How to Play Casino Blackjack Really Well

Blackjack is a great game enjoyed by many people in casinos. One of the reasons that Blackjack is popular is that it is the casino game in which the house has the smallest mathematical edge, about seven tenths of one percent (.7%) with eight deck shoes, depending upon the rules. This gives players who have mastered the game a decent chance to win money. No one should play for money, however, if they can’t afford to lose their stake.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Deck of cards
• Hoyle's Rules of Games
• Basic Strategy Sheet
• Practice

1. In Blackjack players try to beat the dealer, not each other. Although rules vary depending on the casino, they are all standard on the basics – two cards are dealt face up to each player while the dealer gets one card down and the other face up. Before each hand is dealt players put up their bets in the space provided. When it is your turn you either “stand” on the total you have, or “hit” drawing an additional card one or more times. If in your turn you draw cards that total more than 21, you “bust” or “break” and lose your money. If you hit blackjack (21 on the first two cards) you win 150% unless the dealer also has blackjack and then you tie or “push” and retain your bet. If you do not break and the dealer does, you win your bet. If neither of you breaks, then the one with the highest total wins. In ties, no one wins.

2. Many players vary the size of their bets depending on either “hunches” or based on the way they think the cards have been coming out. Many of these same players vary how they play depending on how much they have bet on the hand, being more reluctant to risk breaking if their bet is large. These are not the best strategies to play, however. The amount of money that a player should have to ride out the ups and downs of the games is 40 times one’s average bet. So if your average bet is $10, you should have $400 to play with. Many players do not know about this guidance and wind up having too small a bankroll for their betting level. These players tend to lose their money quickly.

3. There are rules of play for the player that are based on the dealer’s up card and the assumption that the dealer’s down card has a value of 10 (the most likely value). These rules of play are called “Basic Strategy,” and were developed using computer simulations of millions of hands. Players who play really well play basic strategy perfectly. In basic strategy for any combination of your cards and the dealer’s up card there is one and only one best play based on the mathematical probabilities of the situation. In the long run, these probabilities will come true, but in the short run anything can

4. You should expect to receive a blackjack on average once every 21 hands. But you don’t normally win or lose based on the number of blackjacks you get. Your fortune depends much more on playing splits and doubles properly and having decent luck with them. Splits are available whenever you are dealt a pair, like eights, and you have a choice as to whether split and play two hands or to just stick with one hand. There are lots of rules about splitting and you need to memorize them to play well. Also, you are allowed to double your bet on any two cards and be given exactly one more card. That can be advantageous when the player’s two card total is 10 or 11, because the most frequent card value drawn is ten, which would give the player 20 or 21.

5. One of the best ways to come out ahead in Blackjack is to keep focused on the goal of winning money (and not simply on having a good time). Along with this focus on winning, you’ll have to cut your losing sessions short (never lose more than $100 without walking away from the table), and let your winning sessions run on. If you are winning, establish cutoffs to remind you to get up from the table a winner. For example, if you get ahead by $70 or so, vow to lock in a win of $50, getting up if you drop back to that point. If you continue to win, keep raising your lock in/get up point. If your winnings rise to $150, for example, lock in $100 to $125. If they rise to $200, lock in a win of $150. Take the money and get up from the table when you fall back to a lock-in point. Otherwise, you’ll be like most players, who give it all back to the casino.

6. A brief word on the probability of drawing a card of a particular value or range of values. These probabilities can be calculated on the basis of one suit containing 13 cards. The chance of getting any particular rank of card is 1/13 or 7.7%. So that would be the same for an ace, a two, a three, etc. But 10, jack, queen and king all have the value 10 in blackjack and so 4 out of 13 cards will give you 10; this is 4/13 or 30.8%. So although a value of 10 is four times more likely to be dealt you than any other value card, it is still only a 31% chance. It is more than twice as likely that your next card will not be a 10 value card (9/13 or 69%).

7. See the Resources section for a thorough discussion of the game and for a section listing all the plays in Basic Strategy.

Tips & Warnings

• If you dig this article, please Digg it.
• Learn basic strategy and play it perfectly. Keep your betting at a steady level (always $10 for example), and lock in your wins. You’ll probably do OK.
• Never borrow money to gamble and never gamble with money that you’ll need for something else. Keep written track of every win and every loss to help you keep it real and to hold yourself accountable.

Resources

• Wikipedia Article on Blackjack

[DianeD]

on 1/3/2009 I'm a gambling junkie - but a controlled one.

[lydiabily]

on 12/13/2008 This is one of the most concise explanations I've ever seen of how to optimize the chances of winning at blackjack. Good, clear explanation of the core of Basic Strategy.

[pianistic]

on 12/13/2008 Very well written and great style.

[Beckybugg]

on 12/12/2008 Very thorough!