Blackjack offers casino gamblers some of the best odds in the casino, especially if you’re a blackjack player who understands the game’s strategy. Blackjack players who win more than they lose combine an understanding of statistics with betting strategy and card counting to turn this classic casino table game into a profitable evening of entertainment.
Besides rigorous practice and experience playing blackjack, there are some things you can do to increase your profitability at the blackjack table. Follow these eight tips and you will be well on your way to winning at the blackjack table.
You need to memorize two things to be successful in blackjack—the rules of the game (including table rules) and the best blackjack strategies for each card you’re dealt. The basic rules of the game are easy to learn. Casinos add their own rules to limit players’ chances of success or to limit their winnings. Your bets after you win a hand of blackjack. In other words, you trigger this system after you win - and cut it once you lose. This way, you won't lose all your money at once. Once again, this blackjack strategy is based on the idea that winnings come in streaks. Also, it gives you a systematic approach to your bets. BLACKJACK TIP #1. PLAY ONLY GAMES WITH LIBERAL PLAYING RULES. Scout the blackjack tables to find the most liberal playing rules. Play only on tables where a blackjack pays 3-2 (and avoid all games where the payoff is 6 to 5 blackjack, or worse, even money). Other liberal rules are the dealer stands on soft 17, players can double down on any two cards, and doubling after pair splitting is allowed. Here are the full rules of the game. Blackjack may be played with one to eight decks of 52-card decks. Aces may be counted as 1 or 11 points, 2 to 9 according to pip value, and tens and face cards count as ten points. The value of a hand is the sum of the point values of the individual cards. Spanish 21 provides players with many liberal blackjack rules, such as doubling down any number of cards (with the option to rescue, or surrender only one wager to the house), payout bonuses for five or more card 21s, 6–7–8 21s, 7–7–7 21s, late surrender, and player blackjacks always winning and player 21s always winning, at the cost of.
1. Memorize Basic Blackjack Strategy
Casinos sell strategy cards in the gift shop, but if you don’t want to shell out a couple of bucks, there are endless blackjack strategy charts you can find for free online. Do a little research and look for a chart that you like, one that is put together by a reputable source and that you find easy to read.
Blackjack / 21 Basic Rules. When a hand has an Ace in it, for example Ace and 5, it can be either 16 or a 6, because an Ace can be called 11 or 1, the choice is yours. When an Ace is in a hand, it is called a Soft Hand. With just 4 aces in a deck of cards, most hands are of Hard Hands. For instance, you may get a $25 no deposit bonus with a 30x wagering requirement. This means you will have to wager a total of $750 – 30 times $25 – to cashout basic rules to win at blackjack the maximum cap winning amount.
Now memorize that strategy chart. These charts offer the mathematically best possible play for any blackjack game situation. You can look at any combination of your point total and the dealer’s upcard, and these strategy charts will tell you the play that offers the best percentage chance to win.
2. Don’t Fall for Betting Strategies
It is smart to form your own betting style. This means figuring out how much you can afford to gamble and when you increase and decrease your wagers. This kind of betting strategy is smart.
The betting strategies that you should ignore use your past performance to determine how you should bet. These strategies circulate in email spam and on gambling forums online, and indicate that increasing and decreasing your bets based on a win or a loss will mean you never lose at the blackjack table. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and money if you ignore betting strategies that break the basic laws of gambling math. The cards don’t know if you’ve just lost or just won, so determining your wager based on past wins and losses is downright foolish.
On the other hand, if you can count cards, you’ll be raising and lowering your bets based on whether or not you have an advantage. In that case, you are affecting your potential win rate or loss rate by raising or lowering your bet sizes.
3. Learn the Rules of the Game
We’re not just talking about the basic game play rules for blackjack—every time you approach a blackjack table you should make sure you know the rules of the table. Some blackjack games offer small rule changes and tweaks to alter the way the game works, so familiarize yourself with the most popular rule variations before you hit the blackjack tables in Vegas.
An example of rule variations: outside of Atlantic City, some blackjack games offer a 6-5 payoff on a blackjack, instead of the more common 3-2 payoff. The 6-5 payoff is a much better deal for the casino. If you see a 6:5 payoff table, avoid it at all costs.
