Blackjack is a casino game that requires a bit of strategy. It’s the fastest table game you can find, so you must learn to control your bankroll with the runs of good and bad luck.
You play the dealer just like other players at the blackjack table. Your goal is to get up to 21 without going over. Cards 2 through 10 are face value and face cards are worth 10. An Ace can be worth 1 or 11. Therefore, a hand with an Ace is called a soft hand. A hand without an Ace is a hard hand because the value doesn’t change. A casino will use anywhere from six to eight decks to aid the house edge and discourage card counters. Online casinos use an RNG but your odds are still better online.
If you tie the dealer in blackjack, it’s a push and you get your initial bet back. A blackjack hand of 21 generally pays out 3 to 2. A hard 17 is the point at which most dealers are required to stand. If an Ace is involved, it’s a tougher decision. With soft hands, always hit or double down with an Ace and a 2 though 6. Be careful when splitting hands. According to basic strategy, don’t split 5s or 10s. Instead, split 8s instead of deciding what to do on 16.
Blackjack has a house advantage of 5%. Using basic strategy can reduce that to 0.5%, but blackjack is a game of patience. The professionals only get a 1-2% profit long term. And, don’t bother counting cards because those make up less than 1% of all players, and most ultimately fail because of a lack of discipline.
Showing posts with label blackjack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blackjack. Show all posts
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Winning at Let It Ride Poker
Let It Ride is yet another variation of poker. Like in Pai Gow, you play against the dealer with other players at the table. It has all the standard hand rankings like in Five Card Draw, but the game itself is very different.
The table for Let It Ride Poker is shaped like a blackjack table. The rules are easy but the betting takes some time to get the hang of it. Five cards are dealt with two to the dealer and three to each player in the hand. You try to make the best five-card poker hand from the your cards and the dealer’s, except you don’t get to see the dealer’s cards unless you stay in the hand. You base whether or not to stay in the hand on your first three cards. The rounds of betting are minimal and each player has three spots labeled 1, 2 and $ on the table.
Based on your first three cards, you fold and take away bet 1 or stay in the hand, also known as letting it ride. Then, the dealer turns over their first card. This is the fourth card in your hand and you can remove bet 2 or continue to let it ride. The dealer turns over their second and last card to complete your five-card hand. All players turn over their cards for a winner to be claimed. Let It Ride Poker is like most poker games in that it requires strategy along with the luck of the draw.
The table for Let It Ride Poker is shaped like a blackjack table. The rules are easy but the betting takes some time to get the hang of it. Five cards are dealt with two to the dealer and three to each player in the hand. You try to make the best five-card poker hand from the your cards and the dealer’s, except you don’t get to see the dealer’s cards unless you stay in the hand. You base whether or not to stay in the hand on your first three cards. The rounds of betting are minimal and each player has three spots labeled 1, 2 and $ on the table.
Based on your first three cards, you fold and take away bet 1 or stay in the hand, also known as letting it ride. Then, the dealer turns over their first card. This is the fourth card in your hand and you can remove bet 2 or continue to let it ride. The dealer turns over their second and last card to complete your five-card hand. All players turn over their cards for a winner to be claimed. Let It Ride Poker is like most poker games in that it requires strategy along with the luck of the draw.
Friday, February 4, 2011
The Growth of Mobile Casinos
Forget about online casinos. Mobile casinos are the hottest new thing with online gambling right now. As technology has increased, mobile casinos have become more popular. Mobile casinos allow you to gamble on the go and play your favorite online casino on your wireless device.
Online casinos are taking notice and are now designing games specific to mobile devices. Games like slots, poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, video poker and more are available. They can be played on your smartphone, iPhone, PDA, wireless tablet PC, etc. Granted, you won’t get the same quality of graphics as the online casino counterpart, but mobile casinos are getting better by the day. New features have been added like being able to flick the screen or shake the device to spin the reels of a slot game.
Before playing a mobile casino, make sure you have enough memory on your device to download the casino software. If you need more storage, buy a memory chip or Micro SD card. The mobile casinos are generally free, but data and roaming fees may apply so check with your wireless provider. When you update your device, you may have to update or download the mobile casino again. If your device model doesn’t support the mobile casino you are looking for, one of the cheaper ways to play a mobile casino is a game download service through your provider. This is generally a fee per download or month.
All the same online gambling laws apply to mobile casinos. You are betting with real money and earning real money. If you are playing the mobile counterpart of an online or land-based casino, you may be able to link up your accounts. Similar online casino bonuses are available as well on mobile casinos.
