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The
GameMaster's Blackjack School
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Lesson
2: Learning Basic Strategy
This
is a very simple lesson -- I'm going
to show you how to memorize your
chosen basic strategy perfectly.
So perfect, in fact, that you won't
have to think about which play is
proper; you'll just do it automatically.
That skill is developed through
a lot of practice; many hours of
repetitious exercises which will
leave you knowing basic strategy
as well as your own name. (I didn't
say this was easy, just simple ).
But
we can make those hours of practice
a little more fun and somewhat interesting
-- even challenging -- by using
different methods of training. If
you're a competitive person the
timed exercises will appeal to you;
it's a lot of fun to see if you
can post a new "personal best" in
each of them. But don't worry, you
don't have to be a Type A personality
to learn perfect basic strategy.
Just take your time and do as many
exercises in a day as you want and
if you keep at it on a regular basis,
the knowledge will come. Remember,
you are learning a skill here which
you will be able to use for the
rest of your life. Spending a few
dozen hours now may return hundreds
of hours of profitable play in the
future; seems like a fair trade
to me.
Let's
get started.
Flashcards
- By now, you should have a set
of these made up and are using them
on a regular basis. Start timing
yourself as you go through all of
them; a good goal is to recite all
the rules perfectly and get through
your pack in under two minutes.
The time pressure works well in
"forcing" you to learn, so record
your results so that you can see
your progress. If you have a stopwatch,
so much the better, because you
can use it not only with the flashcards
but with many other exercises as
well. Don't go out and buy one,
though; the approximate time is
all we're interested in here, so
a wrist watch will do just as well.
Basic
Strategy Reconstruction Exercise
- Print out the form below and run
off a bunch of copies. You will
notice that it is just a "blank"
of the form we used in Lesson 1
to create the rules for each of
the player's starting hands. The
object here is to write in the rule
for each hand and then check for
accuracy. Remember the old saying;
"I see, I forget; I write, I remember"?
(Or something like that -- never
did write it down). That's what
this exercise will do for you. Time
yourself as you do it and see if
you can get under 60 seconds with
100% accuracy.
| Player's
hand |
Decisions |
| 5
thru 8 |
_______________________________ |
| 9 |
_______________________________ |
| 10 |
_______________________________ |
| 11 |
_______________________________ |
| 12 |
_______________________________ |
| 13
thru 16 |
_______________________________ |
| 17
or Higher |
_______________________________ |
| A,2 |
_______________________________ |
| A,3 |
_______________________________ |
| A,4 |
_______________________________ |
| A,5 |
_______________________________ |
| A,6 |
_______________________________ |
| A,7 |
_______________________________ |
| A,8-A,9 |
_______________________________ |
| 2,2 |
_______________________________ |
| 3,3 |
_______________________________ |
| 4,4 |
_______________________________ |
| 5,5 |
_______________________________ |
| 6,6 |
_______________________________ |
| 7,7 |
_______________________________ |
| 8,8 |
_______________________________ |
| 9,9 |
_______________________________ |
| 10,10 |
_______________________________ |
| A,A |
_______________________________ |
|
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Basic
Strategy Decision Exercise
- Here
I've made up a lot of player's starting
hands along with a dealer's up card.
Use your "Basic Strategy Matrix" from
Lesson 1 to make a "correction copy"
and mark it as such at the top. Then,
just go down the columns of another
copy and fill in the proper play.
Use your correction copy to check
for accuracy. Speed is of the essence
here, so work towards a goal of completing
this in under two minutes with 100%
accuracy.
