How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour
- How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour Per
- How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour Today
- How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hours
- How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour Chart
I can't speak from experience but when speaking to the owner of a local poker room about compensation for employment, he quoted average hands per hour from a skilled dealer at 28-32 playing 9-handed NLHE at the stakes you're talking about (a bit higher, his were $2/$5). A down is the length of a single dealer's break, basically. The real money online casino world How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour depends on bonuses to attract and retain players. With no physical location and no way to see the player face to face, a casino must find a compelling reason for you to make a deposit to try out their games, and the most common way to do so is How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour to How Many Blackjack Hands. Still, I was curious if you could give me a rough approximation of how many decisions per hour an individual can expect at a mostly-full craps table and a blackjack table with both a hand shuffle and machine shuffle. This would help me estimate my expected loss per hour and weigh it against the comps I am being offered. These hand values typically lose but basic Blackjack strategy can help you. If you are dealt 3 consecutive hands, there is only a 14% chance that you will lose all three. The dealer busts 28% of the time but often wins when busting, while players using basic Blackjack strategy bust just 16% of the time.
This means the shoe will be dealt deeper by the time you have to play your last hand of the shoe. In the six-player game, we can expect 38 cards to be dealt after two rounds (2.7 cards per average blackjack hand, times 7.1 average hands/round, times two rounds).
One of the most interesting aspects of blackjack is the
probability math involved. It’s more complicated than other
games. In fact, it’s easier for computer programs to calculate
blackjack probability by running billions of simulated hands
than it is to calculate the massive number of possible outcomes.
This page takes a look at how blackjack probability works. It
also includes sections on the odds in various blackjack
situations you might encounter.
An Introduction to Probability
Probability is the branch of mathematics that deals with the
likelihood of events. When a meteorologist estimates a 50%
chance of rain on Tuesday, there’s more than meteorology at
work. There’s also math.
Probability is also the branch of math that governs gambling.
After all, what is gambling besides placing bets on various
events? When you can analyze the payoff of the bet in relation
to the odds of winning, you can determine whether or not a bet
is a long term winner or loser.
The Probability Formula
The basic formula for probability is simple. You divide the
number of ways something can happen by the total possible number
of events.
Here are three examples.
Example 1:You want to determine the probability of getting heads when
you flip a coin. You only have one way of getting heads, but
there are two possible outcomes—heads or tails. So the
probability of getting heads is 1/2.
You want to determine the probability of rolling a 6 on a
standard die. You have one possible way of rolling a six, but
there are six possible results. Your probability of rolling a
six is 1/6.
You want to determine the probability of drawing the ace of
spades out of a deck of cards. There’s only one ace of spades in
a deck of cards, but there are 52 cards total. Your probability
of drawing the ace of spades is 1/52.
A probability is always a number between 0 and 1. An event
with a probability of 0 will never happen. An event with a
probability of 1 will always happen.
Here are three more examples.
Example 4:You want to know the probability of rolling a seven on a
single die. There is no seven, so there are zero ways for this
to happen out of six possible results. 0/6 = 0.
You want to know the probability of drawing a joker out of a
deck of cards with no joker in it. There are zero jokers and 52
possible cards to draw. 0/52 = 0.
You have a two headed coin. Your probability of getting heads
is 100%. You have two possible outcomes, and both of them are
heads, which is 2/2 = 1.
A fraction is just one way of expressing a probability,
though. You can also express fractions as a decimal or a
percentage. So 1/2 is the same as 0.5 and 50%.
You probably remember how to convert a fraction into a
decimal or a percentage from junior high school math, though.
Expressing a Probability in Odds Format
The more interesting and useful way to express probability is
in odds format. When you’re expressing a probability as odds,
you compare the number of ways it can’t happen with the number
of ways it can happen.
Here are a couple of examples of this.
Example 1:You want to express your chances of rolling a six on a six
sided die in odds format. There are five ways to get something
other than a six, and only one way to get a six, so the odds are
5 to 1.
