There are many blackjack issues that never make it into the old school blackjack columns and one of those issues is how the number of players affects not just your game but your probability of winning.
This is a Blackjack 101 kind of factor that impacts your game in many important ways. Yet I dare you to find a reference to it in any of the old school books. I’m not aware of any that mention it, let alone show an understanding of what it means to a blackjack players’ bottom line and ability to get an accurate read on the cards through a state-of-the-art card analysis method.
Among the reasons for this paucity of critical information elsewhere:
Most old school writers have not done research of their own; if anything, they purchase old school data from a central source of old school data
All old school research and data – to my knowledge – have traditionally been based upon computer-produced blackjack “simulations” (instead of real card data, real blackjack action like you’ll experience at the casino) – and these are produced by a computer’s Random Number Generator, which cannot properly reproduce the card action you see in the real casino game
I am the only one – to my knowledge – who has ever researched the influence the number of players has on your likelihood of winning and your game in general
After having collected painstakingly-recreated casino-style blackjack card action data over the course of nearly four years, I then took all the cards dealt during that time and fed them, in order, into one, two, three, four, five, six and seven player situations. Then I collected the results – that is, statistics on how often the dealer busted or beat the players, what the players’ winning percentages were in each situation, etc.
Although tedious and time consuming, this experiment produced fruitful results and historic discoveries. I uncovered the fact that there indeed is a linear correlation between the number of betting spots in action and the dealer’s busting rate, for example. I also found that this helped lead to a linear correlation between the number of spots in play and players’ individual winning rates.
Investigating these results further for what caused all of this, I discovered that one of the operational forces producing these realities is that players’ card decisions can actually affect the dealer’s outcome, over time.
So, at the very least, this Epiphany shouts to players that they need to take into consideration the number of betting spots being played. Their fortunes rise and fall with these numbers.
So players need to choose tables carefully and then, once seated, they need to pay attention to any changes in the number of betting spots being played, perhaps even taking action with any changes – either by: 1) sitting out a hand (as when any “Wongers” come to the table to play just one or two hands; 2) taking another betting spot if on a winning streak (should someone not play a hand or leave the table); and 3) leaving the table if too many other players leave.
I’ve described my research, provided the numbers and given details on all this in Cutting Edge Blackjack, in which all of these revelations were first introduced.
But there are other reasons for paying attention to how many betting spots are in play. And one of them is to more easily and quickly get a precise read on what the cards already dealt tell you about what cards are most likely to come next and therefore what the dealer’s and your likely outcomes look like. I’ve developed many state-of-the-art methods (initially for myself, before I even considered writing books) to analyze the cards that have been dealt because all smart players and researchers (even the old school researchers) realize that the imbalance among the cards already dealt tells you much about the imbalance that’s in the cards not yet dealt – the cards that can reveal to you all the probabilities you want to get a handle on in order to play the most accurate game (from both a card and betting strategy standpoint).
In other words, for example, my card research has revealed that 13 cards, on average, are dealt per round at a table with four betting spots in play. How powerful is that information?!
What does that tell you? A LOT!
With 13 cards on the table, a balanced mix would reflect the mix of cards in a suit of cards, perfectly! So at a four player table, if the cards are balanced, you should see four 10-point cards and one of all of the rest. If not, there’s an imbalance and any imbalance causes the numbers the old schoolers like to think are constant to change (making their reference numbers, the ones they used to recommend card moves and bets, wrong). (And FYI: the cards are rarely if ever balanced.)
And with any change in the card balance your fortunes change. So you need to get a grip on what imbalances are in play and what they mean.
With an understanding of what you should see on the table alone based upon the numbers my research has revealed vis a vis what you should expect with 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6- and 7-player tables respectively, you will get the most accurate read on what to do in any given player variation.
And you can take that to the bank!
Have blackjack questions? Send them to rharvey2121@netscape.net. For more info see http://www.blackjacktoday.com.
