With the Tableau customer conference fast approaching I thought a blackjack visualization was appropriate. If you play blackjack using basic strategy (hitting, standing, doubling, etc. depending on the cards showing) you can minimize your losses over time. However, short of card counting or cheating, the house always has the advantage, although slight – typically in the 0.2 to 0.8% range. The advantage is affected by the rules for that table – number of decks, the dealer having to stand on soft 17 and so on.
Therefore, given a minimum you want to bet, some tables and casinos will offer better deal. I found a list of blackjack tables with the house advantage calculated at the excellent Wizard of Odds site. I used this list with permission to generate the interactive visualization below. Hover over the top right button for more information on how to interact with it.
Disclaimer: Don’t be suing me when you’ve lost your money and the house advantage was wrong…
