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Online Blackjack players should avoid 6-5 tables

As Online Blackjack rules change, so does your best Blackjack strategy. In a six-deck game, basic strategy calls for doubling down on 11 against any dealer face-up card if the dealer hits soft 17 but not to double down against an Ace if the dealer stands on all 17s.

In a six-deck game, you’ll never split a pair of 4s if you are not allowed to double down after splitting pairs, but will split them against a 5 or 6 if you can double. Other strategy variations take into account number of decks in play, whether you are permitted to double down and whether surrender is offered.

But the common rule variation that has the biggest impact on the game comes when online casinos pay 6-5 on Online Blackjacks instead of the standard 3-2. That raises the house edge by 1.4 percent, and you don’t really have a strategy option that can whittle down that game-changer.

A reader thought he might have something when we wrote about the possibility of treating a Online Blackjack like any other 11.

“If you are absolutely stuck in a online casino that only offers this game (and cannot easily go anywhere else),” he wrote, “would you be better off to double down on Online Blackjacks at all times, or at least when dealer is showing 3, 4, 5 or 6?”

What I would do in that situation is to shoot craps, check out the video poker pay tables, or maybe play a little baccarat. I will not play a Online Blackjack game where two-card 21s pay only 6-5. It’s the full 3-2, or I will not play.

But to answer the specific strategy question, no, it is not in your best interest to double down on Online Blackjacks, not even when that horrible 6-5 rule is in effect. Many online casinos don’t even allow you to double on Online Blackjacks, but in those that do, it remains a bad idea.

Trouble is, when you double on 11 even in a highly favorable situation such as the dealer showing a 6, you’re going to lose sometimes, and sometimes you’ll push. You’ll win enough that you increase profits by doubling down on 9-2, 8-3, 7-4 or 6-5.

But a Online Blackjack wins against a 6 every time. You’re paid before the dealer even plays out his hand. The bottom line is that even with a 6-5 payoff, you win $6 for a $5 wager. Double on 11 vs. 6, and your average profit is $3.35 per $5 in initial wagers.

Even if Online Blackjack pay only even money, you’re still better off just to take your winnings than to double down. Your best strategy, even tough, remains to avoid tables with 6-5 payoffs on Online Blackjack.

Winning Casino Strategy for Multi-hand Blackjack

Is playing multiple blackjack hands together at a traditional or Internet casino tought of as one of the smart strategies that should be universally used by neophytes and experts alike?

This issue has been widely argued decades prior to the inventor of the internet was even born, and will be a point of contention long after our generation is nothing but dust. We will discuss the main points agreed upon by the vast majority of experts, leaving other issues on the backburner for blackjack philosophers to debate.

Only experts should play simultaneous multiple blackjack hands. If you have to think about the optimal strategy for even a second, when you have an Ace and a three and the dealer is showing a five, then you should not attempt multi-hand blackjack card games. Do you know the optimal play in this situation? Look at the basic blackjack strategy card and find out.

Don’t attempt this unless you have a bankroll of 100 times the size of your total bet size ($1000 minimum) with playing two $5 per hand simultaneous blackjack games. The short-term fluctuation can easily cripple even the best of the best as has happened to the MIT blackjack team over a decade ago.

Depending on the number of players at your table, you can expect to make 200-400 instantaneous decisions, each one using advantage strategy. In internet blackjack, that number can triple or quadruple. Most traditional casinos will also require players to double their bet size, knowing too well that a pro playing two hands can murder the table deep enough into the shoe.

Do you count cards? If you do not, then this blackjack strategy is definitely wrong for you. Most casinos will ask you to double your bets playing two simultaneous blackjack hands. Consider studying these best blackjack card counting books before you even attempt to gain an edge playing two hand blackjack.

Without card counting and memorizing the perfect strategy for all hand combinations you will wind up losing a lot more in the end then winning. In the United States, card counting is 100% legal despite anything you may have heard.

NJ Supreme Court in USA, ruled that Atlantic City casinos could not use card counting as the sole reason to ban players. The worst that a Las Vegas casino can do is ban you, because an AI program monitoring game play thinks you may be counting cards. Please check with an attorney before practicing card counting within your country or if you are playing on sovereign tribal land.

As you can tell, the article has changed focus now into advantage plays, which is the key to having that 1% advantage over the casino. All other areas of playing multi-handed blackjack card games, such as moving your seat to ‘change the flow of cards’ or juggling 3 rabbit feet before playing, are useless mathematically. If performing such rituals make you more confident, focuses your brain better, and improves your concentration, feel free to change your seat between every hand.

Learn Your Blackjack Variations

The blackjack game is one of the most popular types of gambling. Both live and internet blackjack are a major contributor to nearly all casinos and is typically the largest take from all of the table games. Blackjack has grown in several way in the past few years, and our days players can find many variations to play. Each variation comes with its own set of rules that will influence the way you will need to use your basic blackjack strategy. And each variation offers a different house edge, making some better than others.

If you wish to play the maximum strategy you will need to understand the variation that you are playing and the strategy that comes along with it. One thing to look for the game’s payout out for each blackjack hand. The hand can pay as much as 2-1, yet some games will pay out as little as 6-5 on your blackjack hand.

