Blackjack Facts That May Surprise You

Blackjack is the Best Game in the Casino

Because blackjack requires you to make decisions during game time, it’s a more mentally stimulating game than many others in the casino. If you look at the house edge as being the advantage that the casino has over you, then providing you make the right decisions at the right time, you’re able to keep the house edge lower in blackjack than almost any other game.

By far the most popular game in any casino are the slots. These machines offer a house edge of around 10%. For roulette, the house edge is 5.26%. There’s an even better house edge of 1.41% with the best bets in craps. However, nothing compares to blackjack. Providing you play utilising perfect strategy, then you'll be able to drive the house edge down to less than 1%.

Card Counting is not Illegal

Many people believe that card counting is illegal. In truth, casinos also like to perpetuate this myth. However, if you think about it for just one second, how on earth can a casino deem something as illegal just because you're thinking carefully about how to play? Of course, if you bought some sort of external device into the casino to help you with the progress, then that would be cheating and illegal. Counting the cards in your own head isn't illegal anywhere. That's not to say that casinos are going to be super sympathetic when they discover you've been using this method to gain an advantage.

Although the movies might give you the impression that card counting is relatively straightforward to pull off, it's certainly not. That's because, even though you may be keeping the actual count in your head, there’s the practical consideration of how to use this knowledge to actually place your bets. Everyone from the dealer to the floor manager to the pit boss can spot the betting patterns of a card counter pretty quickly. So if you are going to count cards, you need to find a method of disguising your betting patterns.

Basic Strategy Is Easy to Learn

Maybe you’ve heard other players talk about the correct strategy that needed in order to increase your odds of winning. Perhaps just the idea of having to utilise an intricate strategy makes your brain hurt. In truth, memorising strategies is much easier than you might imagine. For example, many blackjack strategy charts are colour-coded which allows you to learn things visually. On the other hand, if you're not a visual learner, there are plenty of tutorial YouTube videos. These will teach you all you need to know about how to read, understand and implement information from a blackjack strategy chart.

You Need More Than Just Basic Strategy to get an Edge

For those of you visiting a brick-and mortar-casino for the first time, you might be surprised at the sheer scale of some of these establishments. When you figure in all the costs involved, you can understand why all casino games have an edge, giving the casino a built-in advantage. This means that even if you're going to play with perfect blackjack strategy, you can only reduce the house hedge. Unfortunately, you cannot eliminate it altogether.

Other Ways to Get an Edge

The vast majority of gamblers associate blackjack with card counting. However, this is not the only strategy that allows you to get an edge over the casino. Another advantage technique is called shuffle tracking and it's most often used by blackjack professionals. Hole carding also helps players and is another advantage technique. There are probably a number of advantage gamblers using strategies that haven't yet been revealed. After all, if you can find the slightest advantage over the casino, then we don't imagine you would want to share that knowledge with everyone.

Other Players Cannot Affect Your Chances of Winning

At its heart, blackjack is a game that's played between player and dealer. Yet because blackjack tables can seat more than one person, there's a common misconception that having a novice or reckless blackjack player at the same table is going to mess up the entire game for everyone. In reality, the mistakes of one player have zero effect on everyone else, and it certainly doesn't affect your edge.

Blackjack Dealers Give Lousy Strategy Advice

On the whole, you'll find many blackjack dealers who are perfectly happy to share advice with you. However, it's important to understand that they take their instructions from the casino. A good example of this is that most casinos instruct their dealers to recommend the insurance bet. A seasoned player will know this is lousy advice. Just consider that the insurance bet has a more common name. It’s known as the “sucker bet.” Now you can understand why it’s bad advice. Take note that not all blackjack dealers understand either basic or advanced blackjack strategies. We suggest that you educate yourself about all aspects of the game before you consider taking a seat at the blackjack table.

Losing Streaks Can Be Far Worse Than You Imagine

If you toss a coin and call heads each time, you'll know it's quite possible to lose 8 or more tosses in a row. Yet, when it comes to blackjack, many players think it's impossible to lose 7 or 8 hands one after another. Because each round resets the odds, then it's quite possible to have a long losing streak. On the other hand, this also translates that some players may have long winning streaks. That's why all casino games have built-in randomness to them.

Other Players at the Table Don’t Know What They’re Doing

When we previously mentioned that learning basic blackjack strategy isn't a huge undertaking, you might be surprised to how many players sitting around the table know nothing about it. Then there are other players who know basic strategy but prefer to gamble on hunches or gut feelings. As the casino has a 4% of 5% edge, unless you're utilising perfect blackjack strategy, then you’ll struggle to reduce this.

Understand Your True Goal in Blackjack

Simply put, you have one goal in blackjack and that is to beat the dealer. It's important you are not simply focusing on making your own hand as close to 21 without going over. You may well see that the dealer has a stiff hand, in which case your best strategy is to stand. Take a look at the blackjack strategy chart. You'll see that every situation has a correct play which is determined by basic blackjack strategy.

Betting Systems Don’t Work

Here at Queenplay Casino, we suggest that players stay away from betting systems like the Martingale. With this example, you simply double your bet after a loss and continue to do so until you eventually have a win. The problem is that it doesn't take into account the possibility of a long losing streak. In such cases, your bets become so large that they will eventually come up against the casino table betting limits. Following the Martingale system during a losing streak is nothing more than chasing losses. This is always a bad idea. Most of the other betting systems available also capitalize on a winning or losing streak. These are all impossible. Simply because you cannot predict when your losing streak will end or your winning streak will begin.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, blackjack remains the most popular table game in casinos. This should come as no surprise because it allows the gambler the possibility to reduce the casino's house edge by playing various blackjack strategies. If you want to improve your chances of winning then you're going to have to put some time and effort into learning the ins and outs of the game. Here at Queenplay Casino, we have a huge variety of both video blackjack games and live dealer versions. If you can't make it to a real casino, then playing live dealer blackjack is as close as you can get to recreating the ambience and excitement. With smaller betting limits, along with friendly, knowledgeable and attractive dealers, there's no need to leave the comfort of your own sofa to have a great time. Simply log in on your mobile and start having fun.