In Black Jack, it's the natural Black Jacks, splitting pairs and the ability to double down that bring your bankroll from red to black. If you're playing perfect strategy, not winging it, doubling down becomes the offensive strategy you use when the chances of winning the hand are better than the dealer's. Why? Because betting more when the casino is at a distinct disadvantage will increase your potential return more than if you were to just hit your hand.

Is there a standard form of Black Jack?

No. There is no standard form of Black Jack that can be found in all casinos. You might even find several versions of Black Jack played within the same casino.

How do I choose the best strategy for Black Jack?

Choosing the 'best' strategy depends on 2 key factors:

A. The number of decks used.
B. The 'house rules' in effect during play. Find this information out first, and then look for the appropriate strategy. There are loads of strategies out there.

What do these funny acronyms mean?

The acronyms that are often used in Black Jack are listed below:

BSE	Basic Strategy Edge
H17	Hit soft 17 (dealer must hit)
S17	Stand on any 17 (dealer must stand)
DOA	Double On Any first two cards
D10	Double on 10 or 11 only
DAS	Double After Splitting is allowed
RSA	Re-Splitting Aces is allowed
ESR	Early Surrender
LSR	Late Surrender
O/U	Over/Under 13 side bets are allowed

How much of an advantage can card counting give?

A typical card counter will have an edge of 1.5% or less, depending on the counting system used, the skill of the player, and the particular house rules that the player is fighting against. It is quite unusual to find playing conditions that allow the player to get more than a 2% edge against the house, even against single deck games. The player's edge against multi-deck games is generally less than 1%.

Is card counting illegal?

No. The casinos would like you to believe that card counting is illegal, immoral, and fattening, but the fact is that card counters are simply using a greater level of skill than the typical Black Jack player. The Nevada courts have ruled that blackjack players are free to use any information that is made available to them, provided that there is no collusion between a player and casino personnel. For example, if a dealer accidentally handles the cards in such a way that a player can see the dealer's hole card, the player can make use of this information without breaking the law.

Can the casino ban card counters?

This depends on where you play. In Atlantic City, where games of skill are not permitted, the casinos are not allowed to ban skillful players. In Nevada, casinos are allowed to refuse service to anyone at any time for any reason. Players are routinely 'barred', usually by being asked to leave or by being told that they are welcome to play any game other than blackjack. If you are barred but persist in trying to play, the casino can have you arrested for trespassing.

Why are single deck games better than multi-deck games?

There are some surface differences, such as single and double deck usually being hand-held, while 4 or more decks are dealt from a shoe, but there are fundamental mathematical differences too.

Single deck Black Jack is usually better than multiple deck Black Jack for card counters, basic strategists, and the clueless. Additional decks make busts less likely, since one can draw to hands like 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2 (for 18) which are improbable/impossible in single deck. Busting less often helps the dealer's hand more than yours, since the dealer is forced by the rigid rules to hit more often than you. Black Jacks are also less frequent, which is bad since you get paid 3 to 2 for those. All in all, multiple decks will cost a basic strategist nearly 0.5% in advantage, which is more than all but the very best package of favorable extra rules will give you. This was an intuitive explanation; a complete mathematically sound (albeit huge) proof can be generated by a combinatorial analysis program.

Card counters face the additional problem that the count is less volatile with multiple decks and hence offers less frequent opportunities for large favorable bets

Do 'bad' players at third base have any effect on expected gain?

No. It is a common misconception that incorrect plays by the player at third base will 'take the dealer's bust card' or 'leave the dealer a good card'. As long as the shuffle is sufficient to randomize the cards, improper play of other players will be just as likely to help as it is to hurt. However, bad players can cause frustration and anxiety which may increase the likelihood of making mistakes. It is best to avoid the temptation to strangle bad players.

What counting system is 'best'?

The first approach is to evaluate different systems by simulation. This approach obscures the particular advantages of each system, but it's easy to see how a system will perform in one particular realistic casino playing situation, and not hard to judge the tradeoff between performance and ease of use.

The second approach estimates several performance parameters of each system that collectively approximate the system's inherent potential. This allows the strengths of different BJ systems to be studied in detail, which should allow better, more precise comparison of different systems and aid efforts to improve a particular system. This approach gives results which may be used to determine which counting system is theoretically most profitable, but does not address the issue of how easy it is to use the counting system under actual playing conditions.

Does penetration have any effect on basic strategy expectation?

Probably not. Unless the dealer is cheating, the cards will be in a random order after the shuffle. If the player is not counting cards or using other techniques to gain an advantage, it will not matter if there are several rounds or only a single round between shuffles. But, if the dealer if using preferential shuffling, this will hurt the basic strategy players as well as the card counters.

What is 'Over/Under' Blackjack?

Caesar's Tahoe introduced the Over-13 and Under-13 side bets that are allowed at some Black Jack tables. These bets are based on the player's total for the first 2 cards, when aces are counted as one. Over-13 bets win when the player's cards total 14 or higher, while under-13 bets win when the player's cards total 12 or under. Either bet will lose when the player's total is exactly 13. These bets are placed at the same time as the Black Jack bet, and usually the side bet can be no larger than the bet on the Black Jack hand. Over/under games are usually dealt from a 6 or 8 deck shoe, and the player's first 2 cards are always dealt face up. Although these are 'sucker' bets for basic strategy players, with a house edge of 6% to 10%, special card counting strategies can be used to give the player a significant edge on these bets.