Online gaming,online poker,online casino and sportsbooks…
Archive for May, 2010
Ways to Improve Your Website’s Legibility
Websites that make their customers work to read them are not the best way to get business. Miniscule fonts, text in colors that make it hard to see against the background color, and lines that are piled on top of each other are problems, but they’re easy to correct. Let’s jump right in and look at five easy fixes:
1. Format your text using CSS.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are the way to go – use one style sheet and control how text looks on your entire site. Make a change to the style sheet and your whole site is updated. It makes life a lot simpler.
2. Make the font size big enough to read.
Consider your target audience. Even if they are a group of teenage girls looking for new shoes, it’s never a good idea to use tiny type. It doesn’t have to be enormous, but up to a point, larger type is better. 12-pt Verdana is better than 8-pt Verdana.
3. Make the text contrast with its background.
The more contrast, the better. Black-on-white or white-on-black are examples of the highest contrast you can get. Use colors if you like, but if you squint at the page and your text basically vanishes, there’s not enough contrast.
4. Give the lines room to breathe.
Don’t stack lines on top of each other. Use the line-spacing directive in CSS and give it some space; I’ll often set line-spacing to 140% of the height of a typical line.
5. Break text up into chunks.
No matter how good a writer you are, people don’t want to read endless pages of text. Break it up by using headlines that reflect the subject of the paragraph(s) to follow so people can scan down to the parts that really interest them, or use bulleted lists to change the pace of the writing and slow down the scanning.
And finally (not one of the 5 Easy Ways to Improve Legibility but still quite important) check your spelling. Nothing irritates me more on a web page than spelling errors – it simply makes you look like you don’t care enough to get it right. Use that ubiquitous spellcheck tool.
Making your website’s content more legible is easy. It doesn’t take a lot of time, mainly common sense. The payoff will be text that’s more readable, customers that stick around long enough to get your message, and improved credibility with your visitors.
Baccarat basics!!
The basics and how to play baccarat
Baccarat or Punto Banco is usually played in a separate casino area. The playing table is about the size of a craps table with three casino dealers and up to 12 or 14 players.
There are just two principal bets to make: banker or player - Banco or Punto, plus the rarely usedStandoff. Some casinos let the players deal the cards in turn and others have a casino dealer to deal the cards. In online Baccarat the cards are dealt automatically by a virtual dealer.
Each player, including the player dealing, may bet on either Punto or Banco but it is customary for the dealer to bet on Banco. Players may opt not to deal, passing the ‘Shoe‘ to the next player. The shoe remains with one player as long as the Bank wins. If Punto wins, the shoe passes on to the next player.
Two hands are dealt and you bet which one will win, or that they will tie. It is just like betting on Black or Red at roulette, and thepayoff is even money, 1:1 (except for the standoff, which pays 8-1 or 9-1). The only difference between the Banco and Punto bet is a win on Banco will cost you 5% commission or tax levied by the casino – the in-built advantage.
The reason for taxing the Banco is because it has been established that over an 8-deck cards play on average the Banco will win three to four hands more than the Punto.
Each hand consists of a minimum of two and a maximum of three cards. The person dealing will put two cards, face down, tucked under the shoe, and give the player with the largest bet on Punto the other two cards, face down.
The Punto player then looks at the cards and gives them back to the player who is dealing. Then the player who is dealing will turn over the cards of both hands while one of the casino dealers will announce the results and the winner.
If either hand has a total of 8 or 9 (nine is the highest), then it is called a ‘Natural’ and no more cards are dealt. If it is not a natural, then depending on the value of each hand the casino dealer may instruct the card dealer to deal a third card. The decision when to deal athird card follows precise set rules used by all casinos.
Once dealing is completed, the hand with the highest count wins. The paying casino dealers will collect the losing bets first and then pay the winning ones. The player who actually deals the cards is not responsible for the payouts. He is just like any other player, playing against the casino.
