Last night some friends and I conducted a trip to one of my favorite places in Montreal, the Casino. The game is Blackjack. This is an activity which I indulge in about once a year, for lack of funds, and fear of addiction, for it is far more addictive than any activity or drug I have tried. It is also one of the potentially most dangerous addictions known to man. However having long thought of the consequences and frame of mind in which I like to gamble, I have put together a “Theory of Blackjack.” This goes back to a previous post which I made several months ago, concerning my poker games. In Blackjack, however, the stakes are much much higher than a poker game for pennies.

Firstly there is a mathematical axiom, which holds with complete certainty. That truth is the age old cliché, “The house always wins.” Keeping that in mind one should always enter the casino with the frame of mind that they are most likely paying money to enjoy the thrill of the game, the tension, the excitement, the disappointment, etc… Winning or losing is incidental, and in all likeliness the longer you play, the more you will lose.

A game of Blackjack, if played properly, and I’m not talking about the various obscure techniques of counting cards, etc… (of which, I might add, I am very skeptical about), can yield approximately a 47ish percent winning ratio. Winning is possible, but the odds are less than 50 percent, and those who win are in the minority. If this axiom did not hold, casinos would not exist for they would not be making money. Therefore there is no trick. Learn to play well to maximize your odds, and if you are lucky, your money will last a long enough time for you to enjoy the game without losing too much. If you are really lucky, you might even net positively, but NEVER go in expecting to win.

Learning Blackjack is not a difficult process. For those of you who wish to learn, I highly recommend the following web site, http://www.hitorstand.net/. This web site has an excellent trainer for Blackjack, which will explain to you what steps you should take when faced with various situations. You play against the computer, but the computer points out your mistakes and tells you how to maximize your odds. It is easy to quickly become a good Blackjack player, and it’s free and fun. The program, however doesn’t specify a betting strategy. This is arbitrary. One can always double their losses in bets to make the money back, but the tables have maximum betting limits to prevent the over-exploitation of this fact. If I lose several hands in a row I like to up my stakes. Probability theory says that it’s not a valid strategy, but I like it that way.

For those of you who want to go without knowing how to play, you can bet behind some people at certain tables at the casino. That means that you can place bets along side a certain player and win when he wins, lose when he loses. You have no control over the game and have to rely on the skill of the player you are betting behind, but if you find someone who knows what they are doing, (observe around a bit), you can have fun that way too. Personally I prefer to play rather than play behind, but that is just me. I had a friend betting behind me last night. He knew I knew how to play.

That being said, the next step is to set yourself certain limits. Firstly, one must set himself a time limit. Playing is fun for awhile, but eventually you get tried and stop wanting to play the game. I’m talking from an external standpoint here. Playing more to win back the money you lost is not a good enough reason to keep going, and will most likely lead you to ruin. When you get bored, stop. Secondly, set yourself a financial limit. Assuming that this money dies before your time limit, too bad. The floor will prevent you from losing too much. In the worst case scenario, you will lose all of your money quickly, but most of the time you won’t. Lastly, set yourself a table with a low enough minimum bet so that you can make your money last long enough to enjoy yourself.

Finally, “Don’t regret what doesn’t happen.” This line comes from my good friend Calvin, and contains infinite wisdom applicable to a multitude of situations. If you win great, if you lose great. Losing is also fun if you are in the right mind frame (even though you will always have this nagging feeling in the back of you head when you lose). However I can safely say that when I’ve lost in a casino I didn’t regret going. Even losing is fun, though winning would have been so much better.

Given the above I won’t relate to you how much I won or lost last night because it is not central to the lesson. Last night I set myself a two hundred dollar loss limit, over a two hour period. I chose the 15 dollar tables because it is the minimum that someone can play behind on. I stopped after two hours, and had fun.

Those who are close to me will all know about the night’s details (because I have a big mouth), but that is not the point of this post. Have fun, be reasonable, and don’t do anything stupid like bet everything in one go. Make it last. Longer games are more fun, always.