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Simple But Helpful Online Blackjack Tips

Blackjack TipsBlackjack is one of the simplest and most popular types of online casino games out there. Even though there are a few different variations of the game, the basics are more or less the same.

There are a lot of different strategies used by players, but everybody has their own style of playing. Whether you?re a newcomer to online blackjack or a seasoned pro, there are some tips that might help you out.

  • Learn the rules of all the online blackjack games you?re going to play. You should then practice and play for free before you?re comfortable with the idea of playing for real money.
  • You should come up with a playing limit or budget and make sure you stick with it. You?re going to have good days and bad days so know when to call it a day.
  • Check out all of the online tournaments, promotions, and bonuses that are offered at various online casinos. This will help you get the most out of your money.
  • It?s important that you don?t give out any of your personal account information to anybody that you don?t know and trust.
  • Try to learn all of the terms related to the online blackjack games so you understand what?s happening during the action.
  • Withdraw at least half of your winnings after you win a big amount. This will help stop you from playing it right away and you?ll leave the game with some winnings.
  • Try to get your cards as close to 21 as possible instead of trying to beat the dealer. If the dealer has a high card showing don?t let it distract you.
  • Don?t forget about betting cycles in online blackjack. You should bet more when you?re winning and less when you?re losing.
  • Remember, online blackjack favours the dealer. If you both go over 21, you lose.
  • If the dealer has to take a card on hands that are 16 and lower, you won?t win with less than 17 unless the dealer goes over 21.
  • Remember that an ace can be used as either one point or 11 points.
  • If your cards total 10 or lower you should take another card as you won?t be in jeopardy of busting. The most you can get is an ace to total 21, which of course is what you?re aiming to do.

Written by Alex, a blackjack aficionado who enjoys blogging about her casino experiences. She loves detailing her wins and losses for the amusement and entertainment of others!

Playing Live Blackjack Online

Online casinos are swarming the Internet and they are setting the latest trend in gambling.

In the comfort of their own houses, gamblers are able to enjoy the same casino experience as they would if they travel to Las Vegas.

Online casinos are not just limited to playing versus a program but you can also play against other people.

A lot of games have been incorporated in online casinos ever since. The first among these games were roulette and blackjack.

When you have already signed up at a trustworthy online casino site, the next thing you have to do is find a blackjack game and enter a blackjack room.

When you have successfully joined a game, you will see a table in your computer screen, the bet, and cards laid on the table. You will see the dealer on the screen as well.

Using headphones and a reliable Internet connection, you can interact with other players, hear them speak, yell and laugh. The experience would be as if you are playing in a brick and mortal casino.

In most online casino, single deck blackjack games aren?t included in their game line-up since the profit obtained by the casino in a single deck game is lower compared to how much it would earn from a multi deck blackjack game.

This is also the case in a brick and mortar casino. Other online casinos are clever enough to put certain modifications in the rules of a single deck black jack and only then would they provide the facility to play the game online.

Given that blackjack is such an exciting game, players tend to bet by impulse just to win the game. Their bets go higher and higher after each losing round. This gambling behaviour is sure to take toll on their bankroll. Players must keep calm while gambling so that they do not go over their limits.

Written by Alex Corcoran, a fan of blackjack and live roulette.

Don?t Make These Mistakes

All blackjack players make mistakes, even experienced card-counters. But there are some innocent mistakes that rookies seem to make on a regular basis that it’s better not to make, especially if you’re playing for the first time at an actual land-based casino.

The blackjack mistake I’m most guilty of is sitting down and trying to play at a higher limit table than I have a bankroll for. It probably happens consistently all night long that players sit down and try to make $5 or $20 bets at a $100 minimum table. The dealers and other players get understandably frustrated when this happens. The solution to preventing this mistake? Just have a look at the little sign on each table stating the table limits, and make sure it’s the right stakes table before you sit down.

Another common mistake is throwing chips haphazardly into the betting circle. Your chips should always be in a single stack, so the dealer doesn’t have to get confused about whether or not you’ve doubled down. Related to this mistake is handling your bet after you’ve placed it. Dealers will snap at you over touching your bet, because they need to make sure you’re not adding chips to your bet when you have a good hand, or removing bets when you’ve got a bad hand.

Don’t touch the cards in a face up blackjack game. Cheaters will often try to mark the cards with a sharp fingernail, and the rule for not touching the cards prevents this. Be careful when handling the cards in a face down game too, because if you’re careless with the cards, you can expect correction from the dealer rather quickly.

Playing live blackjack is a lot of fun, but it’s a lot more fun when you avoid these common and sometimes embarrassing rookie blackjack mistakes.

