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A Simple Way to Win at Single-Deck Blackjack

Almost everybody knows that Blackjack began as a game dealt from a single deck of cards, but that version is much less prevalent now. However, as you'll see, there are still quite a few casinos that offer the game today, in spite of the fact that a skilled player can beat it on a fairly consistent basis. I intend to make you a skilled player, but you need to remember that "simple" doesn't necessarily mean "easy". What I'm going to show you is actually pretty easy, but it's not exactly like shooting fish in a barrel

To get an edge in most Blackjack games, you pretty much have to learn how to count the cards. Okay, before you run away, listen to me. I'm going to show you a simple way to do that and what you'll gain is an edge over almost any single-deck game you find at brick-and-mortar casinos. What you'll learn does not, however, apply to Internet casinos, simply because 99.9% of them shuffle the cards after every hand is played and that makes it impossible to gain an edge from counting.

The most difficult part of card counting to learn, it seems, is the concept of the "True Count" (TC), so we're going to eliminate that, although you should understand the concept anyway. Simply put, the True Count converts the "running" count to a standardized "count per remaining deck". For example, if we're playing a six-deck game and there are five decks left to play, a running count of 10 has less impact than a running count of 5, if there are only two decks left to play. In the first case, the TC is 2 and in the second case, the TC is 2.5, since we compute the True Count by dividing the running count by the number of remaining decks. Already confusing, isn't it? To overcome that difficulty, several counting systems were developed that do not need a True Count conversion. They are called "unbalanced counts" and I wrote about them in the "Counting Systems" series that you'll find in the archives of this page.

But that's not what I want to teach you here. The "simple" part of winning at the single-deck game is that there is never more than one deck remaining, so the True Count will always be equal to or greater than the running count! What that means is, basically you don't have to do any dividing or multiplying or any other calculations beyond keeping track of the cards that are played. Yes, I know that most of you don't believe you can do it, but I know you can. You're operating a computer right now, aren't you? Well, if you can do that you can learn how to keep a simple plus-minus count. Before we get into that, though, let me show you what the prize is.

Today's Single-Deck Blackjack

If you play primarily on the East Coast or in the Midwest, you probably have never even seen a single-deck Blackjack game. But there are literally hundreds of them available here in the good ol' U.S.A. I did a quick scan of the May, 2001 issue of "Current Blackjack News", which is published by the # 1 Guru of Blackjack, Stanford Wong (go to www.bj21.com for a sample issue and subscription rates) and here's how many tables of single-deck Blackjack I found:

Las Vegas: 71 (with 47 of them being at the Horseshoe)
Reno/Tahoe: 187
Laughlin, Nevada: 53
Tunica, Mississippi: 35
Biloxi, Mississippi: 13

That's well over 300 games and most of them are in areas that are considered by many to be "bargains" when it comes to the cost of rooms and food, etc. Take Laughlin, for example. If you pay more than $35 a night for a hotel room in Laughlin, it's just because you don't know anybody. The place is a flat-out low roller's dream and yet they offer some excellent opportunities to do what I'm going to teach you. Plus, there are a lot of tables with $2 and $3 minimums.

But just because these casinos are a little out of the way, it doesn't mean they don't know their games can be beaten rather easily. Go to a casino in Laughlin, start spreading your bets from $5 to $100 per hand at a single-deck game and it'll take them about 5 minutes to ask you to leave. To beat these guys at their own game requires a plan and I just happen to have one handy. Read on.

The Potential

The Big Question: How much can I make from this?

Honestly, not as much as a player who uses a "complete" counting system, which includes adjusting for the True Count and varying the Basic Strategy according to the count, but the technique I'll show you will get you a small edge over the casino. First of all, it beats the hell out of losing all the time and as you get comfortable with counting, you can add to your skills, which will lead to a bigger edge as time goes on.

To quantify it, part of how well you'll do depends upon the rules of the game. For most single-deck games, the rules are that the dealer hits his hand of A-6, you may double on any first two cards and there is no double after splitting pairs. This gives the casino a 0.18% edge "off the top", but that goes up to 0.44% if you may double only on 10 or 11 which is the case at quite a few casinos, especially those in the Reno/Tahoe area. Another consideration is the size of the bet spread you use and that's a function of a lot of factors. For example, if you play a $25-minimum table, you'll be doing well to get a 1-4 spread. But, if you're playing at a $2-minimum table, it shouldn't be too difficult to get a 1-5 spread. Another factor in this is the number of cards you get to see before the dealer shuffles. Many casinos use what we call the "rule of six" or the "rule of seven" which means that the number of 'rounds' dealt is equal to 6, minus the number of players. So at a table with four players, a total of two rounds would be dealt in a rule of six situation, but they'd get three rounds before a shuffle in a casino that uses the rule of seven. If the game is "two rounds and shuffle", it's hard to disguise your bet spread because it would be a minimum bet on the first round, then might be a maximum bet on the second round and that may not be tolerated at the casino of your choice. But one thing you can count on (pun intended) is that, if you're alone at the table, you'll likely get more than two rounds before the shuffle and that lets you 'scale' your bets, so it's not so obvious that you're using a 1-4 or 1-5 spread.

