happen frequently, but the only risk is in losing the first or second bet. If you win the first two bets, you're guaranteed to at least break even.
as long as you win the first two bets, you're guaranteed to at least break even
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You win big with the 1-3-2-6 when all four bets come up (a 1 in 16 chance) - this would give you a profit of 12 betting units.
But the great thing about the 1-3-2-6 is that as long as you win the first two bets (1 in 4), you're guaranteed to at least break even, even if the third bet loses!
If your first bet loses, your loss is 1 unit.
If the second loses, your loss is 2 units (you'll have bet 4, won 2)
If the third bet loses, you make a profit of 2 units, because you'll be 4 units up after bet 2!
If the third and fourth win, your overall profit is 12 units.
But even if the fourth bet loses, you still break even.
The following table shows you how your profit accrues as you move through the sequence of bets. Remember that we're discussing this in terms of betting units, so if you're betting in £10 units, your bet sequence is 10, 30, 20, 40; if you're betting in £25 units, your bet sequence is 25, 50, 75, 100; if you're betting in £50 units, your bet sequence is 50, 100, 150, 200.
| # | Bet | W/L | +/- | W/L | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 1 | Win | +1 | Lose | -1 |
| #2 | 3 | Win | +4 | Lose | -2 |
| #3 | 2 | Win | +6 | Lose | +2 |
| #4 | 4 | Win | +12 | Lose | 0 |
why risk all your accrued profits on the last bet when you could take a small win after bet 3?
In the table above, note how with the 1-3-2-6 system you break even (i.e. neither win nor lose) if the first three bets win, but the fourth loses. This is our major criticism of the 1-3-2-6 system - why risk all your accrued profits on the last bet when you could take a small win after bet 3? This goes against one of the Golden Rules of Gambling that we lay out in our overall strategy.
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Ultimately, this comes down to what kind of risk profile you have as a gambler - are you a low to medium risk player who is happy to take modest, consistent profits, or are you happy to risk more in order to maximise your potential profits?
Limit your losses
In the correct gaming conditions, you risk a little in order to win a little more.
Over the course of a betting cycle, your losses shouldn't mount up in the way that they could in, for example, the popular Martingale system. Even in the worst case i.e. 6 second bet losses, you'd only lose a total 12 units (you'd have won six units on the first bets), which you could win back by completing the sequence just once.
How To Win At Blackjack Casino Reddit Games
The table below shows how the 1326 fared in our systems tests.
For a reminder of the tests we use, check out our systems summary page…
Test
1. Alternating win
2. Alternating loss
3. Consecutive win
4. Consecutive loss
5. Good win
6. Bad loss
Overall result for all 6 tests
Result
Now, you can see some specific ways to use the information you learned about in the first section. Consider your hand if you start with a pair of eights.
You have to place another wager, but it's worth it to avoid starting with a hard 16. You receive another card on each of your eights.
Here's a list of cards that help you a great deal on an eight. A two, three, nine, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace all put you in a good spot. This is eight out of 13 cards. Even a four through seven is better than a hard 16. This means that, by splitting, you can't possibly be in a worse spot than playing it as a hard hand.
If you get another eight, you can split again.
3 – Splitting Aces
When you start with a pair of aces, you have either two or 12. Neither of these is a good starting total. But when you split aces, you have an opportunity to improve by a large amount.
Any of the cards 10 through king give you a total of 21. A six through nine all give you a soft 17 or better. The only cards that don't help you much are two through five, and you still have a soft hand with each of these. You still have a chance to win. This is another situation where eight out of the 13 possibilities improve your hand quite a bit.
You can see how the mathematics of blackjack help you improve your chances to win by the examples in these first three sections.
4 – Doubling Down
The usefulness of mathematics in blackjack doesn't stop with the examples above. It's also useful in situations where you need to determine how to get more money in play when you have a good chance to win.
When you have a hard 11, 10, or nine, it's often more profitable to double down than to hit. When you double down, you get twice as much money in play on the hand, and you receive one more card to complete your hand.
With an 11, you should double down every time except when the dealer has an ace showing. With a hard 10, doubling down is the most profitable play except when the dealer has an ace or 10 point card showing. And with a nine, you should double down when the dealer shows a three through six.
A few soft hands also are more profitable to double down with, and you can learn more about these hands by using a strategy card. You can learn more about strategy cards in the next section.
5 – Casino Strategy Cards
Now that you see how valuable it is to use math when gambling, you might be wondering if you need to do all of the math yourself. I'm going to put your mind at ease. Someone else has already done all the blackjack math for you and put it in an easy-to-use strategy card.
You can get a strategy card and use it every time you play blackjack. The card has all of the best possible plays, so you simply follow the card on every hand. It covers hard hands, pairs, and soft hands.
6 – Counting Cards
Even if you use a strategy card, you still are fighting a house edge. This means that you're losing money playing blackjack, even though you're playing with a small house edge.
But you can use math to help you turn this around and get a small edge against the casino. The way to do this is to use card counting.
If you play blackjack, you should learn more about counting cards. It's not as hard as you probably think, and once you learn how to use proper card counting systems, you can benefit every time you play.
7 – Sizing Your Bets
Math is also helpful when it comes to figuring out how much you need to bet when you play blackjack. And it's actually pretty simple to figure this out.
When you play blackjack and the casino has an edge, you need to bet the lowest amount possible. This means that every time you play blackjack and aren't counting cards, you need to make the table's minimum wager.
Even when you're using a strategy card, the casino has an edge. It isn't a big edge, but it's still an edge. This means that the bigger your bets are, the more you lose.
