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“Casinos and prostitutes have the same thing in common; they are both trying to screw you out of your money and send you home with a smile on you face.” – -VP Pappy

Lets start off with a very simple example of a game of Blackjack using the Goldhill System. (Remember the main thrust of this method is to ignore early gains in order to progress through the down phases to the point at which the money really starts to roll in).

Tip: Whilst you do not have to take yourself through the difficult `desert-like’ region of the negative phase let me assure you that both financially and emotionally it is well worth the effort.

If the idea of surrendering early gains for greater long term advantage then just cash-in your winnings made during the sudden rise in the Serpent’s Tooth Cycle. They will still be worthwhile but not as great as they will be if you progress onwards to a condition that I call `Blackjack Nirvana’

The Game
I am going to explain the practical application of this system using single betting units. These will represent $1 in this example but you could choose to make it $5 or $10 if you wish though typically it works best with a casino that offers a betting range of $1 – $250 or even $1 – $500 as many now do.
I want to start with a $200 deposit. This is attained either by a straight deposit or in conjunction with a casino bonus. I prefer to avoid using the bonus because in most occasions the Serpent’s Tooth Cycle is played out before reaching the required play through conditions established by the casino in their Terms & Conditions. (This did not used to be the case but all casinos are increasing their play through requirements dramatically).
It is highly unlikely that you will need to use the whole of the $200 pot but starting off with a large amount increases your chances of getting through the negative phases that develop in the game. So then – with these parameters established you are ready to begin.

Stage One
The game begins and as it goes through the first couple of hundred hands early gains will be experienced. Play with 2 x base unit bets. If you lose a hand then increase the bet using the betting ratios of 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48, 98, 196 for subsequent hands. Now I agree that placing down $196 might sound risky but at this initial level of play I rarely ever experience losing streaks of greater than six hands so you are only risking a small proportion of your pot at this stage. Remember also that if you are playing in conjunction with the casino bonus you are risking less of your own money anyway.
During this phase I always double on elevens and split all pairs – even pairs of tens sometimes. It is also a good opportunity to double up on the occasional 14, 15 or 16 if you feel confident.

Stage Two
If your play through permits it you could easily cash in during this phase but most of the time even a seasoned player will take the opportunity of what appears to be a winning streak to continue playing until suddenly a major losing streak hits you. When it does you will know that you have entered into Phase Two – The Fall.
As soon as you recognize this reduce your betting to the very minimum (i.e.’ 1 x base value). Avoid all doubling at this time and only split pairs of eights. There will be no option than to sit this period out with patience. Do not feel tempted to panic and try to re-cooperate your loses – this is not the time to do so and you will be risking crashing out completely.

Stage Three
After a while – and there is no knowing how long this will be (usually less than another fifty or so hands) you will notice that the proportion of lost hands to winning hands begins to change. Indeed if you have followed my earlier advice to color code your statistics you will see that the tide has started to turn in your favor.
This is not the correct time to return to your 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 etc period of play – not so much because of any chance of experiencing another extended period of losing hands but merely because your severely depleted pot will not accommodate it. At this point sit and do the following calculation.
1) Find out how much the value of your pot was just before it crashed – your records will show this.
2) Then find out what the lowest value your pot was reduced to at the end of the Fall.
3) Subtract one from the other to calculate how much you lost in the collapse.
4) Divide this value by 3.
5) Now take the lowest amount figure and add to it one third of the total loss figure.
Once your pot has climbed up to this value again you will know that it is time to play with a renewed sense of optimism. Lets take the following as an example of what I mean. Imagine that you have started with a $200 pot.
After the first stage of the game this has increased to $320. Then comes the crash and it is reduced to $110. This means that you have lost $210.
Now divide this difference by three (i.e. $210/3=$70) and you will arrive at the value of $180 (i.e. $110+$70) as the point at which it is safe to restore the 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 etc system along with doubling up. As you consider doing this keep a check on your coded-coded playing statistics and wait until they indicate a shift out of the negative phase and into a positive one.

