Blackjack Perfect Strategy House Edge
Posted : admin On 4/5/2022Perfect means perfect! In a game where you can only hope to gain a 1% edge over the house, a 99% game isn’t good enough. You need to know these strategy charts backwards and forwards, doing a handstand, in a hurricane, giving your drink order to a waitress, while listening to Count Von Count serenade you on Sesame Street.
Perfect Blackjack is a system of playing Blackjack hands not unlike Basic Blackjack Strategy. It is based on the assumption that the house can be beat in the long term. It requires strict adherence to a prescribed method of play for every combination of cards. Its proponents claim that by following the chart developed for Perfect Blackjack, the house edge is all but eliminated.
Playing the Perfect Hand
For all intents and purposes, the special strategy chart for Perfect Blackjack is identical to the Multiple-Deck Blackjack Strategy Chart displayed on this site. There are, however, two major differences which must be adhered to if the Perfect Blackjack system is to be applied properly.
- Perfect strategy goes a long way to helping cut down the house edge, though. If you are going to play a specific blackjack variant for any extended length of time, you should find its perfect strategy and memorize it or print out a strategy card for it.
- House edge refers to the advantage that the casino has over you in any particular game. It’s written in the form of a percentage. For example, blackjack with no basic strategy has a house edge of 1.5%. What this means in terms of dollars and cents, is that for every $1 you.
The first regards surrendering a hand. Basic Blackjack strategy never recommends surrendering. In fact, the option does not even appear on most charts or tables of Blackjack hand play. In Perfect Blackjack, there are two instances when the player must surrender, if allowed: holding a total of fifteen facing the dealer’s 10 or face card, and holding a total of sixteen facing the dealer’s 9~Ace.
The second difference regards splitting pairs, and it comes up in three situations. However, these changes only apply when playing at a Blackjack table where doubling down is allowed after a split, otherwise the Multi-Deck chart applies.
The first situation regards splitting a pair of deuces or treys. In standard play, these pairs are only split against the dealer’s 4~7, but in Perfect Blackjack, they must also be split facing a 2 or a 3 as the dealer’s up card.
The second situation comes up with a pair of 4s. The Multiple-Deck strategy never splits these; the recommendation is always to hit. Perfect Blackjack, on the other hand, insists on splitting a pair of 4s against the dealer’s 5 or 6.
The last difference is when holding a pair of 6s. These are normally split when the dealer’s up card is 3~6. In Perfect Blackjack, they are also split when the dealer shows a deuce.
Other than those modifications, the chart for Perfect Blackjack and Multiple-Deck are the same. The play of each hand is completely predetermined by the situation, so the player’s choices are made rather mechanically, by strictly following the chart.
Making the Perfect Bet
Playing perfect Blackjack requires memorization of the Multiple-Deck chart and the changes given above. It also requires following them exactly under all conditions. But the Perfect Blackjack system does require counting cards. If the player truly believes the house no longer has an advantage, no matter what cards have been played or remain in the deck at any given time, flat betting should yield a profit over the long run, or at the very worst break even.
The assumption here is that every hand should already be in a good position to win. Any hand that is not will be compensated for by a future hand. Varying bets may leave the Perfect Blackjack player open to short-term fluctuations.
However, as every card counter and experienced player knows, there are times when the deck itself really favors the player. Flat betting wastes the opportunity when wagers need to be increased. Therefore, at the very least, some form of progression should be applied, preferably a positive one such as Paroli or 1-3-2-6. If Perfect Blackjack really does cancel out the house advantage, such betting systems have much better odds of succeeding that flat betting alone.
Can You Do It?
I used to know a guy that always said “Perfect’s awfully darn good” every time someone said perfect.
The insinuation he was making is most things can be done good, but few are done perfectly.
Blackjack is one of the things that can be played perfectly every time. Every single hand in blackjack has a correct play. Any other play is wrong.
