Blackjack is one of the most popular games in Las Vegas casinos and Blackjack is easy to learn how to play. With the simple blackjack strategy rules involved to play blackjack, the beginner can start playing blackjack immediately at the casinos by learning just a few of the courtesies of the game and start winning at blackjack.

If you are just looking to be entertained for a while win or lose, blackjack is your game. Most people play blackjack for fun, but they also want to win. To win at blackjack there are many aspects of the game and preparations you need to consider before you sit down to play blackjack.

How Much Money Should I Gamble With?

Before you even think of winning at blackjack, decide how much money or the size of your gambling bankroll you have decided you can lose if luck is not on your side. One good simple blackjack strategy practice is to divide your gambling bankroll up into sessions depending on how often you plan on gambling.

For example, a simple blackjack strategy is if you have decided on playing blackjack 4 times with a bankroll of $400 on your current trip, that would be 4 sessions of $100 each. Stay within your limits and avoid going to the ATMs for more cash as their fees are relatively high to withdraw cash.

Blackjack Rules

After you have made your wager, the dealer deals 2 cards to every player including himself. The objective to winning at blackjack is to get as close to 21 without busting or going over 21. Card values are added as shown on the card with face cards counting as 10 and aces counting as 1 or 11. The dealer has one card dealt face up. The simple blackjack strategy is you use this information along with what you have in your had to determine if you want to be dealt more cards or stand with what you have.

How Much Should I Bet?

When placing a bet at the blackjack table, your wager must be within the table minimum bet allowed and the maximum bet allowed. The amount you bet is entirely up to you. If you bet the same amount every hand for an extended period of time, the house advantage will eventually take your entire session bankroll and you will not be winning at blackjack.

Raising your bet without a plan is risky because you do not know if you have gained an advantage over the house or not. You could be lowering your bet too much when you might actually have an advantage over the house or raising your bet when the house has a bigger house advantage. Big losses or big wins can occur. This is when you are just gambling.

There are more scientific advanced blackjack strategy methods to manage your money-making bets such as card counting or watching for cards close in rank coming all at once which will be mentioned later in this article.

Winning At Blackjack Basic Strategy

To reduce the house advantage, you want to know simple blackjack strategy and how to use basic strategy. Basic strategy is mainly used in determining when to hit or stand with your dealt hand based upon what the dealer’s face up card displays. Below is a simple blackjack strategy chart you can learn with practice over time. If the casino allows you, you can leave this page open on the table when you play blackjack and refer to the chart while you are playing. Listed are when to act according to your hand total, if you have soft aces or if you have a pair. The chart shows you when to hit, stand, double down or split pairs.

Winning At Blackjack With Simple Blackjack Strategy Table

 

Favorable Tips To Decrease The House Advantage

When you are ready to play blackjack, always look for the table with the most favorable rules for the player that will reduce the house advantage. You also want to avoid certain types of plays that can raise the house advantage on your play.

• ✔ Always look for a table that pays 3-2 for a blackjack and avoid tables that pay 6-5 for a blackjack, usually a single deck game.
• ✔ The only time you should surrender a hand is when you have a 16 and the dealer has a ten up. Surrender means keep half your bet and the dealer takes half your bet because there is a greater chance you will lose the hand.
• ✔ Never take insurance even if you have a blackjack where you could take even money.
• ✔ Never bet side sucker bets, the house has a huge advantage when you wager a side bet. That is why they are there.
• If the casino you are in allows it, double down with a soft 13 to 18 when the dealer has a 4, 5 or 6.

Winning At Blackjack With Card Counting

Even with perfect simple blackjack strategy playing the house still has a mathematical advantage. Blackjack is one of the few games where there may be times when a player actually has an advantage over the house and winning at blackjack becomes possible. That is when there are more high cards left in the deck than low cards. High cards are the ace, king, queen, jack and 10. Low cards are the two, three, four, five and six. Neutral cards are the seven, eight and nine.

The only way to know if the deck is rich in high cards and giving you an advantage over the house is to count cards. Card counting is not illegal, the casinos just do not allow it and can ask you to stop playing or leave if they think you are counting cards. If you play it smart and only increase your bet a small amount with a favorable high card deck, it should not arouse any suspicion.

How much do you have to win each session? $50 to $100 is a good place to start. Trying to win thousands of dollars at a session will probably get you tossed out of the casino. If you do get caught counting cards, sometimes they will let you continue but only if you bet the same amount every hand. You would not be allowed to raise your bet.

Counting cards is easy because all you have to do is add and subtract. Basically, just watch the cards as they come out and add +1 when low cards, 2,3,4,5,6, are dealt and subtract -1 when high cards, A,K,Q,J,10, are dealt. The easiest method is to count each player face up cards as a pair then subtract or add to your running total. To get the true count, divide your count by the number of decks being used.

For example, you have a positive count of 8 and 4 decks of cards are being used. Your true count would be 2. You would have 2 more cards average per deck. If you consider 2 is a high enough number for you to raise your bet then you might want to try raising your bet. It used to be typical to add a chip for every positive number. This is easy to spot as card counting and not advised to gamble that way. A good rule to follow, especially if you are just starting, it to only raise your bet when the true count is +4.

Why Dealers Shuffle Cards The Way They Do?

Another simple blackjack strategy for winning at blackjack you can take to the table is watching the rank of the cards being dealt. In order to counteract card counters, casinos employ card shuffling techniques that inhibit the randomness of the rank of cards in the deck. In other words, they try to keep cards of the same rank close together where the 10s and aces are not distributed as freely throughout the deck.

Cards close to the same rank are clumped together. This causes the dealer to bust less often and causing you not to be able to get an expected number of hands between 17 and 21 as often as you should. Stay from games where there is an automatic shuffler. These automatic shufflers almost guarantee cards of the same rank will be shuffled close together.

Have you ever noticed sometimes a hand is dealt and everyone at the table has a 20 or a 21 or there might be five 2s come out in a row. For example, if you have a 14 in your hand and the dealer has a 4 showing, the odds are less likely the dealer will bust with a manipulated controlled shuffle.

Sometimes in a situation you may notice the cards being dealt are low in rank. With low rank cards, regardless of the count, you may want to take a hit and at least play even with the dealer. The disadvantage of this tool is the players at the table will think you are crazy for taking a hit on 14 with the dealer showing a 4 up. If you can, just ignore the other players at the table and play your game.

Best Rules If You Want To Engage In High Roller Gambling

If you are a high roller with hundreds of thousands of dollars to gamble with, you can probably request a private game in some casinos. In your own private game, you can dictate certain additional rules that must exist before you will play. The rules you should insist on to play are:

• ✔ Dealer stands on soft 17.
• ✔ Double down on any 2 cards.
• ✔ Split pairs up to 4 times.
• ✔ Free bet if dealer makes an error in house favor.
• ✔ 20% discount. (Example: If you lose $4 million, $800,000 is refunded.)

Conclusion

This articles aim was to show you how using a simple blackjack strategy for winning at blackjack can be make blackjack an enjoyable game you can play anytime you go to the casino. The tips provided here about blackjack will help you to manage your gambling bankroll and limit your losses whether you decide to play as a frequent player using at least basic strategy or try to beat the house with advanced blackjack strategy.