You probably already know how to play blackjack, but do you know how to beat blackjack? Only a few blackjack players know the secrets needed to play winning blackjack.
- How To Be Good At Blackjack No Deposit
- How To Be Better At Blackjack
- How To Be Good At Blackjack Game
- How To Be Good At Blackjack Real Money
- How To Be Good At Blackjack Games
Not every blackjack game is the same. And if you don't know which blackjack tables offer the best rules, you're not going to win.
You also need to know what to do on each hand and what not to do. These things are what separate the blackjack winners and losers.
Tip #1: working out blackjack payouts The majority of bets on blackjack pay even money, so if a customer has £25 on the box, they'll win £25 – simple! However, when the customer wins with a blackjack, ie when their first two cards consist of an ace and either a ten or a face card (a Jack, Queen or King) the payout is one and a half to one. Always check the dealer's card before taking any action. 2 to 6 are unfavorable for the dealer, and 7 to aces are good. What cards the dealer has is an important part of the player's decision to adopt. There are many side bets on the Rival Blackjack site, such as Perfect Pair and 21 + 3. Don't be tempted by high dividend.
Here are five secrets about real money blackjack that the casinos hope you never learn. You can't win without these secrets.
- How to count cards in Blackjack. Blackjack is unique in that it can be legally beaten. It is the only game in the casino where past outcomes can influence future outcomes. If you think that betting on red after five black numbers in Roulette is smart, please stop reading.
- SHORT VERSION In short, the best ways to win Blackjack at casinos are: Stick to the basic guide, relentlessly. You can win with just using the basics, and you won't lose more than it hurts.
Only Play 3:2 Blackjack Tables
I'm going to start with a quick example. This example is so important that if you don't learn what it means, you're never going to bet blackjack games.
You have the choice between playing at two different blackjack tables. The first table has better overall rules than the second table, but the first table pays 6:5 when you get a natural 21. The second table doesn't have bad rules, but they're not quite as good as the first table rules. The second table pays 3:2 for a natural 21.
On each table, you have the same odds of getting a natural 21. When you compare the other rules at each table, you see that the return to player percentage on the first table is a little better. But here's what the different return for a natural 21 does on each table.
You're betting $50 on every hand. And when you get a 21 on the first table, you win $60. But when you get a 21 on the second table, you win $75.
Here's what you need to understand clearly. No matter how much better the other table rules are, they can't overcome the difference between the 21 payments. You can't afford to give up the extra $15 in profit for the better 21 payment and hope to win.
Here's a trick that casinos use to get more players to play blackjack on the tables that pay 6:5. The casinos make the table minimum bet $10 on 6:5 tables and $20 on 3:2 tables.
How To Be Good At Blackjack No Deposit
Low rollers want to play with the lowest wager as possible. And this isn't a bad strategy. But you actually have a better chance to win at the $20 tables than at the $10 table. In fact, you're going to lose more at the $10 table in this example than you're going to lose at the $20 table.
You have to play on 3:2 blackjack tables to have any chance to beat blackjack.
The Cost of Insurance
Insurance pays 2:1 when the dealer has a natural 21. When this happens, you lose your opening wager and break even because the rules of the insurance wager ends up giving you the same amount as your opening wager.
The ratio needs to be the same for it to be a good risk. This means that the odds of the dealer getting a blackjack either need to be 8:4 or better, or the pay for the bet needs to be 2.25:1. These are the reasons why insurance costs you money. Which lottery has best odds of winning uk.
Before you move to the next section, there are a few special circumstances when taking insurance is the correct play. Most blackjack players never get in these situations because they don't use the ultimate blackjack secret you're going to learn in the final section in this article.
You just learned that when the ratio of cards is 9:4 that insurance costs you money. But when the ratio falls to 8:4 or lower, insurance becomes a good bet. Learn how to know when the ratio is favorable in the last section in this article.
You Have to Master Casino Blackjack Rules
When you play blackjack, there are two things that influence your wins and losses. The first thing is how you decide to play your hands. I cover this in the next section.
