Basics Of Winning Blackjack

Table Of Contents

• Basics Of Winning Blackjack Games
• Basics Of Winning Blackjack Poker
• Basics Of Winning Blackjack Card Game
• Basics Of Winning Blackjack Numbers

Are you looking for the best blackjack strategy to maximise your winning odds when you play online? You'll love these tips.

Finding a way to get higher chances to win at blackjack shouldn't be so hard.

The basic strategy is the best way to play blackjack — and when you combine it with some strategy tips on bankroll management and what to do after you win, you have really reached the maximum you can.

In other words, if you are looking for the best blackjack betting strategy to increase your chances to win, you'll love this guide.

In the parts that follow you will find:

• And lots more

Basic strategy is not enough! We get emails from people all the time talking about how they downloaded our blackjack charts, took them to a casino, and won some money. That’s great news for them, but it could have easily gone the other way. Basic strategy cannot overcome the house edge even if you get lucky with it from time to time.

We also put together a collection of the best bonuses to play online. This way, you can use those freebies to test the blackjack basic strategy and all the tips in this article.

Understanding basic blackjack rules is essential for players to improve their game and increase their chances of winning. Blackjack objective: to create a hand with a higher total than the dealer but not going beyond 21. Players compare their hands with their dealer. In the beginning, each bet is placed in the betting box. In modern games, blackjack is any combination of two cards containing any Ace and any card with a value of 10. If you’re dealt a blackjack, the hand is immediately over for you, and instead of winning even money, you’ll be paid 3 to 2 in most casinos. So if you bet was $10, you will get $15 and so on. In short, the best ways to win Blackjack at casinos are: Stick to the basic guide, relentlessly. You can win with just using the basics, and you won’t lose more than it hurts. Search “blackjack basic strategy chart” to learn it, or see below. Scale your bets up and down depending on whether you are winning or losing. Increase your wins at blackjack by learning the mathematically proven rules called basic strategy. By following these rules you can reduce the house edge to as low as half of a percent, making blackjack one of the five best casino bets! Each casino has their own set of rules, and basic strategy varies slightly by how many decks are in use.

Register a FREE account and claim your bonus to play online blackjack!

What this guide is NOT

• A collection of tips to win at blackjack
• A list of systems that promise to make blackjack profitable
• The illusion that you can beat the game

Blackjack is a gambling game where the casino has an advantage. It doesn't matter what approach you take or what blackjack strategy you follow. In the long run, the casino always wins.

Why Follow a Blackjack Betting Strategy?

Let's face it - we have all been there. We have all looked for the best and the most effective strategy to win at blackjack after we lost our first hands online.

With the right blackjack strategy it's possible to increase your winning chances, and that's because blackjack isn't a gambling game like roulette, video poker, or slots.

If you follow the basic betting strategy and you learn how to use the information you have at your disposal, you can reach optimal play giving yourself the best chances to win include in the game.

Professional players have worked hard to 'solve' the game of blackjack and find how to play each hand to get the best winning odds.

They analysed how the number of decks in play affects your chances to win and how you can make the best decision based on the cards you see on the table.

• That's what they call the 'blackjack basic strategy. A list of dos and don'ts where you find exactly how you are supposed to play each and every hand you are dealt.

This is the best strategy for blackjack.

The goal of the blackjack basic strategy isn't to help you win at blackjack every time you play. That's impossible. Instead, it is to help you maximize your winning chances and to minimize your losses.

That's also the goal of this guide. We don't list all the strategies for blackjack out there. Instead, we focus only on the best blackjack strategies that are known to work and should help you get better results when you play.

Starting from the tips and tricks included in our cheat-sheet.

READ ALSO: How to play online blackjack with friends.

What Is the Blackjack Basic Strategy?

Knowing how to manage your money is as important in blackjack as it is in all gambling games. A correct 'bankroll management' is essential when you play — regardless of the blackjack strategies you apply to your games.

Knowing how to bet (and how much) and how to select the right game when you play online blackjack for real money is extremely important.

Once you have those basics covered, you can move into the basic blackjack strategy and learn how you are supposed to invest your money once the dealer gives you the initial two cards.

