Marz Basic Strategy

Marz Basic Strategy

WARNING

This page is not for the faint of heart. Much of the suggested style of play is considered aggressive, unconventional, unorthodox, and just plain stupid;) Do not attempt to play using this form of Basic Strategy unless you have a complete understanding of true Basic Strategy. This suggested style of play is not intended to be played for long sessions. As previously stated it is aggressive, and is intended to be played for no longer than 1 hour at a time.

OK, you've played Basic Strategy for years, and know it backwards and forwards. You took the Blackjack Test, and got 20/20. But you know there's more to Blackjack than standard basic strategy. You don't want to count cards, but you want to be able to do stuff a card counter does like double on that 12 and not bust, take Insurance, split 10's, 5's, etc. Well, first of all, below are Marz's Basic Strategy Tables. Some of the things can't be put into a table like Insurance, and doubling those hard 17's and getting the 4. That really just comes with practice and true card counting (especially the Insurance part). But this is pretty much how I play. Some of it is based on John Patrick's basic strategy, but not all of it. As the warning above states, this method should not be played for longer than 1 hour. Less if possible. As soon as you are up your win goal, STOP! The longer you play the more likely the House Odds will catch up to you and make you a loser. Remember this game is designed to be a House Game. The perfect Basic Strategy player, if playing for long periods of time, will lose around 2.5% of his money. This is why card counting was developed. Card counting is the only way to have a chance of putting the game into the player's favor. I plan on having some card counting techniques listed on the site sometime in the future.

I'll explain some of the strange and unorthodox plays after you're done looking at the table. Also the tables assume that you're not going to hit above a hard 17, and other extremely stupid stuff like that. If you don't see any difference between this table and the Standard Basic Strategy Table, go back to class;)

Hard Totals

Dealer's Up Card/ Your Hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
5	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
6	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
7	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	H	D	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H
11	H	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H	H
12	D	D	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

H=Hit, S=Stand, D=Double
Soft Totals

Dealer's Up Card/ Your Hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
A,2	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,3	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,4	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,5	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,6	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,7	S	D	D	D	D	S	S	H	H	H
A,8	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,9	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,10	S	D	D	D	D	D	D	S	S	S

H=Hit, S=Stand, D=Double
Pairs Totals

Dealer's Up Card/ Your Hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
2,2	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H	H
3,3	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H	H
4,4	H	H	H	Hs	Hs	H	H	H	H	H
5,5	D	D	D	Ds	Ds	D	H	H	H	H
6,6	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H	H
7,7	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H	H
8,8	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H
9,9	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	S	Sp	S	S
10,10	S	S	S	Sp	Sp	S	S	S	S	S
A,A	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	Sp	H	H	H

H=Hit, S=Stand, Sp=Split, D=Double, Ds=Split if Doubling is allowed after the split, otherwise Double, Hs=Split if Doubling is allowed after the split, otherwise Hit.

OK, now for all the "Why's" for the above. A couple of things that will take you by surprise. Here are the main differences between Marz Basic Strategy and Standard Basic Strategy:

Hard Total of 8 - Hit against a 5 or 6 rather than Double. I know that just about every Basic Strategy book will tell you to Double, but I loose that Double more than I win it.
Hard Total of 10 - No Double against a 2, 8-A. This is basically John Patrick. The original Basic Strategy was designed using a mainframe playing over 3 billion hands back in the 60's. Well, I'm not going to play 3 billion hands in one sitting, or ever. I'm looking at what are the best chances to win that one isolated hand. Plus the 2 is too dangerous.
Hard Total of 11 - No Double against a 2, 9-A. See Hard Total of 10.
Hard Total of 12 - Double against a 2 or 3. I'm only going to take one card, right? So I might as well Double Down;) Only a 30% overall chance of busting, however if you do bust you've lost twice the money so a doubling of percantage "loss.".
Pair Total of 5,5 - Split against a 5 or 6? Well, of course. If I can double after the split, I can win 4X rather than 2X. Ever ask a dealer why not split 5's? His answer is "you never split 5's" and that's it. No logic. This is also from John Patrick. Granted, it's much better in the long run to just leave this hand alone and double. Splitting 5's now gives you to potentially bad hands instead of one good to great hand.
Pair Total of 8,8 - Split against a 2-8. Never split or double against "Power Cards." Also from John Patrick. If I split my 8's against a 9-A, I will most likely lose both hands in the short term. Average winning hand is 18 1/2. Two 18's never beat a 19-21. For all splits, I will split against that dangerous 2.
Pair Total of 10,10 - Split against 5 or 6? Of course, again. I've got the dealer in the worst possible position. This is not John Patrick. He, and almost all other basic strategy players, advise against this. Over 3 billion hands you have an 84% chance of winning with a 20. Why mess it up? Well the dealer has the best chance of busting, why not take advantage of it? Especially if I can do the below.
Soft Total of 10,A - Double against 3-8? Well this is only after splitting those 10's! It's not a Blackjack. I'm not getting paid 3-2, so why not double? If you're going to be stupid enough to split 10's then you might as well double that 11! ;)
Pair Total of A,A - Split against a 2-8. Same reasoning as Pair Total of 8,8.

