So we lost power for a few hours tonight, and we just had a little radio tuned to the sports radio station I listen to, and a battery powered lamp. then the degen in me suggested, lets play some blackjack, only using a strat card i bought at the Rio last WSOP.

It's decent -- but it doesn't address betting at all -- just things like when to  DD, Spilt, when to hit, Stand. . .etc. of course all depending on what the dealer is showing.

Anyone  have betting Strats?

I don't play a lot of Black jack -- cause frankly I suck at it. but getting better -- and tonight even helped reinforce some strat -- but it seems like betting has to be the key in actually getting an edge.

I just wanna get better for down times between poker in Vegas.  cause I can't stand slot machines.

no we have something like that (I'll post it), more like a decent betting strat.

So you're looking for bet sizing strategies?  I mistook what you said to mean that your card didn't show when to double/split/surrender, only hit or stand.

The thing is, there's really not any good way of fluctuating bets when you play blackjack unless you're card-counting.  Some people have ideas (like the Martingale system, for example; where basically you always start with the minimum bet and double it when you lose until you win), but there's no way of maximizing your return by bet sizing alone.

Now if you want to count cards, that can be done relatively easily with certain systems like the one I use.  All you need is to basically be able to keep a running total in your head, and bet according to that total.  I'll post that in a thread here in a bit.

One other thing;  if you're looking for things to do in your Vegas downtime, there's a table game called Pai-Gow poker you may be interested in.  It's very low variance as far as table games go, so you can kill a lot of time without losing much.  Of course, you won't gain much, either, and there's no way to beat the house edge unless you want to bank on your turns.

That's exactly why I suggested Pai Gow.  Table games are terribly weighted toward the house (albeit not so bad as slots).  But pai-gow has a very slight house edge for two reasons:

1.  you can play house style and only be at a 5% disadvantage on payout, and
2.  Paigow by its nature pushes (tying with the dealer and having your bet returned) nearly half the time, and if you understand the game, you can often play for a push if your hand isn't good enough to win both hands.

It will take a bit of education to play the game well, but if you bone up on it and practice on some free casino site, you can be quite ready for it.