Online Casino Project >>>
Blackjack Tips
Welcome to the Blackjack Tips Section at Online
Casino Conditions. The following information
dishes out the most common and accepted blackjack
strategy known to professional gamblers (called the
basic blackjack strategy). Following this (at the
bottom of the page), there are links to individual
blackjack tips which shed a little more light on the
game (tips which only experience and sometimes a little
more theorizing can produce). These are a little
bit more specialized than our General Gambling Tips
Section, which covers a wider range of topics.
Before, you break out the basic blackjack strategy chart
and start to try and memorize every possible action and
card scenario, take to time to digest the strategy in
all of its rhyme and reason. By doing so, you will
be far better off when the time comes to consult a
strategy card:
Regardless of how low a casinos advantage is for a
gambling game, the fact remains that all betting games
are operated by a degree of chance. What is hopeful is
that this degree of chance can be predicted more
accurately in some situations and games than others.
Blackjack is one such game that facilitates the use
of a strategy that can help players make the best
decisions based on odds, or mathematical probability -
not on luck or intuition. This is why the following
tips are indeed based on mathematical probability
determined by computer analysis, and readily compiled
into what is known as the Basic Blackjack Strategy.
These days, players will often see this strategy printed
on a card in the form of a table with numbers and single
letters. Although this can be a very helpful tool, I
personally find this kind of chart to be too
intellectual and heady, making the basic blackjack
strategy either too intimidating to learn for players,
or simply, too difficult to truly grasp without being a
genius. Without saying the following tips are
essentially "Blackjack for Dummies", I will say
the following is an organized collection of tips that
are based on the basic blackjack strategy, thereby
insuring the lowest House Odds possible when playing
online blackjack.
The tips are based on a few factors: What the
dealer's face-up card is, what the player's hand total
is, whether the player's hand is a soft or hard hand,
and whether to hit, stand, double down, split or
surrender when allowed.
(Taking insurance is not considered a factor, except
that it is advised to abstain from in all scenarios).
Sound simple? Well, it really is - especially
with some drilling and practice. Before reading on, be
sure you understand what a hard and soft hand is (below)
and that you are familiar with the rules of the game, so
that you will understand some of the terms I will be
throwing about.
Hard Hands are
two card hands composed of any card except an Ace. They
can be classified as pat, no-bust or stiff, which is for
your information only, and not needed to master the
basic strategy. Stiff hands are those that are valued
from 12 to 16, which pose a risk of busting when hitting
an additional card. No-bust hands are like the name
says, in that they cannot bust no matter what value an
additional hit card is. These hands total from 4 to
11. Pat hands are those that do not need, or rather,
should not receive a hit. These hands range in value
from 17 to 21, and are considered the best initial hands
a player can receive.
Soft Hands are hands
composed of an Ace and another card of any value. In
this case, the Ace will count as an eleven, since no
matter the value of the other card (except another Ace,
in which case you would split the hand anyways) the hand
cannot bust by going over twenty-one. It is only when
the hand receives a hit and the Ace must be counted as a
1 to keep from busting, that the soft hand becomes a
hard hand.
Tip
#1 ------- Know When to Hit/Know When to Stand
Depending on what face-cards the
dealer and player have showing, there is a time to take
a hit, and there is a time to eventually stand. The
best way player's should go about recognizing the
following scenarios is to take note of the dealer's up
card first, and then to take note of the sum value of
their own hand. Whether one should hit or stand is
based on the probability of the following events.
HARD HANDS
Player Shows a
17, 18, 19 or 20
Always Stand
Dealer Shows a
7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace
Player should Hit with a 16 or below -
Otherwise, Stand
Dealer Shows a
4, 5 or 6
Player should Hit with an 11 or below -
Otherwise, Stand
Dealer Shows a
2 or 3
Player should Hit with a 12 or below -
Otherwise, Stand
SOFT HANDS
Player Shows a Soft 19 or 20
(Ace with an 8 or 9)
Always Stand
Player Shows a Soft 18 (Ace with
a 7)
Stand when dealer shows a face card of 9, 10, Jack,
Queen King or Ace
Hit when dealer shows a face card of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or
8
Player shows a Soft 17 or less
Always Hit
Tip
#2 ------- Know When to Double Down
Doubling Down is a terrific way for
player's to capitalize on either a dealer's bust or an
outstanding hand. In other words, if it is likely the
dealer will bust (depending on their face-up card) or
the player will come close to a twenty-one, without
going over, it is common to see players doubling down.
