Different Ways To Play Blackjack

You can’t find many professional gamblers at the craps and roulette tables or at the slot machines. But one place you can find pros is at the blackjack tables. Of course, they don’t want anyone to know they’re professional blackjack players, because the casinos might kick them out.

If you want to be a professional gambler, blackjack is one of your best options. Blackjack is firmly based on math, so you can learn how to influence the house edge in a way that gives you a long-term advantage. Keep reading to learn four ways to play blackjack like a pro.

Crazy Blackjack is quite different from most of the other varieties available on 888 Casino and involves three side bet options. You play against the dealer in a private, multi-hand (up to three simultaneously) table with three betting limits classes. Free Blackjack Strategy. As mentioned above, one of the great advantages of free blackjack games is that you can get to grips with numerous different strategies without risking any cash.

1 – Avoid All of the Side Bets

Smart gamblers know that almost all side bets are bad bets. Side bets are designed to get you to risk more on average and to raise the house edge. Blackjack side bets are no different.

One of the worst blackjack side bets is presented in a way that most players don’t even realize it’s a side bet. The insurance bet the dealer offers when he or she has an ace showing is just another side bet. It doesn’t have anything to do with the regular blackjack game, and it’s just another way to get you to risk more money on a bet that has a house edge.

Consider how the insurance side bet works. While it’s triggered by what the dealer shows as an up card, the way it’s resolved doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of the hand. The bet pays 2:1 if the dealer has a down card worth 10 points, and you lose the best if the dealer has any other down card.

The deck has four cards that are worth 10 points, and nine cards that aren’t worth 10 points. This creates a ratio or odds of 9:4, but you only get paid 2:1 when you win. For the bet to have a zero house edge, the odds or ratio would need to be 8:4 or the payout would need to be 2.25:1.

In addition to insurance being a bad bet, when you lose the insurance wager, you still have to complete your normal hand in an unfavorable situation. Any hand with an ace in blackjack has an advantage, so in the long run, you’re going to lose against a dealer ace. Don’t compound the disadvantage by losing more money on the insurance wager.

Insurance isn’t the worst bet in the casino, but it’s not a good bet for blackjack players. Avoid the insurance bet at all times.

All of the other side bets at the blackjack table available in casinos work like insurance. They cost you money and should always be avoided. Stick with the regular game, find games with good rules, and use basic strategy. This is the way to keep the house edge as low as you can.

2 – Know All of the Rule Variations

Blackjack has many different rules and rule variations. Each rule changes the house edge, with some rules making it higher and some rules making it lower. Blackjack pros learn all of the possible rules, and learn which rules combinations offer the lowest house edge.

Professional blackjack players also learn where they can find the best games, so they don’t waste time searching for good games every time they want to play.

Here’s a quick overview of blackjack rules variations:

Different Ways To Play Blackjack Real Money

• Natural blackjack payout – You should never play a blackjack game that pays less than 3:2 for a natural blackjack. Many games are switching to 6:5 payments, but this creates such a large house edge that the game isn’t worth playing.
• Number of decks – The basic rule of thumb is the lower the number of decks, the better for you. A single deck blackjack game is better than a double deck game and a double deck is better than a shoe game, etc.
• Double down – The best rules allow you to double down on any two cards and you can double after splitting.
• Splitting – The best rules allow you to split as many times as possible. Most blackjack tables limit the number of times you can split to three or four. Basically, the more times you can split, the better.
• Surrender – Blackjack games that allow surrender are better than ones that don’t allow surrender. Early surrender is best, but it’s almost never available. Late surrender isn’t as good as early surrender, but it’s still better than having no surrender option.
• Dealer procedure – It’s better for you when the dealer stands on a soft 17, but this is one of the least important rules.

These aren’t all of the possible rules variations, but they’re the most common. The important thing to understand is if you want to be a blackjack pro, you need to know all of the rules and how they alter the house edge.

