Blackjack Tips

Beat the Dealer

Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one (21) is the casino industry’s most popular game and for good reason: the names’ misleading meanings. It amazes me that there are so many people unaware of the object of this game. Receiving a Blackjack? No. Hitting until your card values reach twenty-one? No. The object is to BEAT THE DEALER’S HAND. With all the naivety, is it any wonder why casinos have an abundance of Blackjack tables?

Blackjack is also the most written about casino card game (now behind Texas Hold’em Poker). The game is beatable by using stringent lines of attack consisting of basic strategy and card counting systems, where practical.

 

The Basics

Standard Blackjack tables hold seven players with the dealer standing in the centre above the cheque (chip) rack. When you find a table, first look at the placard where the minimum and maximum wagers are posted.

The dealer distributes each player and himself two cards—one of his cards is placed face down. His up card is absolutely the most important initial card on the table. His card determines what the player should do next: hit, stand, split, double down, take insurance, or—if offered—surrender.

 

Basic Strategy

Everyone who plays the game should learn what is called Blackjack Basic Strategy. Developed in the early 60s by Professor Edward O. Thorp with an IBM supercomputer, basic strategy was created to interpret the best player move in any given situation. Learning basic strategy will also keep experienced players off your back and believe me, there are players that will ridicule a clueless Blackjack player. They feel that bad play will corrupt the flow of the cards. Most BJ gaming experts claim that it doesn’t matter in the long run if an inexperienced player makes a move against the norm that results in an unexpected outcome.

The experts claim that in the long run ill-advised plays will even out, but the long run is based on computer simulations of somewhere around five-billion-seventy-six-point-three-one-four hands. It seems like every Chicken Little who does not hit a 16 versus the dealer 10 up card results in a table loss when the dealer receives a 5 to go with his 6 in the hole that turns into a house 21. The 5 should’ve been Mr. CL’s. Okay, off the soapbox now.

The following Basic Strategy Chart is applicable for most multiple deck and single deck games casino destinations.

 

Multiple Deck/ Single Deck Basic Strategy

• Dealer stands on soft 17 (A,6)
• Doubling down on any two cards
• Doubling down permitted after splitting pairs

 

 

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