Blackjack is a simple game of comparing your hand against the dealer’s hand. The player with a higher value of card/s wins. And again, it’s possible for the player to bust (go over 21) because if the dealer busts, then the hand is up (process used to determine how much you lose and the dealer wins automatically).
Your aim is to get as close to 21 as possible (blackjack) without going over 21. You want to beat the dealer’s hand (want 2 or 3 cards to be higher than the dealer’s hand).
Blackjack strategy can be amazingly effective if you know exactly what to do. Here are some tips
It’s often better to stand – the dealer has to pay you first for the privilege of letting you play your hand first thereby reducing you to a lesser hand. And sometimes, it’s better to double down. It is advantageous to double down if, when playing, the dealer shows a face card – theoretically, if the dealer has a stronger hand, you should double down on any other card but face cards. You can also double down on a 10 and 11.
What to do when the dealer shows an ace – you can let the dealer hit if you have a lower value hand than the dealer, similar to the situation of playing single cards.
When the dealer shows either a 9 or 10 – they cost less; double down if the dealer has a lower card total than you, otherwise hit.
When the Egp88 shows an ace and a card with a value from 2 to 9, double down if the dealer has a lower total than you, otherwise hit.
- Don’t ever double down on a card total of 8.
- Never double down on a card total of 7.
- Never double down on a card total of 6.
- Never double down on a card total of 5.
- Never double down on a card total of 4.
- Never double down on a card total of 3.
- Never double down on a card total of 2.
The premise here is that there are more 10s and aces in the deck and more likely now to deal with 10s and aces in the deck. That’s the reason the dealer is paying you less. This also applies if the dealer shows a 4, 5 or 6.
However, there’s a major flaw with this strategy. If you have a high number of 10s and aces, you are very unlikely to win. And if you have a lot of low cards you are putting the odds in the dealers favour.
You need to bet heavy, or not at all, when you have too many low cards. This is why you should bet heavily when you have, say, 20,000 worth of bet in your stack. When you have too few high cards of the required value, you need to be betting lighter.
The double down should not be taken to be a replacement for the traditional blackjack strategy, which could be worth as much as 20%. The idea is just to make a quick doubling in your stack when you have too many, and a quickening of the pace when you have few.
When you learn to count cards, you can improve your basic blackjack strategy massively. But if you don’t have the billion dollar brain, you need to study very hard before you can impress a casino. Casino players who consistently make the correct assumptions and play the correct basic strategy are the ones who invariably beat the casino, day in and day out.
Blackjack is a game of probability. While the house has a mathematical advantage in every casino game, there are still ways you can reduce the house edge. You can never completely eliminate it, but you can be a much better player and the players with super-dry minds are the ones who walk away winners. Playing blackjack needs a dry paper and a calculator.