Casino Blackjack strategies
Blackjack
Blackjack is one of the favorite games amongst casino players and without a doubt can be called an inherent part of any house. It is easy to play and learn, that's why it gained so much popularity.
History
Blackjack originates from French game vingt-et-un and is sometimes named Pontoon, Van-John and twenty-one. The name derives from the game - if the player has got a Jack of Spades and an Ace of Spades (BlackJack) during the first dealing, he was additionally rewarded.
The game was created in the late 18th century and appeared in American houses in the 19th century. It was very popular among troops during World War I and thereat got its current name. Subsequently, it spread in Vegas and Reno casinos and became one of the most popular casino games.
The first to publish a book about Blackjack was Edward O. Thorp - his work called "Beat the Dealer" appeared in 1963. It showed player's opportunities to beat casino in blackjack, developed and advocated the "basic strategy". Even now it is still relevant. Sanford Wong continued the line and still is considered to be guru of modern blackjack game. He established the table-top book both for beginners and experts - Professional Blackjack. A living legend of the 20th century worth mentioning was Ken Uston, who used five computers that were built into the shoes of members of his playing team in 1977. It won big amounts of money and even attracted attention of FBI. It confiscated one of the machines but found nothing illegal, so it was a victory of a man over a casino and in a sense protected casinos from assaults.
Nowadays Blackjack remains very popular. It is a game of skill and at the same time not a difficult way to win in casino.
Rules
The main goal of the game is to accumulate cards with total that doesn't exceed and as much as possible close to 21. Numeric cards are counted according to their number, face cards are counted 10, Aces are counted 1 or 11. If a player and a dealer have the same point amount, it's a tie and no-one wins. If you get Ace and any 10-valued card in first dealing it's blackjack and you immediately win at 1.5 to 1, unless you have tie. Stand is available at any time.
First you should place your bet. Then each player gets two cards face up, the dealer gets one card face up and one card face down. To win you should get the sum close to 21 not overcoming it. You can get additional cards to achieve it. If you overcome 21 you immediately lose. The dealer stands on all 17s and draws if sum is lower.
While dealing first time you can make several actions. First, you can double the bet - in this case you get 1 additional card and stand. You can split two cards if they are the same value and play them separately. You can double bet on each card.
Also, there are several more rules that are applied in majority of casinos:
- In case of splitting a pair of Aces only one additional card is allowed on each Ace
- The deck is re-shuffled after about 1/3 of the shoe has been dealt
- No re-splitting of cards allowed
- No surrender
How to play
In majority of casinos Blackjack is played with 52-card decks. Ace is evaluated in the most advantageous way. The value of hand is sum of values of individual cards.
Your chips are assembled at the bottom of screen by denomination. You should select the wager amount on the given hand by clicking on appropriate chip. To specify a bet that is different from previous just click on appropriate stack. You may repeat you last bet by clicking "0" on numeric keyboard. If you want to withdraw bet simply click on right mouse button.
In a multi-player version of Blackjack one table can accommodate up to 5 players and a dealer, so you can easily choose position at the table by clicking on a spot between hands. You may bet when "Deal", "Pass" buttons and betting chips are placed in front of your seat.
Once you bet, you may choose to skip deal by clicking "Pass" or proceed by clicking "Deal". You are excluded from the hand if you don't bet or pass within 15 seconds.
After each player receives two cards face up, the dealer receives one card face up and one face down. During your turn you have the following actions to choose:
Hit: Request for another card. If your total goes over twenty-one, you will Bust and lose the hand.
Stand: Request no more cards. The hand as it currently stands will be judged against the dealer's.
Split: Appears when you have two cards of same denomination. You can split your cards into two hands and play each hand separately. Each hand is played usually except splitting Aces. In this case only one additional card per hand is dealt. A white box over each hand displays the active hand. You cannot split part of a split hand. Any winning 21 obtained after splitting a pair is paid 1-to-1.
Double Down: This action gives one more card, ends your turn and doubles your bet.
Insurance: This option is available if the dealer's up-card is an Ace. The player may opt to take insurance by clicking on the "Insurance " button. Click on "Pass" to avoid insurance and proceed with the rest of the hand. If the player is sure that the dealer's down-card is a 10-rank card, then player can place a side bet of half the original wager as insurance. If the dealer does have a 10 ranking card, the player is immediately paid 2-to-1 on the insurance bet, but the original one is lost unless the player has Blackjack too and pushes with the dealer.
In case you win hand, you receive your original bet plus the same amount in profit. A hand consisting of an Ace and any ten-value card is called a natural twenty-one, or a natural Blackjack. If you win with a natural Blackjack, you get your original bet back plus 150% profit.
Numeric Keyboard Shortcuts
| Keyboard Entry |
Action |
| 0 |
Repeat last bet |
| Enter |
Deal, Stand |
| + |
Hit |
| - |
Take Insurance |
| * |
Double Down |
| / |
Split |
| 1 |
Pass, Refuse Insurance |
| Up Arrow |
Increase bet by $1 |
| Down Arrow |
Decrease bet by $1 |
| "Up Arrow" |
Increase bet by $10 |
| "Down Arrow" |
Decrease bet by $10 |
If you have no keypads just use Fn key plus shortcuts listed above. Shortcuts are proposed as recommendations.
Casino Blackjack strategies
The mostly casino's initial edge in the game of blackjack is about 5.75%, including 3 to 2 sweep on player blackjacks. Arming correct basic strategy allows whittling down the casino's edge to about 0.5%. If you hit and stand properly, you take off 3,25%. Correct doubling and pair splitting withdraws 2% more, so you get 0.5% casino edge which isn’t so bad as 5,75, how do you think?
Betting limits
Bets are $5 minimum and $300 maximum. Individual tables may differ. You can determine bet limit in two ways: place your mouse pointer over a specific table for 2 or 3 seconds or click on a specific table. If you want to lower maximum limit, select "Bet Options" from the "Game Menu", so that "Modify Table Bet Limit" window will appear. To change maximum limit just type in the appropriate number and confirm it by entering PIN in the box below. To complete the update click OK. Note that modifications can be implemented not more than once a week but if they're done they're applied to all games you play.
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