The rules
Baccarat is played from a six-deck or an eight-deck shoe. All face cards and 10s have no value. Cards less than 10 are counted at face value, Aces are worth 1. Suits don’t matter. Only single digit values are valid. Any count that reaches a double digit drops the left digit. 15 is counted as 5 and 25 is also counted as 5.
To start, the players bet either on Banco or Punto or Standoff. The card dealer gives two cards each; first to the player and then the banker. The object of the game is to bet on the hand that you think will have the highest total value.
A third card may be dealt to either or both the player (Punto) and the bank (Banco) based on the following three-card-rules. It is not necessary to learn these rules to play, they are compulsory decisions and therefore automatic. Only on rare occasions a mistake is made:
Player’s third-card-rule
- If either the player or the bank have a total of 8 or 9 on the first two cards no further cards are drawn. The resulting hand is called a natural and the hand is over.
- If the player’s total is less than or equal to 5 the player’s hand draws a third card.
- If the player does not draw a third card, then the bank’s hand stands on 6 or more and takes a third card on a total of 5 or less. If the player does take a third card then the Bank’s third-card-rule below will determine if the bank takes a third card.
Bank’s third-card-rule
- If the bank’s total is 2 or less then bank draws a card, regardless of what the players third card is.
- If the banks total is 3 then the bank draws a third card unless the players third card was an 8.
- If the banks total is 4 then the bank draws a third card unless the players third card was a 0, 1, 8, or 9.
- If the banks total is 5 then the bank draws a third card if the players third card was 4, 5, 6, or 7.
- If the banks total is 6 then the bank draws a third card if the players third card was a 6 or 7.
- If the banks total is 7 then the bank stands.
House advantage
Banker (Banco) 1.17%
Player (Punto) 1.36%
Tie (Standoff) 14.12% at 8:1 payout
Ohama rules
Omaha hands are played out in a similar fashion as those in Texas Holdem . However, instead of two down cards, four are dealt, followed by a betting round. A three card flop follows, with another betting round. Next comes an one card turn card, with a another betting round. Finally a fifth river card, and a final round of betting.
At the showdown, five card hands are created by using exactly two cards from a player’s hand, and exactly three cards from the board cards. All four of a player’s cards must be shown to qualify for winning a pot. If you only show two cards and discard the other two, your hand is dead and you forfeit claim to the pot.
The basic rules of Texas Hold’em apply, except the “use two cards from your hand” requirement means a player cannot “play the board” like in Texas Holdem. Regardless of what is on the board, without exception players must use three cards from the board and two from their hand. Even if there are five spades on the board, you must have two spades in your hand to have a flush.
Omaha High Low
Omaha games are often played High/low split, with and eight-or-better qualifier for low. Players may use two different cards from their hand to make a low, and two different hand cards to make a high, as well as three different board cards to make their high hand and three different ones to make their low hand. The can also use the same three card/two card combination to make both their high and low hands.
All the rules of Omaha High apply to Omaha HiLo split except the eight-or-better for low applies (unless a cardroom has non-standard rules about what wins for low, like a nine-or-better for low rule). If no qualifying low hand exists, the winning high hand takes the whole pot. In some casinos, when a player wins an entire pot of a certain size, a kill must remain in the pot. SeeSection 13 – Kill Pots.
Reading a Low Hand
Low hands range from the worst possible low hand, 87654, to the best possible low, 54321. The simplest way to judge the best low hand possible in any given hand is the read the hands as a number, highest card to the left and lowest card to the right. Whichever number is lower wins: 76543 beats 84321.
Cards Speak
The Cards Speak rule applies. If a player mistakenly verbally declares an incorrect value of a hand, it does not matter what the player says. The casino dealer should read what the actual value of a player’s hand is.