Online casinos are taking notice and are now designing games specific to mobile devices. Games like slots, poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, video poker and more are available. They can be played on your smartphone, iPhone, PDA, wireless tablet PC, etc. Granted, you won’t get the same quality of graphics as the online casino counterpart, but mobile casinos are getting better by the day. New features have been added like being able to flick the screen or shake the device to spin the reels of a slot game.
Before playing a mobile casino, make sure you have enough memory on your device to download the casino software. If you need more storage, buy a memory chip or Micro SD card. The mobile casinos are generally free, but data and roaming fees may apply so check with your wireless provider. When you update your device, you may have to update or download the mobile casino again. If your device model doesn’t support the mobile casino you are looking for, one of the cheaper ways to play a mobile casino is a game download service through your provider. This is generally a fee per download or month.
All the same online gambling laws apply to mobile casinos. You are betting with real money and earning real money. If you are playing the mobile counterpart of an online or land-based casino, you may be able to link up your accounts. Similar online casino bonuses are available as well on mobile casinos.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Types of Online Casino Games
Any game you find at a land-based casino can be found online. There are even some games at online casinos that you can’t find at land-based casinos, such as certain types of slots. That means that popular games like poker, blackjack, roulette, slot machines, baccarat, craps, bingo, keno and more are all at your disposal. Decide which game you know most about and try it for free. Once you’ve practiced, thoroughly understood the game and gained some strategy, it’s time to wager some money. Online gambling is that easy. Below are descriptions of some of the most popular casino games that can be found on the Internet.
Poker: All your favorite poker games are available at online casinos, including Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Five Card, 7-Card Stud, Caribbean and more.
Blackjack: This is one of the most popular games because of its basic rules and many strategies. It’s amazing that such a simple game can be so exciting.
Roulette: The graphics bring this lotto reel game to life. It looks complex at first, but it’s really quite simple once you understand the odds and payouts of each bet. That’s where all the strategy is.
Slots: Often called the one-armed bandit since it can steal your money with one pull of the lever, I guess you can call it a one-fingered bandit online since it just requires a click. Slots are the most popular casino game because software developers are constantly creating slots with new themes. The bonuses get hefty and the graphics are very realistic.
Baccarat: This is a card game that requires a good amount of strategy where you divide up your hand to form the best possible two hands.
Craps: This one is a crowd-pleaser just like roulette. It’s a dice game that involves other players at the table and plenty of excitement.
Bingo: Not just for your grandmother anymore, this lottery-style game has online gambling sites solely devoted to it and a surprisingly large fan base.
Keno: This is another lottery game with lots of numbers and betting options. It originated in the Far East.
Video Poker: This combines poker and slots by dealing cards into reels to form a hand. There are many different kinds of video poker with varying values in cards.
Poker: All your favorite poker games are available at online casinos, including Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Five Card, 7-Card Stud, Caribbean and more.
Blackjack: This is one of the most popular games because of its basic rules and many strategies. It’s amazing that such a simple game can be so exciting.
Roulette: The graphics bring this lotto reel game to life. It looks complex at first, but it’s really quite simple once you understand the odds and payouts of each bet. That’s where all the strategy is.
Slots: Often called the one-armed bandit since it can steal your money with one pull of the lever, I guess you can call it a one-fingered bandit online since it just requires a click. Slots are the most popular casino game because software developers are constantly creating slots with new themes. The bonuses get hefty and the graphics are very realistic.
Baccarat: This is a card game that requires a good amount of strategy where you divide up your hand to form the best possible two hands.
Craps: This one is a crowd-pleaser just like roulette. It’s a dice game that involves other players at the table and plenty of excitement.
Bingo: Not just for your grandmother anymore, this lottery-style game has online gambling sites solely devoted to it and a surprisingly large fan base.
Keno: This is another lottery game with lots of numbers and betting options. It originated in the Far East.
Video Poker: This combines poker and slots by dealing cards into reels to form a hand. There are many different kinds of video poker with varying values in cards.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Do you need Blackjack Strategy?
Do you need to use blackjack basic strategy to win money? The short answer: Yes. The long answer…well, keep reading.
First of all, I should tell you what blackjack basic strategy is. A long time ago, a bunch of mathematicians who are a lot smarter than me decided to calculate the odds for every decision you have to make in blackjack. These decisions include when to hit, when to stand, when to double down, when to split a pair, when to surrender and more. The basic strategy takes into account the number of cards in a deck, your likelihood of drawing a certain card, your chances of busting, the dealer’s chances of busting, your odds of outdrawing the dealer and more.
