In Blackjack, you and the dealer (the computer) are dealt two
cards to start. The objective of Blackjack is to accumulate cards that
add up closer to 21 than that of the dealer's cards, without going over
21. Cards are worth their face value with the exception of Kings,
Queens, and Jacks which are each worth 10 and Aces which are worth
either 1 or 11. If the value of your hand is closer to 21 than that of
the dealer you win. If the value of the dealer's hand is higher than
yours you lose. If the hands are of equal value the deal is a push and
your money is returned. If you have a total of 22 or higher (a busted
hand), you lose regardless of whether the dealer also busts.
1. When a 8 52-card decks are used and according to
Atlantic City Blackjack rules
2. The deck is re-shuffled after each
hand
3. Dealer stands on all 17's
4. Doubling after splitting
allowed
5. No re-splitting of cards allowed
6. No surrender
7.
Only one additional card allowed on each ace when splitting a pair of
aces
All face cards are valued at ten and the cards from 2-10 are
valued as indicated. Aces can be valued at either one or eleven; if
counting the ace as eleven would put the hand over twenty-one, the ace
is automatically counted as one instead. You do not need to specify
which value the Ace has as it's always assumed to have the value that
makes the best hand. The value of a hand is the sum of the values of the
individual cards. For example, a hand containing a Jack, 3, and 4 has a
value of 17.
Hit: Requests another card. You can request a hit as many
times as you like, but if your total goes over twenty-one, you will Bust
and lose the hand.
Stand:
Requests that you receive no more cards. The hand as it
currently stands will be judged against the dealers.
Split:
If you have two cards of the same denomination, You can
split your cards into two hands and play each hand separately. Your
original bet will be duplicated for the new hand. .
Double Down:
If you select this option, two things will happen: you will
get exactly one more card, your turn will end, and your bet will be
doubled.
Insurance:
Whenever the dealer's up-card is an ace, the player has an
option of taking insurance. The player may opt to take insurance by
clicking on the "Insurance" button. If you do not wish to take
insurance, you simply click on the "Pass" button to proceed with the
rest of the hand. If the player believes that the dealer's down-card is
a 10 ranking card, then the player is permitted to place a side bet of
half the original wager as insurance. If the dealer does have a 10
ranking card, the player is immediately paid 2-to-1 on the insurance
bet, but the original wager is lost unless the player too has a
blackjack and pushes with the dealer. Here the player is simply betting
that the dealer's unseen card is a 10 valued card.
Note:
The Double Down and Split options will normally only be
available immediately after you receive your first two cards. If the
dealer has an ace showing, you will be offered a chance to buy Insurance
for half of the amount you bet. When you buy insurance you are, in
effect, making a second bet. You are betting that the dealer has a
natural blackjack. If the dealer does have a natural blackjack (in other
words, his down card is a ten or a face card), you will collect a payoff
of 2 to 1 on your insurance. You will also lose your original wager,
unless you have a natural blackjack too. If the dealer does not have a
natural twenty-one, the rest of the hand is played out as usual and you
will lose your insurance money.
If you win the hand, you will get back your original bet plus
the same amount in profit. A hand that consists of an Ace and any ten
value card is called a natural twenty-one, or a natural blackjack. If
you win with a natural blackjack, you will be paid off at three-to-two,
which means you get your original bet back plus 150% profit. (So if you
bet $50 and win with a natural twenty-one, you get $50 (your bet) plus
$75 (your bet plus half of your bet), which totals to $125.
 |
| Result |
Payoff |
 |
| Winning Hand |
1 to
1 |
 |
| Blackjack |
3 to
2 |
 |
| Insurance |
2 to
1 |
 |
Basic blackjack strategy is defined as the proper play of
cards knowing only your hand and the dealer's exposed card. The
basic blackjack strategy is created through intensive computer
simulations which perform a complete combinatorial analysis. In this
method, the computer "plays" tens of thousands of hands for each
BlackJack situation possible and statistically decides which decision
best favours the player.
Basic strategy is usually printed as tables with the dealer's
up card the first row and your two card combination the first column.
The other entries in the table tell you what to do (Stand, Hit,
Double-Down, Split) with the different combinations of dealer and
player's hands. Basic blackjack strategy tables for exsample InterCasino rules (8
decks, dealer stands on 17, double-down on any two cards, double after
split allowed, no re-splitting of cards allowed, no surrender) are shown
below for hard totals, soft totals, and pairs along with a legend.
Legend:
- S - Stand
- H - Hit
- D - Double
- Y - Yes, split
- N - No, don't split
Hard Totals:
| |
Dealer's
Upcard |
| Your
Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| 17 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| 16 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 15 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 14 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 13 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 12 |
H |
H |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 11 |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
| 10 |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
| 9 |
H |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 8 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Soft Totals:
| |
Dealer's
Upcard |
| Your
Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| (A,9) |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| (A,8) |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| (A,7) |
S |
D |
D |
D |
D |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,6) |
H |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,5) |
H |
H |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,4) |
H |
H |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,3) |
H |
H |
H |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,2) |
H |
H |
H |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Pairs:
| |
Dealer's
Upcard |
| Your
Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| (A,A) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (10,10) |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (9,9) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (8,8) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (7,7) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (6,6) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (5,5) |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (4,4) |
N |
N |
N |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (3,3) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (2,2) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
For further information on blackjack, please consult the
following references:
Carlson, Bryce. Blackjack for Blood, Compustar Press,
1992.
