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Basic Blackjack Strategy – 50-50 Winning Odds in Blackjack

January 31st, 2011

First thing’s first. Even though I state on my blog that I don’t always follow basic blackjack strategy strictly, it is essential to know by heart as a guideline for playing. Basic blackjack strategy takes some amount of practice to memorize but after playing with it for a while it will become second nature. Please take a look at the basic blackjack strategy chart which lists the denominations of the player versus the dealer and when the player should HIT, STAND or SURRENDER.

Some key points of basic blackjack strategy are as follows. First, if the dealer has a 6, then it is very likely that they will bust (or go over 21). Therefore, the basic strategy tells us that if we have a 12 or higher to never hit. In turn, if we have a 15 or 16 against a dealer’s 10, then it is advantageous for us to surrender and take back half of our initial bet.

Basic blackjack strategy also tells us when to DOUBLE down or SPLIT a hand. Players with a a 10 or 11 will generally want to double down on their initial bet. Players should never split two 10’s, but it is sometimes advantageous to split other cards of the same denomination. It would be too confusing, I think, to explain in full detail the strategy here with words. The best way to learn the strategy is to print out the strategy chart and practice with it. After much practice you will have it memorized.

Why use basic blackjack strategy? If you can’t or don’t want to count cards, or just want to play blackjack for fun without a real intent of making it a serious business, then the basic strategy is perfect for you. Once memorized, it becomes second nature when you’re playing at a casino. It drops the House’s advantage down to less than 1% (around 0.44 % actually) and so essentially gives you 50/50 odds when playing blackjack… try finding another casino game with odds as good as that!

To quickly memorize basic blackjack strategy, I recommend printing the chart table out and taking it with you when you play. It’s not illegal to follow the strategy and casinos won’t mind you having a small piece of paper with you displaying the strategy when you are gambling at blackjack. In fact, most casinos provide these tables for their gamblers, however I highly suggest you use the table found in the link in my resource box below as there are separate charts made for different blackjack games with different rules. This strategy is the best one I know and what I always follow. It is for Blackjack with 4+ decks of cards where the dealer stands on all 17s.

Learn the chart. Practice with it, and see the results. Thanks for reading!

Basic Blackjack Strategy chart available at http://OnlineBlackjackGames.blogspot.com … as well as many more blackjack tips and tricks!

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How to Beat the House Advantage – Blackjack Basic Strategy & Card Counting (How To)

January 13th, 2011

Winning at the game of blackjack is not so difficult or impossible. All it really takes is an understanding of basic blackjack strategy to know the best calculated times to stand, hit or surrender as well as an ability to keep track of the card count and knowing how to bet. Above all, good money management skills and patience are golden.

You must treat blackjack as a job and not so much as a game if you want to win money. Don’t be foolish and don’t be greedy. Many players lose all their money because they get greedy with their bets or they are in too much a hurry to win everything back. This happens especially at casinos where people become intoxicated and exhausted from hours of play and drink. Remember to bet small and be patient. Unless you have a huge bank, it’s not a wise idea to keep doubling your bets after a loss.

Before going to another casino it is imperative to know the basic strategy for blackjack. Knowing this alone will drop the house’s advantage to .44% above the player’s. The basic strategy for blackjack tells you the best choice for hitting, standing, doubling and surrendering against whatever cards the house has.

Just playing with the basic strategy will make the game much more fair for you. However to actually win money and know when to set down big bets you need to learn to count cards. Card counting in blackjack has the potential of increasing the player’s advantage well above that of the dealer. Player’s benefit from high cards and dealer’s benefit from low cards because they have to worry about busting. So knowing the probability of getting a low or high card is very important.

In counting cards simply remember that you start at zero and are always counting by one. Cards 2-6 have the value +1 and cards 10-Ace have the value -1. Cards 7-9 are neutral and have the value zero. As the hands are dealt, you start counting. You want to make higher bets when the count is very high (meaning a lot of low cards have been dealt, making the likelihood of dealing high cards on the next round increases).

You can find a copy of the basic blackjack strategy chart at LetsWinCasinoBlackjack.blogspot.com [http://letswincasinoblackjack.blogspot.com]. I suggest printing it out to keep with you when gambling online or at the casino.

