• Deck - a standard deck of 52 cards used in blackjack. Double Down - the option for a player to double his bet with only one card to come. Draw a Card - drawing an extra card, on top of the original hand. Early Surrender - player's option to surrender half his bet while the dealer checks for blackjack.
• It depends on where you are playing and the house rules that are in operation on what card combinations you can double down on. Some limit you to only being able to double down if you have a two card hand value of 9,10 or 11.
• Blackjack definition is - a card game the object of which is to be dealt cards having a higher count than those of the dealer up to but not exceeding 21 —called also twenty-one, vingt-et-un. How to use blackjack.

Doubling down is an exciting move to make in blackjack – and profitable if you get it right. This is when you double your bet in the middle of a hand, after which you only receive one more card.

The following is a glossary of terms used in the card game blackjack. This is not intended to be a formal dictionary; precise usage details and multiple closely related senses are omitted here in favor of concise treatment of the basics.^[1][2]

8[edit]

Being told by a casino that you are being removed, generally due to suspected advantage play.

B[edit]

balanced count

Any counting system which has an exact balance between plus cards and minus cards. In such a system, if the deck were counted down to the bottom, the resulting sum would be zero.

blackjack

1. A card game in which players attempt to approach 21 but not exceed it

2. The best possible hand in the game blackjack, made up of an ace and a card valued at 10 (namely, 10, J, Q, K).

bust

Having a total over 21.

bust card

The individual card that brings the hand's total over 21.

basic strategy

A collection of actions that will offer the best odds off the top of the deck. These actions vary when different rules are applied to the game.

C[edit]

cut card

A brightly colored plastic card that serves to mark the point after which the dealer will reshuffle the cards, and used by a player to cut the cards prior to dealing.

D[edit]

double or double down

After seeing their hand, a player can Double by placing an additional bet equal to their original bet and subsequently drawing one and only one additional card. This move may only be used on the first two cards.

Blackjack Double Meaning Definition

E[edit]

even money

When the dealer shows an ace and the player has a blackjack, the player can opt for even money and is paid immediately at 1:1. This is just a version of insurance, not a different bet. If the dealer has blackjack, the hand is a push, but the player receives two times the value of the insurance, which is the same as the original bet. If the dealer does not have blackjack, the player wins 1.5 times the value of the original bet but loses the value of the insurance, and still ends up with the value of the original bet.

F[edit]

first base

The betting spot located to the dealer's left, which is first to receive cards.

A bonus or automatic win in some games when a hand contains five cards without busting.

H[edit]

hard hand

A hand in which there is a chance the player will bust on a hit.

hit

To ask for another card. If that extra card makes the total over 21, then the player busts.

hole card

A dealer card that is dealt face down and not revealed to players until after they have acted upon their hands.

I[edit]

insurance

When the dealer shows an ace, the player can choose to place a side bet of up to half the value of the original bet. If the dealer has blackjack, the bet pays 2:1. If the dealer does not have blackjack, the player loses the wager.

N[edit]

natural

Receiving a sum of 21 in the first two cards. A blackjack.

P[edit]

penetration

A number or fraction that represents how many cards/decks will be dealt before shuffling in contrast to the total number of cards/decks in play. It may be expressed in percentage form or as a fraction where the denominator is always the total number of decks in play such as '4.5/6' or '75% penetration'.

pitch game

A blackjack game dealt from the hand of the dealer, normally using 1 or 2 decks

push

A tie; the player and dealer have hands with the same total below 22.

S[edit]

shoe

A device used to hold multiple decks of cards typically 4, 6 or 8. Cards are dealt one at a time from the shoe.

shoe game

A blackjack game which is dealt from a shoe. Shoe games typically use more than 2 decks.

soft

A soft hand is a hand that includes an ace valued as 11, as opposed to 1.

split

If a player is dealt two cards of the same rank, they can choose to play each of them separately, putting up a bet for each one.

stand

To stop asking for more cards.

stiff

Any hard hand where the possibility to exceed 21 exists by drawing an additional card namely 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16

surrender

To surrender is to abandon your hand, while recovering half of your initial bet.

T[edit]

third base

The betting spot located on the dealer's right which is last to act.

U[edit]

upcard

The card that the dealer is showing.