Randy Ray

Blackjack Player Options

Standing
The player elects to “stand” with the current total and not to draw any additional cards. If you are in a game where the cards are dealt face-down, you slip your cards under your chips. The dealer will understand the message. If you are in a face-up game, wave your hand back and forth in a wiping motion just above your cards, which is the signal for standing. All casinos insist on some form of hand signal; verbal statements are not accepted. Casinos can get rather noisy, and it is easy for a dealer to mishear a player. Also, the cameras hidden in the casino’s ceilings can be used to resolve disputes only if hand signals are used, since they do not have an audio component.
Hitting
The player elects to draw an additional card or cards. If you are in a face-down game, draw your cards toward you with a quick scratching motion against the felt once or twice. In a face-up game, make a similar motion with your fingertips or , preferably, point to your cards with your index finger.
Splitting
If your first two cards are of the same value, you may split them and play each as a separate hand. To indicate a desire to split your cards, place an additional wager equivalent to the original one to the side of it. If you are playing in a face-down game, you must expose your cards. After splitting a pair, various other options become available. You can re-split if a third like-valued card appears. Or you can double down on the split hands should an appropriate card be drawn. For example, if you have split 8’s and catch a 3 on the first 8, you may now double down on this total of 11. Both re-splitting and doubling and doubling down after a split are to the player’s advantage.
Doubling Down
The player may double the size of the original bet and elect to draw only one additional card. The typical doubling situation is where you have a hand that stands a chance of becoming a _very_ good hand with one additional card; for example, your first two cards total 10 or 11. To indicate a double down bet, slide a second wager to the side of the original bet. This wager may be as much as but no more than your original bet. If you are playing in a face-down game, you must expose your cards. Virtually all casinos permit doubling on 11 and 10; most on 11, 10, and 9, and many will allow it on any two cards. The latter rule is the most advantageous to the player.

Basic Strategy Play

Since the essential features of basic strategy were developed, a number of refinements have given us the current optimal set of principles for standing, hitting, doubling, splitting, and surrendering. These, along with the other more sophisticated forms of play were worked out by using Monte Carlo techniques based on the analysis of literally billions of hands. If I tell you that you should hit a total of 16 against a dealer’s 7, there is no specific mathematical proof behind this recommendation. It emerged from an analysis of the several million times this situation emerged in the Monte Carlo analysis of the game. Hitting a 16 against a 7 loses less often than standing. Sure, following this advice produces a bust on a lot of these hands, but analysis shows, utterly compellingly, that if you don’t hit his hand you are more likely to get beat by a higher total — like 17.
When possible, I will give a logical analysis of particular aspects of basic strategy, but there are going to be situations where the reader is just going to have to accept the outcomes of the Monte Carlo analysis. The following description of basic strategy is based on the multi-deck game found in several Atlantic City and Las Vegas casinos, where the dealer stands on a soft seventeen, pairs may be re-split once, doubling down is permitted after a split, and the player may double down on any two cards. Other games require some minor adjustments that I’ll note where appropriate. However, you should never give up an edge against the casino. I highly recommend playing only where the rules are more favorable to the player.

Is Blackjack a ?Winnable? Game?

When blackjack first became a casino staple, it was assumed that it was rather like baccarat, where the house, by virtue of the rules determining play, had a statistical edge. All players and students of the game assumed that this advantage existed based on two simple facts. One, the player had to act first. Two, all busts (hands totaling over twenty-one) were losers no matter what the dealer later drew. These two rules seem to give the house an incontrovertible edge.
Conventional began to change in 1956 when a paper by Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel, and McDermont was published in the _Journal of the American Statistical Association_. This paper and a black-jack strategy manual published by Baldwin et al. the following year both attracted very little interest among non mathematicians, but it would prove to be the first step toward determining that blackjack is a “winnable” game.
Edward O. Thorp, a scientist at MIT, did understand the implications of the work of Baldwin and his colleagues and began to ex-amine two elements of the game that were previously unexamined. One, the composition of a deck of cards changes with every card dealt. Two, some deck compositions favor the player and other favor the house. In 1962, Thorp published his now famous book, _Beat the Dealer_, which contained a simple yet profound mes-sage. Unlike dice, roulette wheels, and slot machines, decks of cards have “memory.”
Blackjack, unlike Roulette for example, is a winnable game be-cause of this “memory.” Let’s look at an example. You are sit-ting at the Roulette table and the dealer throws the ball and it comes to rest on the number 9. Now, when he throws the ball again for the next round, what are the odds the ball lands on 9 again? Assuming the wheel is not rigged or the dealer is not trained to “fix” the outcome, the odds of the ball landing on 9 again are exactly the same! Let’s take it a step further. Assume that the ball does indeed land on 9 again – twice more. Now the ball has landed on the 9 three times in a row! What are the odds this happens a fourth time? Exactly the same! There is no statistical reason that the ball should “avoid” landing on 9 again.
Blackjack is different. Let’s look at a similar situation in blackjack. You are at the table with two other players. The dealer deals a 9 to each of the players at the table. Now the odds of dealing another 9 have been significantly reduced. In a six deck game the odds have been reduced from 3:49 to 7:104. This fact alone makes blackjack a winnable game.