As soon as the cards reach you and the dealer opens one of their cards, you have to make your first choice. In a game of blackjack, that means you need to pick one of these options:

• Stand
• Hit
• Double
• Split
• Surrender

Do you know why the basic blackjack strategy is also considered to be the best way to discover how to win at blackjack? Because it uses basic logic.

Would you hit if your first two cards gave you 20 points? Of course not.

Would you stand if your starting hand was worth five points? Not a chance.

While these choices are very simple on hands like the ones I use in my example, things get (a lot) more complicated with different cards on the table.

Let me give you a few examples.

• How do you play soft 17 in blackjack?
• When do you hit on a 16?
• What to do with 15 in blackjack?

This is where the basic blackjack strategy comes in to help you get the best chances to win.

This collection of tips shows you the optimal play for every blackjack hands, calculating your winning odds in combination with the dealer's open card.

The basic strategy to win at blackjack has nothing to do with concepts like card counting or any of those tricks some 'clever' players adopt to beat the house.

This is a simple-to-use guideline that shows you exactly how you are supposed to play every possible hand of blackjack. Use it to know when it is recommended to hit, to stand, or to do something else.

Key:
S = Stand
H = Hit
Dh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)
Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)
SP = Split
SU = Surrender (if not allowed, then hit)

A Blackjack Cheat Sheet

To make things even easier for you and help you follow the best betting strategy whenever you play blackjack, we created a quick cheat-sheet with the basic strategy explained in full.

Download the blackjack cheat-sheet (it's free) and print it or save it on your mobile phone to keep it always with you when you play.

The blackjack basic strategy cheat-sheet is 100% legal and you can use it both when you play online and at a brick-and-mortar casino.

A Conservative Blackjack Strategy

Don't play high-stakes games unless you feel ready for them and you have enough money to spend on online games.

If you are reading this blackjack strategy guide and you are a beginner, you should be afraid of high-stakes games.

Basics Of Winning Blackjack Games

When you spend too much money on your games, you risk getting the opposite of what you want. You play to have fun and to find out how to get more chances to win at blackjack - and you end broke and frustrated.

The best way to play blackjack is to start with what I call a conservative approach. Because finding the right way top handle betting in blackjack is key to long-term fun.

Like many blackjack strategies suggest, you should increase the stakes only when things go well and any potential losses are compensated by the money you have already won, not the one you might win if you get lucky.

In other words, raise your bet every time you win.

Many players believe wins and losses come in streaks. They think you might lose five or six times in a row — but when you win…you are not going to do it just once.

Obviously, that's not true.

Blackjack is a gambling game and there are no patterns for you to exploit or streaks that you can use to win more money every time you play.

There are, however, smart betting strategies like the basic blackjack strategy that can help you increase the chances of a victory.

With that in mind, a conservative blackjack strategy works like this:

• Start from the lowest bet (e.g. $1)
• Increase your bet by 1 unit only after you win
• Go back to the original bet after you lose

When you use this blackjack strategy, you need to go back to the original bet as soon as you lose one hand. This is the best way to be in control of your money and end a gaming session in the black.

All you need to do is to make the right choices (use the basic strategy) and raise your stakes little by little - but only when you win.

READ ALSO: Bets sites to play live dealer blackjack online.

An Aggressive Approach to Blackjack: the Martingale Strategy

The Martingale betting strategy sits at the opposite side of the spectrum. This is the perfect blackjack strategy for those players who:

• Play blackjack to win a lot of money
• Can afford to lose a lot of money
• Don't fear the swing of big losses

In other words, this is the perfect blackjack strategy for big spenders but isn't one that you should try if you are still a beginner who is looking for ways to learn how to play blackjack.

The Martingale blackjack strategy is expensive. This is a blackjack system that will help you win often - but only when I have a lot of money to invest on your games.

If you can't spend at least $500 on your games - the Martingale is not the best blackjack strategy for you.

But if you do — continue reading to discover how to use this betting strategy to increase your chances to win.

In short:

The Martingale strategy is the exact opposite of the conservative approach to betting in blackjack we have just seen.

