Playing Black jack 2, 4, 6 , 8 decks??????

Question

I have a question regarding blackjack is it technically smarter to play at a table with less decks or more decks???

Answer 1

Generally speaking the lower the number of decks the better the odds are based on the number of decks do to the availability of more advanced playing strategy.  So in a sense with fewer decks the game has the potential to have better odds.

**However with fewer decks come other rules that increase the hosue edge.  So to determine which game is better to play if you were comparing two of them it woudl be neccessary to compair all of the rules of the games.

For example the house advantage on single deck blackjack pays 6:5 is almost three times that of 8 deck where blackjack pays 3:2.  In this case the 8 deck game is the smarter play.

The odds vary dramatically based on other rules such as:

-the payout for blackjacks (6:5 is very bad)

-doubling after splitting allowed or not(no double after splitting is bad)

-splitting to more than 2 hands (more than 2 is good)

-resplitting aces(good)

-surrender option(very good)

-dealer hitting soft 17(bad)

-5 card charlies(slightly good)

-double on 10/11 only(bad)

-no dealer hole card (no peak)(bad)

**The number of decks does not thwart card counting.

**It is actually harder to count cards at single deck tables because the cards are dealt face down...durrrr

Answer 2

Vegas Matt is correct.  The fewer the decks, the better it is for the player, assuming everything else is equal!

Answer 3

Unless you're counting cards, it makes absolutely zero difference. The additional decks that casinos use is purely to thwart card-counters.

The basic idea of card counting isn't memorizing every single card that's been played, but rather to keep track of the ratio of high cards (10s and Aces) to low cards (2 through 6 or 7). Typically a point is assigned to "lumps" of cards; for example, the simple hi-lo system assigns a +1 count to cards 2 - 6, 0 count to 7, 8, 9, and -1 count to 10 - A. Different counting systems have varying accuracy and varying difficulty.

A deck rich in high cards is favourable to the player while a deck rich in low cards is favourable to the dealer; there are many reasons for this, including the fact that more high cards mean higher chance of natural blackjacks (for both dealer and player), but you're paid 3 to 2 on blackjacks whereas the house gets even money. Also, a deck rich in low cards means less chance of dealer busting, and the dealer can more easily make the 17 - 21 range with low cards than if the deck is full of 10s, and this is of course not good for the player.

Card counting systems help you identify when the deck is rich in high cards and when it is poor. You're playing every hand no matter what, but by keeping track of when the deck is rich in high cards, you know when to bet more and when to bet less.

But remember that you're looking for the ratio of high to low cards, not the absolute number of high cards in play, so the more cards there are in play, the less information each individual card will give you. For example, if on the first hand of a single card game you count 5 10s and 2 aces and few low cards; this is pretty much automatically a deck poor in high cards. But if there are 8 decks in play and you have the same count on the first hand, you know very little about the remaining deck because there are so many more cards in there. So if you're counting cards, it's advantageous to work with a smaller deck; and if it's dealt until the end (no casinos will ever do this though) then you'll cream the game because by the end you know exactly what cards are coming.

But if you're not counting cards, then there's no difference at all.

Answer 4

Geo is not correct. Regardless of if you're counting cards or not, less decks is always statistically better. A 2 deck game will not give the player an "advantage" without counting, but the house edge is less, assuming all rules are exactly the same.

Be careful though, so places make significant rule changes when you get to tables with less decks. Often times, double deck games will only let you split once, will not let you double after a split, or will make some other changes. These types of rules increase the house edge significantly. Also, stay away from single deck games all together. I haven't seen a single deck game in years that payed the correct 3 to 2 for blackjack (they all now pay 6 to 5). This change makes the games worse than 8 deck shoe games.

In general, double deck games are still better than 6 or more deck shoe games and those stupid continuous shuffle games. Just try to find a place with more liberal rules if you have a choice.

Answer 5

Ive played them all double deck is the best