Notice that I didn’t say every hand had a profitable play. What every hand has is a way that is more profitable than any other play in the long run.
Here’s an example. Splitting a pair of eights against a dealer up card ace will not make a profit in the long run. But it loses less than any other way you can play the hand.
The key is to not only win as much as possible in favorable situations, but to also lose as little as possible in unfavorable ones.
Your goal should be playing perfect blackjack in every situation.
Why Do It
This may seem obvious, but the reason you want to play perfect blackjack is to have the best chance to win any given session and extend your bankroll as long as possible.
Playing perfect blackjack can reduce the casino’s edge to close to a half percent depending on the house rules. If you don’t play perfect blackjack you can give up 2 to 3% or more to the house.
How to Do It
If you want to learn how to play perfect blackjack you can either figure out the math behind every starting hand against every dealer up card, or you can use the tools based on the math that’s already been done.
The good news is people have done so much statistical analysis about blackjack I don’t think you could improve it if you wanted to. All you have to do is buy a strategy card or print a strategy chart that tells you every play to make.
A few strategy decisions depend on the specific rules of the game you intend to play. For example, if the game allows surrender you’ll surrender some hands instead of standing or hitting.
Learning Perfect Strategy
Once you have a card or chart all you have to do is use it while you play. As your experience adds up you’ll learn all of the basic plays quickly. When the more difficult plays come up you may still need to check your chart, but even they’ll start coming naturally as you practice.
When you first look at a chart it can be confusing. The easiest way to read one is look down the left hand side to find your hand and then read across the top until you see the dealer’s up card. Where these two meet you find the best play.
You can look over your chart before playing, but don’t try to memorize it. While you may be able to memorize most of it, many players find it easier to just start playing using the chart. Your mind will start memorizing the plays without much trouble.
You can play online for a fast and easy way to practice. You can take as long as you need and you don’t have to worry about other people at the table.
Even if you play in live real-money games, using a chart doesn’t take much time or effort.
Mindset
Do you really want to play perfect blackjack?
Before answering, take a minute to think about it. Are you willing to do whatever it takes?
Though it’s rarely mentioned, your mindset has a great deal to do with your success at any gambling game, including blackjack.
Most players just want to enjoy themselves and forget about tough things like life and thinking while playing casino games. If this is what you want to accomplish it’s ok. But if you really want to play as long as you can and have the best chance to win you need to start with the proper mindset.
The title of this page is playing perfect blackjack. It isn’t playing 99% perfect blackjack or playing correctly most of the time. If you want to play perfect blackjack then make up your mind to do it.
It’s not that hard and I’ve given you a step by step plan on how to do it. Even if you struggle to memorize all the difficult plays you can keep a card with you. It only takes a couple seconds to check it on tough plays.
This isn’t one of those fancy self-help lectures so you don’t have to chant anything three times a day. However, until you decide to play perfect blackjack no matter what, your chances of succeeding are slim.
Decide right now to commit yourself to do whatever it takes to play perfect blackjack every time you play.
There’s Perfect, Then There’s Perfect
All of the advice I’ve covered so far has been directed at all blackjack players who don’t count cards. The truth is most players never will count cards, and that’s fine.
Blackjack Perfect Strategy
The reason I’m including this section is because I like to give you as many facts as possible. Playing perfectly without counting cards is one thing, but real perfection requires additional effort.
If you really want to play blackjack at a 100% perfect level you need to advance to the level of high end counter.
Blackjack Strategy Chart
It’s difficult to reach the perfect level of counting, but the most profitable players come extremely close.
Perfect Basic Strategy Blackjack
The good news is if you hope to advance to counting everything you’ve learned here is on the path. You need to know it before becoming a counter, so you haven’t wasted a second.
Conclusion
Playing perfect blackjack is easy to do if you use the tools available. Make up your mind to do whatever you need to do. With the proper mindset and enough practice playing perfectly will start coming naturally before you know it.