When you follow this strategy, you need to double your bet every time you lose. Which, in case of a losing streak, can become very expensive very quickly.

The rationale of this audacious blackjack betting strategy is that you will need only one win to go back to square one and recoup all your losses in one hand.

The caveat is: your bankroll needs to be deep enough for you to play and play until that one win comes.

Again, this isn't a betting strategy for beginners. If you decide to try it, make sure your bankroll covers at least 10 consecutive losses from the hand #1.

1-3-2-6 Blackjack Betting System

The 1-3-2-6 blackjack betting strategy is not as exciting as the Martingale strategy, and that's a good thing. This betting strategy doesn't require a huge bankroll and is a lot more suitable for players looking for a way to have better chances to win at blackjack without investing a fortune in the game.

The numbers in the strategy's name indicate the way you should bet after you win a hand of blackjack.

You first winning is the trigger that starts the sequence while your first losing hand is the one that ends everything.

This blackjack betting strategy is built to get the most value out of winning streaks. If you are lucky enough to use it at the beginning of a four-hand winning streak, you are in for a treat.

READ ALSO: How to play blackjack for beginners.

How to Win More Often at Blackjack: A Few Important Tips

We all want to win at blackjack every time we play, but we also know that's impossible.

What is possible, however, is to maximise your chances to win and get better winning odds when you play blackjack online. All it takes a few simple tips.

Follow them carefully, as these blackjack tips are as important as the best blackjack betting strategy.

• Don't spend money on the 'insurance'. The insurance bet is a money-draining option created to confuse beginners. All the best blackjack strategies fail to mention is for one simple reason: no real blackjack player will ever spend their money on it.

• Think about the house edge. Like we said when we went through some of the game's best betting strategies, you can't expect to win at blackjack every time you play.

  Like all other casino games, the house edge is what makes sure that the casino has an advantage over the players in the long run. With that in mind, the next of our blackjack tips is one that can make a great difference for you.

• Set a budget and abide to that. Experienced blackjack players know that you need to set a losing and a winning limit before the first hand is dealt.

  Stop playing as soon as you hit one of them. If you lose and hit your lower limit, take a break and end your session.

  If you win and you hit your highest limit, collects your winnings and leave the table. You can continue to play if you want, but you'll need to set a new bankroll and establish new limits first.

• Don't miss the rules sheet. Trust me, there are more blackjack variations that you will ever play. All of them are based on the same core gameplay — but adopt rules that could break you if you aren't ready for them

  One of the best parts of playing online is that the rules are always available at the table. If you are not sure you know everything about the game you want to play, click on the 'info' icon and read the rules.

• Choose 3:2 over 6:5 payout. Different casinos have different payout policies - and not all of them are great for you.

  Make sure you read the payout table before you begin to play a hand of real money blackjack and always choose the games with the 'regular' 3:2 payout. These are a much smarter choice compared to the 6:5 payout blackjack games you find at some online casino sites.

Use Bonuses to Find Your Favourite Blackjack Strategy

Now that you know what are the best blackjack strategies, there is only one thing left: play a few games online to find out which one works best for you.

Here's what you should fo to get the best results:

1. Base all your decisions on the basic blackjack strategy
2. Pick the betting strategy that suits your bankroll
3. Follow all the blackjack strategy tips above to maximise your chances to win

To help you find the right games and the right betting strategy, we created a list of the best blackjack bonuses on the market.

All the sites you find in the list are licensed, pay winnings fast, and offer lots of blackjack games. Pick the ones with the best offers, register an account (it's always free), and sit at the blackjack table to start an epic battle with the dealer!

Everyone knows by now that blackjack is a game of skill and the casino game with the lowest house edge.

But those truisms only apply if you understand the game and how to play it correctly.

If it’s your first time in the casino, no one would blame you for being a little confused about how blackjack works. Even if you’ve been playing for a while, you might be making some big mistakes.

This post is meant to clear things up for you so that you don’t make the big mistakes that cost you the most money.

It’s organized into a list of 5 things you should do and 5 things you shouldn’t do at the blackjack table.

