Dangers of Blackjack

[Sark79]

I have just opened an account with Party Poker. While playing my usual poker game I saw the option for blackjack. I thought excellent and decided to allow myself $10. After intially betting with $1 amounts my win tally went up to $25. At this point I started betting $5 each deal. To my suprise after about 5 or 10 minutes my wins stood at $65. Then I started beeting $5 and $25 each hand. After another 10 minutes or so I had won around $350. Unfortunately, this is where my luck ended and over the next 20 minutes lost all I had won and a further $35 into my poker bankroll. I think part of my problem was not using any strategy. I was just relying on luck. Now I wish I had taken the $350 and instead of being $35 down, I would now have a nice $350 profit.  The word "Idiot" springs to mind. I say now I will never play it again, but I must admit, it was alot of fun. Poker is the best game at the end of the day though.

[Graham C]

lol, unlucky mate.

Blackjack is fun.

[thetank]

 I say now I will never play it again

If you stick to this then you got off cheap for $35

[Trivial]

mate, party poker blackjack initiated an inexorable downward gambling spiral in me which has yet to subside.

please try to control your urges, it is not at all fun losing most of your bankroll to that game

[ACE2M]

usual stuff, if you can afford to lose it then have some fun.

Personally i would advise avoiding it like the plague.

[Triple X]

we have had a few blackjack threads on here in the past.

I used to be quite a blackjack addict, in the past betting thousands (when i didnt even really have it).  Fortunately over the time, thansk to card counting etc, I was only a little bit down.

However at the age of 23 (i am 32 now) i took a decision to give up gambling all together.  This was everything from fruit machines, to betting on the Grand National to a quick bet down at the footie.

I had to learn that you either gamble professionally (in that case i was no expert at all) or you gamble for fun (and accept that you are most likely going to be a loser but at least have some fun).

I managed this for 6 years and then at 29 i went to Vegas!!  1st night i dropped $1,000 playing BJ.  Then found the poker room and have not played a hand of blackjack since.

I prefer my games to start on an evil footing - and games such as blackjack and roulette are no fun when you know that in the long run you will always be a loser.

Good luck

[Sheriff Fatman]

I prefer my games to start on an evil footing

This wins the typo of the day award!

I'm sure you meant 'even' but this is far funnier!

Sheriff

[Sark79]

Thanks, I will stick with poker I think. I believe the thing with BlackJack and I am no expert, is that it seems so easy to build up a decent amount of money quickly. However as I discovered it is also easy to lose it all back again. I appreciate all your viewpoints.  (if you can afford to lose it then have some fun - ACE2M) Sadly I can't afford to lose, lol. I wish I could.

[Graham C]

If you want, I can give you a link to a site that will give you $25 to play with in a casino (no deposit necessary) and you can play for free for a bit.  You can withdraw it after you've played through about $250 - not that hard to do.

pm me if you want it anyway.

[AlrightJack]

my solution was to uninstall their software...

[TightEnd]

Party are doing exceptionally well because of Blackjack. It has transformed their results and their share price

What better recommendaton could there be to GIVE IT A COMPLETE MISS!!!

[mystery721]

ur playing blackjack online, are u crazy man...lol, everyone knows online blackjaclk and roulette is rigged itys impossible to win from it, if ur gonna play blackjack do it offline, that way u have a chance of winning

[Sark79]

I have quit...lol

It was a one time thing......I hope

[ACE2M]

ur playing blackjack online, are u crazy man...lol, everyone knows online blackjaclk and roulette is rigged itys impossible to win from it, if ur gonna play blackjack do it offline, that way u have a chance of winning

It is possible to win but the house takes a guaranteed minimum percentage and thus cannot lose. In a real casino one punter can get lucky and put them in loss. If a punter rakes a load of cash online everyone else suffers as the program must make it's percentage.

[Sheriff Fatman]

ur playing blackjack online, are u crazy man...lol, everyone knows online blackjaclk and roulette is rigged itys impossible to win from it, if ur gonna play blackjack do it offline, that way u have a chance of winning

It is possible to win but the house takes a guaranteed minimum percentage and thus cannot lose. In a real casino one punter can get lucky and put them in loss. If a punter rakes a load of cash online everyone else suffers as the program must make it's percentage.

Without trying to sound too critical, both of the above statements are flat-out incorrect.

Mystery, online blackjack and roulette at the reputable sites is about as rigged as online poker (i.e. its not, but countless people seem to think it is).  The sites and their random number generators are audited regularly and are generally sound.  There are some suspect sites around but word of mouth spreads pretty quickly about them (via the specialist casino sites and forums) and Party is certainly not one of them.  The only valid reason for preferring live Blackjack to the online version is that its possible to count cards in a live game, and thus give yourself a small edge.  In an online game, the deck is reshuffled with every deal so counting is impossible.

ACE2M, the online sites make money in the same way as a land-based casino - via the inherent mathematical advantage of the games they offer.  The programs doesn't have a percentage of profit which must be made each day, resulting in one winner adversely affecting other players.  The simple fact is that, as the number of hands played increases, their results will conform increasingly to the actual house advantage, thus giving the casino its 'regular' profit.  This is how the casinos consistently make money.  It does not prevent them from having a short-term result which varies from the expected percentage (favourably or not).

That being said, there is a way to make a relatively certain short-term profit from online casino sites.  This is by searching out the +EV bonuses available.  For example, if a site offers a $200 bonus, subject to a 10x wagering requirement, and the house edge on blackjack is, say, 0.5%.  $2000 of blackjack using basic strategy will give an expected loss of $10, resulting in an expected overall profit of $190 to clear the bonus.  The short-term nature of the game means that your results will vary around this (and its possible you will still lose money) but this would be a bonus worth doing as you have a theoretical edge.

There are loads of casino bonuses around (nowhere near as obviously favourable as this though) where you can profitably clear bonuses, if you are prepared to put in the time.  The only problem is that if you get labelled as a 'bonus abuser' on a particular skin they won't let you sign up accounts on the sister sites.

Sheriff