Yahoo! Blackjack - Comments From Others

...Thanx for a great site. Your treatments of backgammon, checkers and blackjack are wonderful. I thank you especially for the checker software which I didn't know existed.

I am a presently a prof. of math. at CUNY and am a former professional card-counter with experience in team play at Vegas and A.C.

Yahoo is a great site to practice card-counting skills. A good counter should be able to slaughter the 1-deck game.

I have published a blackjack article in the journal of the Amer. Math Assoc. that may interest you. I analyzed 180 million hands of Basic Strategy (with a 1-20 betting spread) vs. 4 and 6-deck games. I would be happy to fax you a copy.

- cherobee

... I love your web site. Very well done. So much info... the real reason I went to your website... to get tips on playing blackJack! And DID I.... you are so very helpful Ed. I read through your BlackJack page over and over and then made a copy of the chart and went to try it out. It works. I use it every time now, and what's really important Ed, is that I now enjoy playing BlackJack. And that is thanks to you Ed! Thank you so much...

... You know I've been playing for last 3hrs and made $45,599!!!!!

... up to $226k...

... I'm now at $356k...

... $438k...

- Tusk9

...I was recently playing blackjack at Yahoo! when you showed up in the room I was playing in for a minute (I was the one who said something along the lines of "holy shit, look at how much money that guy has")... anyway, at some point I think I split tens or something and you told me to go check out your web page, which I did...

...the blackjack info was extremely helpful... I never even knew that there was a strategy to blackjack, other than stay on 17 or better...

I did what you suggested and opened a window with your blackjack strategy chart in it and started a table with one deck and a medium pace... Whenever I got dealt a hand that I wasn't sure about (like a 14 versus the dealer's 6, which I would have hit on before), I checked the chart and followed your suggestion...

...to make a long story short, I had -$25,000 when I started tonight, but a half hour later, I had positive $12,000... that was all flat-betting too...

...anyway, I just wanted to drop a line and tell you how impressed I was by your chart.

- joe

I really appreciate the lesson. I am going to try it. I have lost 100K three times... I have been playing multiple decks because my mathematical mind told me there were more chances at better hands then with one deck. Your argument in very compelling though so I will try it your way. Right now I am at a little of 10K to the good. I will let you know if I really learned anything...

Thanks for everything.

- Karen

Obviously she hasn't learned anything yet because later she wrote:

I have found a lot of times that the decks in Yahoo! deal the dealer small (cards) and tens at the same time that it deals me 12-16. So once I figured this out I started standing on 12-16 even when 7-A shows. Maybe 8 out of ten times. It seemed to work better for me.

LMAO!! Karen, it may have seemed to have worked better for you, for the short time that you were observing this, but that is not the case. You are doing the exact opposite of what you need to. The time to stand on totals of 12-16 is when the dealer has a bad upcard, not a 7-A. If you continue to play that way, for any length of time, you will lose your shirt.

Mr. Collins,

I also came to your page mostly because of Yahoo! Blackjack. I've been playing for awhile, and made a lot of bad moves, like splitting tens. As you could probably guess, I have a very large negative total ($-144,000.)

I would like to say you have a great page. It's easy to maneuver around in, it has a pretty big variety, and it has many facts and helpful tips for the games.

I have been using the Basic Strategy Guide, and would like to say it works excellently. In about half an hour using it, I gained $10,000. Using the guide, I have confidence in getting out of debt, and will e-mail you when I do. Thanks a lot for all the great information provided on your homepage.

- Lochness1998

Your info was very useful. I was down to $40,000 in the hole before looking at your page, and one night, in about 5 hours of play I broke even. I then stayed around +/- $5,000 for a few days, and I am now up to $30,000. I have made this money just betting $500 per hand. I have followed your table religiously, though at times it has been hard to hit on some of those 16's, when I felt the dealer would bust. Overall, thanks for your page!

Just thought I would drop you another note. I'm currently holding at around $80,000, give or take $10,000. I have not been able to get higher than $88,000, but will let you know when I reach $100,000. Again thanks for the tips. I have memorized the Basic Strategy table, though I still have to check it on some of the doubles. It has been very helpful. I have passed your site on to a few others that I play with. Hopefully it will not take me to long to reach $100,000...

...thought I would let you know of my progress. After I e-mailed you earlier, I went back to play and finally broke the $100,000 mark. With all the negative accounts of the players in Yahoo! Blackjack, I believe it would be beneficial for everyone to view your site. Thanks one more time, and tell Tusk9 I'm after her record.

- Bambam75672

Go get her, Bambam!

I play much too much bj here - as tm9. I'm convinced the dealer cheats in two ways.