With any luck, you’ll learn as much from this “top 10 do’s and don’ts of blackjack” post as I learned writing it.

It doesn’t look like a long post, I know. Most people can finish reading it in less than 20 minutes, in fact.

But it took a lot longer than 20 minutes to write. In fact, when you consider the time I spent playing blackjack and reading books about how to play, you might say that this post took over 20 years to write.

1 – DO Learn the Rules before You Sit Down to Play

Blackjack seems like a simple enough game. You get 2 cards, the dealer gets 2 cards, and you both decide to hit until you decide to stand. Then whoever has a total closer to 21 without going over wins the hand.

Conceptually, that IS simple.

But in actual practice, blackjack is more complicated than that.

For one thing, you have more decisions at your disposal than just hitting and standing. Let’s take a look at those potential decisions and what each one of them means:

• Hitting is the most basic move. It just means to get another card from the dealer, which increases the total score for your hand.
• Standing is tied with hitting for being the most basic move. It just means to decline the opportunity to take more cards. Once you’ve stood, you don’t do anything else but wait for the dealer to play his hand and see if you won.
• Doubling down means to double the size of your bet while simultaneously taking one more card. You’re not allowed to hit again after this card if you doubled down.
• Splitting is only allowed when you have 2 cards of the same rank. When that happens, you’re allowed to post a 2^nd bet, and play 2 hands. The first card of each hand is one of the 2 cards you had in your original hand. You play each of the split hands separately.
• Surrendering means giving up half your bet but also losing any right to win the hand later in the round. It’s comparable to folding in poker. It’s not a move you’ll make often, but it’s still important to know what it is.

Understanding the card values is another important part of the rules. Most people get this aspect of the rules pretty fast, but here it is if you don’t know how it works:

All cards in blackjack have a point value equal to their rank, except for aces and face cards. Aces can count as 1 or 11, depending on which would be better for your hand. Face cards (the jack, queen, and king) are worth 10 points each.

Also, most of the time, when you win, you get even money. Bet $100 and win, and you get a $100 payout.

But if you get a 2-card hand totaling 21, which is called a “blackjack” or “natural,” you win 3 to 2 on yoru money—at least in most casinos. Some casinos have lowered payouts for this hand, and we’ll talk about that later in this list of do’s and don’ts.

2 – DON’T Tell Other Players How to Play Their Hands

Blackjack is supposed to be fun. It’s a gambling game you play in a casino, and the last time I checked, that was the entire point to playing these kinds of games.

One of the surest ways to spoil the fun for other players is to correct their play.

And if you spoil someone else’s fun, you’ll have less fun, too—unless you’re some kind of weird sociopath.

Some players operate under the mistaken impression that the other players’ actions can somehow affect the luck for the other players at the table.

This isn’t true.

Most of the obnoxious players who are correcting others’ decisions at the table operate from that assumption.

But they’re wrong.

Now you know better.

3 – DO Play in Single Deck Games When You Can

Blackjack is a game with a low house edge—that’s just the mathematical advantage that the casino has over the player.

But different blackjack games have different conditions. One of those conditions is the number of decks in use.

The rule of thumb for the player is simple:

Everything else being equal, the more decks in play, the higher the house edge.

Your goal is to face the lowest house edge possible.

With more cards in the deck, as in an 8-deck game, your probability of being dealt a blackjack goes down, which increases the house’s mathematical edge over the player.

You should never give the casino any opportunity to get a higher mathematical edge over you, if you can at all help it.

Of course, the number of decks isn’t the only factor of a blackjack game’s conditions that a casino can change.

4 – DON’T Play in 6/5 Blackjack Games

One trick casinos often use to get a higher edge is to offer a single deck blackjack game, but that game might only pay off at 6 to 5 for a blackjack.

Remember how we talked about the rules for blackjack, and how a natural pays off at 3 to 2?

That means if you bet $100 and win, you get a payoff of $150 for a blackjack.

That’s a ratio of 3 to 2 on your money.

Some casinos offer games where the payoff for a blackjack is done at a ratio of 6 to 5.

If you bet $100 and win in such a game, you get a payoff of $120.