In this section, you're going to learn about the other factor that influences your wins and losses. The rules at the blackjack table play an important part in your wins or losses.
You already learned the importance of the payout for a natural 21. But other rules are important, too. All blackjack rules either help or hurt your overall results.
Whether or not you can split pairs, and how many times you can split pairs, changes your return. What cards you can double down on and when you can double down changes the return.
Whether or not you can surrender changes your return. Whether or not you can double down after splitting a pair also plays a big part in your return.
You need to spend some time learning everything there is about rules to avoid bad blackjack bets. Find out how each rule changes your expected return so that you can find the blackjack tables with the best rules.
Playing Perfect Blackjack Strategy
When you learn how to find the blackjack tables with the best rules, your job is only halfway done. The second part of the equation is learning the best blackjack strategy.
Do you know the best way to play a hard 14 against a dealer 6? What about against a dealer 9? Do you split 4s?
You can figure out the best way to play each blackjack hand by running numbers based on every possible outcome. This is how they used to do it. Or you can use a computer program to do all of the hard work for you.
But there's an even easier way than this. All you have to do is get a blackjack strategy chart or card. A card or chart has all of the proper plays listed based on computer analysis that someone else has already completed.
The Ultimate Blackjack Secret
If you want to know the ultimate secret to beating blackjack, you're in luck. You can beat blackjack in the long run, and it all starts with what you've already learned in this article. But you have to do one other thing to get over the top.
The ultimate blackjack secret is learning how to count cards. Counting cards is easier than most blackjack players think. Most players think it's going to be too hard, so they never try.
You can learn how to count cards in a few hours. And you can learn how to do it good enough to beat the casinos if you practice enough. You might need to practice for 100 hours, but once you master counting, you're going to make money when you play blackjack.
In other words, even if it takes you 100 hours to master card counting, it's worth it in the long run because you're going to profit from your new skills for the rest of your life.
Take a look at the KO counting system and the Red 7 counting system. These are both good systems that are easy to learn and use. Start learning how blackjack card counting works and begin practicing today.
Use These Gambling Secrets to Win at Blackjack
Blackjack is one of the easiest casino games to play, but it's hard to beat. It's an impossible game to beat if you don't know the right secrets.
Beating blackjack starts with how much the casino pays for a natural 21. If they don't pay 3:2, you can't win in the long run.
The next secret is that you should skip the insurance wager close to 100% of the time. Some blackjack rules are better than others, and if you don't know which ones are the best, you can't win.
Use the ultimate blackjack secret revealed in this article to beat blackjack games consistently.
'Let's hit the cas' are a string of words guaranteed to fire up a bit of excitement and a hint of nervous energy through the group. Instantly, the tantalising (though unlikely) prospect of winning big comes to mind, quickly reinforced by the memory of your mate Dazza's big win on Roulette last month.
As it turns out, Australians shelled out $181 billion at domestic casinos and gaming venues in the 2017-18 financial year, equivalent to more than $9,100 per person over the age of 18. This is an alarming number given the fact that only 39% of people admit to being regular gamblers. Of that money spent, roughly $20 billion was lost.
How To Be Better At Blackjack
At the core of all casinos and their success is the law of probability. It is their bread and butter and the lifeblood of their cash cow. Put simply, casinos offer a game with rules that place the odds slightly in their favour. Some people will win and some people will lose, but in the long run the casino will always accrue more money that it loses. The best example of this is betting on a number in Roulette. A correct bet on a number attracts a payout 1:35, but there are a total of 38 numbers on the American wheels commonly found in Australian casinos, thus creating a house margin of 5.26%. In Blackjack, the house margin is around 0.5% assuming the player uses perfect ‘basic strategy', but actually sits closer to 2% when accounting for a range of skill levels.
But what if you could influence these odds to increase your chances of winning? Enter the method of how to count cards, a highly glamourised Blackjack technique used to beat casinos at their own game. Ever since Hollywood trotted out an autistic Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and an arguably handicapped Zach Galifinakis in The Hangover, the general public seems to think you need to either be on the spectrum or a true genius to keep track of playing cards. In reality, it's much easier.