1) Whenever the player hits a stiff it seems more than half the time he/she breaks way too often with a ten.

2) When the player doubles down on an 11, he/she rarely seems to get a ten.

I think the dealer is "double dealing." My dad said in the '60s some cheat dealers would peek at the top card -- decks were hand held then -and if he had a stiff, if the top card made his stiff, he took it, else the next card, no matter what it was. Have you done any studies on this?

- tjm@altern.org

My response:

Your dad is correct. In the '60s and probably even now there are invariably dealers who will cheat by peaking at the top card. If the card is favorable to them, they will deal it, otherwise they would deal you the second card from the deck. Done correctly and quickly, this is almost undetectable to the human eye.

But there is a reason that they will cheat you... they want your money. In real life you play blackjack for money. I've never seen it played for free. But playing blackjack at Yahoo! is free! Yahoo! gains nothing by cheating you! Don't you see? Why would they? Shoot, if anything, they would have a reason to cheat you in YOUR FAVOR!!! They WANT you to win. If you win, this way you are more apt to come back to their site and continue playing! You are more apt to tell your friends the fun that you are having.

There is absolutely no reason in the world that a professional company as big as Yahoo! now is, would write a program that cheats you when you are playing a game for free. (Especially with the number of kids who play.) If this was ever discovered, it would actually cost them millions of dollars. They would have a bad reputation that would seriously hurt their image.

You are correct, when you get a stiff, you break a lot! Example: Let's say that you are dealt a stiff, say 9-7 and the dealer's upcard is an Ace. Proper strategy calls for your hand to be hit. Computer studies have proved that in the long run it this is the proper play. There are 30 cards that will break your hand

(four Ks, four Qs, four Js, four 10s, three 9s, four 8s, three 7s, four 6s)

and only 19 cards that will help it.

(four 5s, four 4s, four 3s, four 2s, three Aces)

30 cards that hurt against only 19 that help is way more than half the time! Yes, getting a stiff hand is not desirable.

If you are doubling down on 11 and feel that rarely are you getting a 10, then do this: From now on, keep track of the card that you are dealt on a piece of paper. Keep track of the number of times that you are dealt a 10-value card, against the number of times that you are dealt a non-ten. After doing this about 200 times, you will find that the percentage of tens vs. non-tens is just about right where it should be, statistically. In a single deck (which is the deck that you should always be playing with, but you knew this if you read my blackjack tips at my homepage) the percentage of tens vs. non-tens is 16 to 36... 16 tens in the deck against 36 non-tens. This ratio is a little greater than 2 to 1. After 200 hands, your results should be around 60 tens vs. 140 non-tens.

But if you really think the dealer is cheating, then there is really nothing that I can say that is going to change your mind. It is easy to blame one's losses on a cheating dealer. If you think he's cheating, then I have one suggestion for you -- simply don't play there! There are other on-line sites where you can play blackjack besides Yahoo!.

There!! See why Yahoo! wouldn't write a program that cheats?? Now you're off playing some where else!

I tried your basic stategy for black jack chart.I think you should go back to Yahoo and rethink your system.I followed the chart exactly for 7hrs. I went from + 37,000 to -42,235. I also chatted with quit a few other surfers who say they tried it as well ,it didn't work for them either.

Here's what i think...

1.Update your site accordingly.
2.You're giving out wrong information intentionally.
3.You're wrong about Yahoo cheating.

- Quinn Miller

My response:

It's not MY basic strategy chart... it's not MY system. It's the one from several of my blackjack books, put together years ago by computer programs, after running simulations of millions of hands. These charts have been mathematically proven that it each play recommended is the best play possible. Granted though, you're still bucking a house percentage whenever you play blackjack. For example, a total of 16 for the player against his 10 upcard is a bad hand. You're going to lose in the long run with this hand. But HITTING it loses LESS!

99% of people, even WITH the chart, probably don't play correctly. I'm not surprised that it "didn't work" for the ones that you "chatted" with. Over the past year and a half I've received dozens and dozens of e-mails from people who have told me that is DOES work.

The site already contains accurate and up-to-date information, so there is nothing to change. Blackjack is a simple case of mathematics. There is no "thinking" involved. Simply make the proper play each and every time!

You're wrong about me giving out "wrong information intentionally." I'm intentionally giving out CORRECT information. Whether you realize it or not is beyond my control.

And my OPINION on Yahoo cheating is just that... my opinion. But why Yahoo, a million dollar company, would want to cheat you out of your FAKE money, is beyond me. But if you think that they ARE cheating, why in the world ARE YOU PLAYING THERE??????? Simply play at some of the other online sites! Does someone have a gun to your head?

It sounds like a case of sour grapes to me.