Right now, someone, somewhere is playing blackjack like a champ. Outside of poker, blackjack is the casino game with the most professional players. Even though blackjack players are fairly commonplace at casinos, watching the true connoisseurs in action is mesmerizing. They make all the right moves and carry themselves with restrained confidence. Despite their seemingly natural skills on the felt, it’s important to remember that they also started from scratch.

1. Single Deck Blackjack Strategy
2. Single Deck Blackjack Kansas City Chiefs

In Blackjack shoe games the dealer usually deals to a cut card. In single-deck games, the dealer often deals a fixed number of rounds depending on the number of players. In all cases, the deeper the penetration the better for the card counter as more information is known and a. Single deck blackjack has often been looked at as the holy grail of the game because it offers players the best chance to win profits. In fact, the house edge is just 0.15% when players stick to blackjack games with a single deck. Long ago, single-deck blackjack was the standard and the only game in town.

If you’re new to the noble game of 21, you have a very exciting road ahead of you. The first step is learning the rules of the game.

Single Deck Blackjack Rules

Single Deck Blackjack is played with one deck of cards that’s shuffled after each round. Before the cards are dealt, you place a bet on the felt in front of you. With Café Casino’s Single Deck Blackjack, you can bet between $25 and $300 per hand.

Then you’re dealt a two-card hand, face-up. The dealer’s two-card hand consists of one face-up and one face-down card. The value of your hand is shown beside your bet, but for the sake of learning card values, take note:

• Aces are worth 1 or 11
• Twos to Nines have face value
• Tens, Jacks, Queens and Kings are worth 10 points

The goal of the game is to get a higher score than the dealer without exceeding 21, which results in a bust. Likewise, if the dealer busts, you win the round. If both you and the dealer have the same score at the end of the round, it’s a push, and your bet is returned.

1. You can improve your score by choosing to Hit and getting another card.
2. Or you could choose to Stand and face off with the dealer with your current hand.
3. If your odds of winning are high, you may want to Double Down. Double your wager (which gives you double the payout) and get one more card.

Under certain circumstances, you can also:

1. Split your hand. Your original hand needs two cards of equal value to split. This option takes each card and creates two individual hands out of them. You can split up to two hands with Single Deck Blackjack. When splitting Aces, your hands receive only one additional card.
2. Buy Insurance. When the dealer’s visible card is an Ace, there’s about a 33% he has blackjack. You can buy Insurance for half the cost of your wager. If the dealer has a blackjack (an Ace and a 10-rank card for a perfect score of 21), your Insurance bet pays 2:1.

Blackjack Payouts

We know insurance bets pay 2:1, but what about the other payouts? The best payout possible in traditional blackjack is 3:2 for being dealt an Ace and a 10-rank card in your initial two-card hand (blackjack). All other wins result in the standard even-money payout.

Single Deck Blackjack Strategy

Knowing how to play blackjack doesn’t necessarily mean you know how you should play – you need strategy charts for that. There are three strategy charts for playing Single Deck Blackjack. The first chart tells you the best way to handle soft hands (hands that contain an 11-point Ace). The second chart tells you the best way to handle splittable hands, and the third chart covers everything else.

To use the charts, compare your hand, which is found in the left column, with the dealer’s upcard, which is found in the top row. These charts are based on the dealer hitting on soft 17, which is consistent with the rules of our Single Deck Blackjack.

H is for Hit, S is for Stand, D is for Double, and Sp is for Split.

Soft	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
13-16	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
17	D	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
18	S	D	D	D	D	S	S	H	H	H
19	S	S	S	S	D	S	S	S	S	S
20+	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Single Deck Blackjack Strategy

Splits	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
2,2	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H	H
3,3	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H
4, 4	H	H	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H	H	H
6,6	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H	H
7, 7	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	S	H
8, 8	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp
9, 9	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	S	Sp	Sp	S	Sp
A, A	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp

2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
4-7	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
8	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
9	D	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13-16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
17+	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Now that you know the rules of the game and basic strategy, put in a few practice rounds to get the hang of things. Once you can play smoothly enough, you’re ready to switch over to Real Play mode to start playing blackjack for money. It takes a lot of practice to get to that point, but if you work hard enough, eventually, you’ll be that blackjack connoisseur, making everything look easy.