4. Have Confidence
Confidence is important in most life situations: going on a date, handling a job interview, and placing bets at a casino. The dealer in a game of blackjack is limited by the dealer’s rules. You aren’t limited, which gives you a definite advantage over the casino. This advantage should give you confidence, which should, in turn, mean better decision-making.
5. Study Card Counting
Card counting is the best legal way to gain a big advantage over the House. Card counting is completely legal, and though it requires a lot of study and practice, it turns the game of blackjack into a positive expectation game, meaning card counters actually have the edge over the casino.
Counting cards is nothing more than a way to figure out how much or how little to wager. Card counters keep track of how many different valued cards are in the shoe and how many have already been played, and place bets based on the quality of the shoe. Card counters say that anyone can learn the most basic card counting method and put it in practice at the blackjack table with about 40 hours of training and practice. Those 40 hours could mean hundreds of dollars for your blackjack bankroll.
6. Study, Study, Study
Make sure the books on blackjack that you choose to read are written by people who know what they’re talking about. You can buy eBooks about blackjack online for 99 cents, but most of the time you’re going to get bad information or details on blackjack you could find for free elsewhere.
There are two books that every student of blackjack should read and learn from: Blackjack Secrets by Stanford Wong and Blackjack: The Real Deal by J. Phillip Vogel. Stanford Wong is famous because one of his techniques is specifically banned in most casinos (the mid-shoe entry), while J. Phillip Vogel is pretty much a regular Joe who found success playing blackjack. Both are excellent for people new to the game or those who have the basic rules and strategy down but want a little extra help.
7. Don’t Get Drunk
Casinos are known to ply gamblers with free drinks, and most people associate casino gambling with getting drunk. But numbing your mind with spirits or drugs will make you a worse blackjack player.
Online gamblers, with easy access to their personal stash and liquor cabinet, have proven this to be true. And if you’ve ever been on a little hot streak at the blackjack table, you know how quickly a free whiskey sour shows up at your elbow. Casinos do this for a reason–they want you a few drinks in to a bender, so your gambling instincts are slowed and you give some of that money back.
You can always hit the bar after a successful gambling session, so if you feel like it’s time to tie one on, cash in and stay away from the blackjack table.
8. Watch Your Bankroll
Part of knowing when to quit is preparing some bankroll strategy before you hit the casino. Set aside a certain amount for gambling, and when you’ve hit your maximum losses or maximum winnings, step away from the table. All gambling sessions have peaks and valley, so make sure and build in a certain amount of flexibility to your bankroll, but don’t let it be so flexible that you lose your shirt.
A blackjack player who follows all eight of these hints should find themselves winning more often at the blackjack table than a gambler who doesn’t. There is a huge advantage in learning basic blackjack strategy, keeping a running card count in your head, so follow the eight guidelines above and turn your blackjack gaming into a more profitable enterprise.
It’s mathematically impossible for either the house or the player to always win at the game of blackjack if both are playing a perfect game. It also comes down to how you interpret the phrase “always win.”
Is it possible to win every hand in blackjack without cheating? No, not even if the other player makes the worst choice on every hand (hitting on anything other than a 21). If both players draw 21, the push negates any win or loss.
By that reasoning alone, a cheater would have to control the deal to prevent the other player from ever drawing a blackjack.
For the sake of reasonable discussion, I’ll interpret “always win” to mean “leave the table with more money than you took in.” I still can’t offer any guarantees, but the following strategies improve your chances of always leaving the table a winner.
1 – Set a Hard Limit on Earnings
Although card counting doesn’t perform the magic people expect, as you become more experienced at counting cards you should see some improvement in your win/loss ratios. This is why, despite all the precautions they take, casinos still pay attention to card counters.
Even if you don’t count cards and only rely on “perfect play,” once you’re ahead in the game, you now have to protect your winnings.
The basic idea in good gambling practice is to only risk losing money you don’t mind losing. If you really want to get ahead, then your thinking should become more conservative as you accumulate more money.
Rather than change your playing strategy, which is why you’re ahead, just call it quits before you’ve won too much.
How much is too much? If the pit boss is paying unusual attention to your table, that could be a sign you should take a break.
2 – Practice Every Chance You Get
Some of the best blackjack experts in the world say they ran through memory exercises for months before taking on the Vegas casinos.
You need to memorize two things to be successful in blackjack—the rules of the game (including table rules) and the best blackjack strategies for each card you’re dealt.