Cashing In
Once your fortunes have changed you will find that the size of your pot grows consistently until eventually it soars well past the highest peak value (in this example $320) that it had attained before you crashed earlier. From here on you can keep on going until you decide is the correct time to cash in.
In the example of a $200 deposit I would install a stop-loss system at every $50 after reaching $400. During this phase you can even increase your base betting value from 1x to 2x or more – but this is down to personal preference.
Another method that I employ is this. If you have fulfilled any play through terms and conditions (and if you are not entirely sure what they are then telephone the casinos help line and they will give you an accurate figure of how much play you have left) then cash in your initial deposit ($200). Doing so means that whatever happens now you will incur no loses. Continue playing on through Phase Three and withdraw at every $50 or $100 stage. This creates an automatic stop-loss system and guarantees a profit from a game.

Summary
I have used this system time and again and have found it to give assured profits 90% of the time. The 1 in 10 game that I lose is usually where I have failed to follow my own rules (usually through greed, tiredness or euphoria) or where I have failed to start off with a decent sized deposit in the first instance. Thus I do recommend a minimum deposit of at least $200 (which of course may stand you at nothing because you developed it from the free no-obligation bonus as revealed way back in Chapter 4.) In this regard your $200 can be made to go a very long way indeed.

So that is the system. I now want to take you through 6 real-life casinos and show you how to make the whole system work for you

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“A dollar picked up in the road is more satisfaction to us than the 99 which we had to work for, and the money won at Faro or in the stock market snuggles into our hearts in the same way.” – Mark Twain

Blackjack originally emerged in French casino houses around 1700 when it was called by its more common name of “vingt-et-un” or twenty-and-one. The game rapidly spread in popularity throughout Europe and was introduced at American casinos in the 1800’s where it quickly proved equally popular with visitors. However despite its popularity with gamblers it has over the years enjoyed a very chequered career with the casinos themselves. It has fallen in and then out of favor time and again with casino bosses who have continually tried to adapt and modify the game’s rules to increase the house edge. In response players have come up with equally ingenious playing techniques to offset them – tricks that have included everything from card counting to the use of weird devices hidden in the players hand.

Online Blackjack
As offline casinos made the transition into hyperspace they brought with them all the traditional games of chance including Roulette, Slots and Craps as well as the regular favorite – Blackjack.
Off all the games available at an online casino Blackjack is different from most on offer because it is
practically the only one in which you can dramatically change the odds of winning whilst the game is actually taking place. Talking technically for a moment those games such as Craps and Roulette are termed by mathematicians as ‘Independent Trials Processes’ – which basically means that one has no control over events once the dice have been cast, the wheel or reels have been spun. Further more the results of any one play will have no knock-on effect upon any subsequent game. This means that it is practically impossible to develop any accurate and reliable playing strategy. You just put down your cash and keep your fingers crossed!
The game of Blackjack is different. It is one of the few examples where the odds in a game are subject to ‘Conditional Probabilities’. This means that as the game progresses the chances of you winning a hand vary as it is played out. In addition the outcome of one hand affects subsequent hands (this statement is more true in online casinos where a deck is played through prior to a shuffle than at most online casinos where each hand is cut from a freshly shuffled deck.)

Playing Blackjack
Blackjack (single or multi-player) is a game that is played against a selected bank and/or the dealer. As a player you have the goal of creating a hand of cards (which can be two or more in number) with an accumulated pip value of 21. All cards the cards in a deck are credited with their face value except the court cards, which are considered to be worth 10 points each. Aces are treated a little differently and are deemed to be worth either 1 or 11 depending on your playing preference. If, through bad-luck or poor math, your hand total adds up to greater than 21 you are deemed to have ‘Bust’ and so you lose the hand and your initial bet is forfeited. The game is literally as simple as that – at least the basics of playing are! After you have received your first two cards you just keep on asking the dealer for another card until such time that you decide you either obtain the magic 21 pip total or are as close to it as you think are going to get. At this point you `Stand’.
Then the dealer peels off one card after another onto his pile until he reaches 17 when he has either beaten you or has gone `Bust’. If at this stage his total is the same as the players a stalemate arises and both hands are forfeited. This is called a `Push’ and the bet is returned to the player.
Now that you know the basics let’s take a look at a very simple game.