Casino basics
Choosing a Table
Before playing the game, you’ll need to find an appropriate table at which to play. If you’re a newcomer to this process, there are a few items to keep in mind. You’ll want to pay attention to several details about each table that you approach. The most important item is the sign declaring betting limits. Both the minimum and the maximum allowable bets should be clearly posted on a sign on the table-top. Look around to find a table that suits your bet sizes. Often, you’ll find that the lower limit ($3 or $5) tables are quite crowded. In most casinos, the signs are color-coded to match the minimum bets posted on them: Red for $5, Green for $25, and Black for $100 minimum tables. Next, you’ll want to make sure that the table you have selected is actually for blackjack, and not another of the various table games offered at the casino. Blackjack tables will almost certainly have the phrase “Blackjack pays 3 to 2″ printed on the table felt. (Warning: Not any more! Read about the evils of 6:5 blackjack). The next item to observe is the type of game being dealt. Beginners are usually better off playing the “shoe” games where 6 or 8 decks are used. The advantage for beginners in this game is that all of the player’s cards are dealt face-up in front of each player, and the dealer can help with playing questions and decisions. Notice: Once you become proficient at the game, you might want to switch to a game with fewer decks. The casino’s advantage is lower with fewer decks in play. But for now, let’s stick with the multi-deck games for the ease-of-play advantage.
Buying Chips
Once you are seated at a table, you’ll need to purchase some chips from the dealer for your bets. Wait for a break in the action, and place your cash out in front of you on the table felt. (Some casinos might make you wait until the dealer shuffles to join the game.) An appropriate buy-in amount is anywhere from 10 to 20 times your average bet. If you are a $5 bettor, this means a buy-in of $50-$100 is typical. Don’t try to hand your cash to the dealer. For security reasons, he can’t take anything from your hands. Simply lay the cash on the table; he’ll pick it up and change it for an equal value of playing chips. You won’t be getting any change back either. He’ll change the entire amount, push the chips across the table to you, and then drop the cash into a slot in the table top. Chip colors are fairly standardized in the casino industry, with red chips representing $5, green chips representing $25, and black chips representing $100. You’ll also see $1 value chips (usually white) or $1 tokens (silver) on the table as well. Some casinos also use a $2.50 chip that is usually pink in color. Chip colors above the $100 denomination vary widely, with purple a common choice for $500 chips. Take a quick look at the chips to make sure that you know the values, and that you were given the correct amount for your cash. If you have any questions, just ask the dealer. Part of his job is to help players learn the game.
Making a bet
On the table felt in front of your position, you’ll find a circle or box for your bets. Before each hand begins, place your desired bet into the circle in one stack. If you are betting multiple denominations of chips, place the larger valued chips on the bottom of the stack, and the smaller value chips on top. Once the cards have been dealt, you aren’t allowed to touch the bet in the circle. If you need to know how much you have bet for doubling or splitting (explained later), the dealer will count down the chips for you. Once the hand is over, the dealer will move around the table to each position in turn, paying winners and collecting the chips from losing hands. After the dealer has paid you, you can remove your chips from the circle, and place your next bet. If you want to let your winnings ride, you’ll need to form one stack of chips from the two or more stacks on the table after the dealer pays you. Remember, big chips should be placed on the bottom.
Cashing In
When you’re finished playing, you’ll want to take your chips to the cashier to exchange them for cash. If you have groups of smaller denomination chips in front of you, the dealer will probably want to “color up” your chips. This simply means exchanging groups of smaller denomination chips for larger valued chips. Wait until the end of a hand, then simply push your chips out in front of you between the betting boxes, so it can’t be confused for a bet. The dealer will count down the chips, and return to you a smaller stack of chips of equal value. You can take these to the cashier for cash, or to another table for more play.
EASY STEPS TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES AT THE CASINO
Here are certain steps which will guide you to increase your odds at the online casinos. Do tally them carefully as they can surly benefit you.
- Get to know the rules of the game first.
Having the thorough knowledge of the game makes the player to surly win it by any difficulty. This brings the best luck for the player. its always advisable to never to take and opt that game which is not very much aware with you. Various sites offer trial online games to get familiar with. So don’t hesitate to take one of your choices to make it familiarize. Ask for online customer help to explain you the game in detail for your concern to play fast and win it easily.