How to count cards in Blackjack
Blackjack is unique in that it can be legally beaten. It is the only game in the casino where past outcomes can influence future outcomes. If you think that betting on red after five black numbers in Roulette is smart, please stop reading.
Realistically, there is no way to know for certain which card will be drawn next, but the art of counting cards hinges on giving you a hint of what it might be. By having an idea of what cards remain to be dealt, we are able to increase our probability of making a good call.
The basic premise is as follows:
As cards from the shoe (finite numbers of decks from which cards may be dealt from, usually six) are dealt, we are given information about which cards remain. For example, if we see six King of Spades drawn, we know that there is now no chance of a further King of Spades being drawn until the shoe is finished.
By taking notice of the cards that have already been dealt, we can start making guesses on what remains with greater accuracy. Card counting, or at least the method we will discuss here, simplifies this concept by focusing on low and high cards as groups, rather than getting into specifics.
Inherently, high-number cards are more desirable in Blackjack because they make it easier to achieve a result closer to 21. When there are a greater proportion of high-number cards remaining in the shoe than low-number cards, the shoe is ‘running hot' and we want to increase the size of our bets. Conversely, more low-number cards remaining to be dealt means the shoe is ‘running cold' because it is easier for the dealer to draw a good hand, and we should decrease the size of our bets.
In terms of keeping track of what cards have been dealt, the following method can be used. This is the actual ‘counting', and it's the part that gets most hopeful punters into a tailspin. That said, it's easier than one would think if you're willing to put in some time, effort and a fair bit of practice.
1.Assign Each Card A Value
This is called the ‘High-Low' method. We segregate the cards into three groups by number, then assign that group a value as follows:
- Numbers 2 – 6: +1
- Numbers 7 – 9: 0
- Numbers 10 – Ace: -1
Insurance pays 2:1 when the dealer has a natural 21. When this happens, you lose your opening wager and break even because the rules of the insurance wager ends up giving you the same amount as your opening wager.
The ratio needs to be the same for it to be a good risk. This means that the odds of the dealer getting a blackjack either need to be 8:4 or better, or the pay for the bet needs to be 2.25:1. These are the reasons why insurance costs you money. Which lottery has best odds of winning uk.
Before you move to the next section, there are a few special circumstances when taking insurance is the correct play. Most blackjack players never get in these situations because they don't use the ultimate blackjack secret you're going to learn in the final section in this article.
You just learned that when the ratio of cards is 9:4 that insurance costs you money. But when the ratio falls to 8:4 or lower, insurance becomes a good bet. Learn how to know when the ratio is favorable in the last section in this article.
You Have to Master Casino Blackjack Rules
When you play blackjack, there are two things that influence your wins and losses. The first thing is how you decide to play your hands. I cover this in the next section.
In this section, you're going to learn about the other factor that influences your wins and losses. The rules at the blackjack table play an important part in your wins or losses.
You already learned the importance of the payout for a natural 21. But other rules are important, too. All blackjack rules either help or hurt your overall results.
Whether or not you can split pairs, and how many times you can split pairs, changes your return. What cards you can double down on and when you can double down changes the return.
Whether or not you can surrender changes your return. Whether or not you can double down after splitting a pair also plays a big part in your return.
You need to spend some time learning everything there is about rules to avoid bad blackjack bets. Find out how each rule changes your expected return so that you can find the blackjack tables with the best rules.
Playing Perfect Blackjack Strategy
When you learn how to find the blackjack tables with the best rules, your job is only halfway done. The second part of the equation is learning the best blackjack strategy.
Do you know the best way to play a hard 14 against a dealer 6? What about against a dealer 9? Do you split 4s?
You can figure out the best way to play each blackjack hand by running numbers based on every possible outcome. This is how they used to do it. Or you can use a computer program to do all of the hard work for you.
But there's an even easier way than this. All you have to do is get a blackjack strategy chart or card. A card or chart has all of the proper plays listed based on computer analysis that someone else has already completed.
