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Casinos> Gambling Articles > Beat Blackjack With Andy Bloch
Product Review - Beating Blackjack With Andy Bloch
Andy Bloch. These days, you may know him best for playing
poker. Andy is a talented pro who also runs the WPT Fan web site. He plays for
FullTiltPoker.net too! What you may not know is that Andy was once the manager
of the MIT Blackjack team. He earned an engineering degree from MIT and a law
degree from Harvard too.
Basically, Andy is an expert on blackjack. He's earned
millions - and only he knows for sure how much he's earned - playing the game.
He understands the ins and outs and the math of blackjack. And blackjack is a
mathematical game. In this DVD, Andy assumes you know the basic rules of the
game. He doesn’t delve into them, so we won’t delve into them here either.
Andy's DVD gets into the meat and potatoes of the game so
that you can bring in some serious bread. In the first section, Basic Strategy,
Andy teaches you when to hit, stay, double-down, split or surrender. The DVD
comes with a handy-dandy chart that will help you out.
In the DVD Andy says that, by just following the basic
strategy tips, you can save $400.00. You won't be a winning blackjack player
yet, but you will lose a whole lot less than the average blackjack player does.
Basically what you need to remember is that blackjack is
beatable largely because the cards aren't shuffled every hand. You can vary
your bets with information you gather from a simple mathematical formula that’s
based on your card count!
Card counting is perfectly legal, as Andy says. It's a
strategy albeit one that casinos aren't fond of. That leads us to the second
section of the DVD. In card counting, you track the relationship between the
high-value cards, which are good for you, and the low-value cards, which are
good for the house. Andy says you don't have to be a genius to card count (or
have an MIT degree, either!).
The preferred method of counting for the MIT team is a
hi-lo method. Cards with face values of 2-6 have a +1 value, 10-A are -1 and 7-8-9 are neutral, so
they're worth 0. The card counting must begin at the beginning of a six-deck
shoe (card container).
Andy then gives the viewer practice exercises to improve
their card counting skills. If you take a deck and count it through, you should
end up with a ZERO after all 52 cards are dealt. You can work with a partner
too. This is especially helpful for team play, which Andy delves into later.
Section 3 teaches you how to bet optimally for maximum
wins and minimum losses. Andy gives some bankroll tips and suggestions that you
should have enough cash on hand for each session to go up to 32 times the
betting limit. Otherwise, you'll be playing with scared money, and that's not
to your benefit or profit.
Andy suggests that you bet in multiples according to the
betting limit (unit). He also suggests that you should begin your blackjack
journey by playing smaller limits and then moving up. The maximum bet should be
four times the betting unit. For example, if the betting unit is $200, never
bet more than $800 on a hand.
For optimal betting, you keep a running count (A) and
divide that by the approximate number of decks in the shoe (B). That gives you
the true count. You take the true count (TC) and subtract one from the total
count. Multiply that number by the betting unit to give you your maximum bet.
For example, your count is 12. There are 4 decks left in
the shoe. Our betting unit is still $200.
12/4=3-1=2 2X$200=$400.
Therefore you'd bet $400.00 on the next hand.
Andy then discusses team play and camouflage. Since many
casinos don't like card counters – these individuals tend to take away from the
house advantage by using this strategy - you'll have to work on certain tactics
to throw pit bosses and so forth 'off your scent'. This is where the DVD gets a
little campy, but it's very interesting information. Andy literally shows you
some camouflage during the team segment.
Beating Blackjack with Andy Bloch is a very interesting
DVD. It's full of sound advice, solid strategy and extremely fascinating math.
If you’re serious about blackjack, you should check this out!
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