The key to this is getting bigger bets out when you have the edge, so this is something we need to concentrate on. I recently purchased an excellent software program called "Statistical Blackjack Analyzer" (I'll be doing a complete review on it soon) and it can run simulations on almost any type of Blackjack game. To get an idea of what's possible against a game like I've described, I set up a series of sims where the count was not adjusted for the True Count and then I plugged in various betting spreads, percentages of penetration (yes, this little beauty will allow you to set up a "rule of six" table, for example) and different counting systems. A simulation of the game where the player may double on any first two cards (0.18% edge), with a single player at the table (that's you) and five rounds dealt before the shuffle, using a 1-4 bet spread shows a long-term edge of just about 0.60%. The average bet was 1.42 units, so if you were betting $3-$12, the average bet would be $4.26 per hand. At a rate of 150 hands per hour (a very conservative number when playing "head-to-head"), your total bets would be $639 an hour. A long-term edge of 0.60% would yield an average hourly profit of about $4. Not even minimum wage, but as I said earlier, it sure beats losing. Add to that the fact that: A) you might get more hands per hour, B) you could increase your edge by adding enhancements, such as taking insurance when the count is 1.5 or higher, C) you could make your betting unit $5 instead of $3, and D) you might be able to get away with a 1-5 spread; it's not a bad deal at all.

When using a $5 betting unit, the long-term return compares favorably with the return on a $.25 full-pay Deuces Wild Video Poker (FPDW) game, but calls for a slightly smaller bankroll. How much smaller? Well, if you play FDDW with 0.20% cash back, you need about $4500 for a 5% "risk of ruin". For the Blackjack, you'd need about two-thirds of that amount for the same 5% risk of ruin. $3000 ought to do it, if your top bet is $20 in a 1-4 spread situation. I could go on and on about the "tricks" you can use to win at this game, but we need to get you started.

The Training

1. You must learn the proper Basic Strategy for a single-deck game.

If you've always played a multi-deck game, you'll be amazed at the differences, especially the one where you stand with 7,7 against a dealer's 10. To learn the proper Basic Strategy, go to Lesson 1 of my Blackjack School, which is archived on the Blackjack page. Lesson 2 will show you how to put it all together.

2. You have to learn how to count the cards.

Lesson 3 of my Blackjack School will get you started, then go to Lesson 4 and 5 for more information.

3. You have to learn how to play the single-deck game.

Lesson 6 will show you that, but also read the articles "Single-Deck Play", Parts 1-3 that are in the "What You May Have Missed" section of the archives, also found on the Blackjack page.

The Play

So, here's what you're going to do. Once you know the proper Basic Strategy and can keep the count, you'll need to memorize your betting schedule. If you feel you can get away with a 1-5 spread, bet one unit whenever the count is 1 or lower ("minus"), bet two when the count is 2, three when it's 3, etc. up to a maximum bet of five, regardless of how high the count gets. If a 1-4 spread is called for, do the same thing, but top out at four units on a count of 4.

Once you've got that, go find a game. But don't sit down just yet. Stand behind a table for at least half an hour and watch how the play proceeds and verify that you can count the cards properly. Believe me when I tell you that things very get busy in a real game, because you have to look at your cards, decide how to play the hand, take hits or double, or whatever, then track all the other cards, figure your bet for the next round (will the dealer shuffle when this round is finished?) and look like you're there just to have fun! Practice really does make perfect, so whatever time you spend in just observing will be worth it.

When you do finally sit down to play, don't worry about messing up the count. If you see a card, count it and act on the information, if appropriate. If you miss a card, just ignore it and go with the count you have. If you just plain forget the count, flat-bet the minimum until the dealer shuffles or get up and leave the table. The nice thing about the single-deck game is that you won't have to wait long for a shuffle. As you gain proficiency in all this, look around for games where you can play head-to-head with the dealer. You'll certainly get better penetration and also more hands per hour. But (and this is a big "but"), you'll also be more closely observed and you'll likely make more mistakes. However, it will come to you. You won't get rich, but you'll sure have some fun.

I know that I have over-simplified this somewhat, but I wanted you to see that counting the cards really isn't rocket science. You can do it and think how great it would be to have some solid wins on your next trip.

As always, if you have any questions, e-mail me at aceten1@mindspring.com and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

See you here next month.

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