In this Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast episode, host Justin Vacula demonstrates playing multi-hand Blackjack Surrender on BetMGM in Pennsylvania.
With an initial bankroll of $400 sourced through a Game On gift card using a credit card, Justin explains the benefits of using such cards for online betting.
He walks through basic blackjack strategies using a strategy card to minimize the house edge, discusses the importance of practicing off-table, and emphasizes financial strategies for maximizing rewards points and cashback from credit card purchases.
Justin also addresses new players’ concerns about potential losses while highlighting the long-term benefits of this approach. The episode serves as both an instructional guide and an encouraging message for those interested in gambling and credit card rewards.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction and Setup
01:11 Blackjack Strategy and Rules
03:23 Live Blackjack Playthrough
18:24 Session Summary and Conclusion
Show notes:
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Rough Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hello, everyone. Justin Vukula here with the Herdy Gerdy Travel Podcast here for another Blackjack video, a live demonstration of play on BetMGM, Pennsylvania. I’m here to play multi hand Blackjack Surrender. I’ve loaded my account with 400, as you can see in the center left here, and I’m going to play through this money one time as I used a Game On gift card.
This is a gift card that’s found at multiple retailers, including grocery stores. I’m able to use my American express personal gold card to buy this game on gift card at Weiss supermarkets in my area or Weiss markets in my area. And I’m getting Weiss rewards that I’m using for groceries. So I’m purchasing game on with credit.
I’m paying a small activation fee, typically five 95, and I’m getting back four X membership rewards and grocery rewards. Many other places will sell cards like this. We can also source cards at [00:01:00] staples fee free mastercard gift cards when promotions are running various other prepaid cards that can be purchased to source or to load to bet MGM.
We’re going to play through the money. We’re playing blackjack as we see a strategy card on the right hand side of the screen. Perfect basic strategy cuts the casino’s edge to a mere half percent. We’re going to give up a half percent on the base game, but on the acquisition side, we’re going to come out ahead.
Sometimes there are also site bonuses where if you deposit you get bonuses, if you play get bonuses. BetMGM hasn’t been generous with those for me, but for others you might get certain bonuses. So here with the 400 in the account, we’re aiming to play through exactly once. So we’re going to look here in the click counter.
We’re going to play five dollar units. We can put a 5 unit here. So to play through a 5 units, we’re going to have to play through 80 units, not necessarily 80 [00:02:00] hands, as we’ll talk about this in, I’ll talk about this in the video where sometimes we’re going to be splitting or doubling, which is additional bets.
So we’re just going to keep track of how much we’re playing, play through the funds once, and then withdraw our money. So here we have blackjack paying three to two. It’s the rules we’re looking for. Dealer must stand on 17, all 17s must draw on 16, and we’re just ignoring insurance. It’s a sucker side bet in most situations.
So 5 unit, we’re aiming to play through 80 units. As we have 20 units will get us through 100.
So 20 times for America loves math. 880 units here. All right. 20 times. Okay. All right. Well, I’ll cut that part out. We need 20 units for 100. So 20 times 4 is 80. And we’ll play through our 80 units. So let’s get to it. We’re going to look [00:03:00] at the strategy chart as we play to make the correct decisions.
After practicing a lot off table, I can do this really, really fast. And I’m usually playing more than 5 a hand, but for purposes of this video, I’m just going to play the 5 hands to get more examples in to get through this 400. And I usually play multi hand as well, but for more focus, we’ll just do one at a time.
So let’s get to it. We’ll deal. And we’re moving the click counter down by one, So we have 11, the dealer has 10. You wouldn’t look at the hard total. So a hard total is we don’t have an ACE in our hand on the first two cards. Here, 11 doubles against everything. So double is we put up an additional unit. We get one card, one card only, and we get 21.
The dealer’s 21. So this is a push. We both had the same amount here. So onto the next hand, we have 16. The dealer has four. We look at the hard totals. Once again, 16 versus four is a stand. I would think that [00:04:00] most listeners are familiar with blackjack. You might not know the basic strategy. You might not have played this a lot, but yeah, the dealer is just drawing cards here until they get to 17.
If the dealer busts and we still have a hand, we win. If we beat the dealer, then we win. You’ll see examples of how this works. Next hand, another unit. We have six versus nine, so that’s gonna be a hit. We could look at the chart. Eight and below is a hit, so we’re never just gonna stand on a six. We can’t bust.
If we take another card, we go from six to 16, 16 versus nine. Look at the hard totals. That’s going to be a hit. If we had a 16 on the first two cards, a hard 16. We’re going to surrender as we see this table. So surrender. means take back half of your bet and you forfeit the hand. But here we can’t surrender on the third card.
The surrender option is grayed out. So 16 versus nine is going to be a hit. We bust, we lose onto the next hand. Another click on [00:05:00] the click counter 14 versus 10. Look at the chart. 14 versus 10 is a hit 19 versus 10. So if we have a 17 or above hard total, we’re just going to So it’s just following the chart, understanding how this works.