Think of the basis for the following "double down tips"
to be based on the fact there are more ten value cards
than any other card in the deck. If a player has an 9,
10, or 11 showing, there is a good chance their hit card
will be a ten, thus bringing their hand very close to
twenty-one. Likewise, depending on the dealer's
up-card, there are times when the dealer's chances of
busting are higher, thus giving the double down great
potential no matter how low a value the player's hand
is. To simplify, unlike determining whether to hit or
stand by first taking note of the dealer's up-card, a
player should first learn to recognize when their own
hand warrants a doubling down. If it does, (6 total
scenarios possible) then should the player take
note of the dealer's hand to follow through with a
doubling down. For hard hands, know that the only hands
a player will be possibly doubling down on are hands of
9, 11 or 19. The probability of these events (weighed
in conjunction with the dealer's hand) will dictate
whether a players should double down before taking any
action on their hand:
HARD HANDS
Player Shows
an 11
Double down if the dealer shows anything but an
Ace
Player Shows a 10
Double down if the dealer shows any card except
a 10 or Ace
Player Shows a
9
Double down when the dealer shows any card
except a 3, 4, 5, or 6
SOFT HANDS
Player Shows a
Soft 17 or 18 (Ace with a 6 or 7)
Double when dealer shows a face card of 3, 4, 5 or 6
Player Shows a Soft 15 or 16 (Ace with a 4 or
5)
Double when dealer shows a face card of 4,5 or 6
Player Shows a Soft 13 or 14 (Ace with a 2 or
3)
Double when dealer shows a face card of 5 or 6
Tip #3 ------- Know When to Split
a Hand
Splitting hands can be
a smart move when certain odds apply. The first of
these odds, or rather, probability of events, is that
the player is dealt a pair to begin with. Without a
matching pair, a blackjack hand cannot be split. Yet,
just because a player is dealt a pair, does not mean he
or she should split the hand every time. There is
another factor that shapes the advantage of splitting a
hand - What the dealer's hand is. Remember, with the
dealer's face-up card, much can be determined about the
odds of the dealer busting or hitting near twenty-one.
In relation to that, the following tips apply to
splitting a pair into two distinct blackjack hands (To
simplify, remember that pairs of 8's and Aces are always
split, while pairs of 4, 5, or 10 should never be split,
no matter what the dealer has showing):
Player Shows a
Pair of Ace's
Always Split, no matter the dealer's up-card
Player Shows a
Pair of 8's
Always Split, no matter the dealer's up-card
Player Shows a
Pair of 2's
Player should split the hand if the dealer shows
a 4, 5, 6, or 7
Player Shows a
Pair of 3's (Same Rule as a Pair of 2's)
Player should split the hand if the dealer shows
a 4, 5, 6, or 7
Player Shows a
Pair of 6's
Player should split if the dealer shows a 3, 4,
5, or 6
Player Shows a
Pair of 7's
Player should split if the dealer shows anything
less than an 8
Player Shows a
Pair of 9's
Player should split if the dealer shows a 7, 10
or Ace
Tip #3 ------- Know When
to Surrender
Not every version of
blackjack allows the surrender option. For those that
do, it is best advised to go by the following: For games with 4 or more decks and when the dealer must
stand on a Soft 17, the only time you should Surrender is when the dealer's up card is a 10
and your hand is a total of fifteen OR when the dealer's
up card is 9,10, or Ace and your hand is a total of 16.
The same goes for games in which the dealer must hit on
a Soft 17, with one addition. You should Surrender if
the dealer is showing an Ace and you are holding a
fifteen.
Such is all a blackjack player
needs to know to get buy at the blackjack table without
sneakily consulting a blackjack card, or carrying out
excessive calculations. In order to entirely digest
these tips, the best recommendation I could give any
player is to engage in practice drills of the previously
mentioned scenarios. In other words, all one needs to
do is pull out a deck of card and deal four cards to
their self and an imaginary dealer. With the tips
printed out on a sheet of paper for quick consulting,
one should call aloud the appropriate action to take,
followed by a recitation of the exact tip. For
instance, if the player is dealt a pair of 7's and the
dealer's up-card is an 8, the player should call out "Do
not Split", followed by "Split 7 pairs only when the
dealer's up-card is anything less than an 8". In this
particular case, the player should then commence to play
out the hand by determining whether to hit or stand.
Looking at the dealer's up-card of 8, the player should
call out "Hit" followed by "Dealer shows a 7, 8, 9, 10
or Ace, player should hit with a 16 or below." (Since a
pair of 7's is fourteen, this rule applies) The player
should then play out the rest of the hand accordingly.
Another drill player's can exercise
is one that emphasizes a particular action or tip. In
order to carry this out, the player should separate the
cards of a deck into their value. Then, pretending the
dealer's face-down card is dealt, the player should deal
out one face up card to the dealer. If the hit or stand
strategy is being practiced, the player should then deal
two face-up cards to their self and call aloud the
appropriate action. Leaving the dealer's up-card the
same, the player should deal another two cards,
repeating the steps of the drill. After becoming
familiar with rules governing the dealer's particular
up-card, the player should switch out the dealer's card
for another, and repeat the drill by dealing several
different hands to their self.
February, 2007 News:
Blackjack Institute Seminar to Bring Down the Casinos
Edge
Additional Blackjack
Tips, Rules and Pointers:
|