OK, so that's Marz Basic Strategy. So what's up with the Warning at the top you say? WEll I had been called a fool for it by someone who regularly posted on a forum on Blackjack forum (very good forum by the way), I decided to post the warning statement. Is he right? basically yes. He was able to show me statistically why some of the plays are bad. I have sincelost those figures. However, on an isoloated basis, the above plays are not that risky. But then again, I've seen people do even worse things and win - consistantly, but only for that session. If you want the best chances of notlosing, play regular Basic Strategy consistantly. The above is if you want to do some fun stuff that is risky and will cause a few people's blood boil;) Remember it's a game and have fun overall. Don't worry yourself too much over losing. If you do, then get out of the Casino. It's not the place for you, and you cannot afford to be there in the first place.

After getting over the initial reaction of being called a fool, I realized that I needed to clarify some of the things discussed here since many people who do not know me are reading these pages now. Do I really play like this? Most times no. I only do it to have some fun a break the monotony. Please realize that some of this needs to be taken with a grain of salt or tongue in cheek style. The things I will most likely not do are the following:

Double on Hard 12
Splitting 10's

Why? Well, doubling on Hard 12 is pretty stupid, but it's fun. Remember I play this game for the pure fun aspect of it. That's the way I learned how to play. The fact that I could make some money at a game is a bonus. For real money, I most likely will not play this way if I'm in a losing streak. If the cards are falling very nicely for me I will.

As far as splitting those 10's. Like I point out above, you have such a good chance of winning with them, why be stupid and split them? Well if you think of 10's as any other pair, why not? Over the long run it is much better to leave them together. In an isolated situation splitting can be profitable as long as it is done only when the dealer has the best chance of busting. If I know that I will catch a huge amount of flack from the table, I will not do it. Granted it is my money and they can leave if they don't like the way I am playing. Just like you or I can leave if we don't like the way someone is playing. But I am also looking at how much I can win in a brief amount of time. I have no desire to sit at the table for 4 hours just to end up ahead by only 2 units. Hit and Run.

What about those infamous Marz doubles on a hard 17 and he wins? Or Marz takes Insurance and the dealer does have Blackjack? Well, there is no way to put that type of stuff on paper. It's a matter of years of practice, watching the cards, and just plain luck (more luck than anything else I imagine). Some things can be put into a chart if you are card counting. However the card counting methods that have to be used in some cases are so complicated for the casual player, it's not worth it. I am lucky in many ways however, and I will use that to my advantege. Just ask anyone who knows me about asking for particular cards and I get them No card counting there. I also learned a lot about Blackjack from playing and dealing at a "Just For Fun" Casino. Plus I learned a lot from Sonny.

Who is Sonny? Well, Sonny has got to be the luckiest card player I have ever seen. Blackjack, Poker, High Card, etc. How does he do it? Well, he's just that good. OK, so, he cheats sometimes in Poker;) But I once saw him call a Four of a Kind playing 7-card stud. 4 Kings specifically. And he wasn't dealing the cards either. What about Blackjack? Well, he sat me down once and showed me some basic stuff about Blackjack. That, combined with all the reading and playing I've done, allowed me to "read" the cards better. My explaination for it is that I subconsciously count the cards. I'm best at it when I'm dealing, as I pay attention to all the cards. As a player, I don't pay the same attention. When I actually count, I'm too involved with "the count" to watch the cards. But Sonny even told me that there is no reason to count cards. Just play Basic Strategy - real Basic Strategy, and watch the cards. Anything else is just funning around.

And, of course, I have to credit Q-Dawg! Quy! Some day we'll write that degenerates book on Blackjack. I credit him for introducing me to John Patrick, and making me realise that he is not "weak." Quy is now the self appointed God of Gambling replacement in Houston during my absence. He is one of the best Blackjack players I've both played with, and dealt to.

And, lastly the rest of the Houston crew. We have had many a discussion on how to play, bet (that page is coming), deviate (Robert Brockman), etc. A great group of good Blackjack players there. And a great group of Blackjack players forming up here in Cincy too. Too bad we can't have an inter-store tourney.

Remember, it's you against the Casino when you play. It's your money, play how you want. No one else at the table is going to give you money if you lose because of their stupid play. And you're not going to give anyone money if you win. The only way this is going to happen is if you play as a team with a group of people. You decided what each person's stake is, and divide the total winnings equally after you're done.