The slots operators are threatening to sue

Just as we all used to follow the form of horses - think the Great Depression and the success of Seabiscuit to see we all love a champion - the latest form book covers the race among US states to balance their budgets. Of course, everyone has been focussing on California with Arnold Schwarzenegger leading the charge to the winning post on getting the budget signed into law. He has enough strength for arm twisting and 'gator wrassling to bulldoze the bill through. But Pennsylvania is just as interesting with the Governor's office matching California's use of IOUs by refusing to pay funds to the four state universities. Probably someone somewhere is running a book on which US state will be the first to declare itself bankrupt. These would be the front runners among an alarming number of states lacking initial prudence and the political will to raise taxes, to cut spending, or both.

Anyway, the real point of interest in Pennsylvania is the growing threat of litigation from the group of license holders who run slot machines. When the licenses were first issued, the state sold maximum exclusivity for a high fee (that's $50 million a license). The enabling law is very clear. No other gambling outlet will be allowed to compete directly with the market for slot machines. At the time, this looked a good deal for both sides. Gambling was a popular activity and the state benefited from a generous input to its finances. Fast forward and the recession has forced people to cut back on their discretionary spending. This means less money to spend on trips to gamble. Ironically, the casino operators to benefit from this have been online. Had it not been for the changes in the law making it difficult to move money into and out of the online casino accounts, they would have cleaned up. So this leaves the current license holders under pressure with building work on some of the proposed casino and resort sites put on hold. While the government finds an expanding black hole eating up its cash reserves as tax revenue falls. The state's answer is proposals to increase the number of slot machines allowed in the existing resorts and to license new resorts. To the existing license holders, this looks like plans to allow direct competition from new operators. They are up in arms with their attorneys slavering on the end of a short leash, just waiting for the chance to sue.

There's no doubt slots still represents a pot of gold for both the license holders and the state. The machines are still a big draw even though the recession is biting hard. But this plan looks like an expansion too far. The average spend has dropped. If the state increases the number of machines, this will only spread the same amount of money around more machines. It's not going to increase the size of the spend. This leaves the state with a growing hole in its accounts and the existing license holders with a good case in contract and constitutional law. With the online casinos introducing new slots games every month and keeping up player interest, this is no time to be fighting over a reducing market in the real world.

The basic strategy and doubling down

There's a sad fact about playing in a casino, whether real or virtual. The operators have worked out how to play the games on offer and set the odds to favor themselves. After all, if the majority did not lose, there would be no money to pay out all the money you win. Needless to say, the casinos have invested time and money into working out every possible variation on the rules and the ways to play under them. So, if you are going to take on the House edge, you have to become as big an expert on the rules as the operators. So let's start with one of the more interesting rules which decides when you are allowed to double down. This applies when you have received your two cards. If you decide you are going to draw only one more card, the casino rules can allow you to double your initial bet. The different possibilities are to double:

• on any card combination;


• only when the two cards total 9, 10 or 11; or


• after splitting.

Why should you double your bet? The answer is deceptively simple. You double the bet when you think you are going to beat the Dealer. That really does make sense. But because you are suddenly investing more money in playing the game and have more to lose, you need to get on board with the math. You need to know the frequency with which the Dealer is likely to go bust based on the card you can see. If the Dealer's card suggests a bust is probable, i.e. the Dealer's hand is weak, you double the bet when you have a strong hand. You are maximizing the chance of making a good profit on the hand. If you build the doubling rule into your basic strategy, you reduce the House edge. If you refuse to play the doubling rule, the House edge actually increases. This is not to claim you will win every hand when you double down. If you are on a losing streak, you could lose every doubled bet for the session. But, in the long term, you will win more than you lose if you double. If you hesitate to double the bet, it suggests you are outside your comfort zone and already playing for higher stakes than you can afford.
At the blackjack table, the Dealer is weakest when showing a card in the range 2 through 6. With a 2, the bust percentage is 35%. It rises to a 42% chance of busting with a 5 or 6. Your hand is strongest if the two card total is less than 11. Do not be thrown off the basic strategy by the casinos that allow you to add less than the original bet. Blackjack is a game for winners. Never give up the chance to double and take the maximum win against the Dealer. Adding a few dollars to the original bet but not doubling is half-hearted and cowardly.

The first steps to a basic strategy

The game is one of the simplest ever invented. The rules are few and there's no physical effort involved in playing it. You just sit, look at a few cards and make your bets. That's probably why it's become one of the most popular casino games of all time. Of course everyone knows the House has an edge. That's how it pays all the expenses for running the casino. Remember it makes no difference whether this is a casino in the real world or online. You still need people and a base. So common sense tells you that no-one beats the House unless they invest some effort. Put another way: if everyone could beat the House without breaking sweat, the casino would go out of business in a day. This produces the headline: no pain, no gain. You have to put in some study time to master the basic strategy.
So what is this strategy? Over the years, some serious math types did all the work for you. They calculated the best way to play all the card combinations and wrote them down in simple charts. If you were going to play in a real casino, you would have to learn all these rules. That saves you having to pause before every decision to check the charts. Not only would the other players around the table be less than impressed, the casino would probably suggest you leave. But playing online changes all that. You can consult the charts as often as you like before deciding which card to play. It may be slow but, if you get the strategy right for every hand, you just shifted the odds in your favor.
So what are these charts? The first gives you the rules on when to split a pair. The strategy changes depending on the value of the cards dealt to you and the value of the card you can see the Dealer holding. So it starts with the rule that you split a pair of aces no matter what the Dealer holds, and goes down to the choices when you hold a pair of 2s. The other two charts deal with hard hands and soft hands. A hard hand is when neither card is an ace and the strategy changes significantly depending on the card held by the Dealer and the table rules on when the Dealer must stand or draw. A soft hand contains an ace and is easier to play because you can always draw one more card without busting - this takes some of the pressure off the play. I started off by saying blackjack is an easy game but, like all games, you can play for fun or you can take it seriously and play to win. In this case, you are more likely to win if you learn the charts and can play the strategy without thinking. To really take on the House edge, you also have to become a card counter but that's a whole new story because it does not work in a virtual casino. For now, focus on the basic strategy and start your winning blackjack career.