For amateur gamblers unfamiliar with the intricacies of going head-to-head with the casino, you should first familiarize yourself with the house edge.
For blackjack enthusiasts, you should know that most establishments will have a house edge of around 2%. To simplify, this would mean the casino is profiting $2 for every $100 you wager. This may sound like a significant amount of your bankroll, but compared to the likes of roulette, which can have a house edge of 5% or more, it pales in comparison.
Suppose you implement the basic blackjack strategy into your games. In that case, it’s possible to reduce that 2% house edge to a mere 0.5%, giving you a significantly greater chance to walk away with glorious profits.
The Basic Strategy Chart
Unlike most games, finding a chart that can provide you with the most excellent decision to make versus each possible house hand is readily available on the internet.
After making a simple image search, you can begin your process by playing online poker whilst making the correct decisions in correlation with these basic strategy charts.
The basics of the chart are simplistic, much like blackjack itself. You’re going to follow the basic rules of probability, nothing more and nothing less.
There are sixteen cards in every 52-card deck worth ten (10’s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings), and with this high number, you simply adopt the belief that the next card to be dealt will be a 10.
The aim, before your play your hand, pays attention to the dealer’s upcard and concludes their downcard is a 10. This provides you with a reasonable estimation of their total, giving you the chance to play your hand in accordance.
Below are the possible sequence of events:
Strong Dealer Hand
If the dealer’s upcard is 10, 9, or 8, you should assume their total will be 20, 19, or 18. You should hit for another card and push your total closer to a higher total in this situation. Should you stand with 16 or 17, you’ll lose more often than not.
Weak Dealer Hand
A weak dealer upcard will be a 3, 4, 5, or 6, and you can guess their total will be a hazardous 13, 14, 15, or 16. Why hazardous? Because the dealer will take another card, it is likely to be a 10 or at least a high-value card that would cause them to bust.
Taking this into consideration means that you can stand on a hand of 11 or more; risking a bust is totally unnecessary as the dealer’s chance of a bust is much greater.
Winning Blackjack Strategies
The Blackjack basic strategy is the most romantic method to improve your chance of success, but there are alternative techniques you should take on board:
- Double down on a dealer’s weak hand (always DD when your upcard is 11)
- Never play side bets
- Don’t split 10’s – unless the strategy chart suggests otherwise
- Never accept insurance