- Do not take alcohol while playing.
Yes, this might be true that free drinks offered in the casinos makes the players to step into it. This is the prime and chief weapon for most of the casinos to offer free drinks to make the player less concentrate towards the game and play more and more again and again. Your thinking ability and the strength of playing the game is reduced while you drink and play. So it’s always advisable to not to drink while you gamble. Make your mind and body fully concentrate on the game to sure gain sure win. - Do not make unnecessary bets.
Make a right decision to spend the exact amount of money while you are stepping ahead for gambling. Take out the pen and paper or simply notify the same in your mind, how much you have to spend the day you are going to gamble. And yes, stick to your decision. More and more playing again and again can definitely empty your wallet and make to spend money limitlessly. If you win and bonus is offered with various other winnings then save that amount of money. Don’t waste and re-spend that for more number of play. Try to manage the winnings for later use.
- Stay Calm while playing.
This arrogance and overconfidence will make to over willing to play more and more without any such good reason. If you are playing fast and winning fast then don’t make yourself figuring on the roll. Gamble with your head and mind concentration not with your emotions. Smart one always wins.
- Do not boast of your winning.
You can easily notice those nasty, unpleasant characters stalking around where theirs lot of money. Don’t trickle your winnings and how good you are in a game. Tips and tricks are some what different aspect which you can give as guidance to other new player. But also don’t make it a habit to speak too much for the winnings and how good you are in playing the game. You can lose or win. Don’t seep out that in front of other players. Every online casino has a cashier to take care of you savings. Be sure to lock that bankroll before leaving the casino.
9 Ways To Present A Website To A Client
The Problems
As web-savvy individuals, it’s quite easy to grasp and understand the concept that mock-ups are simply static images that depict what a site would look like. However, what many web designers have found is that this concept is incredibly difficult for clients to wrap their head around.
We, as designers and communicators, try to make it clear to clients that what they are looking at is a static and flat image of their potential site design. Still, many questions and comments come from the clients after you present the design, such as the ones Verne Ho of Creating Briefing and many others, have experienced below:
- Why don’t any of the links work?
- How do I edit the text on this?
- How come I can’t highlight text?
- The website is too small (occurs because the browser has shrunken the image by default)!
- I don’t like the white space that surrounds the site.
- Can we center the site?
Place the image on a web page and send them a link.
People can probably better identify an image when it appears as they normally see it, such as in a web browser however it does create many more questions as I previously outlined above.
If you choose this method try to personalise it by uploading it to your own server… use the directory/clients/clientname/index.htm. Another tip here was to use the free .tk domain provider so that you can send them a link such as http://clientsdomain.tk which also looks quite professional.
Send A JPEG or PNG via Email
Sending a mockup by email is probably the simplest way however it is not always the best… Some users have small screen resolutions which means the picture may shrink which means more questions along with the other ones that I outlined above.
Use some kind of web-based application
Using a web-based application to showcase mock-ups reinforces the idea that it’s something on ‘display’ and it is not a live example which may lead to less questions.
Use the website CodedPreview
CodedPreview allows you to create simple HTML preview pages, showing what a template should look like when coded. Again, try to personalise it as much as you can, tailored to your client.
Create A ‘Client Studio‘
Rather than using an online based application, you can set up your own ’studio’ on your own server where the client can log in and view mock ups (jpg’s on a html page) which they approve… You can put revisions on the same page (new jpg’s) and once approved you can add a link to view the functional site in progress.
Export mock-ups in PDF
Rather than saving in jpeg or png format which is just an image that can be opened in the clients default image viewing software, having it in PDF format means, in most cases, that they must open the website in Adobe Reader. The advantage of this is that there’s less expectations for it to function like a website. The use of layer comps is also useful in PDFs to show variations of a design.
Skip photoshop and design in HTML
There are a few debates on this one and it usually comes down to whatever process best enables your creativity however this one is for you to decide.
