Blackjack Insurance Strategy Another advanced play that can affect blackjack strategy is taking insurance to protect yourself against the dealer hitting 21. When the dealer is showing an Ace as the up card, you can lay up to half your original wager on whether or not the dealer has a 10-point card in the hole. This is dynamite! An explosive, mathematically sound Optimal Blackjack Strategy to play the game right. My previous article showed how card counting gives you a theoretical edge over the casino. But I also warned you of the risk in playing blackjack that way. This article increases your odds of winning — without the danger of getting.

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So that's the best strategy for humans, I'm quite certain. Deducing optimal strategy for computers. Computers are better built to play this game. For my next strategy, after the 21 check, I'd calculate the most common card value. left in the deck then subtract it from 21. Whatever the result was, that's what we'd be shooting for.

Blackjack 21 Optimal Strategy Example

Quite simply, basic strategy is the optimal way to play blackjack. It has been devised using statistical probabilities to calculate the best possible move in any particular circumstance according to your cards and the dealer’s starting card. Spanish 21 is a great game and a nice change of pace if you’re used to playing just regular ol’ blackjack. But there’s no reason to accept less than an optimal house edge. The basic strategy for Spanish 21 is easy enough to learn, but it has some subtleties that you don’t worry about in regular blackjack.

Student Co-author

HMC Undergraduate

Document Type

Article

Department

Mathematics (HMC)

Blackjack 21 Optimal Strategy Definition

Publication Date

1993

Abstract

In the casino game blackjack or '21,' mathematically determined best plays have been calculated by various mathematicians and gambling experts. These optimal playing strategies all assume that the casino pays even money on bets (excluding when the player has a 'blackjack'). However, many casinos offer the player 'lucky bucks' that pay the player either 3-to-2 or 2-to-1. In the usual game, the player's expected loss is under 1¢ per dollar bet. in this paper, we derive optimal strategies under luck-buck conditions, giving the player an expected gain of 26¢ or 55¢ per dollar bet.

Rights Information

© 1993 Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP, Inc.)

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Recommended Citation

Benjamin, A.T., & Huggins, E. (1993). Optimal blackjack strategy with 'lucky bucks'. Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics and Its Applications, 14(4): 309-318.

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