You want to express the odds of drawing an ace of spades out
a deck of cards. 51 of those cards are something else, but one
of those cards is the ace, so the odds are 51 to 1.
Odds become useful when you compare them with payouts on
bets. True odds are when a bet pays off at the same rate as its
probability.
Here’s an example of true odds:
You and your buddy are playing a simple gambling game you
made up. He bets a dollar on every roll of a single die, and he
gets to guess a number. If he’s right, you pay him $5. If he’s
wrong, he pays you $1.
Since the odds of him winning are 5 to 1, and the payoff is
also 5 to 1, you’re playing a game with true odds. In the long
run, you’ll both break even. In the short run, of course,
anything can happen.
Probability and Expected Value
One of the truisms about probability is that the greater the
number of trials, the closer you’ll get to the expected results.
If you changed the equation slightly, you could play this
game at a profit. Suppose you only paid him $4 every time he
won. You’d have him at an advantage, wouldn’t you?
- He’d win an average of $4 once every six rolls
- But he’d lose an average of $5 on every six rolls
- This gives him a net loss of $1 for every six rolls.
You can reduce that to how much he expects to lose on every
single roll by dividing $1 by 6. You’ll get 16.67 cents.
On the other hand, if you paid him $7 every time he won, he’d
have an advantage over you. He’d still lose more often than he’d
win. But his winnings would be large enough to compensate for
those 5 losses and then some.
The difference between the payout odds on a bet and the true
odds is where every casino in the world makes its money. The
only bet in the casino which offers a true odds payout is the
odds bet in craps, and you have to make a bet at a disadvantage
before you can place that bet.
Here’s an actual example of how odds work in a casino. A
roulette wheel has 38 numbers on it. Your odds of picking the
correct number are therefore 37 to 1. A bet on a single number
in roulette only pays off at 35 to 1.
You can also look at the odds of multiple events occurring.
The operative words in these situations are “and” and “or”.
- If you want to know the probability of A happening AND
of B happening, you multiply the probabilities. - If you want to know the probability of A happening OR of
B happening, you add the probabilities together.
Here are some examples of how that works.
Example 1:You want to know the probability that you’ll draw an ace of
spades AND then draw the jack of spades. The probability of
drawing the ace of spades is 1/52. The probability of then
drawing the jack of spades is 1/51. (That’s not a typo—you
already drew the ace of spades, so you only have 51 cards left
in the deck.)
The probability of drawing those 2 cards in that order is
1/52 X 1/51, or 1/2652.
You want to know the probability that you’ll get a blackjack.
That’s easily calculated, but it varies based on how many decks
are being used. For this example, we’ll use one deck.
To get a blackjack, you need either an ace-ten combination,
or a ten-ace combination. Order doesn’t matter, because either
will have the same chance of happening.
Your probability of getting an ace on your first card is
4/52. You have four aces in the deck, and you have 52 total
cards. That reduces down to 1/13.
Your probability of getting a ten on your second card is
16/51. There are 16 cards in the deck with a value of ten; four
each of a jack, queen, king, and ten.
So your probability of being dealt an ace and then a 10 is
1/13 X 16/51, or 16/663.
The probability of being dealt a 10 and then an ace is also
16/663.
You want to know if one or the other is going to happen, so
you add the two probabilities together.
16/663 + 16/663 = 32/663.
That translates to approximately 0.0483, or 4.83%. That’s
about 5%, which is about 1 in 20.
You’re playing in a single deck blackjack game, and you’ve
seen 4 hands against the dealer. In all 4 of those hands, no ace
or 10 has appeared. You’ve seen a total of 24 cards.
What is your probability of getting a blackjack now?
Your probability of getting an ace is now 4/28, or 1/7.
(There are only 28 cards left in the deck.)
Your probability of getting a 10 is now 16/27.
