Casino Tips

Published on November 13th, 2013 | by BritishOnlineCasinos

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Blackjack Strategies

Although blackjack differs from poker because you’re not competing against other players, this game does provide more control than games of pure chance like slots. Because it is possible for blackjack players to improve their odds of winning, some very smart and skilled players have developed a variety of strategies over the last few decades.

In the past, one of the main things players looked for was how many decks a casino used. The reason is the fewer decks a casino uses, the lower the house advantage. Since games could range between one and eight decks, that could affect the house advantage from 0.17% to 0.65%. While some players still cling to this approach, the reality is that both traditional and online casinos use a variety of approaches that generally make worrying about this factor a waste of time.

Instead, most experienced blackjack players agree that anyone who wants to maximize their odds of winning is better off focusing their energy on a more modern and comprehensive strategy. If you’re interested in taking that kind of strategic approach to playing blackjack, we’re going to cover three different strategies you can try out for yourself.

Basic strategy is the first and most famous approach to winning blackjack. Following this strategy brings the house edge under 1%. If you’re playing online, you can easily find a chart of this strategy and print it off for reference. Eventually, you’ll get so used to the strategy that you’ll always know which action you should take.

The second is a composition-dependent strategy. This expands on basic strategy by taking the exact composition of each hand into account. While this doesn’t dramatically increase the already effective nature of basic strategy, the extra effort can be worth it for an intermediate to advanced player who’s already fully comfortable with basic strategy.

The last is called Wizard’s Strategy. Its creator says it only gives the house a 0.14% edge. This strategy is published for free online, and it provides exact details about when to hit, stand, double or split, as well as three guidelines for special exceptions.

Now that we’ve covered several strategies that have been shown to work, it’s worth mentioning a few that are fairly popular despite not actually doing anything to significantly improve someone’s odds of winning. The first is never bust. This strategy states that players shouldn’t ever hit a hard 12 or higher. Number crunchers have found this gives the house a 3.91% edge.

The second strategy to avoid is mimic the dealer. This strategy means the player always hits on 16 or less, stands on 17 and up, and never splits or doubles. Following this plan gives the house a 5.48% edge. Assuming a ten in the hole is the last strategy you don’t want to follow. The reason is it gives the house a massive 10.03% edge!

With an understanding of what strategies are potential winners, as well as which ones are definite losers, you can easily join a reputable online casino and start trying the good ones out for yourself!

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