I got hired into dealer school and i’m on my day 3. The thing I have most trouble with is blackjack payouts 2-1,4-1,20-1, 1000-1 odds.
Example: if a player bets on the bonus circle say $25, and if 2 of the same kind equal 20(like K,Q, 10,K, then that player gets 4-1, which is $100.
Example: if a players bets on the bnus circle say $25, and 2 queens hit, then it’s 40-1. How do you figure out the amount i’m suppose to give the player with the $25 bet?
Another thing is breaking numbers down in half.
Example: If player bets $50 and has blackjack, then I’m supposed to pay him $75, cuz w/e the player wins, they get half of that bet as well when they have blackjack.
My problem is I cannot do huge numbers like $465, $314, $75 and break it in half. I’m slow as fuck. I was wondering if there any mathematician on here who could give me some shortcuts that are effective to do these big numbers without having to stand there for 3-4 minutes and then come up with an amount. Its fucking embarassing. Thx in advance.
The latter half, IIRC, is they round up. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a casino. It may be a case where they round up for dealer rakes in poker and down for player payments, but I think it’s round up all the way. So 465/2 232.5 (if your casino doesn’t have $0.50 tokens or chips, it would be $233 you pay back)
Those strange numbers are always going to give you problems. Just have to practice mental math and get it down to an art.
A few tips from me on those strange numbers:
If the middle number is even and have a number that’s not zero at the end, then the last number of the half will ALWAYS be 1, 2, 3, or 4.
If the middle number is odd in the same condition, the last number will always be 6, 7, 8, 9.
If the middle number is odd and the last number is zero, then the last number will ALWAYS be 5.
The blackjack is easy. Stack whatever they bet into one pile of chips. Split that in half, and then put another one there.
Example #1 Player bets $30
That’s 6 $5 chips.
Divide that into two stacks of 3
Then put another stack of the same size out there.
That’s 3 stacks of 15 which = 45
Let the chips do the work for you.
Example #2. Player bets $25
Put out 5 $5 chips.
That’s obviously uneven.
Make change for the $5 chip such that it will split in half.
Now you’ve got two stacks of 12.50
Then just put a third stack up there
The other quicker (possibly better depending on how you think) way to do it is as follows
Put out the 5$5 chips.
put two chips in one stack, two in another and the remaining chip on top strattling both stacks
Now you’ll need to put out two more $5 chips to match the stacks of two, and half of the $5 chip strattling the top.
The other is pretty easy when you think about it as well
You have to pay out the following:2-1,4-1,20-1, 1000-1
2 - 1 one is easy. Just match the stack with an equivalent stack
4 - 1 same thing, just do it twice.
20 to one is a bit tougher since you don’t want to make 20 stacks, but multiplication by 20 is fairly simple. Just double the amount, and put a zero behind it.
So 417 x 2 = 834. After that stick a zero on it and you get 8340. Or you can say 417+417 = 834 Basically if you can multiply by 2, or add a number to itself then you can multiply by 20
Finally for 1000 - 1 that’s the easiest of them all. Whatever number they bet just put 3 zeros on the end.
465 isn’t a huge number. 465^(465) is a huge number.
Anyways,
to mentally break numbers in half, you break it up into the sum of “nicer” even numbers. For instance
$314 = $300 + $14. So half of $300 is $150 and half of $14 is $7. So half of $314 is $157.
If your number is odd, then reduce it by one to make it even, do what we just did, then add an extra 50 cents at the end of the process (since half of $1 is 0.50).
So $75 = $74 + $1 Half of $70 is $35 and half of $4 is $2. So half of $74 is $35 + $2 = $37. Then add the extra .50 cents to get $37.50.
As another example, $465 = $400 + $65 = $400 + $64 + $1 Half of $400 is $200, half of $64 is $32, So half of $464 is $200 + $32 or $232. So half of $465 is $232.50
If it was $464, you could also break it up into $460 + $4. Then half of $460 is $230 and half of $4 is $2, giving us $232.
If a number ends in 0, like $220, then since zero divided by any number us just zero, you just concern yourself with half of 22, which is 11, and then tack on a zero, so half of $220 is $110.
This is the basic idea. There is no shortcut in terms of being familiar with certain numbers or basic multiplication tables up to 20 (yes that’s twice as many as you were supposed to have learned). If you find yourselfIf you want to be thorough, make flashcards with what 21, 22, 23, 24, … , 249, and 250 is, memorize those well, and then use that as a foundation for what I discussed above.
If you go to your local library, there are also books you can find on calculating numbers “faster.” For example, with two digit numbers, the basic idea is to first multiply both numbers in the ones column, “cross multiply” the digits of the product and add the sum, then multiply both of the tens digits together. If the result of any of these operations is greater than 9, you “carry” that number and add it to the result of the next operation.
12*13:
23 is 6 <— ones digit
13 + 21 = 5 <-- tens digit
11 is 1 <— hundreds digit
so 12*13 is 156
96*32:
62 is 12 = 10 + 2. 2 is the ones digit. Carry the 1
92 + 63 = 36. Add the one you carried to get 37 = 30 + 7. So the tens digit is 7. Carry the 3.
93 = 27. Add the three you carried to get 27+3 = 30.
So 96*32 is 3072.
The only drawback is that you get the number in reverse. It’s probably no faster or better to most people than the usual method, but for something like 12*13 where you don’t have to carry any digits (with this method I have demonstrated), it might make it easier to do in your head, albeit probably no easier than the usual method.
If you want to learn more, here’s a primer
There’s also something called the Trachtenburg system, but that involves abandoning the basic multiplication algorithm you were taught in grade school. I’ll put it up here just for fun
Jeez christ, all those numbers… I’ll try every examples and see which one is easiest for me.
I just bought 5 stack of chips and a deck of cards to practice stacking n shuffling n truffle n shit.
My bro used to be a casino dealer and he said doing blackjack payouts is easy, no matter the fucking amount, he can do any. He said one of the top manager hates him cuz he’s too good n was cocky. Now he tell me not to act cocky if i know something. So far, I ask a ton and try to do what they tell me.
This shit is stressful though. I thought it was easy but nu uh. I gotta wake up at 6 every day and stay for 8 hours. god damn. I hope it pays off…
Well after a while you’ll start to memorize certain bet amounts anyway. If you stay at tables with the same minimum bet you’ll see a lot of the same bet sizes, and same payouts and it’ll be more about memory than it is math.
^ No. It’s not that hard to spot card counters. So far they said to watch the players betting patterns. if you bet $5, 5, 5, 5, and then $500 then all cameras and eyes are on your ass. Dealers wont call you out but they will signal n verbally tell the floor people without you knowing. I don’t know if i should even be telling you this shit but w/e.
Only simple things someone else has told me for BJ is to take the paltry amount away then add it on as part of the BJ after you have taken care of the larger, now much easier portion. Or in some cases for larger numbers, round it up and remember how much a BJ pays then take it away for the total winning bet,
So you have say…a BJ of 5975 - you turn it into 6000, do the usual BJ math to convert to 9000, then take away a BJ of 25 (37.50) for your bet total…so you are left with 8962.50.
A lot of it is down to memory as well as having a decent understanding of maths. If you can recognize certain payouts all the time, it should reduce the time for crunching numbers. Find a method that is easy for you and stick with it.
I guess it is kind of good to work with large numbers because if you get tests on it when applying for work elsewhere, they will ask for an assortment of payouts
All about Roulette and Punto/Baccarat payouts though. Finding out methods and what-not makes the expreience much more interesting.