The Ultimate Blackjack Secret
If you want to know the ultimate secret to beating blackjack, you're in luck. You can beat blackjack in the long run, and it all starts with what you've already learned in this article. But you have to do one other thing to get over the top.
The ultimate blackjack secret is learning how to count cards. Counting cards is easier than most blackjack players think. Most players think it's going to be too hard, so they never try.
You can learn how to count cards in a few hours. And you can learn how to do it good enough to beat the casinos if you practice enough. You might need to practice for 100 hours, but once you master counting, you're going to make money when you play blackjack.
In other words, even if it takes you 100 hours to master card counting, it's worth it in the long run because you're going to profit from your new skills for the rest of your life.
Take a look at the KO counting system and the Red 7 counting system. These are both good systems that are easy to learn and use. Start learning how blackjack card counting works and begin practicing today.
Use These Gambling Secrets to Win at Blackjack
Blackjack is one of the easiest casino games to play, but it's hard to beat. It's an impossible game to beat if you don't know the right secrets.
Beating blackjack starts with how much the casino pays for a natural 21. If they don't pay 3:2, you can't win in the long run.
The next secret is that you should skip the insurance wager close to 100% of the time. Some blackjack rules are better than others, and if you don't know which ones are the best, you can't win.
Use the ultimate blackjack secret revealed in this article to beat blackjack games consistently.
'Let's hit the cas' are a string of words guaranteed to fire up a bit of excitement and a hint of nervous energy through the group. Instantly, the tantalising (though unlikely) prospect of winning big comes to mind, quickly reinforced by the memory of your mate Dazza's big win on Roulette last month.
As it turns out, Australians shelled out $181 billion at domestic casinos and gaming venues in the 2017-18 financial year, equivalent to more than $9,100 per person over the age of 18. This is an alarming number given the fact that only 39% of people admit to being regular gamblers. Of that money spent, roughly $20 billion was lost.
How To Be Better At Blackjack
At the core of all casinos and their success is the law of probability. It is their bread and butter and the lifeblood of their cash cow. Put simply, casinos offer a game with rules that place the odds slightly in their favour. Some people will win and some people will lose, but in the long run the casino will always accrue more money that it loses. The best example of this is betting on a number in Roulette. A correct bet on a number attracts a payout 1:35, but there are a total of 38 numbers on the American wheels commonly found in Australian casinos, thus creating a house margin of 5.26%. In Blackjack, the house margin is around 0.5% assuming the player uses perfect ‘basic strategy', but actually sits closer to 2% when accounting for a range of skill levels.
But what if you could influence these odds to increase your chances of winning? Enter the method of how to count cards, a highly glamourised Blackjack technique used to beat casinos at their own game. Ever since Hollywood trotted out an autistic Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and an arguably handicapped Zach Galifinakis in The Hangover, the general public seems to think you need to either be on the spectrum or a true genius to keep track of playing cards. In reality, it's much easier.
How to count cards in Blackjack
Blackjack is unique in that it can be legally beaten. It is the only game in the casino where past outcomes can influence future outcomes. If you think that betting on red after five black numbers in Roulette is smart, please stop reading.
Realistically, there is no way to know for certain which card will be drawn next, but the art of counting cards hinges on giving you a hint of what it might be. By having an idea of what cards remain to be dealt, we are able to increase our probability of making a good call.
The basic premise is as follows:
As cards from the shoe (finite numbers of decks from which cards may be dealt from, usually six) are dealt, we are given information about which cards remain. For example, if we see six King of Spades drawn, we know that there is now no chance of a further King of Spades being drawn until the shoe is finished.
By taking notice of the cards that have already been dealt, we can start making guesses on what remains with greater accuracy. Card counting, or at least the method we will discuss here, simplifies this concept by focusing on low and high cards as groups, rather than getting into specifics.
Inherently, high-number cards are more desirable in Blackjack because they make it easier to achieve a result closer to 21. When there are a greater proportion of high-number cards remaining in the shoe than low-number cards, the shoe is ‘running hot' and we want to increase the size of our bets. Conversely, more low-number cards remaining to be dealt means the shoe is ‘running cold' because it is easier for the dealer to draw a good hand, and we should decrease the size of our bets.
