{"product_id":"2940013950597","title":"Ultimate Blackjack System","description":"Is Blackjack a \"Winnable\" Game?\u003cbr\u003eWhen blackjack first became a casino staple, it was assumed that\u003cbr\u003eit was rather like baccarat, where the house, by virtue of the\u003cbr\u003erules determining play, had a statistical edge. All players and\u003cbr\u003estudents of the game assumed that this advantage existed based\u003cbr\u003eon two simple facts. One, the player had to act first. Two, all\u003cbr\u003ebusts (hands totaling over twenty-one) were losers no matter\u003cbr\u003ewhat the dealer later drew. These two rules seem to give the\u003cbr\u003ehouse an incontrovertible edge.\u003cbr\u003eConventional began to change in 1956 when a paper by Baldwin,\u003cbr\u003eCantey, Maisel, and McDermont was published in the _Journal of\u003cbr\u003ethe American Statistical Association_. This paper and a blackjack\u003cbr\u003estrategy manual published by Baldwin et al. the following\u003cbr\u003eyear both attracted very little interest among non mathematicians,\u003cbr\u003ebut it would prove to be the first step toward determining\u003cbr\u003ethat blackjack is a \"winnable\" game.\u003cbr\u003eEdward O. Thorp, a scientist at MIT, did understand the implications\u003cbr\u003eof the work of Baldwin and his colleagues and began to examine\u003cbr\u003etwo elements of the game that were previously unexamined.\u003cbr\u003eOne, the composition of a deck of cards changes with every card\u003cbr\u003edealt. Two, some deck compositions favor the player and other\u003cbr\u003efavor the house. In 1962, Thorp published his now famous book,\u003cbr\u003e_Beat the Dealer_, which contained a simple yet profound message.\u003cbr\u003eUnlike dice, roulette wheels, and slot machines, decks of\u003cbr\u003ecards have \"memory.\"\u003cbr\u003eBlackjack, unlike Roulette for example, is a winnable game because\u003cbr\u003eof this \"memory.\" Let's look at an example. You are sitting\u003cbr\u003eat the Roulette table and the dealer throws the ball and it\u003cbr\u003ecomes to rest on the number 9. Now, when he throws the ball\u003cbr\u003eagain for the next round, what are the odds the ball lands on 9\u003cbr\u003eagain? Assuming the wheel is not rigged or the dealer is not\u003cbr\u003etrained to \"fix\" the outcome, the odds of the ball landing on 9\u003cbr\u003eagain are exactly the same! Let's take it a step further. Assume\u003cbr\u003ethat the ball does indeed land on 9 again - twice more. Now the\u003cbr\u003eball has landed on the 9 three times in a row! What are the odds\u003cbr\u003ethis happens a fourth time? Exactly the same! There is no statistical\u003cbr\u003ereason that the ball should \"avoid\" landing on 9 again.\u003cbr\u003eBlackjack is different. Let's look at a similar situation in\u003cbr\u003eblackjack. You are at the table with two other players. The\u003cbr\u003edealer deals a 9 to each of the players at the table. Now the\u003cbr\u003eodds of dealing another 9 have been significantly reduced. In a\u003cbr\u003esix deck game the odds have been reduced from 3:49 to 7:104.\u003cbr\u003eThis fact alone makes blackjack a winnable game. We will learn\u003cbr\u003elater how to take advantage of this.\u003cbr\u003eHow to Play Blackjack\u003cbr\u003eSetup\u003cbr\u003eBlackjack is played at a table with a single dealer and from one\u003cbr\u003eto seven players. The layout gives a few basic rules, such as\u003cbr\u003ethe payoff for\u003cbr\u003eblackjack; for\u003cbr\u003einsurance; and\u003cbr\u003ewhether the\u003cbr\u003edealer hits on\u003cbr\u003esoft seventeen.\u003cbr\u003eThere will\u003cbr\u003eusually be a small sign to one side of the dealer that gives the\u003cbr\u003etable stakes and any special rules, such as whether surrender is\u003cbr\u003eallowed. You must ask to discover the other unposted rules and\u003cbr\u003eregulations. You will need to know, for example, whether doubling\u003cbr\u003edown after splitting is allowed, whether a player may double\u003cbr\u003edown on any two cards, whether pairs may be split a second\u003cbr\u003etime, and whether aces may be resplit. Such rules determine\u003cbr\u003ewhether the basic game is favorable or unfavorable.\u003cbr\u003eRules\u003cbr\u003eThe game itself is simple. You, the player, attempt to accumulate\u003cbr\u003ecards with a numerical total closer to (but not more than)\u003cbr\u003etwenty-one than those accumulated by the dealer. If you do so,\u003cbr\u003eyou win. If the dealers' total is closer to twenty-one than\u003cbr\u003eyours, you lose. Winning hands are paid off at even odds. If you\u003cbr\u003eand the dealer both arrive at the same total, the hand is a\u003cbr\u003e\"push,\" and nobody wins. All bets must be made before any cards\u003cbr\u003eare dealt, and no bet may be changed once the first card has\u003cbr\u003ebeen dealt.\u003cbr\u003eEach player is initially dealt two cards; they may be face-down\u003cbr\u003eor face-up, depending on the rules of the casino. The dealer\u003cbr\u003egets two cards, one face-up and one face-down. The value of the\u003cbr\u003ecards is given by their face value except that the ace (A)\u003cbr\u003ecounts as either 1 or 11 and the 10, jack (J), queen (Q), and\u003cbr\u003eking (K) all count as 10.\u003cbr\u003eThe combination of an A and any 10 on the first two cards is a\u003cbr\u003eblackjack and is an automatic winner (unless both dealer and\u003cbr\u003eplayer have it, in which case it's a push). A player blackjack\u003cbr\u003eis paid at 3 to 2. When the house has a blackjack the player\u003cbr\u003emerely loses his bet and not one and a half times that bet. Any\u003cbr\u003ecombination of cards that exceeds 21 is a bust and a loser. The\u003cbr\u003eplayer always goes first, so if the player's total exceeds 21\u003cbr\u003ethe hand is ...","brand":"99 \u0026cent; eStore, save to buy more","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152702030064,"sku":"2940013950597","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013950597_p0.jpg?v=1763597761","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013950597","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}