The casinos try to bill these games as superior to standard blackjack, and some people are so mathematically illiterate that they fall for this trick.

The casino might have a sign up that says “Now offering 6/5 payouts!”

When they announce it like that, it sounds special, doesn’t it?

They’re hoping that some of the less thoughtful and attentive patrons will see the 6 and think that it’s bigger than 3, so they’re getting a better deal.

A lot of players fall for that, too, but not you. You know that the 6 is relative to the 5, which means a $120 payout on a $150 payout on a $100 bet.

That’s a big difference. It gives the house another 1.4% in house edge, which is a LOT.

Just say no to 6/5 blackjack, please.

5 – DO Follow Basic Strategy on EVERY Hand

Most of the people who read my blog already know what basic strategy is in blackjack, but if you’re a new reader, you might not have been clued in yet.

In blackjack, you’ll face a finite number of situations. You can only have so many totals, and you can only face so many dealer up-cards.

When you compare a total in your hand with the dealer’s up-card, you have a limited number of options. Each of those options has a mathematically expected average result.

This expected result is called “expected value,” or EV, for short.

Some situations in blackjack are lousy, and the expected value is negative no matter how you play your hand. In those cases, the correct move is the one which results in the lowest average loss. That IS the highest expected value play in that situation.

Most people learn basic strategy using a table or chart. On the left hand side of the chart, you have a list of the possible hard and soft totals in the game. (A soft total is a total that includes an ace. It’s “soft” because you can change what you count the ace as based on the situation to avoid busting.)

Across the top of the chart, you have a list of the dealer’s possible up-cards.

You cross-reference your total with the dealer’s face-up card on the chart, and it tells you how to play the hand—hit, stand, double down, etc.

It sounds horribly complicated, but it’s easier than you think, because some totals play the same as some other totals. And how you play a specific hand against a dealer’s up-card doesn’t change much—a lot of times, the same decision applies to any dealer up-card of 6 or less or any dealer up-card of 7 or more.

Basic strategy was originally derived by having a computer play hundreds of thousands of simulated hands and seeing what the results were like.

Modern computers are able to handle more complicated algorithms, so they just calculate the expected value for each move.

Either way, you get the same set of guidelines for how to play your hands, although they might change slightly based on game conditions.

You should always play using correct basic strategy.

6 – DON’T Pay ANY Attention to Your Hunches

Some people adjust how they play based on their gut feelings. Unfortunately, confirmation bias reinforces this behavior.

Your hunches have no effect on the outcome of the game.

You’re not able to tell the future, even when it comes to a deck of cards.

Your brain is programmed to notice those occurrences and put stock in them.

Don’t fall for it.

Stick with the math.

The idea is to be an educated gambler getting the most action for your money.

You can’t do that by being superstitious and thinking you’re psychic.

Stick with basic strategy regardless of your hunches and gut feelings.

7 – DO Learn How to Count Cards

Counting cards is a fine skill to learn. More than anything else, learning how to count cards will increase your understanding of and enjoyment of the game.

You might think it’s not worth it to learn how to count cards in this modern casino era. After all, many casinos now use automatic shuffling machines and shuffle the cards before every hand, making it impossible to get an edge by counting cards.

Those aren’t the only ways casinos thwart card counters, though. Even in a casino where they’re not shuffling every hand, they can stop and re-shuffle the deck anytime, making it harder to get an advantage. Or one of the casino employees can just start talking to you—asking questions and just being friendly. It’s hard to count cards and carry on a conversation at the same time.

You don’t have to make a living counting cards for it to be worthwhile, either. Counting cards can just be a fun hobby. Who doesn’t want to get one over on the casino?

You just need to be willing to do some scouting to find the good games. Some of this might involve doing some legwork of your own. It’s also a good idea to spend some time getting to know other blackjack players and card counters on the internet.

You can find forums where card counters and blackjack players compare notes about specific casino conditions. Use them wisely, friend.

8 – DON’T Think You’ll Get Rich Counting Cards

Don’t forget that counting cards only nets you a small edge over the casino. The bigger the stakes are where you’re playing, the less likely you are to get away with it. Also, the more time you spend at a casino, the more likely you are to get caught.