You want to practice off table. I’m going to click off that. I don’t believe that’s eligible for blackjack. You’re just going to follow the table as you play. But again, just practice before so you know what you’re doing and what all this means. 16 versus 4. 16 versus 4 is stand. And the dealer wins that hand with 17.
Next hand, move the click counter. Take care. 15 versus 10. So this is surrenders. I talked about earlier, 15 versus dealer 10 is a surrender. So we forfeit the hand and take back half our bet. So it shows we got two 50 back out of the 5 ACE three versus, okay, well the dealer is blackjack, so we just lose [00:06:00] 19 versus eight.
So again, hard 17 and above just stands next hand. We have 18 versus two. Similar situation here. Dealer bus, we win. We have nine versus five. So this is going to be a double scenario. You can look at the chart. Nine will double against dealer three through six and the dealer has a five. So that’s a double.
We move the click counter for another unit. We have 19 and the dealer bus. So we win 16 versus 10. That’s another surrender. Next, another click counter. Blackjack, we win. Always nice. 16 versus Ace. Another surrender. Next hand. Another blackjack. We win. Next hand. Another blackjack. We win. Is that the fourth [00:07:00] blackjack?
This is, this is good. 16 versus 3. Look at the chart. We stand. We stand. Dealer 18. That one’s a loser. Ace eight versus nine. So you can look at the soft totals. Ace eight is going to stand against everything except for dealer six. We’re going to double. It’s very good for us. When the dealer has a six, the dealer is going to bust a lot.
Ace eight versus nine, though, is a stand. We win. Next click counter. Ace three versus ace. Look at the soft totals. Ace three versus ace is a hit. So now we have ace three and two, it shows six or 16. The ace counts as one or 11. But when thinking about the basic strategy, I add the lower numbers. So ace three plus two, I think of this as ace five.
So ace five versus ace, we look in the chart. Ace five versus ace is a hit. [00:08:00] So now we got a 10. So the ace must count is one and showing here that we have a 16, 16 versus ace. We can’t surrender. So we hit and we get 21 for a winner. Next hand eight versus five. It’s going to be a hit. Eight will hit against everything.
We’re not doubling on eight against the dealer. Six. That’s some more advanced counting strategies. We’re not doing that here. We’re just playing basic strategy. 12 versus five is going to be a stand. Um, skip that 12 versus five is a stand. We win that hand. Another click on the click counter 18. So that’s a hard 18.
So that’s going to stand next 16 versus nine. Another surrender 16 versus dealer nine surrenders next will be 18 versus three. So hard 17 and above are going to stand. Next hand next [00:09:00] click counter 17 again is going to stand hard. 17 stands next hand. You get the patterns of this after a while. Again, hard 19.
That’s just going to be a stand, not paying attention to much about what is happening in the hand for the dealer winning. I’m just looking at that first card, just trying to get through this money. I’m playing slowly for purposes of the video and explaining things, but when I’m not recording, I’m just going through this quickly.
Okay. I’m playing multiple hands at the same time and I’m increasing the betting level. So here we have seven versus three. That’s going to be a hit. Now we have 12 versus three. Look at the chart. 12 will hit against dealer two and three. 12 is going to stand against dealer four through six. So 12 versus three is a hit and we get 21 next hand.
Next click counter 13 versus 10 is going to be a hit. We can look here. 13 versus 10 Is a hit and we have hard 18. So we stand [00:10:00] hard 17 and above. We’ll stand 17 again. We’ll stand so easy decisions on many of these hands. 13 versus 4 is going to be a stand 13 versus 4. We’re just following the chart dealer bus.
We win 8 versus 9 is a hit. 8 is hitting 11 versus 9. Usually this would double. But we’re not permitted to double after the first two cards. It’s grayed out over here. So we’re hitting 16 versus nine. It’s going to be a hit in this situation. And we bust next hand 20, 20. We’ll stand 17, hard 17 and above.
It’s going to stand 14 versus 10. It’s going to be a hit, not a good hand for us. 14 versus 10, but we hit and we bust. Next hand, it’s going to be nine versus 10. The dealer is blackjack. We just lose, uh, 13 versus six. It’s going to be a stand to look [00:11:00] at these like middling hands. 13 through 16 is going to stand against a lot of the dealer.
Low cards, 13 versus six is a stand. The dealer is going to bust a lot. And the B the dealer does 20 stands. Click counter still going 20 again is going to stand. We’re running well in this session. Another blackjack. So we’re at 440. We started at 400 15 versus four is going to be a stand next hand 12 versus five.
That’s another stand. Look at the chart. 12 versus 512 is going to stand against four or five and six. The dealer was going to bust a lot. Unfortunately, the dealer gets an 18. We have 14 versus 4. Another stand. 14 versus 4. It’s a big yellow block in the chart. And the dealer busts. Good for us. Click counter again.