(Indicate
proper play under "Decision")
S=Stand
H=Hit P=Split Pairs D=Double
| Player |
Dir |
Decision |
Player |
Dir |
Decision |
Player |
Dir |
Decision |
| 8,3 |
A |
____ |
2,3,6 |
4 |
____ |
A,4,2 |
3 |
____ |
| 6,6 |
4 |
____ |
9,9 |
7 |
____ |
7,6 |
3 |
____ |
| 5,4 |
6 |
____ |
10,3 |
3 |
____ |
8,2 |
A |
____ |
| 7,7 |
7 |
____ |
9,8 |
7 |
____ |
8,8 |
10 |
____ |
| 9,6 |
8 |
____ |
A,7 |
2 |
____ |
10,7 |
2 |
____ |
| 7,5 |
3 |
____ |
A,4 |
5 |
____ |
9,3 |
3 |
____ |
| A,2 |
5 |
____ |
6,4 |
10 |
____ |
7,4 |
A |
____ |
| 3,3 |
4 |
____ |
A,4 |
5 |
____ |
6,3 |
7 |
____ |
| 9,2 |
10 |
____ |
10,8 |
6 |
____ |
A,6 |
5 |
____ |
| 5,5 |
9 |
____ |
6,8 |
7 |
____ |
A,9 |
6 |
____ |
| A,7 |
6 |
____ |
9,7 |
8 |
____ |
10,4 |
5 |
____ |
| 6,3 |
4 |
____ |
A,2,5 |
6 |
____ |
9,9 |
9 |
____ |
| 5,2 |
2 |
____ |
3,6 |
4 |
____ |
2,4 |
2 |
____ |
| 10,2 |
3 |
____ |
7,8 |
9 |
____ |
6,5 |
2 |
____ |
| 9,9 |
7 |
____ |
10,3 |
3 |
____ |
7,7 |
2 |
____ |
| 10,4 |
9 |
____ |
A,4 |
4 |
____ |
3,4 |
5 |
____ |
| 6,5 |
9 |
____ |
10,5 |
7 |
____ |
4,4 |
6 |
____ |
| A,6 |
2 |
____
|
5,2 |
10 |
____ |
A,2,4 |
6 |
____ |
| 4,4 |
6 |
____ |
8,8 |
8 |
____ |
10,2,A |
3 |
____ |
| 10,10 |
5 |
____ |
A,A |
7 |
____ |
8,2 |
10 |
____ |
| 8,6 |
7 |
____ |
8,3 |
10 |
____ |
6,6 |
6 |
____ |
| 7,9
|
10 |
____ |
5,5 |
10 |
____ |
5,4 |
2 |
____ |
| 10,2,A |
3 |
____ |
A,5,A |
3 |
____ |
A,7 |
3 |
____ |
| A,2,2 |
6 |
____ |
2,2 |
7 |
____ |
3,3 |
2 |
____ |
| 2,6 |
4 |
____ |
A,5 |
4 |
____ |
7,8 |
7 |
____ |
| 9,A |
6 |
____ |
6,6 |
2 |
____ |
9,9 |
7 |
____ |
| 10,6 |
3 |
____ |
3,7 |
9 |
____ |
2,5,4 |
2 |
____ |
| 7,7 |
6 |
____ |
3,3 |
2 |
____ |
10,4 |
6 |
____ |
| A,A |
9 |
____ |
5,5 |
9 |
____ |
9,3 |
5 |
____ |
| 2,2 |
2 |
____ |
A,6 |
3 |
____ |
A,2 |
6 |
____ |
| 9,4 |
4 |
____ |
10,6 |
7 |
____ |
9,8 |
7 |
____ |
| A,3,4 |
9 |
____ |
6,6 |
3 |
____ |
A,4,A |
2 |
____ |
| A,4,2 |
6 |
____ |
9,4 |
2 |
____ |
7,5 |
3 |
____ |
| 8,8 |
10 |
____ |
A,4 |
10 |
____ |
2,2 |
6 |
____ |
| 5,5 |
8 |
____ |
6,4 |
9 |
____ |
3,3 |
7 |
____ |
| A,8 |
6 |
____ |
8,3 |
A |
____ |
6,6 |
2 |
____ |
| 5,2 |
2 |
____ |
9,9 |
10 |
____ |
2,9 |
10 |
____ |
| A,4 |
6 |
____ |
7,5 |
4 |
____ |
9,7 |
5 |
____ |
| 2,3,4,A |
6 |
____ |
7,7 |
9 |
____ |
5,4 |
3 |
____ |
| A,A |
A |
____ |
9,3 |
7 |
____ |
7,4 |
10 |
____ |
The
Importance of Speed - I
stress speed in my classes because
the ability to do anything quickly
and accurately means you know it well.
The play of your hand must be "automatic"
because once you learn how to count
cards, you'll be too busy counting
to think about the proper play. Make
sense?
Card
Practice #1 - Now, with a copy
of your Basic Strategy Matrix next
to you, get out a deck of cards
and try this exercise. Deal one
card up for the dealer and then
two cards for your starting hand.
Play that hand according to proper
basic strategy and, without playing
out the dealer's hand, push all
the used cards off to the side and
do it again. Keep going until the
deck is used up, shuffle and repeat.
This exercise will get you used
to making playing decisions in a
casino-style setting. Refer to your
Matrix as often as you must in order
to assure yourself that you are
making the proper play.
Card
Practice #2 - Some player hands,
like A-7 are difficult to learn.
So set up a practice like the one
above but leave the player's hand
the same and change only the dealer's
up card after each round. Continue
to hit or double as before. This
exercise is particularly good for
getting you used to playing "soft"
hands (those which contain an Ace)
properly. Time is not important
here but accuracy is.
Card
Practice #3 - This is a variation
on the practice above. On this one,
keep the dealer's card the same
-- say a 6 -- then deal two cards
for the player. Play out the hand
and then move just the player's
cards off to the side. "Stack" your
deck a bit by putting in a lot of
pairs so you can get used to splitting
properly.
Homework
Spend
at least a half-hour each day on
your flashcards and time yourself.
Do
a minimum of one "Basic Strategy
Reconstruction" each day. Time yourself
and record the results along with
the date right on the form.
Do
a minimum of one "Basic Strategy
Decision Exercise" each day
and mark both the date and time
it took you to complete it on the
form.
Spend
at least a half-hour each day doing
the 3 card practices. Work on those
hands which are the most difficult
for you to learn.
School's
out. Any apples?
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