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Blackjack players often mistakenly play soft hands in a manner similar to that which they play hard hands. In blackjack, a soft hand is a hand that contains an ace. The ace can count as either one or eleven and the blackjack player may use the ace as he sees fit. A hard hand is a hand without an ace. The hard hand in blackjack is absolute. Thus, when dealt a hand such as an eight and a seven, the count is fifteen, whereas a four and an ace can be either four or fourteen. By understanding that hard and soft blackjack hands play differently, a blackjack player can better maximize his profits at the blackjack table.
Playing Hard Hands
This is an area where many online blackjack players lose most of their bankroll. If you are dealt hard hands (no pair, no ace), like ten and five, or eight and six, you are in a difficult situation. This is the exact situation that you will find yourself in for the majority of your blackjack hands, as hard hands are statistically more common than hands like two aces or ten and nine.
Whenever you are dealt a hard hand, the best way to maximize your chances of ending up the winner, or losing the minimum, is to follow a blackjack strategy chart. Surrendering is rarely the right decision and should only be done when the dealer has a strong up card and you have very little cards that can make your hand presumably more powerful than the dealer’s hand. Usually you will have to hit your hard hands, but just follow the chart accordingly as sometimes even a low hand can be very profitable.
Playing Soft Hands
Although soft hands do not come nearly as often as the agonizing hard hands that regularly send a blackjack player on tilt (playing sloppy, without a solid strategy), when they do come they can be profitable. Soft hands consist of an ace with a non-face card. These are not monster hands in blackjack but they hold a lot of value when going against the dealer.
You can determine what to do depending on what the dealer’s up card is. If he has a rather weak card showing, doubling down could be a profitable option. In most cases, you will just want to hit. The chart shows a solid way to keep your winnings up with soft hands. Just remember to follow the chart for optimal blackjack play and never throw away a soft hand before hitting it at least once!
Just like horese race betting, basketball betting provides point spread betting, as well as money line betting. When betting on basketball using the point spread, the underdog team is spotted a certain number of points. Money line betting requires one team to beat the other straight up.
As an example of each type of betting line, suppose the Cleveland Cavaliers are playing at home against the Utah Jazz. The Cavs might be inclined to spot the Jazz several points, as they are at home and are the better team. Let’s suppose the Cavs are favored by 12 points in this match. Additionally, the money line reads Cavs -850, Jazz +550. We know that we would need to wager $850 on the Cavs to win $100 if we bet the favorites, while a $100 bet on the Jazz would pay $550 if the Jazz pull off the upset.
In instances such as this, we observe the Jazz are receiving a substantial number of points in their away match through the point spread. Additionally, we know that a $100 bet will pay out 5.5 times the money we wager if we bet the money line. If we are determined that we are betting on the Jazz in this match, which should we bet?
When betting the underdog at sportsbook.com on the road with a point spread greater than twelve, our expected ROI using the money line is quite negative. In fact, the road dog who is an underdog to this level rarely, if ever wins straight up. However, when playing the point spread and taking the road dog and the twelve points, the underdog beats the spread over half the time. This means the underdog rarely wins the actual match up, however they typically lose by less than twelve points.
Thus, if one feels they have to bet the road dog, take the twelve points. In fact, over the past three years, the underdog on the road who was spotted eight points or more has beat the spread more than 50% of the time, while losing the actual straight up match more than eighty percent of the time.
When betting the underdog on the road, if the underdog receives six or more points, the correct bet is the dog with points. If the underdog is getting less than six points, the bettor is best served taking the money line. By betting road underdogs in this manner, a bettor can be far more efficient and profitable when betting the road dog in basketball.
The Indianapolis Colts have started off the 2009 NFL season with a 6-0 record. Many people expected that the Colts would have another good year, but I’m sure there weren’t many that would expect them to be undefeated. The Colts are currently one of three teams in the NFL that are still undefeated after week seven and they’re also currently sitting in first place in the AFC South division. The Houston Texans are second place in the division with a 4-3 record so it will take a few bad weeks for the Colts to lose their large lead in their division.
Year in and year out the Indianapolis Colts have been a consistent football betting powerhouse and have done well by having a stellar offence that all starts with superstar QB Peyton Manning. Manning has been off to an amazing start this season with 15TD’s and 1880 passing yards in only six games. The Colts are the number one passing team in the league right now with an average of 310.8 passing yards per game. They are also sitting in fourth place for total offence in the league with an average of 402.5 yards per game. If they can continue to keep putting up these types of numbers on offence then I would have to think that any team is going to have trouble beating the Colts.
The Colts could use some more from their running game the rest of the season. Both Joseph Addai and Donald Brown have been held to under 500 yards combined on the season thus far. They have combined for six touchdowns though on the season which is telling me that they must be getting it done on the goal line. I do feel the Colts need to run for more yards each game if they want to make a deep run in the playoffs this season. It would help the Colts control the ball more on offence and would allow their defence to stay more rested and avoid injuries.
