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Casino Pictures
A good rule to paste in your hat is never to play for money with one-way cards, i.e., cards whose backs bear pictures or designs that are not symmetrical from top to bottom. During play, a cheat can arrange such a deck so that high cards are right side up, low cards upside down. I know it sounds obvious, but card cheats know from experience that the obvious device is sometimes the one least likely to be suspected. Most players dismiss this idea, if it does occur to them, as too obvious and primitive a device to be used. Therefore the cheat, well aware of this, sometimes uses it; and a quick shuffle, after turning half the pack end for end, will destroy the arrangement and the evidence if anyone shows any sign of suspicion.
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Casino Blackjack Strategy
Blackjack Player
Should the player decide to draw, and so indicates this, he receives one card. To get additional cards, he must indicate his intention again. This goes on between the dealer and that particular player until the player either decides to stop, or stand, or goes "bust" by drawing over 21. If he goes bust, he immediately loses his entire bet. The play will then go to the next player. This continues in turn until every player has been given the opportunity to draw cards or to stand. At that point, the dealer turns over his cards and announces his total. According to the rules of the game, he must draw additional cards if his count is less than 16. He cannot draw any cards, even if he is obviously losing, if his count is 17 or greater. This means that any count that the dealer has between 2 and 16 requires him to draw at least one card.
Should the dealer's total be more than 21, he is busted and has to pay to all the players whose totals are 21 or less, an amount equal to their bet. Players who have gone bust prior to the dealer are not part of that hand any longer, and are not entitled to win.
If the dealer's hand does not go "bust," but it safely between 17 and 21, he will examine all the hands before him. Players whose totals exceed the dealer's total will be paid at the rate of one to one, while players whose totals are less than the dealer's will lose their bets. Players whose totals equal the dealer's total have their hands declared a push. A push is a standoff between the player and the dealer. Players whose hands have pushed do not lose or win.
Options Available
There are other options open to the players. The most familiar of these is the blackjack or natural. Any player who has a total of 21 in only two cards, an ace with either a ten, a jack, a queen, or a king, immediately announces his hand -which is blackjack or natural-and wins his bet at the rate of three to two. This should take place before the game goes into action as described earlier. The same holds true for the dealer. Should he have a blackjack, or natural, he will win over all hands. If both the dealer and the player have blackjack, it is considered a push.
There is one difference between New Jersey rules and Nevada rules. New Jersey rules allow for the play to continue around the table until the hands are complete before the dealer checks his cards and announces "blackjack," whereas Nevada rules require that all blackjacks be announced at once, and paid immediately. All other bets will be collected if the dealer wins.
This difference is really to the New Jersey casino's advantage. Not so much in that it affects the player, but more so in protecting itself from the possibility of collusion between a dealer and a player. It is possible for a dealer, after looking at his own cards, to signal a particular player. This could cost the lots of money that it is truly entitled to. This option, while not common in Las Vegas, is played throughout the Caribbean and in most of Europe.
Doubling Down in Casino
The next available option that occurs fairly often is called doubling down. This option requires that you increase your bet, up to double its original value (any increase over the original bet is permitted; actually double is not necessary) and draw only one additional card. Most casinos in the world only allow a player to double down on the combined total of 11 or 12 in two cards. New Jersey and Las Vegas rules permit you to double down on any combination, and once the strategy of the game is mastered by the player, and he is fully aware of the condition of the deck at that time, he can use this option to its fullest advantage.
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