Get The Client To Come Into Your Office
Although this is not always possible, it usually is the best way to present a web mock up to a client as it allows you to talk over the whole project together with the client. If you have this opportunity, always take it.
Send Them a JPEG or PNG & Ask Them To Print It
This was just an idea I came up with… if you send them a full scale JPEG mockup of the design and ask them to print it off, then they will not think that the website will function like it normally does which in turn will mean less questions. A disadvantage of this however is that the site will not be to scale.
CATEGORIZATION OF CASINO BONUSES
Well, having so much bonuses and many more other offering by online casinos are you getting puzzled? Don’t worry here we are with the solutions. Many of as usually are not aware of the huge bonuses and the free cash which the online casinos offers. Many kinds of rules and conditions are applied with different casinos for the players with different kinds of bonuses and other offerings. Make sure to study these rules then surly you’ll get rid of this dissatisfaction which you usually face with the vivacious dollar signs.
As being the part of the best online casinos you are being offered with the best offerings and the best percentage bonus.
But usually we are not aware of these small deposits and how to cash out the winnings. No problem now. Now we are here to help you out with required solutions which come usually come in every players mind. Different kinds of bonuses are offered by the casinos such as:
- Free cash or can say the no-deposit bonuses.
- Bonuses on your first deposit usually known as the “Match Bonuses”
- The renewing bonus which is applied on renewing your membership of course or making future deposits.
- Bonuses offered when you pay though the different payment methods given in the casino site such as paying through Neteller and other payment method.
Now let’s consider these bonuses one by one.
Signup Deposit Bonus
Now again the thing becomes exciting when it’s talked about the deposit bonus which are of two kinds. The straight cash bonus and the percentage bonus. For example, On depositing your first deposit of $35 you’ll get the free credit worth $200, when a casino advertises a 400% bonus and it can up to the limit to $300, the maximum value. This bonus is only considered with the first $45 bonus. After that it is redirected to the second deposit or the re-deposit term. Different types of casinos have different types of wagering unit. Wager and wager more to get familiar with the terms and the odds given by each online casinos.
No-Deposit bonus or Free Cash Bonuses
On your first sign-up you’ll place a free bet up to the value of the bonus which is considered as the free bonus. But wait, as these bonuses are not cashed until you make the payment, the real amount greater than the bonus value amount.
New players choose these free cash bonus for placing free bets and and getting initial start up money. Yes, there’s a chance to win it with of course your free bets. Do take cautions and read out all instruction before placing free bets for making real money.
Ongoing Gaming Bonus
For retaining gambling for long, these online casinos offer varied kinds of re-deposits bonuses. As the member gets old with the system, these casinos extent the rating loyalty for the players. More over these bonuses terms are considered same as before but gradually can change in the initial deposition made by the players on later stage. Some times these wagering can be for the multiple deposits to be given by the players. For example for the bonus of $10 you have to make bets 10 times more to get in the level of $100 to get qualified with the current scenario. So for get winnings at your side these betting are must.
Special Bonus
The special kind of bonus or the preferred payment method ranges high. It is considered to be in the deposit mechanism and another in the special event bonuses. Neteller is the preferred payment system which is widely used by most of the players. On using this preferred system some casinos might offer 20% additional. Well all such again depends on the term and conditions used by various online casino sites.
On playing with the different kinds of slot games, players can might also receive special bonus and to an extent of minimum amount for the game. These kinds of offers are very much reserved for the slots players only.
7 Benefits of Having a Professional Website Design
CEO’s don’t dress like they’re homeless and wine tasting events are generally never held in the back of a liquor store. There’s a good reason behind this. People generally do not follow the “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” motto, so the very first thing they do is, you guessed it, judge your book by it’s cover. The same is true for website designs -people visit your site and immediately make a decision on if it’s a place they’re going to spend time (and money) at, or if they’re going to lump you in with the millions of other sites that look just like yours and move on to something else.
