I don't care how good you are at basic blackjack strategy or how well you can count cards. If you don't have solid money management skills, you are going to go down in flames at the blackjack table. You can take that to the bank...with what's left of your money. This article is going to go over a very simple, but effective, blackjack money management strategy that should have you walking away from the table many more times a winner than a loser. I think you will find this quite eye opening.
For starters, blackjack is not an even game of chance like some other games at the casino. For somebody who doesn't know a thing about basic strategy or card counting, you are giving the house about a 15% advantage. I don't know about you, but for me...that's WAY too much. But even with perfect basic strategy and a solid handle on card counting, whatever system you use, the house still has an advantage. There is no getting around that. So the only way to beat the house, which you can do, is by using sound money management strategies.
I personally like the regression system because the theory behind it is simple and gives me an excellent chance to play the house even, or even lose a little, and still walk away with a profit. How do I do this? It's actually very simple.
Assuming that in two hands dealt we're going to win one and lose one, what we want to do is make sure that IF that scenario occurs, we still walk away ahead. Now, how can we do this? Well, if we bet the same amount for each bet, we walk away even. If we bet more on the second bet, we walk away behind. However, if we bet less on the second bet, we walk away ahead. Let me show you with a simple example.
Let's say we're playing at a table with a $10 minimum. What we want to do is bet $20 on our first hand. The reason, I will show you shortly. Okay, let's say we win that hand. By probability, we can expect to lose the next hand, even if we're an expert player. So what we want to do is drop down to the $10 minimum on the second bet. That's why we bet $20 on the first hand. Had we bet the minimum, there would be nothing to drop down to. Now, let's say we LOSE that second hand. Take a look at what just happened.
We played two hands. We won the first, winning $20, and lost the second, losing $10. We won one and lost one and thus, played the house even. Yet, we walked away with a $10 profit.
Now granted, this is a very simple example and real life doesn't play out so neatly. However, over the long haul, this IS what's going to happen. So by dropping down on your second bet (there is more to the system) you give yourself a chance to come out ahead EVEN if you play the house even.
The rest of the system is as follows. If you win the second hand, you then go back up to $20 on hand three, $25 on hand four, $30 on hand five and so on UNTIL you lose a hand. Then you start all over again at $20 for hand one. If you lose four straight, you walk away from the table. That's the discipline part.
I've been playing blackjack at Atlantic City for many years. I've taken quite a few dollars from those tables because of this strategy and some solid basic knowledge of the game.
Try it sometime.
You might be pleasantly surprised at your results.
To YOUR Blackjack Success,
Jack "Ace" Black