Single Deck Blackjack Kansas City Chiefs

Quite the contrary. They would love to have you. Tell them at the start you are a counter. They will set you up at your very own table, charge a very reasonable fee to pay for the dealer, who will shuffle after each hand. They can't wait to observe your magnificent
skill. Go rip them a new one, hotshot. SINGLE DECK, at that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hog heaven.

I said 'no action whatever' and that would include early shuffles, etc.

The new Hollywood casino opens in Kansas City, Kansas around Valentine's Day. Does anybody know if Kansas has a policy toward 'advantage players'? One casino has been open for several years now in Dodge City. I suspect a ruling will not be made until someone gets barred and protests, but I am just guessing. I would hope they would have the foresight and fortitude to make a ruling in advance of the opening that no actions whatever can be taken against players simply for having a higher skill level.

First of all, congratulations as identifying yourself as an advantage player!
Second, if you've been to ANY Penn National Casino (Hollywood, Argosy) or ANY casino in the Midwest, you would already know that there is no such thing as an 'advantage play.' VP tables will be set low, maybe slightly higher than low since they do have to compete with KC, MO casinos, BJ will offer horrendous rules, with min HE's set around .60% and their poker room will rape pots by raking preflop and charging $5 a hand + a BB dollar (This could be $4, which is the area's rake, but count on $5). So unless they hire some bogus company to get a biased roulette wheel or you can find a flashing dealer, the answer is probably going to be no.
On a serious note, Penn National does have casinos that do watch players who they feel COULD be counting or pose some suspicious activity. One time at Hollywood Tunica, a pit supervisor left a screen up that I could see (and he encouraged me to look at, although was not around when I did) that told them to call the Eye in the Sky when I was playing. While I know how to count and I was playing a DD game with good rules, I was merely flat betting $50, occasionally raising it to $60. I suspect the warning was more due to the fact I won a car at the casino. I was never backed off (as that would be ridiculous as I wasn't counting) and I never felt like I was being watched by the floor staff (most of them knew me). I figure most casinos probably keep an eye on good BS players (Basic Strategy, not the BS presented by the OP).
And perhaps most appropriate to the thread title, Hollywood Casino in KC, Kansas will most likely be something else. The new models are based on Lawrenceburg and Charles Town, so if that's any indication, Kansas City will move up about 4 levels based on the look. Unfortunately they offer awful games and tend to bilk players. Argosy has a decent (not great) DD game, and I anticipate that game will stay at Argosy (if they don't sell the property off). However, don't expect a lot of 6:5 if any. The 6-deck trial run at Ameristar bombed, and Ameristar is the unquestioned leader of that market right now. DO expect table mins to be high when they first open, but they'll come down to earth within a week or two. The market is just too saturated not to offer lower mins.

However, don't expect a lot of 6:5 if any.

This confuses me - did you mean 'don't expect a lot of 3:2', or is there some reason that having a lot of 6:5 is a good thing for the players?

This confuses me - did you mean 'don't expect a lot of 3:2', or is there some reason that having a lot of 6:5 is a good thing for the players?

No, while Penn National and Hollywood usually does offer horrible rules on games, they will most likely stay away from 6:5 BJ, except in single deck. However, in other markets or even other casinos, you'll probably see more 6:5.