In terms of keeping track of what cards have been dealt, the following method can be used. This is the actual ‘counting', and it's the part that gets most hopeful punters into a tailspin. That said, it's easier than one would think if you're willing to put in some time, effort and a fair bit of practice.
1.Assign Each Card A Value
This is called the ‘High-Low' method. We segregate the cards into three groups by number, then assign that group a value as follows:
- Numbers 2 – 6: +1
- Numbers 7 – 9: 0
- Numbers 10 – Ace: -1
How To Be Good At Blackjack Game
2. Keep a Running Count
As cards are dealt throughout the game, calculate the sum of the assigned values. For example, consider the below hands:
- Dealer: 6 (+1); 5 (+1).
- Player 1: Ace (-1); Ace (-1).
- Player 2: King (-1); 9 (0).
- Count, or sum of the above values = -1
As the game progresses and we add each hand's value to the Running Count, we may see the Running Count going heavily negative or positive. A negative Running Count means there are more low-number, undesirable cards remaining to be dealt. A positive Running Count means there are more high-number, desirable cards to be dealt.
3. Calculate The True Count
The True Count is the Running Count adjusted for how many decks remain to be dealt from the shoe. A high Running Count means very little if only one of six decks have been dealt from the shoe because it represents a small sample size of the total card pool.
To calculate the True Count at any given time, divide the Running Count by the number of decks remaining. For example, if we have a Running Count of +9 and there are 3 decks remaining, the True Count is +3.
4. Change Your Bets As The True Count Increases
Firstly, a player needs to establish what their betting unit is, which is based on their total bankroll. A betting unit's size relative to a bankroll is key for ensuring a player doesn't run out of cash. Assuming perfect play, a 1:400 betting unit to bankroll ratio gives a player a 40% chance of running out of money. At 1:1000, that chance of ruin shrinks to 1%.
When assessing a betting strategy, it's important to remember that counting is only effective in the long run, which means grinding for hours at the table. A True Count of +10 (the table is running as hot as Margot Robbie) is actually only a 4.5% edge for the player, so there's no point throwing the house on the next hand.
There are endless strategies on how to adjust bet sizes based on the True Count, but a decent basic tactic is to bet your betting unit multiplied by the True Count plus one. For example, if your betting unit is $10 and the True Count is +3, then your bet is $10 * (1+3) = $40. When the true count is negative or zero, bet one unit.
Running Defence
Now for the big caveat: most Australian casinos shuffle the shoe using machines between each hand, thus rendering effective card counting impossible. However, traditional shoes are still found at high roller tables and in private rooms, where table minimum bets can be as low as $50.
Interestingly, plenty of casinos in the US stick with traditional shoes that make card counting possible despite the risk because they've found that the revenue from people who attempt and fail to count cards outweighs the losses from successful counters, if policed strictly.
In terms of countermeasures, casinos and their dealers are adept at spotting card counting. A dealer will generally signal their suspicions to a pit boss, who will monitor the situation. If you are suspected of counting cards, the casino may reshuffle the deck early, limit your maximum bet, or ask you to quit playing. The hardest part of counting cards isn't actually executing the technique, but rather going about your business undetected. A player betting large amounts in perfect proportion to the count will generally be picked up by a casino with alarming haste.
How To Be Good At Blackjack Real Money
So what happens if you get caught? Well, the good news is that you haven't broken the law, provided your cash was gainfully earned. Card counting using the above method isn't a crime because you are playing a private game of chance offered by the casino with a set of rules. There is very little legal precedent in Australia and even the US, with casinos choosing mostly to deal with issues in-house. At worst, players are usually asked to leave and refused entry in the future. The above is a general suggestion only and shouldn't be taken as advice or relied upon.
How To Be Good At Blackjack Games
If this guide on how to count cards seems a bit complicated, you could always follow in the footsteps of this Crown casino dealer who made millions by eavesdropping on gamblers' stock picks.