What Blackjack hands get the money?

Now we look at the overall win rate or gain from each hand. 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 quite different. Here blue indicates a loss and the other colors indicate increasing wins. Blackjacks are still the most valuable hands. Blackjack against a Ten is the largest gainer. It is a scary hand since the dealer may also have a BJ. But it is more common and therefore results in a higher total gain. Pairs and soft hands now show a very small gain or loss due to low frequency. 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. But this chart shows 13 and 15 as the worst hands because you will still probably lose them, and they occur a bit more often. As in the previous chart, the gain against a dealer Ten or Ace is lower, and in some cases there is a loss against these cards where a gain existed against other dealer upcards.

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 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger