Always follow through on blackjack hands
I'm going to tell you right up front that about 95 percent of the blackjack players don't play proper basic strategy with their hands -- although they think they do. If they only played proper basic and nothing else, they'd have a mere ½ percent disadvantage against the house. That's the long-range equivalent of falling one bet behind every 200 hands.
Sadly, the typical experienced blackjack veteran makes enough mistakes with his hands to triple that house edge all the way up to 1½ percent. This he does by not doubling or hitting his soft 18's when he's supposed to, not hitting his 12's enough, not splitting 9's, and so on.
But even when a player has his initial basic strategy down pat, he may still pad that tiny ½ percent house edge by repeating some very subtle mistakes. What are they? They're the mistake of not following through with every hand. Here's one classic example.
Not Re-Splitting: Everybody knows you're always supposed to split a pair of 8's - no matter what the dealer has up. So say you're a knowledgeable basic strategy player and you're dealt the following hand:
DEALER
10/?
YOU
8/8
You hate your hand, but you know what the book says. So you grit your teeth and split those 8's. Now you catch a third 8! Whataya' gonna' do?
Well, every time you split and re-pair, you face the same situation you had a second ago. You can either play this new 16, or split it into two more hands of 8 each. If breaking up the first 16 was the most cost-efficient play (and it was), then splitting this new pair is the best move again!
You may not like the revolting situation you've fallen into, but like it or not, you're in it -- and re-splitting is always the most efficient way out, long term.
So whenever you split and re-pair, whether it's 9's against a 6, or 8's against a face, follow all the way through and keep on splitting. Your bankroll will do better in the long run.
Forgetting to double: Not following through strikes in other forms as well. Take a look at this scenario:
DEALER
4/?
YOU
7\2 7\8 7\6
You start out with a pair of 7's against a 4 up, and split them -- a profitable move. But on your first 7, you catch a 6 and stand with 13. On your second 7, you buy third 7 and re-split, then catch an 8 on your second hand, standing disgustedly with 15. Now on your third 7, you catch a deuce, giving you a total of 9. Don't you dare pass up that double down!
Never let the fact that you already have two bad hands slow you down one iota! Would you rather save that extra bet for your next blind hand? Heck no! This is the one where you have a definite edge -- right now!
Next up is probably the most common form of not following through on your hands. It's called:
Multi-Card Brain Lock: Suppose you're dealt an Ace/2 against the dealer's face-card. You hit and catch another Ace, so you hit again, buying a 3, then take a third hit catching yet another Ace. Now the situation looks like this:
DEALER
10/?
YOU
A/2-A-3-A
When you see you've finally reached 18, you're probably so relieved that you'll instinctively wave the dealer off. But you must hit a soft 18 against a dealer's 9, 10 or Ace! Don't let these unexpected developments catch you off guard. Stay alert and never soft up on your discipline!