BlackJack?

Just spent the weekend with my friends playing poker and blackjack.  One of my friends, Steve Martin (not THE Steve Martin) is notorious for chasing his poker winnings on the blackjack table.  I’m usually very skeptical as I like to focus solely on poker and using my edge over other players as a profit source.  However, sitting down watching him crush the shoe for two hours has me revising my train of thought.  It looked almost… too easy.

I understand that his results were not typical, in fact, the table was hot as the dealer was going bust and feeding everybody black-jacks.  However, I was entranced by the speed of the play.  You don’t have to sit and wait for a spot, a hand, or an opponents mistake like in poker.  There are none of the long Hollywooding drawn out hands you get during a no limit game.  No, it’s hand after hand.  You win, you lose, or you push and you move on.

Certainly, I can see why an action junkie would love it.  So, I think I’m going to play blackjack online.  Of course, I’ll try my hand on bwin to see if it’s the same thrill and fun as it was live.  Granted my gameplan is to stick to the tips they supply and start out conservatively at first.  Below are some of the hand strategies…

Tips

	Player’s hand	Dealer’s up card
		2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
	5-6-7-8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
	9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
	10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
	11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
	12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
	13-14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
	15-16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
	17-18-19-20-21	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
	A-2(13), A-3(14)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
	A-4(15), A-5(16)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
	A-6(17)	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
	A-7(18)	S	D	D	D	D	S	S	H	H	H
	A-8(19), A-9(20)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
	A & A	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
	2 & 2 – 3 & 3	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H
	4 & 4	H	H	H	SP	SP	H	H	H	H	H
	5 & 5 NS	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
	6 & 6	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	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	SP	SP	SP
	9 & 9	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	S	S
	10 & 10 NS	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

H=Hit, S=Stand, D=Double Down, SP=Split, NS=Never Split

Anybody out there play blackjack online and a whiz at the game?  I know that if you play optimally you got a great chance to win but are there any particular holdings you might deviate from the above suggestions?   How much of your bankroll would you recommend playing at a time.  Is there a stop-loss? 

One strategy Steve was employing was increasing his bet after every win.  At every loss he’d go back to his initial bet.  He believes the game is all about streaks so he’ll wants to get more money in on a winning streak, and obviously less money in on a losing streak.  Any recommendations for bet strategies when I play online blackjack?