Most people often associate blackjack—a popular form of casino gambling—with being degenerate and greedy. In many cases this might be true, but if we look at the game’s fundamentals, we can see that blackjack is similar to any other strategic game. Blackjack is unique because instead of competing with other players, you are competing against the dealer, whose simple algorithm to create a formidable opponent. Given that blackjack rules are usually the same across most Casinos, we can see that the game is mainly about maximizing your odds. This is just touching on the superficial coating of the game—in reality— Casinos often earn a steady profit even when faced with a faultless player, this is because though it might seem as if the player has an advantage with more volition, the game cleverly cheats the odds by making the dealer go last. In the long term—with traditional playing— the intermediate player is expected to lose $5-$15 with each hour
Modern mathematicians have figured out the optimal strategy for blackjack, though this—unsurprisingly—did not effect the casino industry. With a fresh wave of unsuspecting piglets rushing to casino doors, the casinos feed the player’s illusory superiority. With each bailout, the Casinos are closer to butchering the foolish gamblers. This scenario is due to the fact that even with advanced playing, the player can only minimize their expected losses to limits of the game rules: $1 loss per hour. although this seems enough worth risking, this uses flawless playing with the ideal casino conditions.
From creating distractions, fake chips, or even marking cards, players are desperate to recover their long gone money. Some schemes might have been effective when casinos were still novice, but after adapting to the everyday attempts on cheating, the casinos are now properly equipped with security cameras, pit bosses, skillful dealers, severe punishments, and in some cases… henchmen. In order for Casinos to insure they are making revenue, they kick individuals that have suspiciously high earnings—this is completely justified as Casinos are private property. But with enough failing, the players have caught on to a stealthy, legal, and fruitful strategy.
After proving too successful for the Casino liking, card counting is now categorized by casinos as “cheating.” Casinos are only allowed to limit card counting by kicking you from the property, but they have no right to enforce any punishment otherwise—your chips are cashed, you arrive safely back home, your ID is not compromised, and if done with enough practice, you are richer.
Imagine if there were a bag that contained 5 blue marbles and 5 red marbles. Now, if I were to blindly draw two blue marbles, the chances are that I am going to draw a red marble the next time a draw. If my friend, Elon, betted with me on if the marble was going to be red or blue and the marbles were drawn without replacement, the most easiest option would be going all in on the last marble. This is because it is guarantied that my prediction would be granted. If it were a tiny bit more complex and the marbles were all added back to the bag when there were 4 marbles left in the bag and I bet if the next marble would be blue, I the best strategy would be betting higher when more red marbles were drawn. Similarly, in blackjack, card counting involves keeping track of the cards left in the shoe (pile). If the count was that more lower cards have been dealt—since higher cards benefit the player—I would bet more. The only difficulty is that betting traditionally does not involve any skill, so changing your bets regularly would raise suspicion. This strategy boosts the player odds, and successfully outplays the casino and returns a profit on how much you willing to bet on more fortunate circumstances.
To grasp the full potential of this strategy, I have created a fully operating simulation of blackjack that incorporates the common blackjack setup—6 decks, shuffle at 2 decks remaining (66.6% penetration), 3:2 blackjack payout, and 1:2 insurance. The program allows for the player to keep track of count in a fully running simulation, and also offers different procedures for the player to practice in. First off, the player can play manually, like how the realistic casino environment would play. Second, the program can keep track of the card count, as well as displaying the optimal input. Finally, the program runs automatically with perfect input, and a detailed report on all of decks played is displayed to the player.
more in-depth explanation of the program will be present in part 2