Your probability of getting an ace and then a 10 is 1/7 X
16/27, or 16/189.
Again, you could get a blackjack by getting an ace and a ten
or by getting a ten and then an ace, so you add the two
probabilities together.
16/189 + 16/189 = 32/189
Your chance of getting a blackjack is now 16.9%.
This last example demonstrates why counting cards works. The
deck has a memory of sorts. If you track the ratio of aces and
tens to the low cards in the deck, you can tell when you’re more
likely to be dealt a blackjack.
Since that hand pays out at 3 to 2 instead of even money,
you’ll raise your bet in these situations.
The House Edge
The house edge is a related concept. It’s a calculation of
your expected value in relation to the amount of your bet.
Here’s an example.
5%.
Expected value is just the average amount of money you’ll win
or lose on a bet over a huge number of trials.
Using a simple example from earlier, let’s suppose you are a
12 year old entrepreneur, and you open a small casino on the
street corner. You allow your customers to roll a six sided die
and guess which result they’ll get. They have to bet a dollar,
and they get a $4 win if they’re right with their guess.
Over every six trials, the probability is that you’ll win
five bets and lose one bet. You win $5 and lose $4 for a net win
of $1 for every 6 bets.
Your house edge is 16.67% for this game.
The expected value of that $1 bet, for the customer, is about
84 cents. The expected value of each of those bets–for you–is
$1.16.
That’s how the casino does the math on all its casino games,
and the casino makes sure that the house edge is always in their
favor.
With blackjack, calculating this house edge is harder. After
all, you have to keep up with the expected value for every
situation and then add those together. Luckily, this is easy
enough to do with a computer. We’d hate to have to work it out
with a pencil and paper, though.
What does the house edge for blackjack amount to, then?
It depends on the game and the rules variations in place. It
also depends on the quality of your decisions. If you play
perfectly in every situation—making the move with the highest
possible expected value—then the house edge is usually between
0.5% and 1%.
If you just guess at what the correct play is in every
situation, you can add between 2% and 4% to that number. Even
for the gambler who ignores basic strategy, blackjack is one of
the best games in the casino.
Expected Hourly Loss and/or Win
You can use this information to estimate how much money
you’re liable to lose or win per hour in the casino. Of course,
this expected hourly win or loss rate is an average over a long
period of time. Over any small number of sessions, your results
will vary wildly from the expectation.
Here’s an example of how that calculation works.
- You are a perfect basic strategy player in a game with a
0.5% house edge. - You’re playing for $100 per hand, and you’re averaging
50 hands per hour. - You’re putting $5,000 into action each hour ($100 x 50).
- 0.5% of $5,000 is $25.
- You’re expected (mathematically) to lose $25 per hour.
Here’s another example that assumes you’re a skilled card
counter.
- You’re able to count cards well enough to get a 1% edge
over the casino. - You’re playing the same 50 hands per hour at $100 per
hand. - Again, you’re putting $5,000 into action each hour ($100
x $50). - 1% of $5,000 is $50.
- Now, instead of losing $25/hour, you’re winning $50 per
hour.
Effects of Different Rules on the House Edge
The conditions under which you play blackjack affect the
house edge. For example, the more decks in play, the higher the
house edge. If the dealer hits a soft 17 instead of standing,
the house edge goes up. Getting paid 6 to 5 instead of 3 to 2
for a blackjack also increases the house edge.
Luckily, we know the effect each of these changes has on the
house edge. Using this information, we can make educated
decisions about which games to play and which games to avoid.
Here’s a table with some of the effects of various rule
conditions.
| Rules Variation | Effect on House Edge |
|---|---|
| 6 to 5 payout on a natural instead of the stand 3 to 2 payout | +1.3% |
| Not having the option to surrender | +0.08% |
| 8 decks instead of 1 deck | +0.61% |
| Dealer hits a soft 17 instead of standing | +0.21% |
| Player is not allowed to double after splitting | +0.14% |
| Player is only allowed to double with a total of 10 or 11 | +0.18% |
| Player isn’t allowed to re-split aces | +0.07% |
| Player isn’t allow to hit split aces | +0.18% |
These are just some examples. There are multiple rules
variations you can find, some of which are so dramatic that the
game gets a different name entirely. Examples include Spanish 21
and Double Exposure.
