Blackjack by the Wizard of Odds

The Wizard of Odds teaches his simplified blackjack strategy. For more information, please visit my web site at wizardofodds.com.

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Closed Caption:

yeah
hi I'm Mike shackelford with The Wizard
of odds website and I'm here to teach
you how to play blackjack
i'm here with a my student Angela Wyman
and limone our lovely dealer and i'm
going to try to explain what i call my
wizard simple strategy for blackjack
now first of all let me explain the
object of the game
the it has always bothered me when
people say the object of blackjack is to
get as close to 21 as possible without
going over
no the object of blackjack is to have
more points than the dealer without
going over
so it's important to understand that
you're playing against the dealer and
trying to outscore the deal
I'm not going to get into all the rules
of blackjack because it's such a common
game and most people already understand
it already
so let's just jump right into this to
the strategy all right Angela let's do
it
ok I'm going to break this down into
various types of hands the player might
get now normally when people present
what's called the blackjack basic
strategy that is how to play every
single possible player hand by all 10
possible dealer hands
this is a great strategy that any good
blackjack player probably has memorized
but i'm going to teach a slightly
simplified version of that rather than
looking at all 10 possible dealer up
cards
I'm going to break them into just two
types a high part and a low card a low
card is a 2 through 6 and a high card is
a 72 an ace
now first let's talk about dealer hard
totals are
we're only standing and hitting are
viable options if the player has eight
or less
you always hit
now nine to eleven can involve doubling
so let's skip over those for now
now this is the most important rule of
the whole strategy if you have a hard
12 to 16 then you're going to stand if
the dealer is showing a small card and
hit if the dealer is showing a large
card
this happens all the time and it's the
most important rule that you should
remember out of all of this
next let's talk about hardhands we're
doubling as a viable option
meaning a hard nine to 11 if you have a
hard total of nine you want to double
down if the dealer is showing a small
cart
otherwise you hit if the dealer is
showing a big card now with the 10 and
11
the rule there is you want to double if
you have more points than the dealer for
example if you have a total of ten you
double down if the dealer is showing in
nine or less
otherwise you just hit it if you have a
total of eleven then you double down if
the dealer is showing a 10 or less think
of an asus being worth 11 points
so if you have an 11 and the dealer
showing a nice you're just going to hit
that next let's talk about the soft
hands and these are commonly miss played
by recreational players
okay first of all if you have a soft 15
or less
you always hit it always
and you know what i mean by a soft 15
for example i'm not sure what that means
that it's a hand that could be counted
as either 5 or 15 points because there's
an ace in there
so in a sense of four would be referred
to as a soft 15
God and so you always hit soft 13 14 and
15
now if you have a soft 16 17 or 18 then
you're going to double if the dealer is
showing a small card and very few
players do this but trust me
the odds are in your favor because a
small dealer up card is good for you and
it's a good opportunity to get more
money on the table while the odds are in
your favor
ok if the dealer has a big card showing
them the odds are not looking so good
for you
therefore you're just going to just hit
it and a lot of people also make the
mistake where they have a soft 18 and
the dealer is showing a 910 or ace and
they stand thinking all on 18 is good
enough for me
no you should be aggressive in that
situation and take a hit against any
dealer big card with a soft 18
okay all right finally if you have a
soft total of 19 or more then you stand
ok next let's talk about the pears or
hands that you might split
rule number one regarding pairs always
split eights and aces
you've probably heard it before but it's
true no matter what the dealer has
always split eights and aces
you never split what I call the 3f hands
fours fives and faces faces meaning any
10 . card
never split those no matter what the
dealer has and when I say never split
then you just revert to normal basic
strategy
finally if you have any of the other
pairs meaning twos threes sixes and
sevens or nines
then if the dealer is showing a small
card you split them if the dealer is
showing a big card
you don't and you revert to regular
basic strategy for example if you had
two sevens and the dealer is showing an
eight then because that's a big card
you don't split it then you revert to
regular strategy and just think of that
as 14 points in which case you would hit
it
angela do you know about surrendering in
blackjack
I have heard of it but i don't really
understand it ok this is a powerful rule
in the players favor that few players
actually invoke when they should
I'm going to keep it real simple and
just tell you the best situation to
surrender big because it happens a lot
if you have a total of sixteen and the
dealer showing a 10 you surrender
what does surrender mean you might ask
that means that you just forfeit half
your bet
for example if you had been a hundred
dollars and got that hand you make a
gesture like this on the table and the
dealer is going to take half your bed or
50 bucks and return the other half to
you
the reason you want to surrender thats
it that hand is because the odds are so
bad that on average you can expect to
lose fifty four percent of that wager
you would rather lose fifty percent and
fifty-four percent right
yes right and other players at the table
may criticize you for it
thinking that it's a like you're
chickening out
no you know that that's a lousy hand cut
your losses and surrender
does that because you know allow you to
do that No
generally speaking you can surrender in
the shoe games but you can't in the
single and double deck games
ok so if they say you can't surrender
then just hit that 16 against the 10
and also you can only surrender on your
initial two cards if you're sixteen is
composed of three or more or if it's
after a split then they're not going to
let you all right all right
think i got it ok finally the most
important thing to remember if you only
remember one thing about this lesson is
never ever ever ever ever under any
circumstances
play blackjack if a winning blackjack
pays 625
and you're seeing this more and more all
over the country is their short changing
the players on black Jack's instead of
paying the full 32 - they're only paying
625 that is going to cost the player
one-point-four percent on average which
is like tripling the house advantage
so if you see that 625 just turn around
and walk away and look for a better
table
well well like you know now I'm going to
have to go out and play your simplified
strategy but what are the odds of your
strategy versus basic blackjack strategy
good question of course the odds are a
little better with up the basic strategy
