Players like blackjack because they have some control over the decisions – hit or stick – and when you play it right there’s less than a 1 percent house advantage. Each casino is slightly different, and some game options help the players, others help the house.

When blackjack begins Sunday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the casino will have an advantage of only 0.43 percent (if players use perfect strategy), based on computations gleaned from blackjack expert Henry Tamburin, editor of the Blackjack Insider Newsletter (www.bjinsider.com), and American Casino Guide publisher Steve Bourie.

Here’s how the Hard Rock rules variations work out:

“Soft 17”
When a dealer has “soft 17,” such as an ace and a six, they have usually been required to stick – even though players should hit when they have a soft 17. But about five years ago, casinos along the Las Vegas strip began mimicking those in downtown Las Vegas and hit soft 17. (An ace, 2, 3 or 4 improves you to 18, 19, 20 or 21. A 5-6-7-8 or 9 gives you a total of 12 to 16, so you take another card. Face cards merely put you back at 17.) The house picks up a 0.2 percent advantage when it hits soft 17.
Hard Rock will: Stick on soft 17

A blackjack: pay 6-to-5 or 3-to-2?
About 80 percent of casinos pay 3-to-2: for example, a player wins $30 when making a blackjack on a $20 bet. Houses that pay only 6-to-5 would pay out only $24, and pick up an extra 1.4 percent advantage.
Hard Rock will: Pay 3-to-2.

Doubling downWhen dealers have a 4, 5 or 6 up, they’re likely to bust. You can take advantage of that if you are not in danger of busting yourself (i.e., hold an 11 or lower) by doubling down. Some places restrict doubling down to only 10s or 11s (another 10 gives you a 20 or 21, so it’s the best time to make the play). Others let you double on any two cards, for a 0.2 percent player advantage. (Except blackjack; you can't double on that.)

Hard Rock will: Allow doubles on any two cards.

Splitting cards
If you have two aces, for example, you can break them up into two likely winning hands. Almost every casino lets you split pairs. The questions come afterward: can you double down after splitting pairs and can you resplit the pairs? Both options add up to about a 0.5 percent player advantage.
Hard Rock will: Allow you to split into up to four hands and double every hand except aces (which you get only one card after splitting, like every other casino does).

Six-deck shoes, eight-deck shoes
A six-deck shoe of cards helps players because there is a greater chance for a run of low cards to be used early. And when many low cards are used up early, some players increase their bets because the more 10s in a deck, the greater the chance for a blackjack, or for the dealer to bust. An eight-deck shoe is a 0.03 house advantage over a six-deck shoe.
Hard Rock will: Use eight decks at most areas, six decks at the high-limit area.

Surrender
When players think they are beat (such as when they’re on 16 and the dealer has an ace up), they can surrender half the bet. It’s a 0.06 player advantage.
Hard Rock will: Not allow surrenders.

Tamburin offers a free three-month trial subscription to his electronic Blackjack Insider newsletter. Go to www.bjinsider.com/freetrial, and type in your name and email address.

The site also has the 600 blackjack articles in archived newsletters that are on the site (www.bjinsider.com).