Red Dead Redemption 2 is the latest video game to go wrong with blackjack

Video games are void in blackjack.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a convenient target, being the most recent and prominent delinquent. But video game blackjack has never been done to my memory. And that's because every game has a wrong central element: the key to blackjack, which makes it interesting, is the bet. Not the rules.

So let's talk about these rules first, absolute basics of blackjack. How each card works, what is the purpose, how a typical hand flows.

The goal of blackjack is to get a deck of cards whose sum is equal to 21. Less than that does not matter. More than that is a bust – a lost hand. Numbered cards, 2 to 10, count as the number printed on the card. Figures also count as 10. Can be a 1 or 11, depending on your choice. So, if you have a 9-card and two Aces, you have an Ace: 21: 9 + 11. That's great.

At the beginning of a hand, you get two cards and home two cards. Your cards are both visible, but you can only see one of the cards in the house. When it's your turn (putting aside advanced strategies for a moment), you can choose to hit (take another card) or stay (end of your turn).

Once you are standing, it is the turn of the house to get up or hit. They do not make that decision themselves; it's dictated by the cards that they hold. You win a hand if the house goes bankrupt or if the house is forced to stay on a lower number than the total of your own card.

Now that you know the rules, let's see how blackjack is played in practice.

When you sit down to play blackjack, the only person you play against is the dealer, who represents the house. Everyone around the table influences the way the cards fall – if someone just before you touches and gets the ace you need, it's an Ace less in the deck that could possibly fall – but this is not the enemy.

When you play blackjack, the card of a house that you can see has as much influence on what you do as the cards you own. The dealer always goes after each player's turn, but your decision to touch or stay is entirely based on how the rules of the house work. Knowing how these rules work is the real key to winning.

It's pretty simple: if the house has a total of 16 or less, the dealer must hit. Once this total is equal to or greater than 17, the dealer must remain standing. The only thing that happens here is when the house has a "soft 17", which is an ace and an 8. Most casinos require the dealer that he hits a soft 17 and then continues to play under the same rule "stand on 17 or above".

Every time you play blackjack, you assume that the card you can not see is probably a 10. It's a matter of luck. There are 52 cards in the deck, but when you take all the face cards, 16 cards in total have a value of 10. This is against four for each card.

The dealer is the only person against whom you play blackjack.

Let's think about it now in practical terms. Forget your hand for a second. If the dealer's visible card is a 6, you proceed as if she had a 16 – which means that when it's her turn, they have to hit. If the visible map is a 7, they probably have 17 – an automatic support.

Your decision to hit or stay is based on the same hypothesis. You can (and should) touch your total hands at any time, the sum of all cards, is equal to or less than 11. Once the total of your hands exceeds 11, it all depends on what the dealer has.

If you see that the house has a 7, an 8, a 9 or a 10, you want to keep hitting until the total of your hands is at least higher than the visible map plus 10. If you see a 7, you assume that it is a 17. and keep hitting until you are 18 or older (or you go bankrupt). But if you see, for example, a 6 or a 5, you will want to stand up as soon as the total of your hand is greater than 11.

At this point, you bet that the dealer will go bankrupt. If the house has a 16 and must hit, it is likely that she will draw a 10. In the case of a 16 specifically, any card higher than a 5 (except the l & # 39; as) will be a failure for the dealer. So, if the dealer displays a 6, you want to stay upright even if you only have one 12.

It is worth highlighting a special case. If the house shows a 2 or 3 and you have a 12, most professionals will tell you to hit. In this case, only a 10 (or 9 if you have 13) will prevent you from falling into this situation. This is also the case in which you cover the odds a bit and say "OK, the dealer may not have a 10 hidden here".

There are other advanced strategies, like doubling or splitting your hand, but I will not get into all of this here. It is good to understand these subtleties of the rules if you want to be serious about blackjack play, but they are not relevant to this discussion. (Learn more here.)

We now come to the heart of what makes blackjack an interesting table game: the game.

Red Dead Redemption 2Blackjack (and, in fact, all versions of video games I've encountered) insists on "online betting". You deposit money, you play the hand, you double what you bet if you win. When the next hand starts, you bet the same amount and keep playing that way.

It's a viable blackjack strategy in terms of calculating and calculating probabilities. It's also ridiculously boring and slow. Fortunately, this is not the only option. Enter progressive bets.

With this approach, the amount you bet in each hand depends on the amount you have won or lost in the previous hand. There are a multitude of ways to do it, but I will share the strategy that has always worked for me. This does not mean that I have never lost. it's just a reflection of how well I've managed to play the odds.

With progressive bets, the amount you bet is influenced by your win or loss in the previous hand.

Start with the minimum setting of the table. Let's say it's $ 5. You bet that. You win. Now you have $ 10, double your initial bet. Let it ride. You win again, bringing your total to $ 20. At this point, withdraw € 5 and bet € 15. Whether you win or lose that next hand, recovering your $ 5 initial value means that you have already reached the breakeven point and are betting fully with "earned" money.

The way you bet from this moment depends on your conservative or aggressive attitude as a player. If I win this third hand, the $ 15 bet doubles at $ 30 and I personally get back $ 10. So now I have a $ 20 bet on the table – $ 5 more than the previous bet – and I added $ 10 of my winnings to what I put in the bank.

The goal of blackjack, at least in my playing style, is to stay afloat and bet conservatively until I pass what is called a "race", a consecutive series. winning hands. Once I have passed the start of two consecutive winning hands (that is, once I have paid my initial bet), I do not risk anything in each successive hand.

In a more aggressive strategy, you can only recover $ 5 and bet $ 25 on the fourth hand. You increase your winnings more slowly by leaving more money earned on the table to be played. But, as your journey continues, you also develop this stack much faster.

The details vary from one strategy to the other. My approach is definitely more conservative, aiming to keep me in the game longer until I can hopefully run. As I said, there is no sure way to win. That's what works for me.

The problem in Red Dead and other games: When you win a hand, these winnings go directly into your main money reserve. It focuses on straight line betting because there is only one figure to keep: the amount you bet on each hand. If you want to make a progressive bet, you must manually set the bet of the next hand each time.

It's easy to follow the start of a race, but it gets more and more complicated as your winning streak lengthens. There is no complete accounting on the screen of what you have bet and what you have won, so everything comes down to following the calculations in your head.

The frustrating thing is that this is a problem that can be solved! All the video games I've encountered deal with blackjack in the same way: win or lose, your bet is reset at least once the hand is over.

Instead, these games should be more representative of how it would work in a casino. When you win a $ 5 bet, the dealer puts $ 5 more into the space where your bet was placed. It is then up to you to leave the money or withdraw it at your leisure.

That's what blackjack of video games has to do. Leave my money on the table, let me decide how much to bet next according to how much I have just won. This would make virtual blackjack much more interesting and consistent with the way things tend to work in a real casino.

Is blackjack just a minor part of Red Dead Redemption 2, something that no one should engage with and that many players will probably not? Sure! But it bothers me for a long time, as a player. And if a game can solve this problem, it's Red Dead.