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Gambling Articles
How to Remember the Correct Plays by: Henry Tamburin
Has this ever happened to you? You spend hours, sometimes days memorizing the right playing strategy and correct odds for your favorite casino game and then your mind draws a blank when you're playing.
This scenario plays out day in and day out in casinos all across America. Novice players are especially prone to mental lapses due to the exciting and fast pace casino environment. It even happens at times to experienced players. So, if recalling facts is not your cup of tea, I've got help for you.
Blackjack
Doubling down on soft hands is always troublesome a playing situation. For example, how you would play ace-5 with the dealer showing a 4? How about ace-6 against a dealer's 5? My friend and fellow gambling writer Fred Renzey (author of Blackjack Bluebook) came up with 3 rules including a handy "Rule of Nine" to help you make the right play.
1. Against a dealer's deuce up-card, never soft double.
2. Against a dealer's 5 or 6 up-card, always double down ace-2 through ace-7 hands.
3. Against the dealer's 3 or 4 up-card, use the Rule of Nine, which is to add together the dealer's up-card (either 3 or 4) with your kicker (the card along with your ace). If the two add up to 9 or more, double down. If they're less, hit.
So, using the Rule of Nine how would you play the ace-5 against a dealer's 4 upcard? You should double down because 5 and 4 equals 9. But if you were dealt an ace-3 against the 4 you would hit (3 plus 4 equals 7).
The above three rules works for 17 out of 18 double down situations when you have ace-2 through ace-7 against dealer's 3 through 6 up-card. The only hand not covered is ace-4 against dealer 4 - you just have to learn to double down on that play.
Do you need an easy way to recall when to double down on hard 9, 10 or 11 hands (multiple deck game)? Try this rule. For a 10 or 11, subtract one and double down if the dealer's up-card is the result or less. For example, if you have a 10, you should double down on dealer's 9 or less. If you have an 11, double on 10 or less. This rule doesn't work with a 9 but here's an easy way to associate when to double down. The basic strategy play calls for doubling 9 against a dealer's 3 through 6 up-card. If you associate the fact that 3 plus 6 equals 9 it my help you recall the correct play.
How about an easy way to remember when to stand on stiff hands? A stiff hand is a two-card hard hand that totals 12 through 16. A stiff card refers to the dealer's upcard when it's a 2 through 6 since it suggests the dealer potentially has a stiff hand. Therefore the association is as follows:
Stand on player's stiff hand when the dealer shows a stiff card otherwise hit
So, if you hold a 10-4 and the dealer shows a 6 you should stand (stiff against stiff). However if the dealer showed a 7 you would hit. This rule holds for all players stiff hands except the 12. Here you are slightly better off hitting the 12 when the dealer shows a 2 or 3 upcard (that's another play you just have to remember - hit 12 against 2 or 3).
Knowing when to split pairs on which dealer's upcard often stumps players. For the standard 6-deck shoe game where the player can double after pair splitting, try to associate the correct basic strategy play thusly:
Split 2's, 3's, and 7's against 2 through 7 (associate the 2 and 7 with the pair of 2's, 3',s and 7's).
Split 4's against 5 or 6 (associate the sequence 4, 5 and 6)
Split 6's against 2 through 6 (associate the 6 with the pair of 6's)
Split 9's against 2 through 9 except 7 (associate standing on 7 with the fact that your 18 would beat a potential dealer's 17 hand).
And of course there is the old standard rule to NEVER split 5's and 10's and ALWAYS split 8's and aces.
Sometimes dealers make mistakes when they pay off a player's blackjack hand at 3 to 2 odds. If the error is in the casino's favor, the player is out the money unless he speaks up. Therefore an easy way to check if the dealer has paid you off properly is to remember your payoff should equal what you wager plus half that amount. For example, if you wagered $20, your payoff should be $30 ($20 plus half of $20 equals $30). Likewise a $5 blackjack bet should be paid off at $7.50 ($5 plus half of $5 equals $7.50).
Roulette
While we are on the subject of payoffs, here's an easy way to verify that the dealer has paid you correctly when you win a bet. Mentally divide the sum of numbers you have covered by your bet into 36 and then subtract one from your answer. The result is the correct payoff odds.
For example if you bet on a two number combo and win, your payoff should be 2 into 36 equals 18 minus one or 17 to 1 payoff. How about a winning line bet that covers 6 numbers? The payoff should be 6 into 36 equals 6 minus one equals a payoff of 5 to 1. This handy rule holds for all roulette bets except the five number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 (which should never be made anyway because it has the highest casino's edge in roulette).
Craps
One of the most important bets in craps is the odds bet and knowing what the true odds are for the different point numbers is a must if you want to play craps intelligently. Don't panic because my friend and fellow craps expert Larry Edell (editor, The Crapshooter Newsletter) developed this handy shortcut for remembering the true odds.
First, the true odds for the 4 and 10 are the same (the two outside numbers), as are the odds for the 5 and 9 (middle numbers) and the 6 and 8 (inside numbers). To get the true odds, just subtract one from the smaller of these numbers and relate it to 6 (the number of times a 7 is rolled). It's that easy.
For example, suppose you want to know what the true odds are for the 4 and 10. Just subtract one from 4 and you get 3. So the true odds for the 4 and 10 are 6 to 3 or rounded 2 to 1. Try it for the other point numbers and see how easy it is to arrive at the true odds of 6 to 5 for the 6/8 and 3 to 2 for the 5/9.
The use of the term 'for' to show the payoffs for certain bets in the middle of the layout is often confusing to players. If a payoff is set at 5 to 1 (or 5-1) it means if the bet wins you receive $5 plus the $1 on the wager for a total return of $6. If the same bet is shown on the layout at 5 for 1, it means you receive $5 and that includes your original $1 bet. That's $1 less then the 5 to 1 payoff. So, the way to remember this is that when the payoffs are shown with the word "for", the payoff will be one less than what is stated. A 5 for 1 payoff means 4 to 1 and 30 for 1 means 29 to 1.
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