The next thing one needs to know of the blackjack game one is playing is if the dealer hits or doesn’t hit on soft 17. If the dealer must hit on soft 17 the house has a bigger edge than it would in a game that the dealer stands on soft 17, around 0.2%. Our days it is rare to find a game in which the dealer stands on 17.

Next find out about the doubling rule. The doubling rule refers to the ability to double your bet after your first two cards are dealt and you hit for the next. This gives the player an edge of 0.2% over a game that does not allow you ro double down. Some Internet casinos will not allow any doubling in their games and some will.

Finally you need to know if you can split pairs. Some casinos will allow splitting and some will not. There is a unique strategy for splitting pairs on a blackjack table, so be sure you know this simple strategy before you play a game that allows splitting.

There are many more blackjack variations available. If you are considering playing the game you need to know the rules of the different variations you are playing, and you need to learn the right basic strategy for each of the variations you will be playing.

Blackjack Strategy Cards

If you play blackjack on the internet with any regularity you should know how to play basic strategy. This is a set of rules for the player to follow that will give them the best possible chance to win in any hand situation they may find themselves in. Basic strategy decision-making varies depending on the blackjack variantion that you are playing, and you can potentially lower the house edge over you to less than a half percent. Counting cards is not an option in internet blackjack, so the best way the increase your chance of winning is to learn basic strategy. It’s not rocket science to learn, and you can even use a cheat sheet until your decision-making becomes automatic to you.

These cheat sheets are not cheating, they’re cards that outline which decision is best to make in any hand situation. Most land-based casinos allow you to have a copy of a blackjack strategy card with you as you play, but not all will. But when you are playing internet blackjack there’s nothing to stop you from using them; and you can reference it anytime you are unsure of the best play to make. With enough practice you’ll memorize every situation and you won’t need the cards anymore.

Using these cards will not guarantee that you are going to win the next time you play the game. But they will lower losses in the long term, and your playing bankroll won’t have to deal with such a wide win/loss variance because you lowered the house edge against you. The blackjack strategy cards will provide you with information on when to hit, stand, double down, split, or surrender. They will also inform you what move to make if either doubling or surrender is not allowed in that variant of the game.

Basic blackjack strategy cards can be found easily online. The best ones are color coded so you can find the information faster. Make sure you have the right card for the variantion of blackjack that you are playing and always follow the card. If you are not disciplined about following it you won’t lower that edge over you like you should.

Keeping track of Blackjack Wins and Losses

The majority of blackjack players who play think they know how much they win or lose. Yet actually the majority has no clue what the real numbers are when it comes to their game play. The majority has a certain sum of money that they know they can afford to lose, and they spend it on the game. Over time those numbers get lost in the shuffle, and keeping tack with what you’re really spending on the game can’t be properly calculated.

Every serious player should keep a record of their wins and losses. These figures will not only tell you how much you spend while playing, but it will also tell you if you have any room for enhancing your game. Depending on the game you’re playing, basic blackjack strategy should only give the house around a 0.5% edge over you. If your losses are more frequent than this over a large selection of games, you’ll know that you’re not playing to the best possible blackjack strategy.

Keeping track is as simple as writing down how many hands you play and how much you bet in each hand. Make it a habit to write down how much you have to start with and how much you have left once you stop playing. It does not take too much effort to keep a record of it all as you play, once oyu get used to this idea it will become a second nature for you.

This info will not only tell you about how much you spend on play, but it can also offer you patterns that you can see and adjust to. If you see a pattern that often ends up being costly to you, you can make the adjustment so that particular situation is no longer a leak in your game. Your mistakes will be exposed and you’ll be forced to correct the things that are obviously costing you money.

Once you work on getting rid of all your bad habits, you’ll be playing to the best possible advantage. There’s no way to discover these bad habits that we all possess until you analyze your game play history, and in order to do that you need to have some kind of record to follow up on.

Should I ever use insurance in a blackjack game

Should I ever use insurance while participating in a blackjack game? Isn’t insurance just a ‘sucker bet’ at very bad odds?

Not necessarily. As an example in a six-deck shoe there are 312 cards after the shuffle. If no 10s come up in the first 25 cards that come out, its better to use insurance. This because if 25 cards come out with no 10s, then there are 287 cards left with 96 of them being 10s. So a players odds are under 2:1.

This is the only time when it’s the correct blackjack strategy to use insurance. The chance of the first 25 cards not having even a single 10 is very low. So if you are not counting 10s, or sat down when the game has already started, it’s meaningless to actually use insurance.

Blackjack players need strategy for a bust card Attack

Internet Blackjack players feel very good about their hands when the dealer has a 5 or 6 face up. A few even refer to the them as “bust cards,” though even with 5 or 6 up, the dealer still makes hands of 17 or better more often than not.

What if the dealer got his or her up card first, before dealing to players? Would you be willing to go on the attack and double your bet without seeing your cards?

That’s the premise of Double Attack Blackjack, a game I spotted recently at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind. You begin play by making a bet and have the option of making an additional Bust wager, a side bet that the dealer will bust in three cards.