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Blackjack Rules and Strategy

December 8th, 2010

Blackjack Rules

Basic Rules

The premise of Blackjack is to get 21 or be closer to it than the dealer without going over, or busting. You are not playing against any other players at the table, and the play of the dealer is determined by his own draw. So anyone seeing your cards is inconsequential, not to mention impossible when playing online because you’re playing a computer.

The value of your hand is the sum of the cards. The Ace is worth either 1 or 11 (doesn’t have to be specified, just assumed to be the value that makes the best hand). Jack, Queen, King and 10 are all worth 10. Number cards are, you guessed it, equal to the number on the card.

Blackjack Jargon

The first and most important distinction in blackjack is, the Blackjack, or Natural. A blackjack is 21 on the first two cards, an ace with a 10, J, Q, or K. Getting 21 with say 7, 5, 9 is 21, not blackjack. Blackjack has a higher payout than 21. Any time both the player and dealer blackjack it is a tie or Push.

After the initial two cards are dealt, if you’d like another card you may Hit. Once you are satisfied with your cards (you did play your hand to optimize your odds right?) you will Stand.

In addition to the original bet, you are allowed to increase your wager up to double after the first two cards have been dealt, and only after the first two cards are dealt. When you decide to Double Down you are dealt only a third card, so you should expect to be able to win the hand with only one more card. A prime example would be if you were dealt 5, 6, you have a fair chance of getting a card of value 10 and winning and the larger pot.

Should you be dealt a pair you have the option of Splitting. The two matching cards are separated and your bet for each hand is equal to the original bet, and each hand is played independently.

Casinos sometimes offer you an opportunity to opt out of a hand by giving up a portion of your wager. The aptly named Surrender comes in two forms, early and late. The late surrender allows you to opt out only after the dealer has checked his hand for blackjack. In the early form you can surrender before the dealer checks his hand for blackjack, giving the dealer a slightly smaller advantage. As you may expect, casinos are aware of this margin of advantage, thus you will rarely find a casino that offers early surrender.

The final betting alteration is Insurance. Insurance is offered when the first card the dealer gives himself is an ace. The insurance is for half of your wager and pays out 2:1. This is to ‘protect’ you from a dealer blackjack. Purchasing insurance is generally a poor choice and statistically you end up better off ignoring it. However, more advanced players can detect situations with a high likelihood that the dealer with blackjack thus taking advantage of the insurance.

Blackjack strategy

Before playing a hand you should know the context of the game which you are playing. This includes number of cards in the deck and how the dealers play is determined. These two points are important because, if you intend to win or at least optimize your odds, they will influence how you play.

The first fact you should not is how many decks of cards you will be playing from. More decks makes it more difficult to keep track of cards played, thus making it more difficult to speculate odds of cards coming up. For one deck you can simply mark cards played and see what remains. With multiple decks in play if you keep track of how many of each card has been played you will begin to get an advantage as the game progresses.

Slight variations in what determines the dealers play can have an impact on your decisions, therefore should be noted. There are two popular methods of laying out play. The most common method is the dealer stands on all 17s. All aces equal 11 unless it would make them bust. The variation is that the dealer stands on hard 17s and all 18s. This means that if the dealer has A, 6 (soft 17) he would still hit. If a 10 came up then the dealer would stand.

Above all, play with common sense and have a good time. Base your decisions on logic and you just might CrackTheCasino.

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Advanced Blackjack Rules And Strategy

November 11th, 2010

If you are like most blackjack players then you probably only know the basic rules of the blackjack game. Knowing only basic blackjack rules is fine if you enjoy playing blackjack for fun. However, if you are involved in high stakes blackjack or competitive tournament play then it is important to understand the more advanced rules of the game. Important advanced blackjack rules include understanding splitting, doubling down, insurance and hard hands versus soft hands.