and as a reminder this is an example of
the full basic strategy
you can buy these cards at almost any
casino gift shop and I it's on my
website of course and it shows exactly
how to play any situation according to
the player card and the dealer up card
while this has about 200 different
situations
my simple strategy only has about twenty
playing this strategy is only going to
cost you zero point one four percent an
additional house advantage compared to
the basic strategy
so it's getting you almost the full way
to the basic strategy with a much easier
strategy that I think is going to be
easier for beginners to learn and if
you're good blackjack player
you really like the game i highly
encourage you to study the full basic
strategy once you've mastered my simple
strategy for your strategy first
yes for most people there
does it make a difference the number of
dexter playing with
yes generally speaking the fewer the
number of decks the better it is for the
player
however that the casinos know this too
so generally the rules are not as good
on a single or double that game as it is
on a six or eight that game
so you have to consider all the rules
that the casino is offering if the rules
are exactly the same between a
double-deck game and a 62 game you
should absolutely play the double deck
game
however a lot of casinos are going to
take away the option to surrender or
Reese playing aces or maybe even double
after a split in the double-deck game in
that case it
you can use the blackjack house and
calculator on my website to calculate
the exact house advantage under any set
of rules
well we've all seen those movies where
you know teams of people going to the
casinos and they count cards
well what are they actually doing does
it work it absolutely does work
the theory behind card counting is when
the remaining cards left to be played
are rich in big cards especially tens
and aces then the odd swing to the
players favor if they're rich in lots of
small cards then the odd swing to the
dealer's favor
so while these cards are coming out the
player is remembering what cards he's
seen which tells him information about
the cards left to be played
so let's say for example the player
knows that there's a lot of big cards
left in that you a disproportionate
number then he's going to bet more and
he's going to change his strategy in
certain borderline situations mainly
doubling and splitting more and hitting
less now card counting is not as
powerful as the movies and TV shows
make it out to be it's not like in Rain
Man
or any card counter can clean out the
casino
no it's it's a pretty thin advantage of
about one percent depending upon how
good the card counter is so to be a
successful card counter
you need a lot of money to make a little
money grinding out that one percent
advantage
Mike sometimes when I'm playing
blackjack this happens to me understand
hey you're gonna do I don't know about
that you took the deal is bus card
I would have won I was playing correct
strategy was still
hey you took it from me what difference
does it make it was that other player
right to criticize me
absolutely not that's one of the biggest
myths and blackjack is that the 3rd
baseman or any player in blackjack can
somehow jinx the whole shoe a bad
blackjack player does not cause the
other players to win or lose anything
of course you can look at one certain
hand and say you just made the whole
table lose but it's just as likely as
anything that he does to help the whole
table win
on average it makes no difference what
the other players do so on that back guy
who criticized you was being rude and he
was mathematically incorrect
so always follow that basic strategy
well there's been times where I've had a
blackjack and the dealer asked if i
wanted Shirin yes and this happens
insurance now I don't want insurance
are you sure that piece even money not
sure the wizard said you never take
insurance
the wizard that sounds like some kind of
film
no no he knows what he's talking about I
don't need insurance
all right i don't want to say I told you
so you have a blackjack and it to push
you wouldn't want even money was the
deal right
no the dealer was absolutely wrong and
this happens to me all the time
you absolutely should never take
insurance
it's a sucker bet on average the house
advantages eight point four percent and
doesn't make any difference what the
dealer has now
it happens all the time where the dealer
says it's a sure win
even money don't you want it no are your
odds are a lot better going for that
full 32 to win so repeat after me never
never take take insurance insurance
way to go hey it looks like have another
question Angela I'm like what are the
best blackjack rules i can realistically
expect to find in Las Vegas
good question what I like to tell people
is to try to find what i call the
liberal strip rules that consists of a
six-deck shoe game
the dealer stands on a soft 17 which is
very good for the player you can double
after a split you can surrender and you
can reduce weight aces
if you can get all those rules the house
advantage is going to be about 0.25
percent which is about as low as it ever
gets will have to find a casino that
offers all that casinos that offer that
are generally on the Las Vegas Strip
lots of times they have higher minimums
to those games starting anywhere from 25
to a hundred bucks
so if there for the higher rollers in
the high limit rooms you usually find
that these set of rules
so but let's say that you're a little
uncomfortable
bedding as much you know into the green
or black chip area then you're going to
have to suffer some worst rules there as
long as you're not playing 625 arm
you're going to be okay again the
calculator on my black check page on my
website wizard of oz com will tell you
the house advantage under any set of
rules
let me also say my other website wizard
vegas.com will tell you the current
blackjack rules for any casino in las
vegas
all right I think I know your answer to
this one but I've got to ask what about
the side bets and blackjack
repeat after me all all side side but at
our are sucker sucker that sad
ok the casinos are trying to eat more
money out of their blackjack tables by
adding side bets to them
there are tons of them available time
doesn't allow me to explain all of them
but they're all sucker bets
some are more sucker bets than others
but as a rule of thumb just avoid all of
them and just stick to the base game
let's summarize blackjack blackjack is a
great game
almost everyone knows it it's very easy
to find in any casino and that has a
very low house advantage if you play
properly
what I've been explaining in this video
is what I call my wizard simple strategy
can be found on my business card if
you're lucky enough to have one or it
can be found on my website wizard of oz
com the house advantage
following my simple strategy is just
about a tenth of a percent higher than
the full basic strategy
I have tons of information about
blackjack on my website wizard of oz ,
including a demo game that you can play
and it will correct you if you make any
mistakes and finally if there's just one
thing to remember about this whole video
it's never play 625 blackjack
yeah