3 – Always Use Basic Strategy

It doesn’t matter if you want to be a blackjack pro or just play the game for fun, you should always use basic strategy. Blackjack pros have basic strategy memorized so they always make the best possible play, but you don’t have to memorize the best strategy to use it. You can use a strategy card every time you play.

Basic strategy is simply using the best possible playing decision on every possible hand. Every combination of the dealer’s up card and your two card starting hand has a single best way to play. Basic strategy is based on the long-term average return for each playing decision and has been created using advanced computer programs.

Every possible situation has been analyzed and the profitability has been computed for each possibility over hundreds of thousands of results. The majority of hand combinations are unprofitable because of the house edge, but even unprofitable hands have a single best way to play.

When a hand is unprofitable, all of the possible plays are analyzed and the least unprofitable one is the best play. On the profitable hands, after all of the possibilities are analyzed, the most profitable play is the best play.

Basic strategy, whether you memorize it or use a strategy card, has the single best play for every hand, and you should always use it.

4 – Advantage Play Opportunities

The truth is that blackjack is one of the few games in the casino where you can play as a professional with a true long-term advantage. It’s not easy to be a blackjack professional, but it can be done. The way to get started is to become a card counter.
The base blackjack game has a house edge, just like every other game in the casino. But the house edge goes up and down depending on what cards have been played and which cards remain in the deck or shoe.

When the remaining cards have a high ratio of high cards to low cards, the edge moves to your favor. If you track the ratio of high and low cards, which is what card counting is, and bet more when the ratio is in your favor, you can overcome the house edge.

If you want to learn how to count cards, all it takes is dedication and practice. Pick a good card counting system, like the Hi Lo system, and learn how to use it. Then, spend time every day practicing counting cards, and in a short time, you can learn how to count cards.

I recommend buying a book or two about your chosen system so you have a complete understanding of how the system works before you start practicing.

You can also look for opportunities to use other advantage play methods while playing blackjack. Two other techniques that some pros use to gain an advantage are hole carding and shuffle tracking or ace sequencing.

Hole carding is a process where you watch the dealer closely to see if he or she flashes the value of their hole card when they deal. Most dealers hide their hole card, but some get sloppy and smart players with a sharp eye can see the value on some hands.

When you see the value of the dealer’s hole card, it gives you a strong advantage. This is a truly advanced technique that only a few players use. But the only way to find out if you can see hole cards is to closely watch the dealer on every hand.

Ace sequencing and shuffle tracking are similar, but they only work in hand shuffled games. By tracking a collection of high cards, or a series of aces as they’re put in the discard tray, you can track where the slug of cards ends up after it’s shuffled.

This can give you an advantage when the slug you tracked is getting ready to be dealt. Most casinos use thorough shuffling techniques or automatic shuffling machines, which eliminate the effectiveness of shuffle tracking and ace sequencing. But when you find a game that hand shuffles and they don’t do a good job, you can get an advantage using these techniques.

Conclusion

Anyone can learn how to be a professional blackjack player. Every blackjack player can benefit from avoiding the side bets, knowing all of the rules, and using basic blackjack strategy. If you want to be a true pro, learn how to use advantage play techniques like counting cards.

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Blackjack variations don’t seek to reinvent the wheel, but they do hope to give it a unique twist. No matter which online or land-based casino you visit, chances are strong that you’ll find variations on the classic card game. While some are clever in their design, others seem patched together in an effort to just be different. But no matter what the case, you’ll be able to test your skills by giving a few of them a try.

Play Blackjack For Fun

In this article, I’ve put together a list of the most popular blackjack variations. A brief description touches on the unique features of each game, although there may not be room to devote to every subtle nuance (always read the casino rules before beginning play).

Play Blackjack For Fun Only

It should be noted that some blackjack variations are exclusive to certain gaming software providers. This allows their participating casinos to tout games that exist nowhere else, with the intention being to draw in players looking for a unique thrill.