First of all, congratulations as identifying yourself as an advantage player!
Second, if you've been to ANY Penn National Casino (Hollywood, Argosy) or ANY casino in the Midwest, you would already know that there is no such thing as an 'advantage play.' VP tables will be set low, maybe slightly higher than low since they do have to compete with KC, MO casinos, BJ will offer horrendous rules, with min HE's set around .60% and their poker room will rape pots by raking preflop and charging $5 a hand + a BB dollar (This could be $4, which is the area's rake, but count on $5). So unless they hire some bogus company to get a biased roulette wheel or you can find a flashing dealer, the answer is probably going to be no.
On a serious note, Penn National does have casinos that do watch players who they feel COULD be counting or pose some suspicious activity. One time at Hollywood Tunica, a pit supervisor left a screen up that I could see (and he encouraged me to look at, although was not around when I did) that told them to call the Eye in the Sky when I was playing. While I know how to count and I was playing a DD game with good rules, I was merely flat betting $50, occasionally raising it to $60. I suspect the warning was more due to the fact I won a car at the casino. I was never backed off (as that would be ridiculous as I wasn't counting) and I never felt like I was being watched by the floor staff (most of them knew me). I figure most casinos probably keep an eye on good BS players (Basic Strategy, not the BS presented by the OP).
And perhaps most appropriate to the thread title, Hollywood Casino in KC, Kansas will most likely be something else. The new models are based on Lawrenceburg and Charles Town, so if that's any indication, Kansas City will move up about 4 levels based on the look. Unfortunately they offer awful games and tend to bilk players. Argosy has a decent (not great) DD game, and I anticipate that game will stay at Argosy (if they don't sell the property off). However, don't expect a lot of 6:5 if any. The 6-deck trial run at Ameristar bombed, and Ameristar is the unquestioned leader of that market right now. DO expect table mins to be high when they first open, but they'll come down to earth within a week or two. The market is just too saturated not to offer lower mins.

Argosy Riverside has a horrible double deck game. Their official policy is 50% pen, in reality it is more like 45%. Last time I played there, they started dealing me 30%, so I just quit.

First of all, congratulations as identifying yourself as an advantage player!
Second, if you've been to ANY Penn National Casino (Hollywood, Argosy) or ANY casino in the Midwest, you would already know that there is no such thing as an 'advantage play.' VP tables will be set low, maybe slightly higher than low since they do have to compete with KC, MO casinos, BJ will offer horrendous rules, with min HE's set around .60% and their poker room will rape pots by raking preflop and charging $5 a hand + a BB dollar (This could be $4, which is the area's rake, but count on $5). So unless they hire some bogus company to get a biased roulette wheel or you can find a flashing dealer, the answer is probably going to be no.
On a serious note, Penn National does have casinos that do watch players who they feel COULD be counting or pose some suspicious activity. One time at Hollywood Tunica, a pit supervisor left a screen up that I could see (and he encouraged me to look at, although was not around when I did) that told them to call the Eye in the Sky when I was playing. While I know how to count and I was playing a DD game with good rules, I was merely flat betting $50, occasionally raising it to $60. I suspect the warning was more due to the fact I won a car at the casino. I was never backed off (as that would be ridiculous as I wasn't counting) and I never felt like I was being watched by the floor staff (most of them knew me). I figure most casinos probably keep an eye on good BS players (Basic Strategy, not the BS presented by the OP).
And perhaps most appropriate to the thread title, Hollywood Casino in KC, Kansas will most likely be something else. The new models are based on Lawrenceburg and Charles Town, so if that's any indication, Kansas City will move up about 4 levels based on the look. Unfortunately they offer awful games and tend to bilk players. Argosy has a decent (not great) DD game, and I anticipate that game will stay at Argosy (if they don't sell the property off). However, don't expect a lot of 6:5 if any. The 6-deck trial run at Ameristar bombed, and Ameristar is the unquestioned leader of that market right now. DO expect table mins to be high when they first open, but they'll come down to earth within a week or two. The market is just too saturated not to offer lower mins.

Argosy Riverside has a horrible double deck game. Their official policy is 50% pen, in reality it is more like 45%. Last time I played there, they started dealing me 30%, so I just quit.

Argosy Riverside has a horrible double deck game. Their official policy is 50% pen, in reality it is more like 45%. Last time I played there, they started dealing me 30%, so I just quit.

But the HE is .38%, DA2, DAS, NS, HIT S17. I actually can't remember if they let you resplit Aces; if they do, that would reduce HE to .33%

Argosy Riverside has a horrible double deck game. Their official policy is 50% pen, in reality it is more like 45%. Last time I played there, they started dealing me 30%, so I just quit.

But the HE is .38%, DA2, DAS, NS, HIT S17. I actually can't remember if they let you resplit Aces; if they do, that would reduce HE to .33%

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