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Author David Sklansky
Synopsis of Sklansky Talks Blackjack
Sklansky Talks Blackjack by David Sklansky. Blackjack is the one casino game where the player can easily get an edge over the house. This has been known for almost forty years and many good books have been written on the subject. In spite of this, there are still only a relative handful of people who are taking advantage of this knowledge. Why is that? David Sklansky believes the reason is that most people think expert blackjack play is too hard to learn. They browse through a book and are struck by the complex charts and tables.
Sklanksy realized that these charts were not really needed to show someone how to play an almost perfect game. As a renowned teacher, as well as a professional gambler, Sklansky (already the author of eight books on gambling) has devised a technique that literally 'talks' you through everything you need to know to truly 'beat' this popular game.
Excerpt from the Book Sklansky Talks Blackjack: A Total of 14
Discussion
Hitting an
8s 6c
will not bust you as often as hitting a
Kh 5d
or a
9s 7h
however, you still bust often enough that you are better offhoping the dealer goes over when he shows a small card ratherthan taking the chance yourself. Thus, the basic strategy playremains the same as it does for the two aforementioned totals.Namely, you hit against a seven through ace and stand against adeuce through six.
What does change is the point at which you deviate from thatstrategy according to the count. For instance, against a deuce ora trey, you now need the deck to get only moderately negative forit to be right to hit that 14. The totals of 15 and 16 requirehighly negative counts. With a 14 a highly negative count wouldindicate a hit against everything, even a four, five, or six. Onthe other hand, 14 improves often enough by hitting that youwould in fact hit against high cards regardless of the count.This is once again different than your strategy for a 15 or a 16where you will sometimes stand against high cards when the deckis positive enough.
There is, however, one well known exception. It occurs whenyou have 14, the dealer has a ten showing, and there are littleor no sevens left in the deck. When this happens it is right tostand even against an otherwise neutral count.
The reason has to do with my 'key card concept,' explainedearlier. In the case of 14 against a ten, the seven is the onenon-schizophrenic card. Every other card has one effect if it iscoming out to you and a different effect if it is in the dealer'shole. The seven however, is a doubly good card to be in the deckif you do hit your hand. That is because the seven makes you 21if you hit, while simultaneously making the dealer an easilybeatable total of 17 if he has it in the hole.
On the other side of the coin, an absence of sevens in thedeck makes hitting much less enticing. You won't snag a 21, plusif you hit something like a trey or four you may still lose. Thusyou are better off standing and hoping the dealer has a smallcard in the hole and goes on to bust. The effect of the seven inthis particular situation is so strong that the basic strategyfor one deck is to stand with two sevens against a ten simplybecause that particular 14 includes half the sevens in the deck.Still I only mention this for the sake of completeness. I do notexpect that you will be keeping separate track of sevens, andeven if you were it would be rare that a situation would arisewhere it would be right to stand with a 14 against a 10. We willget back to two sevens shortly when we discuss splittingstrategy.
Ah 5d
is of course a total with which you would never stand. Thus,the only question is whether to hit or to double down (keeping inmind that there are many casinos that will not let you doubledown with this hand). If you do simply hit, the main thing toremember is that you revert to proper strategy for whatever newtotal you achieve. Thus if the dealer is showing a nine, youwould hit a second time unless your first hit was a five, six, orseven. If the dealer was showing a deuce you would hit a secondtime if your first hit was an ace, deuce, trey, or eight. (Do yousee why?) Of course, that might change based on the count.
As far as doubling down is concerned, you gain a little bit ofexpected value (even though you reduce your win chances somewhat)if you double down against a five or a six. If the deck is at allpositive you should also double down against a four. On the otherhand, you should not double down at all once the deck is mildlynegative.
Now lets get back to
7s 7d
The proper strategy for this particular pair is very similarto the proper strategy for a pair of deuces, treys, and sixes.Basic strategy for two sevens is to split them when the dealershows a deuce, trey, four, five, or six. This is true even if youcannot double down after splitting, even though the strategy forother pairs would change depending on that rule.
As far as counting is concerned, the correct splittingstrategy for two sevens is once again not susceptible to changesin the count. However the count might enter into things. Forinstance, if you split two sevens and caught a six against a treyshowing, you would hit it again if the deck was slightlynegative.
Bottom Line
Basic Strategy
Hard 14: Hit against seven through ace; otherwise stand.
Soft 14: Double against five or six.
Pair of sevens: Split against four through seven.
If You Are Counting
Hard 14: Surrender against a ten if the deck is moderatelypositive. Hit versus a deuce if the deck gets moderatelynegative. Hit versus trey or a four if the deck gets highlynegative.
Soft 14: Double against a four when the deck gets moderatelypositive. Stop doubling at all when the deck is slightly negativePair of sevens: Stick with basic strategy regardless of thecount.
Other Books Written by David Sklansky
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