Game Example 1
Every hand of Blackjack starts with the player offering his or her bet. Lets make this $2.00 for the sake of argument (typically most online Casinos play in US Dollars but don’t let this put you off if you live outside America – I’ll explain about currencies later on). For this bet the dealer will then place down in front of you your first card (face up), then deal them one card (also face up). He or she will then deal you, the player, a second card (also face up) and then finally themselves a second card (face down this time). You are now looking at four cards on the table – three faced up and one faced down.
Now the player will count the pip values of their two cards. Say they had a 2 and an 8 they would have a pip total of 10 – a long way from the targeted 21 but as we shall see a good hand nevertheless. At this point the player has two options. The first is to decide whether to `Twist’ – to ask for a third card and hope that they will get nearer the 21 total, or to `Stick’ – refuse the offer of any more cards for that particular round.
In this case the total of 10 is pretty low and one would normally ask for a second card. Remember the
highest value card that you can have is 11 (Ace) so the player cannot bust at this point.
So the dealer hands over a third card to the player. In this particular game it turns out to be a King that means that the player’s hand totals 20. Most sensible players would hold at this point – the odds of an Ace (in its role as a value 1) coming up next are just too remote to make the risk acceptable. So the player suspends his play at this point and allows the dealers to respond. The dealers’ job now is to reach that magical 21 value themselves. However the job is made considerably difficult because they have to beat the player’s 20. Thus only a total of 21 will do to win the game. A hand of
value 19 or less will mean a loss whilst 20 will at least nullify the hand and result in a draw.
So off they go. The dealers exposed card is a 6, they then reveal that a second facedown card as an 8 which leaves them a total of 14. Obviously a third card is needed so they turn one over. This is a 2, which brings the total to 16 – still not enough so they try for a fourth card. This happens to be a 10 and the dealer is `Bust’ with the mammoth total of 26. The player wins the hand, has his or her original $2 bet returned to them along with the same amount again making $4 in total! Most winnings are paid on a 2:1 ratio – though there are a few exceptions, as we shall see later on. So that is it – simplicity itself!

Game Example 2
Lets take a look at second game. In the first instance the player has a King (which is value 10 remember) and a 7. The suit type is of no consequence in Blackjack. This total of 17 is high enough for the player to `Stand’. However the dealer also has a court card – namely a Knave and on exposure of his second we see that it is a 10. Thus his total of 20 is higher than the players of 17 so he takes the bet and closes the hand.

Game Example 3
There is one two-card combination that radically changes the results of any game. This is referred to as a `Blackjack‘ and consists of the combination of any ten or court card and an Ace. Together they add up to 21. When a player gets a `Blackjack‘ he or she will automatically win the hand and likewise when the dealer gets this combination they win the hand. The fun part is that a BJ pays out higher odds to a player of 3:2 rather than the more normal 2:1.

Game Example 4
Occasionally you find in an initial deal that you are handed a pair – that is to say two cards of the same value (e.g., two 2s. two 5s, two Aces etc.). How you treat these depends very much on several playing factors. However in many cases you will decide that the best response is to `Split’ in which you take each card and use it to create two new hands. At the same time the software will automatically double your initial bet so you are risking a higher wager.
This can be an important consideration when deciding whether to split or not. Let’s create an example to illustrate my point. The dealer has dealt you two 8s and you decide to split them.
You now have two completely new hands on the table in front of you – each with an 8 to start from. The dealer will then deal another card face up onto one 8 and then a second card onto the second 8.
Now this is where things get a little complex. There seems to be no set rules on how the casino software will respond. Having placed a second card on top of each of your two split cards some will automatically complete your game at this stage and move onto the dealers move. Some casinos only do this on split Aces.
Some casinos allow you the regular `Hit or Stand’ options and some even allow you to split for a second time (thereby creating three hands of cards). You will just have to play the casino for a little while in order to get to grips with its subtleties.
It’s now the dealers turn. They complete their hands as usual but the total that they reach is compared against each of your split pairs individually. This means that you can either lose both your hands to a higher total, win one and lose one or win them both. It’s a risking business splitting pairs as you can see so only certain pairings are recommended for splitting.

A Summary
In those four game examples you have now experienced the very basics to playing Blackjack. The game rules governing certain aspects of play can differ from one online casino to another (as indeed they do at offline casinos). Indeed they can also vary from one continent to another with European Blackjack being quite different to the typical game found at US casinos. When playing Blackjack online it is crucial to find the best odds (more on that later). Some good sites are suggested in the Appendix.

In the next chapter we’ll take a look at what you need to get started in a Blackjack career

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