After six games this season the Colts defence has only given up an average of 12.8 points per game which puts them in second place for allowing the least amount of points per game. When you only give up 12.8 points on defence and you score an average of 29.8 points per game on offence it’s hard to lose a game. The biggest scare for the Colts this year probably came in week one against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Colts won the game by a couple points, but they easily could have lost the game.
With Marvin Harrison gone from the Colts this year many people were unsure if the Colts would have a dominate offence like they’re used too. Both Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne have stepped up and have almost 40 receptions apiece already. Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon have been great this season as well and have helped Manning a lot. Garcon is averaging 17.1 yards per catch so far and Collie is averaging 11 yards per catch on 24 receptions.
Blackjack players often do not exercise prudent bankroll management systems when playing blackjack. Often, a player will belly up to the table, and just plunk down their money. Their plan is to play until they have won “enough,” until their “time” is up, or until they simply go bust. Instead of employing such a careless blackjack bankroll management strategy, a blackjack player is better served implementing a stop-loss approach to playing blackjack.
The Stop Loss
A stop loss system basically means that you quit your session after losing “X” dollars, regardless of your bankroll. Many people will keep playing until they lose all their bankroll. Even if you get up $1, 000 from a $50 investment, you probably will not have the power to quit. However, that is something you have to get or else you will remain a losing blackjack player.
So in order to be successful with this system, you must determine what your stop loss number will be. Let us say you have $5, 000 to play with, a stop loss number around $500 would be decent for a determined player.
Once you lose $500 during a single session, just walk away. If you turn that $5, 000 into $20, 300 (with no outrageous bets), you still have to follow your stop loss number, this is where most go wrong. If that same $20, 300 starts to cut down and you end up with $19, 800, you reached your stop loss (down $500), so quit the session right away!
On the upside, however, a player cannot prudently set a floor without also establishing a ceiling. While it might sound great to simply let our winnings run and ride at the black jack table, this often leads to disaster. Players should set a ceiling or an amount at which the player will take profits. This ceiling is best set at least twice the amount at which a player is willing to lose in their blackjack session. If the $500 floor is set, where the player will not tolerate a loss of more than $500 from their blackjack session, the player should set a ceiling of $1000. This allows a player to set proper risk-reward limits. By thinking about how much a blackjack player will tolerate losing or cash out without second thought on the winning side, a blackjack player stands a far better chance of becoming a long-term profitable blackjack player.
Trying to focus on matchups that have relevance for both teams playing becomes increasingly difficult as the regular baseball betting season winds down. But that’s fine, since they all still count, and there’s still money to be won for the sports gamblers of the world. Let’s take a look at a couple good ones coming up for next week.
Twins at Tigers: Look at that, a game that actually does affect both teams’ playoff hopes. The Tigers are working frantically to keep the Twins off their back and get into the postseason. Can either team from the weak AL Central hope to compete with the Yankees anyway in the first round? That waits to be seen, as we all know it’s not the best team that often wins the World Series, it’s the team that’s playing the best baseball at the time. The Tigers put the ball in Justin Verlander’s hands, and he hasn’t disappointed this season, going 16-9 with a respectable 3.44 ERA. Verlander has thrown heat all year, and has around 250 strikeouts to show for it. Add a 1.18 WHIP, and the Twins hitters will have a tough time getting on base. Minnesota offers Brian Duensing, who’s 4-1 with a 3.2 ERA himself, although he’s only started 21 games this season. The Twins have won four of the last six he’s started for them. Now, the Twins can hit, they’re third in the AL with a .272 team average, but their pitching is 11th, and the challenge for them will be to limit the Tiger’s offense while putting up enough runs on the road to get the job done. They can do it, but probably not against Verlander. Tigers -135, Twins +120. Bet the Tigers and the over.
Looks like everything else only has online sports betting spoiler potential, so we’ll go to St. Louis at Cincinnati, and see if the Reds can put the brakes on the Cards’ attempt to both surpass the Dodgers record for best in the NL and at the same time hold their slim lead on Philly. Home-field and first-round matchup implications hang in the balance. The Reds, on the other hand, aren’t playing for much. Even my bet that the White Sox would finish with a better record is decided (hello bottle of vodka!). But they won’t just go through the motions, especially against a division rival. And lucky for them, they won’t be facing a Cardinals pitcher up for the Cy Young award in this one. Instead, Joel Pineiro throw for the Cards, and brings in a 15-11 record and 3.2 ERA. He’s not a K king (only 100), but he has a great WHIP at 1.15 and the team wins with consistency when he’s pitching (7 of the last 10 games). The Reds send Homer Bailey, 5-5 and 5.15 ERA – not numbers you’d want to give him 5 over, per se). Everyone knows St. Louis has studs on the mound, but the team is also 5th in the NL with a .264 average, which probably spells a blowout for the Reds in this game, and series. The Reds are at home, which might help them a little in the money line, but it won’t be enough to hold off the determined Cardinals. Cards -155, Reds +135. Bet the Cards to win.
