So much goes into winning at blackjack. Any serious player – that is anyone who plays in order to make good money – takes every edge he or she can get.
Card and betting strategies are not the only tools available to the player to increase his or her edge. That’s all Old School columns talk about but there’s much more to the game.
For instance, there’s the art of choosing a good table. And, more specifically, a good betting spot.
Not all tables are created equal. Of course I’m primarily talking about the mix of cards you’ll find at a table and the way they’re playing out based upon the number of players at the table and the card handling procedures at the casino.
But you should also consider the dealer. Dealers can influence the game in a good or bad way. They can make a table either desirable or undesirable. Simple examples:
I want a dealer who deals slowly and is not what I call a Quick Rick. I don’t want to be pressured into making quick moves. I also want to see the tops of the cards at single and double deck games. I don’t like dealers who hold the cards so the tops aren’t showing. I want a dealer who roots for the players, too. I get uncomfortable when a dealer seems to expect everyone to lose.
When it comes to the cards…Old School writers won’t tell you about how to pick a good table because they know nothing about this art. They did not do research with real cards. So they cannot tell you about good or bad card mixes. They do not understand that such phenomena exist.
For the same reason they cannot tell you about good and bad betting spots because they know nothing about the repeating phenomena I discovered based upon my card behavior and shuffling research. So they do not realize that each betting spot, at a stable table (with the same number of spots in play), develops a good or bad personality based upon the cards that are in the repeating pattern at that spot.
For a similar reason they do not know how the number of players affects your likelihood of winning. Most if not all Old School researchers used their computers’ random number generators to deal “simulations” involving one player only. They did not do research with cards to determine what affect differing numbers of players has, for instance, on the dealer’s busting rate.
But state-of-the-art players know all this and factor it in, in choosing the best table and best betting spot to play at.
A few tips:
In my research on winning and losing cycles I discovered that there are “winning tables” and “losing tables.” That is, there are tables where most of the players are winning or losing. In picking a good table, try finding one where most players are winning.
In researching how the number of players affects your likelihood of winning I discovered you’re more likely to lose than win at tables with four or fewer spots in play. If you want to try and find the one or two winning spots at those tables that might be winning at any time at those tables, you might be able to beat the odds – if you know my technique of stealing winning betting spots or if you luck out by accidentally choosing the seat with a winning series of cards coming your way. But I don’t play depending on luck. That’s a fool’s game. And since the odds are against you at tables with fewer players, I always look for more crowded tables.
You should not sit down at tables where you see one or more players scattering away in disgust. Or at the very least you should not sit in the turn position in which the leaving player had sat. Otherwise you’ll inherit the spot with the losing repeating pattern of cards. (In other words, if they were in the seat that gave them the third turn, choose a seat that gives you anything but the third position.)
A good table is a happy table. At least most players should be happy. There is usually at least one losing betting spot. But if you ask the players how they’re doing, most should be pretty upbeat if the cards are by and large good. Players don’t leave a good or great table and they’re going to be having a pretty good time. It sounds simplistic but this is actually a natural fact. Winning players are happy. That tells you something about the card mix. Until you learn how to identify good and bad mixes, player happiness gives you a good clue.
Conversely, if everyone’s depressed at a table, I’d probably avoid it.
By the way – you cannot tell how players are doing by the amount of chips that are in front of them. For all you know they had many more before you walked up. There’s no way of telling if a player is down or up by looking at their chips. It’s a false indicator.
Anyway…just some thoughts on the important skill of choosing a good table. (For more details, see Blackjack The Smart Way.)
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