References[edit]

1. ^Dalton, Michael. 'The Encyclopedia of Casino Twenty-One - Blackjack Review Network'. Blackjack Review Network. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
2. ^'Glossary of terms'. Retrieved 1 February 2018.

Good Blackjack Rules or Penetration – Greater Impact on Card Counting?

Contents

• Good Blackjack Rules or Penetration – Greater Impact on Card Counting?

There are many conditions in blackjack that make a game more or less profitable for card counting. Two of the most important conditions are the blackjack rules of the table and what is referred to by card counters as the dealer penetration. When counting cards you’re looking for the best combination of the two in order to maximize the expected value of your play.

Let’s start by defining what we mean when we talk about “good blackjack rules” and “good dealer penetration”. I will then go through a quick analysis of which condition is more important in maximizing your profit potential. As always, my main focus in blackjack is increasing profits.

Good Blackjack Rules

H17 or S17 – This refers to the dealer hitting or standing on Soft 17. We prefer the dealer to stand.

DAS – This refers to a player’s ability to double after splitting. If you split your 8’s and get a 3 to make 11, you want to be able to double down on the 11.

RSA – This refers to the player’s ability to resplit aces after an initial splitting of aces. If you split a pair of aces and get a third ace, you want to be able to split that into a third hand.

LS – This refers to a player’s ability to surrender. Surrendering allows you to forfeit your hand and get half of your bet back without playing out the hand. This is commonly used when on a player’s 16 versus a dealer showing a 10.

Why Double Down In Blackjack

These are the main blackjack rule variations you will encounter, but it’s certainly not all of them. We’re going to assume you’re getting the full 3:2 payment on blackjack and you can double any two initial cards dealt.

Preferred Rules: To get the best of these rules, you want the dealer standing on Soft 17 and you want to have the DAS, RSA and LS options available to you.

Good Dealer Penetration

“Dealer penetration” is blackjack terminology used for describing how deep a dealer will deal into a deck (or multiple decks) before reshuffling. This is a critical concept in card counting. Penetration is determined by where the dealer places the cut card and it varies from casino to casino. A deeply placed cut card will show you a higher percentage of the cards in a shoe, therefore giving you more information to work with when tracking the count. It also causes high counts to occur more frequently and last longer. For basic strategy players, penetration really doesn’t matter. For card counters, the deeper the penetration, the more profitable the game will be.

Preferred Penetration: Typically a 6-deck game that deals 4 out of 6 decks is considered to have “poor penetration”. Dealing 4.5 decks out of 6 before shuffling would be “average penetration”. A casino that shows 5 full decks out of 6 before hitting the shuffle card has “good penetration”.

Therefore if Casino A is dealing 4 out of 6 decks before shuffling and Casino B is dealing 5 out of 6 decks before shuffling, Casino B is going to be a much more profitable game for card counting assuming the rules of the tables are similar.

Greater Impact: Rules or Penetration?

Blackjack Double Meaning Dictionary

Often the choice comes down to this… Do you go play at a casino that has all the best rules but poor penetration, or do you go for unfavorable rules with good penetration? Although you want the best of both, what if you have to decide between the two? Let’s take a closer look at the relative performance under different rules and penetration levels.

Double Down Blackjack Meaning

Blackjack Dealer Penetration

Here we see the relative profitability of three different sets of rules at four different depths of penetration. For this example I’ve kept the parameters simple and consistent. I’m using a 6-deck game with a Hi-Lo card counting system, 70 hands played per hour, 4 players at the table and an optimal betting ramp from 1-10 units with no back counting or backing out of negative counts. Manipulating any of these parameters will obviously change the chart somewhat. This chart would also look different if we analyzed a single deck, double deck or 8-deck game instead of this 6-deck game.

Conclusion: You can see that if you have terrible rules on a game, you better have good dealer penetration if you want to make money. If you have great rules you can be a little more forgiving when it comes to the shuffle point. Then there’s the middle ground of semi-decent rules and average penetration. The lesson to be learned here is that to be a successful card counter you really need to know how to analyze the quality of a game. There are also many other blackjack conditions to consider such as the level of casino heat you will get at different betting levels with different betting ramps. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to cover some of these other issues in a future post. For now I hope this helps to clarify the decision between good rules and good penetration. Now go hit the tables and make some money!