The basic rules of the game are easy to learn. Casinos add their own rules to limit players’ chances of success or to limit their winnings. The change from 3:2 payouts to 6:5 payouts is an example of how casinos are limiting winnings.
Whether you play free online blackjack games or practice with a partner who flashes index cards at you, the more you practice, the better you’ll become.
You need to react instinctively to the cards on the table. You need to know what you can do and what you should do in every situation.
You won’t get there by losing your money for months or years on end.
3 – Pick Your Tables Carefully
Because casinos have changed many of the old school blackjack rules, standard advice that people followed 10, 15, or 20 years ago doesn’t always apply any more. The old classic blackjack strategy books were great resources in their days, but the world has changed.
Choosing the best blackjack table may be easy. You could walk into a casino that still offers the basic game. You may have to visit a few casinos in your area to find the best game.
Because finding a good table is so hard, some players now prefer playing online blackjack games. They can choose from a variety of casinos, and because of the competition, online casinos offer a lot of different blackjack variations.
When you know the table rules you want to play by, they become part of your strategy as much as part of the house’s strategy.
4 – Bet in Consistent Patterns
Standard card counting technique says you should increase your bets when the deck is favorable. Because everyone shares this advice in books, video tutorials, and articles, it’s not a secret to the casinos.
Varying your bets when the cards are favorable may lead to the unfavorable reaction by the casino—they shuffle the cards.
Although many card counters still swear by the practice, they concede it’s much harder to win this way than in years past. The solo player is less likely to win much money over all than a team.
Instead of trying to win as much as a team wins, be more consistent in your betting. A little bit of subtlety in your patterns may give you the psychological boost you need to keep playing.
How can you be consistent and subtle?
5 – Only Play When the Crowd Is Small
This is more a matter of personal preference. But having spent some time at the blackjack tables, I find it disruptive when people constantly come and go.
That is the exact reason why I stopped trying to count cards.
Whether you prefer to count cards or not, it’s easier to focus on the game without distraction. The more people join the game, the more likely there will be chatter.
If you want to socialize, then chat away if the other players are willing to do that. But if your goal is to win, then treat the game like it’s your job. Do the work when you have the fewest distractions.
If you’re a regular high roller, you might be able to request a private table. And this is another reason why some people prefer to play online blackjack over a game in a casino. Whether it’s a live dealer table or a computer game, if you have the table to yourself, you can play without distractions.
6 – Ignore the Extras in the Game
You might be tempted to play a progressive blackjack game or to take insurance. I’ve done both, but in the long run, these game options just suck your money away from you.
The casino throws in extra options to make the game more interesting, but they’re also after your money.
Surrendering is a borderline practice. If you have the option of surrendering, some experts recommend you only do this when the cards are clearly against you.
Some casinos require late surrender, meaning you must wait for the dealer to check for a blackjack in her hand. Some games allow early surrender where you can forfeit based on the cards you see in your hand and the dealer’s face card.
Some surrender articles speak in terms of probabilities.
Should you really sit there and compute the probabilities on every hand? Not if you’ve memorized your strategies correctly.
Your decision to surrender preserves capital. You should take into consideration what the face up cards show, what the table’s rule for dealer stands is (soft 17 or not), and the number of decks in the shoe (4 to 8).
Players usually surrender on a hard 16 if the dealer shows a 9, 10, or ace. They usually surrender on a hard 15 if the dealer shows a 10 or ace.
Some players criticize a player who surrenders. It’s your decision, not theirs.
Conclusion
As a player you want to enjoy what you’re doing even if you’re there to win. It’s hard to concentrate when you feel like every hand is against you. The psychological side of the game is important.
It’s just like going to work every morning, do you love your job or not?
Unless you’re there as part of a team, you don’t have to keep playing if the game isn’t fun anymore. Choosing to play only when you have a good time builds your confidence.
Confidence doesn’t contribute directly to winning, but you’re more likely to trust your choices when you’re confident. Winning makes you confident but winning can be the result of random chance.
Blackjack Rules Pdf
Your job begins before you make the first bet. Study the rules, practice good strategy, and set a goal of achieving perfect play through instinct and experience.
Whether you count cards or not, the better you play the game, the more likely you’ll leave the table a winner.