Humble, Lance and Cooper, Carl. The World's Greatest
Blackjack Book, Doubleday, 1987.
Scoblete, Frank. Best Blackjack, Bonus Books, 1996.
.Uston, Ken. Million Dollar Blackjack, Carol
Publishing Group, 1994
To begin playing Slots, you must deposit money into the
machine. . You may then normally select which coin denomination you
wish to play - $0.25, $1, $2, or $5. To increase or decrease
denominations.
Once you have deposited money into the Slot machine and
chosen a coin denomination, you may then normally click on the "BET
ONE" button up to a maximum of three times which corresponds to the
maximum bet of 3 coins. Some machines like Flower Power and Forbidden
Fruit allow up to 5 coins. You may then start the reels spinning by
clicking on the "SPIN REELS" button. If you would like to play with the
maximum amount of coins per spin, you may alternatively choose to simply
click the "BET MAX" button which will start to spin the reels for you
automatically. When the reels stop, your payoff will be determined from
a table of winning combinations normally shown on the top of each
machine. Any credits you win will be added to your Credits (minus
the amount of the bet which will be displayed in the Bet
field).
Progressive Jackpot Slot Machines:
Unlike regular slot
machines, progressive jackpot slot machines operate on a fixed
denomination. . The top payout on a progressive jackpot machine is not
fixed as in regular slot machines. Jackpot values start at a specific
level and grow each time somebody makes a bet to someone hits the
jackpot - progressive slots can sometimes raise to over $250000 -
progressive slots are very popular - but can also become quite
expensive.
References
Scoblete, Frank. Break the One-Armed Bandits!, Bonus
Books, 1994.
Halcombe, Claude. Slot Smarts; Winning Strategies at the
Slot machine, i_2, 1996.
Roulette
American Roulette wheel with 36 numbers plus 0 and
00.
The game of Roulette is played by spinning a small ball on a
round wheel with thirty-eight numbered slots. When the wheel stops, the
ball comes to rest in one of these slots. The object of Roulette is to
correctly predict the slot in which the ball will land. By predicting
the right number, you earn a payoff on your bet. The size of the payoff
depends on how the bet was placed.
Your chips are stacked by denomination ($1, $5, $25, $100,
$500) . Select the amount you would like to wager on a given hand .
To place a bet in Roulette, place your chips on the table .
Depending on where you choose to place your chips, you can "cover" (bet
on) anywhere from one to eighteen numbers with a single bet.
.
You can normally place nine different kinds of bets on
the Roulette table. Each type of bet covers a certain range of numbers,
and each type has its own payoff rate. The short lines of three numbers
each are called rows on the board, while the longer lines, each holding
twelve, are called columns. The first six types of bets are all made on
the numbered space or on the lines between them and are called inside
bets, while the last three types are made on the special boxes below and
to the right of the board and are called outside bets. These bets are
tabulated below:
 |
| Bet Type |
Explanation |
 |
| Straight Up |
Place
your chips directly on any single number (including zero and
double-zero). |
 |
| Split
Bet |
Place
your chips on the line between any two numbers. |
 |
| Street Bet |
Place
your chips at the end of any row of numbers. A street bet covers
three numbers. |
 |
| Corner Bet |
Place
your chips at the corner where four numbers meet. All four numbers
are covered. |
 |
| Five
Bet |
This
bet can be made in only one place and covers five number: zero,
double zero, one, two and three. |
 |
| Line
Bet |
Place
your chips at the end of two rows at the intersection between
them. A line bet covers all the numbers in either row, for a
total of six. |
 |
| Column Bet |
Placing a chip in one of the boxes marked "2 to 1" at the
end of the columns covers all the numbers in that column, a total
of twelve. (Neither the zero nor the double zero are covered by
any of the columns). |
 |
| Dozen
Bet |
Placing a chip in one of the three boxes marked "1st 12,"
"2nd 12," or "3rd 12" covers those twelve numbers. |
 |
| Red/Black, Even/Odd, 1 to 18/19 to 36 |
A
chip placed in one of the six boxes at the bottom of the board
covers the half of the board described in that box. (The zero and
double zero are not covered by any of these boxes.) Each box
covers eighteen numbers. |
 |
Bets on red, black, odd, even, 1 to 18, and 19 to 36 will
have a "1/2" chip placed on top of them if a zero or double-zero is
rolled to signify that half of the bet is returned according to the zero
and double-zero rule.
When the ball lands on "zero" or "double zero", wagers on red, black,
odd, even, 1 to 18, and 19 to 36 are not entirely lost. Instead, each
player having made such a bet will lose only half of the original amount
bet. For example, if a player places a bet of $10 on red and a double
zero is rolled, the player will lose $5 and be able to remove the other
$5 from the table.
 |
| Bet |
Payoff |
 |
| 1
Number |
35 to
1 |
 |
| 2
Numbers |
17 to
1 |
 |
| 3
Numbers |
11 to
1 |
 |
| 4
Numbers |
8 to
1 |
 |
| 5
Numbers |
6 to
1 |
 |
| 6
Numbers |
5 to
1 |
 |
| 12
Numbers |
2 to
1 |
 |
| 18
Numbers |
1 to
1 |
 |
Please also note the zero and double-zero rule
above.
References
Jensen, Marten. Secrets of Winning Roulette, Cardoza Pub.,
1998.
Patrick, John. John Patrick's Roulette : A Pro's Guide to Managing
Your Money and Beating the Wheel, Lyle Stuart, 1996.