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Dear Mark: Would you concur that blackjack, with perfect play, can have more winning streaks than losing streaks, especially when you add in the bonuses of blackjacks? I have found this to be true, for me at least. Bruce R.
From both the standpoint of pitching cards and playing pit bull for years, and understanding the mathematics of the game, my response is ABSOLUTELY NOT. We’ll discard my pit experience for almost two decades as anecdotal evidence, and move right to the math.
I’ll agree, Bruce, that using perfect basic strategy and quality hands like blackjacks, splits, and double downs help the cause, but still not enough to quantify more winning streaks than losing ones, especially over the long run. Why? Minus pushes, the house wins roughly 48 percent of the hands played and the player wins about 44 percent. Subsidized with certain premium hands and perfect play, it’s still not enough to overcome this win/loss differential. You can only get within 0.05% of the house edge.
Another thought here, Bruce, is that with your short timeline on a table, don’t expect the Law of Averages to be working for either winning or losing streaks. Everyone has their own personal sequence of hands, with the cards going hot or cold at any given moment. Right now you’re hot, but aberrations in gambling odds do happen, even in games that carry the smallest house edge, like blackjack with smart play.
Dear Mark: Do progressive machines like Megabucks all have the same payback percentages Nancy C.
As a general rule, Nancy, most state gaming regulations require that all statewide networks of progressive slot carousels linked together has the same payback percentages. However, that is with networked progressives like Megabucks, and does not necessarily apply to a stand-alone bank of machines, where each machine in the bank can have a different payback percentage.
All manufacturers offer a range of paybacks on each machine and the casino has the opportunity to select the payback percentage of its choosing. Slot managers then place their stand-alone slot banks strategically to maximize customer appeal and potential casino earnings, and one of their variables, payback percentages, can vary, even with machines side-by-side.
Dear Mark: On a recent trip to Vegas I was dismayed to find very few regular blackjack tables. They all seem to have some sort of gimmicky side bet on the layout. What was more disconcerting was the fact that all these layouts stated that blackjack paid 6 to 5 rather than 3 to 2. Of course I refused to play at a table, yet all the tables were full. Shame on those players. Thank goodness we still have plenty of regular blackjack tables here in Reno. Rock J.
Right you are, Rock. The blackjack game that offers 6/5 for a blackjack is a raw deal, and worth me driving home your point once more to readers uncertain whether this game is worth playing. It’s not.
To get the maximum value for a blackjack, you need to be paid 3 to 2, not 6 to 5, where the house has an advantage of almost 1.5%.
Say for instance that you’re playing $10 a hand on a 3/2 game. A blackjack gets you $15. If the player gets paid 6 to 5 on a $10 bet, he gets paid only $12. Three bucks shy might not seem like much, but at five blackjacks an hour we’re talking $15, enough for the buffet. I’m glad to see that you, and hopefully a small army of readers, are not willing to part with this much chow line cash.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: “The gambler masochistically enjoys his fear of losing and continues it as along as possible, because when he leaves the table or racecourse to take up his ordinary life some really intolerable fear awaits him; the smaller fear losing his money is by comparison a pleasure.” —Ralph Greenson, US psychologist
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