Originally Posted by kccrow
I used to deal Black Jack in a Casino, lol. Here's what I can say from the dealer... If you're counting, but tipping me nice, I'm oblivious. The eyes in the sky will catch up to you if you're not relatively discreet. There's not rules against it, it's just the Casino doesn't like to get taken. There's nothing wrong with playing cards smart. My advice there, learn to count cards.
You can't count cards, so here's some basics on playing the hand out (these may change a bit with count, but its not that big of a deal).
Your Total/Dealers Up/Your Strat (H/S/D for Hit Stand Double)
9/26/D, 9/7A/H
10/29/D, 10/10A/H
11/2A/D
H12/23/H, H12/46/S, H12/7A/H
H13/26/S, H13/7A/H
H14-16/26/S, H14-16/7A/H
H17-21/2A/S
S13-16/23/H, S13-16/46/D, S13-16/7A/H
S17/26/D, S17/7A/H
S18/2,78,A/S, S18/36/D, S18/910/H
S19-21/2A/S
How to read that...
Say you're looking at H12/46/S... On your Hard 12, with dealer having a 4 through 6 up, Stand. Another (10/29/D), on your 10, dealer having 2 through 9 up, Double.
Always split As and 8s.
Never split 10s and 5s.
Never take Insurance (because you can't count. If you can, you're buying information).
You normally raise bets agains the count. The more favorable the deck, the more you increase your wager. But you can't count cards.
I'd probably try hard to at least pay attention to the 10s that go out and increase wagers as the shoe ends if you have a favorable deck in that regard. Easy count is +1 for 3-6 and -1 for 10. Divide this by approximate half decks in the shoe to get your "true count" approximation. If it's +, increase your bet. A solid rule would be to add a chip to your wager for every whole number your true count is + (although you'd want to start doubling that at +3 if you were being smart).
It's hard to win in Black Jack by blindly increasing your wagers. If you can't/won't count, then I'd try to be semi-consistent with your bets.
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