What Blackjack hands get the money?

First, we looked at how often we receive each hand, then at the advantage of each hand. Now we look at the overall win rate or gain from each hand. What is the difference between advantage and win rate? Well a hand may have a high advantage when we get it. But if we do not get it very often, its overall value is less. Win rate is advantage times frequency and tells us the overall money won or lost for each possible hand.

This chart looks somewhat like the Advantage chart. Blackjacks are still the most valuable hands. However, pairs and soft hands now show a very small gain or loss due to their low frequency. (Note to card counters — this is why newer counting strategies usually do not bother with indexes for these hands.) T,T is very important not only because it is a good hand but because it occurs so frequently. The Advantage chart showed 16 to be the worst hand — not surprising, as you will probably lose when you get it. However, this chart shows 13 and 15 as the worst hands for overall results because you will still probably lose them, but they occur a bit more often.

www.qfit.com/book/z28Chart.gif

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger