Curious Facts from Blackjack Statistics
This article contains some curious information that can help blackjack lovers to better understand all aspects of the game and the basic strategy.
Ratio of wins and losses
Not taking into account 9% of rounds that end up in a tie, you lose in 52 rounds and win in 48 rounds out of 100. As you can see, the casino has the edge. Then how can the player minimize the house edge or even turn the odds in the player’s favor? The answer is: while you lose only one bet at a time, you can win 1.5 (at blackjack) or even 2 (double) bets at a time.
Frequency of hitting blackjack
The player that follows the basic strategy hits blackjack just once in every twenty-one dealings. It’s very symbolical, don’t you think? 21 points and 21 rounds.
Frequency of player’s surplus
If you’re following the optimal strategy, you will get more than 21 points once in every six rounds. To be more exact, surpluses occur in 16% of rounds.
Frequency of dealer’s surplus
The dealer finds themselves in surplus far more often – two times in every seven rounds, or in 28% of rounds. However, this fact doesn’t give players a reason to rejoice. This index is theoretical and is calculated based on all possible combinations of original dealer’s cards.
Extra facts
Here are some more curious numbers:
- The probability of losing in three rounds in a row is 14% (when following the basic strategy)
- The chance to get “hard” twelve-seventeen is 43%, which is not good at all, as these cards bring 85% of losing rounds
- If the dealer has Ace up, the chance of him hitting a blackjack reaches 31%. So do you really need to but a $1 insurance? For four dealer’s blackjack, you win $8, while in other cases lose $9. This is why you don’t need an insurance.
In fact, all steps of the basic strategy are based on similar calculations. Therefore, strictly following the basic strategy is the best you can do.