A blackjack game is for many people the best game to play in a casino. This is of course if you know how to play blackjack and are intimately familiar with blackjack rules.
How to learn to play blackjack is easy, however the difficulty comes in the intricacies of it. That means making smart decisions. The thing is some players know how to do that, but some other blackjack players make mistakes that cost them.
To mitigate that from happening, the first thing to get is a blackjack basic strategy card. Casino’s sport these and typically sell for a dollar or two. These cards can save you as they tie into blackjack rules and can help you to learn to play blackjack better.
Furthermore if you request to the dealer you wish to use the card that’s cool as well. Using it doesn’t take a lot of time.
That being said, if you don’t want to be sporting this card on the table, that’s alright. At least avoid these particular mistakes.
Taking Insurance
This strategy isn’t at all worth it in most situations. Taking insurance occurs when the dealer’s face up card is an Ace. What they do after that is they ask if any players wish to take insurance. Players who want that take half of their original bet and pay it up front. If the dealer has blackjack, the insurance bets are paid out at 2:1. That covers the players’ losses on this particular hand.
It sounds great if that happens, however the chances that the dealer has blackjack after seeing an Ace is even steeper: at about 9:4 against. In other words you don’t want to be taking insurance in the long run.
Standing On 12 When There’s A 2 Or 3 On The Dealers Cards
It’s not mentioned in blackjack rules, however the cards 2 through 6 are what blackjack game players call “dealer bust cards”. This is because those numbers have been known to bring a dealer over 21 when one of those cards is their up card.
In those cases a player will often times stand with the hopes of not busting so the dealer busts instead. The thing is not all dealer bust cards are created equal. True there might be some wisdom behind standing on 12, however it makes sense to be standing more when a dealer has a 4,5, or 6 as their up card rather than a 2 or 3. It makes more mathematical sense.
In this situation a smart move is to hit when the dealers up card is 2 or 3.
Hitting Pairs Of 4s When The Up Card Is 5 Or 6
It might be tempting to hit a pair of 4s, after all you won’t bust if you get dealt a 10 or a face card. That being said, when a dealer has a 5 or 6 as their up card, the chances the dealer will bust are higher it makes sense to do a different move instead.
In that case you want to be splitting your 4s, thus doubling your bet but doubling the payout.
Splitting 10s
If you are dealt a pair of 10s many players will follow the blackjack rules and take the opportunity to split these. On the surface it makes for a good strategy, especially when a dealer reveals a 5 or 6 as their up card.
But thinking long term, the smarter play here is to actually hold the hand as a hand of 20. In many cases you’ll end up winning more over time when you hold in those cases.
Doubling Down On 11 When Dealers Up Card Is Ace
To learn to play blackjack, you need to know what double down is. In the blackjack rules, a player can double down by doubling their initial bet. From that they receive exactly one more card to their hand. It makes sense that you want to double down when the sum of your two cards is 11. There’s a good chance you’ll get a 10, giving you blackjack.
That being said, there is actually a time when it’s not a smart idea to double down. That’s when a dealers face up card is an Ace. Chances are in that situation you are better off hitting in most cases.
The tricky part to this is whether the dealer stands on what players call “soft 17”. That’s when a dealer has an ace face up but has a 6 hidden. This totals 17. Depending on the casino and even the tables, dealers may or may not hit in those situations so make sure you check the table listings for any particular blackjack rules mentioned in there. When a dealer stands on a soft 17 this slightly boosts the players’ odds.