Basically, blackjack basic strategy is really complicated, but the good news is that it’s easy to learn. If you Google “blackjack basic strategy chart” you will find the industry-accepted strategy. Study the chart, learn it and follow it and you’re good.
If you use perfect basic strategy and stick to it, in the long run you will reduce the house edge to only 0.5%. That means that means that the casino will take 1 cent of your money for every $2 you wager, and you will get to keep the rest. You will not often find better odds than that at a casino. Most of the money that casinos make off of blackjack are from people who don’t use basic strategy, which is why you should use it.
Once you learn basic strategy, you need to have the discipline to stick to it. You will sometimes get into losing streaks and it can be easy to say “this isn’t working; I’m going to try something new.” That is a bad idea and will lead to you losing more money in the long run.
Also, sometimes what seems like common sense actually goes against basic strategy. For instance, sometimes players will look at their hand, think it’s too low and decide to take a hit. The mistake they made is not noticing the good odds of the dealer busting. Other times the opposite will happen, where they will decide to stand, afraid of busting, even though the dealer likely already has their hand beat.
So do you need to use blackjack basic strategy? If you want to keep as much of your money as possible, the answer is yes. If you feel like being charitable and giving the money away, feel free to contact me instead of giving it to a casino. :)
First of all, I should tell you what blackjack basic strategy is. A long time ago, a bunch of mathematicians who are a lot smarter than me decided to calculate the odds for every decision you have to make in blackjack. These decisions include when to hit, when to stand, when to double down, when to split a pair, when to surrender and more. The basic strategy takes into account the number of cards in a deck, your likelihood of drawing a certain card, your chances of busting, the dealer’s chances of busting, your odds of outdrawing the dealer and more.
Basically, blackjack basic strategy is really complicated, but the good news is that it’s easy to learn. If you Google “blackjack basic strategy chart” you will find the industry-accepted strategy. Study the chart, learn it and follow it and you’re good.
If you use perfect basic strategy and stick to it, in the long run you will reduce the house edge to only 0.5%. That means that means that the casino will take 1 cent of your money for every $2 you wager, and you will get to keep the rest. You will not often find better odds than that at a casino. Most of the money that casinos make off of blackjack are from people who don’t use basic strategy, which is why you should use it.
Once you learn basic strategy, you need to have the discipline to stick to it. You will sometimes get into losing streaks and it can be easy to say “this isn’t working; I’m going to try something new.” That is a bad idea and will lead to you losing more money in the long run.
Also, sometimes what seems like common sense actually goes against basic strategy. For instance, sometimes players will look at their hand, think it’s too low and decide to take a hit. The mistake they made is not noticing the good odds of the dealer busting. Other times the opposite will happen, where they will decide to stand, afraid of busting, even though the dealer likely already has their hand beat.
So do you need to use blackjack basic strategy? If you want to keep as much of your money as possible, the answer is yes. If you feel like being charitable and giving the money away, feel free to contact me instead of giving it to a casino. :)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Skill vs. Chance
If you are going to win at casino games, you need a strategy. Also important to know is which casino games can use strategy to influence your odds of winning and which casino games cannot really use strategy.
This difference boils down to Games of Skill and Games of Chance.
A Game of Skill is one in which the player uses a playing strategy to have an impact on the odds. These games are usually the ones in which you have a choice in how to play, such as poker and blackjack. In these two games, the player decides what to do with the cards he is dealt. He has a choice in what happens to his hand. The cards he is dealt at the beginning of a round and cards that are received throughout a round will be random, but what you do with those cards is up to you.
On the other hand a Game of Chance is one in which the player does not have a say in the outcome, such as slots, keno and roulette. In those games the player places their wager and hopes for the best, for the reels to land a winning combination; for their numbers to be picked; or for the ball to land on your number. But hoping is all you can do. You cannot choose how the reels will land; or influence what numbers are drawn; or where the ball stops.
Your first step in casino strategy is to recognize which are Games of Skill and which are Games of Chance. Once you have chosen a Game of Skill you can move on to building your playing strategy for that game.
A playing strategy serves as a guide in how to play that game so that you can increase advantageous moments in the game. But strategy is also important for minimalizing moments when you know your odds of winning are not all that great.
Your best bet at winning at a casino game is to pick one Game of Skill and learn a strategy for it, and then practice that strategy so that you can increase its effectiveness. Then you take that strategy and work it on your chosen Game of Skill.
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