Proper Guide To BlackJack

What is the correct basic strategy for Atlantic City blackjack?
Is casino blackjack a "beatable" game?
What special terminology is used by blackjack players?

Blackjack Terminology:

basic strategy
a playing strategy that is designed to minimize the house edge as much as possible without using techniques such as card counting, shuffle tracking, or dealer tells. Basic strategy is used as a foundation for card counting, but is also used by many non-counters.

burn card(s)
cards that are discarded without being dealt to the players. After the cards are shuffled by the dealer and cut by one of the players, one or more cards are "burned" before any cards are dealt to the players.

bust
after a "hit", the player is said to "bust" if the new card causes the player's total to exceed 21.

cut card
a (usually colored plastic) card that is used to cut the cards after they have been shuffled by the dealer. ***** In this game it is the (YELLOW) card.

double down
to double the initial bet and receive exactly one more card. The option to double is often allowed on the players first two cards only, although some casinos allow doubling after splitting a pair. Many Northern Nevada casinos allowing doubling only with a two-card total of 10 or 11. It is very rare to find games that allow doubling of hands that have more than two cards.

early surrender
surrender which is allowed even when the dealer has a natural. Very valuable to the player, but rarely offered by the casinos.

hit
drawing a new card to add to the player's or dealer's hand.

over/under
a rare bet that the first two player's cards will total over 13, or under 13, when aces are counted as one.

preferential shuffling
shuffling when the deck is favorable to the players, while avoiding a shuffle when the deck is unfavorable to the players.

push
a tie hand, the original bet is returned to the player.

shoe
a "box" for holding the undealt cards, usually used in multi-deck games. **** When you hear the shuffle sound it has reset usually followed or preceeded by a (YELLOW CARD)

soft hand
any hand that includes an ace that can be counted as 11 without having the value of the hand exceed 21. It is always possible to draw one card to a soft hand without busting.

split hand
hands that start with two cards of the same rank can be split to form two independent hands. This option is exercised by adding a new bet to the second hand, and these hands are played independently.

stand
to stop drawing cards.

surrender
the option to give back the player's first two cards in exchange for a refund of 1/2 of the original bet (rarely allowed). Some hands, such as 16 vs. dealer's 10, are so bad that surrender is less costly than playing the hand.

Is casino blackjack a "beatable" game?

Simulations performed by rec.gamblers show different amounts of potential player advantage in theory in BJ, depending on strategies, exact rules, and playing conditions. These numbers typically approach 1% (an average penny gain for every dollar bet) though in certain particular, ideal circumstances this can get somewhat higher. There is disagreement on the net about how much advantage this translates into in "real-world" casinos, but it's generally believed that players can play with a small, long-run advantage in BJ. The variance is very high in this game, however, which makes the slight advantage in BJ far from a sure thing.

What is the correct basic strategy for Atlantic City blackjack?

HOUSE RULES:

Cards are dealt from 6 decks.
Dealer must stand on any 17.
Double-down allowed on soft hands.
Pairs may be split only once.
Player may double-down after splitting pairs.
Surrender is not allowed.

Strategy Table:



NOTES:
1) If more than one option is listed,
options to the left are preferred
over options to the right. Options
less favorable than STAND or HIT are
not shown.

2) Use the "Hard Hands" table only
when the other tables do not apply.

3) If splitting Aces is not allowed,
use the "Soft Hands" table.

4) Uppercase options favor the player,
lowercase options favor the house.

[Netscape]

Assuming the basic strategy chart you've provided is accurate, the expected house edge on this game of blackjack is .47999%. Thanks for the write up.