19 [00:12:00] stands. Click counter again. We have 9 versus Ace. 9 versus Ace. 9 is going to hit. 16 versus Ace. In this situation, we’re hitting. We get 21. The wins continue. 20 will stand. All right. That’s another winner, 11, 11, always doubles 11 is doubling against all cards, even the dealer ACE. So we moved the click counter and another winner we’re on a roll here, 13 versus six.
Another stand 13 is going to stand against six. Just reference the chart dealer boss 17 stands. Wow. If we can get up to 500 here, that’d be. Very interesting for video 17 versus four stand hard. 17 will stand. All right. 13 versus eight. It’s going to be hit [00:13:00] 13 versus eight. Look at the chart. That’s a hit.
As you practice this, you will know it very quickly. 12 versus six is a stand 12 versus six on the chart and the dealer gets a 17. Dealers winning a few hands here. 11 versus 411 always doubles. We move the click counter down. As you see, there are some ups and downs in this. We’re not going to win every session.
We’re not going to break even every session, but betting 5 a hand, I don’t think this is going to be money. That’s going to negatively impact your life in a significant way. Assuming that you have money behind, you’re financially responsible all as well. We’re sourcing these cards again at an advantage, loading the funds to the site, playing through one time and withdrawing.
So don’t get discouraged about the ups and downs of it all, as it’s the cost of liquidation. All right. That’s a loser. The [00:14:00] dealer is blackjack. Nine versus five. That’s going to be a double. Look at the chart. Nine versus five is a double. Dealer wins. Alright, 16 versus 10, another surrender. Next, 20 always stands.
Okay, next, 14 versus 10 is going to be a hit. 14 versus 10, look at the chart once again. 16 versus 10 in this situation, multiple cards we’re going to hit. And we improve to 20. Better than busting. All right. Um, take pushes when we can 12 versus ACE. It’s going to be a hit 16 versus ACE multiple cards. It’s going to be a hit.
We bust again. We’re on a losing streak here as we’re down to four 22, 18 versus eight is going [00:15:00] to be a stand hard 18. And the dealer gets 19 and we have 19, 19 versus three. That’s going to be a stand. All 19s are going to stand here. Hard 19s are going to stand 20 versus six is a stand next hand. Next click counter 12 versus seven is a hit 16 versus 718 18 stands against seven next hand 14 remaining blackjack.
We win. Next hand 13 versus 10 is going to be a hit. Look here, 13 versus 10 hits 23. We bust next hand 11, 11 always doubles a 21 again. I don’t think we’re going to get up to 500 here, but we’re looking in good shape as we’re at four 45, we start with 400, 18 versus 10 is going to be a stand dealer bust next [00:16:00] hand.
Six versus two is going to be a hit. The low numbers 16 versus two is a stand. I don’t think we’ve had any split hands. We have this split table and we haven’t used it. So maybe we can get one of those in this session. Nine versus seven. So this one’s a hit nine is going to double against a lot of these lower cards, but seven, it stops at nine is going to double against three, four, five, and six.
So this is a hit 16 versus seven, 16, not a good hand for us either, but it is a hit. We bust next hand, seven more units, 10 versus ACE. That’s going to be a hit. We’re not doubling 10 versus ACE, but we are doubling 10 verse two through nine. So we’re hitting, we improved to 19. So 19 stands the dealer must stand on 17.
So we win 10 versus two. It’s going to be a double. 10 is going to double against dealer two through [00:17:00] nine. So it’s another unit. So it’s showing here. We’ve been logged in for 15 minutes. Amount wager in your session is 375. It should say wagered. So I’m really up on the click counter here as there are five more units of five.
So I’ve accurately kept track of my play. Always good. 11 versus 10, 11 always doubles. That’s another click counter, another 21. So we’re up to 470. We started with 400 approaching that 500, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. 17 versus two hard 17 stands dealer bus next hand 15 versus four is going to be a stand 15 versus four consult the chart.
All right. And the dealer gets 21 and this should be our last hand. Now we’re down to zero on the click counter. If we were [00:18:00] to have to double or split in this final hand, even though the click counter is at zero, we’re still going to do it because it’s better expected value. When we have opportunities to double and split, we’re going to do it.
We have hard 17 versus nine. We’re standing on 17s and we end the session at 465. We started with 400, we ended up at 65. On this session, so thanks for tuning in. If you have any questions about how this works, chime in in the comments. I’d like to hear from you if you’ve done this, if you’ve been playing blackjack with prepaid cards, gift cards, and more.
I’d also like to hear about your experience if you’re new to this. Hopefully this can be motivating as it could be intimidating to new people. People who are new to gambling, people who are already in miles and points, but they’re hesitant about this. Oh, I don’t like losing. Oh, what if I lose money? Well, there are going to be ups and downs, but in the long run, we’re going to be ahead.
That’s what we’re concerned about. We get to liquidate from home. We get to get more [00:19:00] credit card spend in. It’s a nice opportunity here in Pennsylvania, also in New Jersey, Michigan, and some others that might have table games online. So once again, Justin Vakula from the Herdy Gerdy Travel Podcast. Thanks for tuning in.
Stay tuned for more Blackjack videos and more traditional podcast episodes.