Depending on the size of your bankroll, you should bet as much as possible when you have an edge. In real life, it's hard to always bet the least and the most possible depending on the situation. But you're going to learn how to do this as you learn more about counting cards.
Conclusion
The power of blackjack math starts with the 13 ranks of cards in the deck. Once you understand how you can use this knowledge, your results are going to improve right away.
Use the math behind a blackjack strategy card to get started, then learn how to count cards. If you practice long enough, you can learn how to get an edge every time you play.
The 1326 gambling strategy
The 1-3-2-6 system is a gambling strategy that works well on bets which are close to evens chance (i.e. 50/50, like a coin toss) - particularly in Baccarat and Roulette. It also works on the simple bets in Sic Bo. NB There are no actual 50/50 chances in casino games (for example, the Zero in Roulette means that even Red / Black isn't quite 50/50) but some bets come close and these are where the 1-3-2-6 can be useful.
In the 1-3-2-6 gambling system, the sequence of winning bets is simply
1, 3, 2, 6.
If a bet wins, you progress to the next bet in the sequence.
If a bet loses, you go back to the start.
If you win all four bets and complete the sequence, you go back to the start, having made 12 units profit!
NB the bets relate to a number of units, so if you're betting in £10 units, your bet sequence is 10, 30, 20, 40.
What should you look for in a gambling strategy?
No gambling system can guarantee success. If someone invented one, they certainly wouldn't sell it(!) and the casinos would be very quick to ban its use.
A good gambling strategy is one which gives you the best chance of success over a large enough number of games, by taking into account the mathematics of the specific game you're playing (the 'house edge').
The 1-3-2-6 is a popular and generally successful strategy which can be employed very well on Evens chance bets. If your preference is for the straightforward bets in Roulette and Sic Bo (e.g. Red / Black, High / Low) the 1-3-2-6 may well suit your needs.
But it has two major flaws:
- It risks accrued profits
- In Baccarat, it doesn't take the vigorish into account
These two flaws are discussed in detail in this article, but were the driving force for us to devise the 1-3-2-4 system back in 2006 - a system which we feel is a refinement and improvement on the 1-3-2-6 for Baccarat players.
Four wins in a row
The best Strategy casino?
Guts Casino have a great range of games on offer, including 25 Live Roulette and 5 Live Baccarat tables, including the excellent Squeeze and Speed varieties. They also offer a range of inventive bonuses to get you started!
Play at Guts »How To Win At Blackjack Casino Reddit Play
Bovada Casino are offering new players 3 deposit match bonuses up to $1,000 each, that you can use on Baccarat with wagering of just 42x!
Play Baccarat at Bovada now »This gambling system works best in games where four consecutive wins happen frequently, but the only risk is in losing the first or second bet. If you win the first two bets, you're guaranteed to at least break even.
as long as you win the first two bets, you're guaranteed to at least break even
How To Win At Blackjack Casino Reddit Game
You win big with the 1-3-2-6 when all four bets come up (a 1 in 16 chance) - this would give you a profit of 12 betting units.
But the great thing about the 1-3-2-6 is that as long as you win the first two bets (1 in 4), you're guaranteed to at least break even, even if the third bet loses!
If your first bet loses, your loss is 1 unit.
If the second loses, your loss is 2 units (you'll have bet 4, won 2)
If the third bet loses, you make a profit of 2 units, because you'll be 4 units up after bet 2!
If the third and fourth win, your overall profit is 12 units.
But even if the fourth bet loses, you still break even.
The following table shows you how your profit accrues as you move through the sequence of bets. Remember that we're discussing this in terms of betting units, so if you're betting in £10 units, your bet sequence is 10, 30, 20, 40; if you're betting in £25 units, your bet sequence is 25, 50, 75, 100; if you're betting in £50 units, your bet sequence is 50, 100, 150, 200.
| # | Bet | W/L | +/- | W/L | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 1 | Win | +1 | Lose | -1 |
| #2 | 3 | Win | +4 | Lose | -2 |
| #3 | 2 | Win | +6 | Lose | +2 |
| #4 | 4 | Win | +12 | Lose | 0 |
why risk all your accrued profits on the last bet when you could take a small win after bet 3?
In the table above, note how with the 1-3-2-6 system you break even (i.e. neither win nor lose) if the first three bets win, but the fourth loses. This is our major criticism of the 1-3-2-6 system - why risk all your accrued profits on the last bet when you could take a small win after bet 3? This goes against one of the Golden Rules of Gambling that we lay out in our overall strategy.
How To Win At Blackjack Casino Reddit Free
Ultimately, this comes down to what kind of risk profile you have as a gambler - are you a low to medium risk player who is happy to take modest, consistent profits, or are you happy to risk more in order to maximise your potential profits?
Limit your losses
In the correct gaming conditions, you risk a little in order to win a little more.
Over the course of a betting cycle, your losses shouldn't mount up in the way that they could in, for example, the popular Martingale system. Even in the worst case i.e. 6 second bet losses, you'd only lose a total 12 units (you'd have won six units on the first bets), which you could win back by completing the sequence just once.
How To Win At Blackjack Casino Reddit Games
The table below shows how the 1326 fared in our systems tests.
For a reminder of the tests we use, check out our systems summary page…
Test
1. Alternating win
2. Alternating loss
3. Consecutive win
4. Consecutive loss
5. Good win
6. Bad loss
Overall result for all 6 tests
Result
Break even
7 units loss
1 units profit
5 units loss
26 units profit
7 units loss
8 units profit
Small losses
These test results show that this system never results in huge losses and works really well for short winning streaks.
Like the Paroli, this gambling system doesn't cope too well with alternating results, but unlike the Paroli, losses are never that bad - even in the 'bad loss' test, it results in only a small loss.