The composition of the deck affects the house edge, too. We
touched on this earlier when discussing how card counting works.
But we can go into more detail here.
Every card that is removed from the deck moves the house edge
up or down on the subsequent hands. This might not make sense
initially, but think about it. If you removed all the aces from
the deck, it would be impossible to get a 3 to 2 payout on a
blackjack. That would increase the house edge significantly,
wouldn’t it?
Here’s the effect on the house edge when you remove a card of
a certain rank from the deck.
| Card Rank | Effect on House Edge When Removed |
|---|---|
| 2 | -0.40% |
| 3 | -0.43% |
| 4 | -0.52% |
| 5 | -0.67% |
| 6 | -0.45% |
| 7 | -0.30% |
| 8 | -0.01% |
| 9 | +0.15% |
| 10 | +0.51% |
| A | +0.59% |
These percentages are based on a single deck. If you’re
playing in a game with multiple decks, the effect of the removal
of each card is diluted by the number of decks in play.
Looking at these numbers is telling, especially when you
compare these percentages with the values given to the cards
when counting. The low cards (2-6) have the most dramatic effect
on the house edge. That’s why almost all counting systems assign
a value to each of them. The middle cards (7-9) have a much
smaller effect. Then the high cards, aces and tens, also have a
large effect.
The most important cards are the aces and the fives. Each of
those cards is worth over 0.5% to the house edge. That’s why the
simplest card counting system, the ace-five count, only tracks
those two ranks. They’re that powerful.
You can also look at the probability that a dealer will bust
based on her up card. This provides some insight into how basic
strategy decisions work.
| Dealer’s Up Card | Percentage Chance Dealer Will Bust |
|---|---|
| 2 | 35.30% |
| 3 | 37.56% |
| 4 | 40.28% |
| 5 | 42.89% |
| 6 | 42.08% |
| 7 | 25.99% |
| 8 | 23.86% |
| 9 | 23.34% |
| 10 | 21.43% |
| A | 11.65% |
Perceptive readers will notice a big jump in the probability
of a dealer busting between the numbers six and seven. They’ll
also notice a similar division on most basic strategy charts.
Players generally stand more often when the dealer has a six or
lower showing. That’s because the dealer has a significantly
greater chance of going bust.
Summary and Further Reading
Odds and probability in blackjack is a subject with endless
ramifications. The most important concepts to understand are how
to calculate probability, how to understand expected value, and
how to quantify the house edge. Understanding the underlying
probabilities in the game makes learning basic strategy and card
counting techniques easier.
For instance:
Typically you will get dealt about 75 hands per hour in online poker at a 9-max table and 90 hands per hour at a 6-max table. In fast fold online poker games like Zoom, Zone or Snap you will usually get dealt around 200-250 hands per hour.
The number of hands you are dealt per hour can have a big impact on your overall profit because as a winning poker player more hands equals more money.
The number of hands per hour in online poker is also very important when figuring out your rakeback or how long it will take to clear any bonuses.
How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour Per
Hands Per Hour Live Poker Versus Online Poker
Now the first thing to note is that if you come from a live poker background (casino or home games), then the speed of online poker is going to be immediately noticeable to you.
Even the slowest online poker games will deal much faster than the average live poker game, usually around 3 times faster.
It is common in most live poker games to only see 25 or 30 hands per hour.
This is indeed why many people coming over from live poker to internet poker have a hard time adjusting. In fact many of them even think that online poker is rigged!
The reality is that online poker just deals much faster than live poker due to everything being automated. This means that you are going to see far more hands and therefore far more bad beats.
