Top Strategies To Win At Blackjack
Blackjack is widely regarded as the most popular casino games worldwide and is also one of the favourite picks which can be enjoyed in near enough any environment. Players can enjoy the game at any respectable land-based venue, online site or even between friends on a Saturday night. Whichever way you fancy, when playing Blackjack it is quite useful to understand a few aspects of strategy in relation to game and how you can have as much influence over the outcome as possible.
Hit or Stand
The decision you will have to make in every hand of Blackjack you play is whether to ‘hit or stand’ and this is the reason why it is so important to learn of the rules of blackjack in order to improve your odds of winning. If you hit this means asking for another card from the dealer and if you stand that means you are happy with what you have and will not receive any more cards within the game round. You must tell the dealer what your choice is as the ultimate objective is to try to achieve a number with your cards that is as close to 21 as possible. More important it must be closer to 21 than that of the dealer. So for example, if the dealer’s card on display is 7 or higher and you have a total of 16 or less, it is generally recommended that you choose to hit.
Doubling Down
Most online casinos and land-based establishments will allow you the option of ‘doubling down’, giving you the opportunity to double the amount of your initial bet in return for one more card. Whether or not you should choose to double down depends on the total of the two cards you have and the one card the dealer has on show. Generally, you should consider doubling on a hard 8,9,10 and 11, as well as an ace with anything between a 2-7. If the dealer has an ace, king, queen or jack showing though; doubling down is not recommended.
Pair Splitting
In most available versions of Blackjack you will have the opportunity when you are dealt a pair of cards, to split them into two separate hands. This means that you are then dealt two more cards and your original bet stake then doubles and each hand is played normally, giving you two chances to defeat the dealer. If you are dealt 2 aces you should always make the decision to split your hand as it will give you a better chance of winning. Furthermore, in the event you are dealt two eights it is also definitely worth considering, as it is difficult to achieve a good hand playing them as a pair and splitting them gives you a better chance and you can’t bust out on your first hit.
Card counting
Quite a lot of Blackjack professionals have made a lot of money through the method of counting cards within Blackjack. The most common card counting method is the high-lo system and can be split into four basic steps as follows:
- Assign a value to every card, for example any card between 2-6 = 1, 7-9 = 0 and 10-ace = -1
- Keep a running count based on the numbers on the cards that are dealt
- With this data calculate the ‘count per deck’
- Adjust your bets as the ‘count per deck’ rises