Let’s look at how much you might realistically expect to earn by counting cards. We’ll assume that you’re really good at counting and that you’ve found great game conditions. You have a 2% edge over the casino.

You’re playing for an average of $25 per hand, and you’re getting in 80 hands per hour. This means that you’re putting $2000 into action per hour. With an edge of 2%, you’re looking at a predicted hourly win rate of $40.

$40/hour might sound pretty good if you’re a minimum wage employee somewhere, or even if you’re an entry level retail employee or office worker.

But that hourly wage doesn’t tell the whole picture.

If you could, then sure, you could be making $80,000 a year counting cards, but that’s not realistic.

For one thing, the more time you spend at a specific casino or playing with a specific dealer, the more likely you are to get busted.

For another, that amount of time spent counting cards is far more mentally grueling than you could probably imagine.

If you could pull this off for 15 or 20 hours per week, then you could make $30k or $40k a year counting cards, but you don’t get any kind of benefits package with this deal, either.

Sure, counting cards can be a fun hobby, but it’s not a realistic way to make a living.

9 – DO Take Advantage of the Casino’s Comps Program

The slots club at the casino isn’t just for the slot machine players. Table game players can take advantage of these comps, too. To take advantage of this, you just present your players club card to the dealer when you sit down and start to play.

How do they keep up with your action at the blackjack table, though?

We know how they track your play on the slot machines, but what about at the blackjack table?

Basics Of Winning Blackjack Poker

The pit boss and the dealer get together and decide what your average bet size is and rate you. They know how many hands per hour you’re playing on average, and then it’s just a matter of multiplication.

In that card counting example above, we assumed you were averaging $2000 per hour in action. They just multiply that by their rewards rate to determine how much free stuff to give you.

The trick, and if you’ve read Max Rubin’s Comp City, you already know this, is to look like you’re betting more money per hour than you’re actually putting into action.

How do you do that?

For one thing, you bet more per hand during your first 15 minutes or so at the table. You can scale back after that, but you want them to think you’re putting more money into action than you are. Start by betting $50 or $100 per hand before scaling back to $20 or $30 per hand. Mix it up enough that you look like a gambler, but not so much that you’re obviously counting cards.

The casino assumes you’re an average blackjack player for determining comps, so they’re assuming that their edge against you is around 2.5%. If you’re using perfect basic strategy, you have that number well below 1%.

You can easily come out ahead against the casino by just using perfect basic strategy and getting the most out of your comps as possible.

10 – DON’T Cheat

Basics Of Winning Blackjack Card Game

First, let’s make a distinction between advantage play and cheating.

Advantage play doesn’t involve changing the conditions of the game. You’re just playing with optimal strategy for those game conditions. Counting cards is advantage play, not cheating.

You’re cheating when you change the conditions of the game. If you’re using a computer to count cards, for example, you’re cheating. If you’re changing the size of your bets after you’ve seen your cards, you’re cheating.

Do you really want to go to jail (and possibly prison) and have a criminal record because you were trying to get an illegal edge against a casino?

It doesn’t seem worth it to me, although I’ve read numerous stories about casino cheats who get caught repeatedly and return to prison over and over again.

Basics Of Winning Blackjack Numbers

If you have that type of personality, my warning not to cheat is probably falling on deaf ears.

But if you think you’re going to cheat just on a lark, well…

Don’t do it.

Conclusion

Having a good time at the blackjack table isn’t hard to do when you keep these things in mind. Learning the rules is something you can do in less than an hour. There aren’t that many rules to begin with.

Mastering basic strategy is something you can do in an hour or 2 if you commit to focusing on it and studying. Heck, you can practice at your kitchen table.

You don’t have to learn to count cards to have fun at the blackjack table, but it sure doesn’t hurt. Counting cards is another skill that you can learn at your kitchen table in just a couple of hours. All it takes is some focus and determination.

And what could be easier than signing up for the players’ club at the casino and presenting the card when you sit down to play? I can’t think of anything.

And most of the suggestions for what not to do are common sense.