The first card dealt is the dealer’s face-up card. Once you have seen that card, you have the opportunity to raise your bet to the amount of the original wager. If you have started with a $10 Internet Blackjack bet, you can wager up to an additional $10. Then you get your first two cards.

There are some pluses and minuses. On the plus side, the dealer stands on all 17s, players may double down on any number of cards, including after splits, and late surrender is offered. Offsetting all that are a couple of negatives: Player Internet Blackjacks pay only even money and the game uses a 48-card “Spanish” deck, with the 10-spot cards removed.

A leading internet Blackjack site states that the house edge is 0.62% with a specially adapted basic strategy. For starters, it’s best to raise your bet whenever that opening dealer up card is anything from 2 through 8. You’ll wind up pressing the attack 58.3% of the time.

Getting the most out of the game also requires basic blackjack strategy improvements after you have seen your cards. One difference from regular Internet Blackjack: You will hit hard 14 vs. a dealer’s 2 or 3, as well as 7 on up, and hit 12 or 13 against any up card. That’s because of the decreased chance of busting with fewer 10-value cards in the deck. Our site site has a complete blackjack strategy table.

As for the Bust bet, it pays 3-1 when a face card as the third card causes the dealer to bust, 6-1 on a 9, 8-1 on an 8, 10-1 on a 7, 15-1 on a 6, 50-1 when the dealer has 8-8-8 of the same color, and a 200-1 bonanza on 8-8-8 of the same suit. The house edge is 8.01%.

I would avoid the Bust bet and play the main Double Attack game only after spending a little time on the basic blackjack strategy card. It’s a fun variation with a relatively low house edge, but a blind attack is likely to backfire.

Online blackjack Insurance

The online blackjack game offers many different choices available for a player during a hand. Playing optimum strategy is a system for players to follow so they’re getting the most out of their buy-in dollar. Depending on the online blackjack variant, players will sometimes have different choices at their disposal. One such choice is using insurance to cover possible losses that could be suffered in a hand. This is a choice offered to the player whenever the dealer is showing an ace. The insurance bet is a bet that says that the dealer has a hidden online blackjack, and if you think that he does you will place a bet half the size of the regular wager in the insurance bet spot.

If the dealer has a online blackjack hand you will receive 2-1 on your insurance bet. It will basically recover the bet that you lose to the dealer’s blackjack, or you will lose it if they have anything else. It’s also possible to lose both bets, making you worse off than if you just played out the hand against the ace. In a live casino setting the dealer will ask for insurance bets, while online two buttons will come up giving you the choice to take the insurance or refuse it. The most common time you’ll see someone buying insurance is when they have a total of 20, and they place money on insurance to “protect” their hand from the Online blackjack.

The complication with the insurance bet is that it’s for suckers. The bet is never the most favorable choice for the player, and one should never opt for it. Statistically there are nine cards that do not make Online blackjack for the dealer, and only 4 cards that will make Online blackjack. The casino is only paying out 8:4 (or 2:1) in a 9:4 condition. You will most certainly lose money over time if you take insurance.

The bet can be a comforting choice when you have a major bet out there that would make a major difference in your session. It could also work in a condition where you’re closing in on a goal, and the even money will get you to that goal. Otherwise there are no other conditions where the insurance bet is your best choice. Stay away from it and play your basic strategy without fear; the payouts will come in the long run if you abide to the basics.

Betting multiple hands at blackjack

There is no mathematical calculation for this misleading beleif that by switching from one hand to two at a time, you will “change the flow of cards,” and that by so doing you will change your luck at the blackjack table. What will happen, specifically on a Blackjack game that uses an automatic shuffler, is that you will be dealt far more hands per hour, with the casino edge munching contentedly on your bankroll at a much faster clip. Let’s run some numbers.

Say, for example, you are a basic Blackjack strategy player and your average bet is $10 per hand. To play two hands at a time, many casinos will make you double that amount per betting circle, so you are in fact betting $40 per round. Now let’s put Joe to the right of you, Josephine to your left, with four bets in play.

When you’re playing with two other Blackjack players on an auto-shuffled game, the game can be expected to average at least 600 decisions per hour, you seeing half, or 300 of them. Betting $40 per round means you will be betting a total of $12,000 over the course of an hour.

With the casino having a 0.5% edge against the basic Blackjack strategy player, and you decreasing your decisions per hour to 200 with just one hand at $5, your predicted hourly loss is just five buckaroos. But, by playing two hands at a time ($40) instead of one ($10) and at 300 decisions, your expected hourly loss drastically jumps to $60. You could always check and see whether your friend would give you a ride home before you decide to ride two horses at once.

The only advantage I see to playing two hands at a time is that if you are a card counter, because when your count gives you a clear edge, it would be to your advantage to play more than one hand. Counters playing heads-up against the dealer know that by playing two hands at a time, they have twice the chance of getting the high value cards as the dealer has. But, these newer automatic shufflers that randomize the cards after each hand make card counting futile, so you won’t see card counters playing on them, and neither should you. Not because you don’t count cards, but these shufflers that randomly shuffle the discards after every round played makes for a game that flows much faster, which in turn increases your theoretical loss by the same measure.

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