As you can see, the benefits of having a professional design can be great, especially if your website is geared towards building your business. Outlined in this post are 7 different reasons why it’s beneficial to have a professional web design.
1. Added exposure through CSS galleries
One of the benefits of having a professional design created is that you’re able to submit the website to galleries around the web and have it showcased to audiences that you would have otherwise never been in front of. This brings in added traffic, potential clients and also adds to your authority by being talked about across the web and showcased as a professional website.
2. Your first impressions do count
Like I discussed in the beginning of this article, your first impression made is an important one – and a professional website design is definitely going to leave a better first impression that one that looks as if it was put together by your cousins neighbor who is 12 and just got his first PC.
3. Highlight your expertise with ease
With a professional website design, you’re able to showcase the things you do best – if you’re a designer, the design itself showcases your skills and if you’re a writer, you’re able to utilize a great design to highlight areas you excel at – maybe setting up a call to action box integrated into the design that lets people know what you do and how they can hire you. This would be much better than just having a site slopped together with no real direction.
4. Better design + more eyes = More sales
With your killer design, you’re attracting visitors from all over the web – they want to sit & stare at the beautiful website design you’ve got on display and then, out of nowhere, they’re going to get the urge to pull their credit card out of their pockets and buy tons of products from you. Well, it might not happen exactly like that, but a good design that brings in more visitors is definitely going to have some of that trickle into your sales.
5. Less bugs and cross browser compatibility
If you hire someone who is great with IE6 but has yet to hear about the fact that IE7 and IE8 are out, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome are all web browsers and they’re severely behind the times, how do you expect them to make sure that your website is accessible to the visitors of your site? A professional web designer will ensure that your website is clearly viewable on all major browsers, thus giving you the ability to keep your professional appearance up in front of everyone viewing your site, even those who are viewing in the less-than-popular browsers (IE6).
6. Reduce your maintenance time greatly
With a professional website design, the time you actually have to spend cleaning things up and making sure everything is up to day drops drastically, giving you more time to focus on the things that matter most – traffic, sales and increased visibility. The majority of the time, your design will not even have to be touched for a year or two – until you’re ready for an updated look, at which time you can contact your original designer to give you a face lift, keeping your hands free to, again, make more sales and run your business.
7. Increased search engine visibility
Some people may not believe it, but the benefits of a professional web design also trickle into your search engine rankings and visibility. For starters, a professional web designer will ensure the code markup is clean and easy to read – great for spiders who crawl your page. The other increase of search visibility comes from all of those links and the added exposure your website design gets across the web – design blogs regularly feature the awesome designs they find across the web and the new clients you bring in will feature a link back to your site at the bottom of their site, increasing your back links (this is something you’d have to make sure your clients are OK with – I know from my business that 9 times out of 10 they’re fine with it).
Craps Dice Control
There has been much publicity recently about controlled shooting at the craps table. Many experts who once scoffed at the notion of a player having the edge at craps are now backing the validity of controlled throwing. (Sometimes called, dice control or rhythm rolling) Many players wonder if dice control really works.Part of the reason for some of the skepticism is the words “dice control” which is misleading because no one can control the outcome of the dice on every single roll. The concept behind controlled throwing is to start by setting the dice in a certain manner gripping them and throwing them the same way each time. This produces a “controlled throw”. The desired result is to alter the random outcome of the two dice when they land. You are trying to skew the sevens to roll ratio so the seven comes up less times than with a random throw.
Most craps players have witnessed a hot roll as the shooter threw number after number. By throwing the dice in the same manner each time some shooters get into a rhythm that has produced monstrous rolls. Some shooters who try to practice rhythm rolling do this consciously, while others are unaware that they are doing it.
How to Roll Consistently
Controlled throwing consists of several components. The first is the set. How you set the dice can affect the outcome. One of the most popular sets is the 3-V set where you have threes in a “V” formation. This gives you the hard six (3 and 3) on top, the six, (5 and 1) on the front, the eight on one (6 and 2) on the back and the Hard eight (4 and 4) on the bottom. There are no sevens showing on the dice with this set.