Going from live poker to online poker is kind of like switching from your Toyota Corolla to a Ferrari. It's going to feel very different at first. You just aren't going to be used to the speed yet.
Full Ring Versus 6-max
Another important consideration with how many hands per hour you will get in online poker is if you are playing full ring or 6-max.
Full ring (9 players) is a game that plays a fair bit slower than 6-max due to there being 3 more people at the table.
Most poker sites display this information right in the lobby by the way. Here for instance is a random selection of NL10 6-max tables on PokerStars with the hands per hour statistics.
You can always expect around a 25% increase in the number of hands that you are going to see per hour if you switch from full ring over to 6-max.
In general I have found that you get about 75 hands per hour at a full ring poker table and 90 hands per hour at a 6-max poker table.
Keep in mind though that if you play super low stakes like NL2 or NL5, where there are more recreational players playing a lot of hands, then these numbers may be lower.
And if you play ultra-short hands tables (3 or 4 people) or heads up (2 people), then you are going to see even more hands. Less people equals more hands per hour.
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Zoom Poker Hands Per Hour
Now in fast fold poker games like Zoom, Zone or Snap poker you can expect to see a large increase in the number of hands dealt per hour.
And this is due to the fast fold button allowing everybody to quickly throw away every hand that they don't want to play and be moved on to the next table and the next hand.
In a regular poker game you of course cannot do this. You have to wait for the entire hand to be played out every time even if you are not involved at all (folded preflop).
So in Zoom poker games you can expect to see anywhere between 200 and 250 hands per hour on average. Again, if you play 6-max it will be on the higher end of this range.
This by the way is between 8 and 10 times as many hands as you will see in a live poker game. And if you multi-table, then you can double or triple these numbers.
This is why if you are switching over from live poker to online poker I would suggest staying away from Zoom poker at first. It is going to be way too fast for you.
If you decide to play Zoom though, here is a video I made showing you how to beat 2cent/5cent:
But my suggestion is still to start at the regular tables. It will be a much smoother transition.
And when and if you want to try Zoom poker make sure you check out my complete Zoom poker strategy guide as well for even more.
Hands Per Hour for a Professional Online Poker Player
Now whether you choose to play full ring, 6-max or Zoom, these hands per hour numbers are very important especially if you are a professional poker player.
When I used to play poker professionally full time I would always shoot for daily target hand numbers. Typically for me as somebody who liked to play a large amount of tables I would aim for at least 3k hands a day and 10k hands maximum.
Since I was playing as many as 30 tables at a time I could do some simple math to find out how long this would take me.
How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour Today
For Example:How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hours
I want to play 3k poker hands in one day. Well if I play 11 tables of 6-max poker then this should take me almost exactly 3 hours.Because once again, a regular 6-max table deals around 90 hands per hour. 90 x 11 tables = 990 hands per hour. 990 x 3 hours = 2970 hands.
The reason why these numbers are also important is because depending on the poker site you play on, they will have a big impact on how much rakeback you get or how fast you clear bonuses.
Since Zoom poker deals the fastest of any poker game on earth basically you can imagine why this is the personal favorite of many full time heavy volume online poker pros.
Final Thoughts
The number of hands per hour that you will see in online poker depends heavily upon what table type you play, full ring or 6-max.
And if you play fast fold style games like Zoom poker then this will also have a large impact on how many hands you get.
It is important to remember though that it is the quality of your decisions that is going to have the biggest impact on your success in online poker.
So you need to make sure that you are never playing an amount of hands that feels like too much or forces you to rush your decisions.
This is going to be different for everybody so you need to experiment and find that sweet spot for you.
How Many Blackjack Hands Are Dealt Per Hour Chart
Lastly, if you want to know the exact poker strategies that I use to make $1000+ per month at the poker tables as a 10 year pro, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.Let me know in the comments how many hands per hour are you getting on your poker tables.