What Does EV Mean in Blackjack?

In blackjack, EV is short for expected value. The expected value is the average amount of money that you can expect to win or lose on a given bet. For example, if you bet $5 on a blackjack hand and the odds of winning are 1 in 4, your expected value is $5 x (1/4) – $5 x (3/4) = -$1.25.

This means that, on average, you can expect to lose $1.25 on every $5 bet that you make.

The expected value is important because it helps you to determine whether a bet is worth making. If the expected value is positive, then the bet is worth making because you can expect to make money on it in the long run.

If the expected value is negative, then the bet is not worth making because you can expect to lose money on it in the long run.

There are a few things to keep in mind when calculating the expected value of a bet:

The odds of winning or losing must be known in order to calculate the expected value.

The expected value only applies in the long run. In the short run, anything can happen and the actual results may be very different from the expected value.

The size of the potential win or loss must be considered when calculating the expected value. A bet with a small potential win but a large potential loss will have a different expected value than a bet with a large potential win and a small potential loss.

The expected value can be positive, negative, or zero. A positive expected value means that you can expect to make money on the bet in the long run.

A negative expected value means that you can expect to lose money on the bet in the long run. A zero expected value means that you can expect to break even on the bet in the long run.