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Hit or Stand is a Flash app

Hit or Stand is a Flash app that teaches you proper blackjack strategy.

Reader comments

AndrewJun 06, 2003 at 4:05PM

Funny, I won more often when I broke the rules.

MikeJun 07, 2003 at 8:36AM

Same here. That seems to be the way blackjack is. You follow the rules, you eventually break even or come out a little ahead. Those who don't follow them are up for larger short-term losses or gains. Winning big in blackjack seems to be pure chance.

dowingbaJun 08, 2003 at 3:03AM

I followed their little strategy and came out with $255, $155 more than I started with. Damn I wish it was real money.

PheelJun 09, 2003 at 11:58AM

Even playing perfect basic strategy, the commonly used rules of blackjack give the house a few percentage points advantage over the player--in the long run, you will lose. Only by religiously adhering to a mathematically correct counting system can you expect to gain an advantage. Even then, the advantage is only between .5 to 3 percent. In order to exploit it, you must lay down large sums of money to get a reasonable return on your investment. On top of that, you must vary your bet in accordance with the count, betting low when it is bad, betting big when it is good. Casinos vigilantly watch for this behavior and will prevent you from benefitting when they detect it. In Las Vegas, they can and will bar you from playing if they suspect you of counting; in Atlantic City, they can cap your betting limit, or shuffle at random, causing you to lose the count and the advantage. In short, don't kid yourself. Blackjack rules are based on hard mathematics. Chance has nothing to do with it.

Cleary Jackie Dec 20, 2003 at 7:19PM

Against boredom even the gods contend in vain.

Mitchell Carmen Jan 09, 2004 at 8:24AM

Believing in God does not require believing in religion.

This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.