After setting the dice you must use a smooth delivery that is strong enough to get the dice to the end of the table but without too much force that will cause them to bounce hard against the back of the table. You also want to make sure that you follow through with your throw. You want to practice so you are throwing the dice the same way each time. Your goal is to throw numbers while avoiding the seven. Throwing the same way can produce repeating numbers.
There are 36 combinations that can be made from of pair of dice. There are six ways that a seven can be made. See understanding dice odds. This means that with a random roll the mathematical probability of a seven appearing will be once in every six rolls, which is a Sevens to Rolls Ratio (SRR) of 6. The house edge is calculated with this ratio. If you throw the dice 42 times and roll seven 7′s you have a Sevens to Rolls Ratio of 6. (42/7 = 6) If however you have one non-random roll and throw seven 7′s in 43 rolls you have an SRR of 6.14 this is enough to negate the house edge on the 6 and 8 place bets. Just one controlled throw out of every 43 rolls of the dice would eliminate the house edge and yield a break-even game.
It Takes Practice
For those interested in learning more about dice control, there are two excellent books on the market: The Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution by Frank Scoblete and Dominator and Wong on Dice by Stanford Wong. These books can teach you the basics but the rest will depend on how much effort you want to put into practicing.
Controlled throwing of dice is a physical skill which requires hours of practice to master. It is not easy and some players who try never master it. Perfecting a controlled throw is not enough to guarantee you winning sessions at the craps table. You will also need to learn how to bet properly to take advantage of your edge.
Blackjack Dealer Bust Percentages
When you play Blackjack you have some incomplete information to base your playing decisions on. You know the value of your two cards and you know the value of the dealer’s up card. You don’t know what the dealer’s hole card is and you don’t know what the next card out of the shoe will be. However if you use basic strategy when you play you can make an accurate decision based on just the information that you do know.Blackjack basic strategy is based on the mathematics of the game. It has been tested and refined through computer simulations. When it is followed correctly it reduces the house edge to the minimum, which is usually about one-half of a percent. When you use basic strategy, you make your decision to Hit, stand or double down based on your two cards and the dealers up card. Many players wonder what percentage of time will the dealer bust based on their up card. (Whenever your hand or the dealer’s hand goes over the total of 21 it is called a bust.)
The dealer will bust more often with certain up cards than with others. Take a look at the chart below. You will see that the worst cards for the dealer are the 5 and 6 followed closely by the 4. When the dealer is showing a 5 or a 6 they have a 42 percent chance of busting and a 40 percent chance when they have a 4 showing. This is why you double down more often when the dealer is showing a 4, 5 or 6.
The cards where the dealer is least likely to bust are the Ace, 10 and 9. When the dealer has one of these cards showing, they also have another advantage since the player has to act first. According to basic strategy, a player with a hand of less than 17 will need to take a hit when the dealer is showing a 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 or ace. If the player busts, he loses the hand even if the dealer also busts so the percentage of times the house will win is greater than just the bust percentage shown in the chart.
Play Correctly
You will make more money when the dealer is showing a card that will allow you to double down, however you must follow the rules of basic strategy. Many novice players will double down with a hand of 7 or 8 against a dealer showing an up card of 5 or 6. This is not correct and even though the dealer will bust 42 percent of the time, you will lose more money if you don’t play according to basic strategy.
Knowing the dealer’s bust percentage is useful information but it should just be used to confirm the decisions you make when you play basic strategy. If you are unsure of the correct plays you should memorize the basic strategy chart or bring one to the table with you. This way you will be playing Blackjack with the lowest house edge possible.
Blackjack Dealer Bust Percentages
| Dealer Card | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Ace |
| Bust % | 35% | 37% | 40% | 42% | 42% | 26% | 24% | 23% | 23% | 17% |
48 Hours in Vegas
What would you do with a weekend in Vegas? Find out where to go and what to do, then confess all to win a Sin City getaway.
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