Many blackjack players are unaware that when their initial 2-card hand is a double they can split the hand into 2 separate hands. This is a rule which, when put to use, can also be a great blackjack strategy that can increase a players odds of winning by quite a large amount. When you have 2 Aces you should always split them, as an Ace is worth 11 points and the largest percentage of cards in the deck are worth 10 points so your chances of earning at least one 21 blackjack hand are very good. There are several card values that are not so worthwhile to double down on, such as when you have double 10s or face cards for a 20-point hand. Doubling down may cause you to be left with 2 lower-valued hands so it is better not to double down in this case.

Many players are also unaware of the option that they have to double down. When you double down in blackjack you double your bet after receiving your initial 2 card hand. You then receive 1 additional card.

Another important part of advanced blackjack rules to understand is hard hands versus soft hands. In a blackjack game, a soft hand is a hand that contains an Ace which is valued at 11 points. A hard hand is a hand that contains an Ace that must be valued at 1 point because if it was 11 the player would bust. When you play blackjack and have a soft hand you can always add an additional card without any fear of busting because the Ace can always be valued at 1 rather than 11. Additionally, it is important to note that the dealer must always hit on soft 17.

Insurance is another important advanced rule in blackjack. When the dealer’s up-card is an Ace you may place an insurance bet. An insurance bet is equal to half the value of your initial bet and if the dealer gets blackjack when you have placed an insurance bet then you will only lose half of your initial bet.

When you are participating in blackjack gambling, whether it be in a regular table game or in a blackjack tournament, it is very important to have an understanding of advanced blackjack rules. Knowing everything there is to know about how to play blackjack can help you to improve your odds of winning so that you can minimize your losses and maximize your wins when you play blackjack online or off.

Online blackjack expert Gene Marshall works for many recognized blackjack publications. The author writes commentaries about blackjack rules and online blackjack Other readings and articles published by Gene Marshall about online blackjack are available on the net.

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Blackjack Strategy – Focusing on Pairs and Bets

November 4th, 2010

The world of blackjack gaming has changed because of the blackjack strategy guide. As a matter of fact, you can use a number of options to help you strategize your game. You can couple these tactics with memorization of the cards that have been distributed during the game. Get to know about the different strategies you can use when playing the blackjack game.

The blackjack strategy for pairs

This is especially helpful when you are holding a pair or two similarly valued cards in your hands. The pair that you get at the beginning of the game can be split however depending on your choice. You may already be assuming that pairs are always good cards to begin with. It may be true that pairs can denote increased winnings but if you will try to analyze things, this may also result to more losses. So what is the blackjack strategy behind pairs?

You can split your cards when you have either a pair of aces or a pair of eights. On the other hand, the same principle does not apply if you have two tens instead. Bear in mind that two tens is close to 21. In view of all these strategies, you can also take note of the cards that the dealer has.

Blackjack strategy made for betting purposes

There are two types of strategies found under this category for blackjack strategy. The first type called the Labouchere strategy is based on a progression that is negative in nature. The progression in this regard can be best explained by the fact that you can bet as high as 10 on the first try and then opt for a 7 instead in the next round. This is synonymous both to a big bank roll and a big winning streak.

When it comes to the Paroli betting strategy, you will notice an entirely different strategy as what the Labouchere offers. Owe that to the fact that betting progression takes positive movements. In this type of strategy, your bet will begin with one unit. In the event you won the bet, then your next bet will be the winnings you have plus another unit. This has potential to increase your profits but this can also be seen as a negative strategy especially that you may lose a hefty amount with one round.

Will you be given the chance to have the best out of the legions of blackjack strategies?

You have familiarized yourself with some of the many blackjack strategies out there. Because of the many choices you have, it will really be hard deciding on which strategy is the best to use to increase your winnings. None of these strategies will say you will win the game all the time. As in any game, you can win some but you can also lose some.

Knowing the best blackjack strategy will then be dependent upon the choices and moves you make during the game. You must use some of your math skills to be able to have higher amounts won in your pot. Blackjack is not all about guesses and you may not even leave the game to luck. The card counting strategy may then help you by this time. This is one wherein the next number to be dealt can be predetermined depending on the series of numbers that you have in mind.

If you are a beginner in to the world of blackjack strategy then our software tool can help you. Get more details by checking our blackjack site.

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