Blackjack Basic Strategy
Table of Contents
Blackjack seems to be pretty simple game. Many people think that their goal is to collect 21 or something close to 21. In fact it is a delusion. You should always aim on outclassing dealer. You might win having 6-7 points. Therefore you should not think about absolute value of your hand, relative value is important. In blackjack you can face extremely complex situations that cause you to make difficult decisions.
Thus blackjack fans were always interested in creating optimal strategy which can be used to play with profit. And it resulted in creating basic strategy for blackjack. This strategy is the list of simple rules you should always follow. Usually house edge is approximately 8%. But you can decrease this percentage to 0.5% – 1% all you need to do is to use blackjack basic strategy.
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So, here are simple rules you should never forget about:
- if the value of your hand is 9 points and a dealer has got 3-6 it is reasonable to double your bet (if rules of selected casino allows to do so). Probability of winning in such situation is extremely high.
- If you have any card which is equal to 10 and a dealer has got anything less than 10, you are also advised to double your bet. According to the odds of probability you have got quite good chances of winning.
Most casinos allow its players to split hands if a player receives a pair (TT, KK, 77 etc.). Many strategies are based on splitting. And you should double your bet if you have two 10-points cards (KK, JJ, QQ) and a dealer has got hand with the value less than 10 points.
Just keep in mind that you SHOULD NOT split the following cards:
TT, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66
The next rule is to stop when you have 17 or more points. By the way this basic strategy for blackjack is used by most casinos. Casinos usually write “Dealer must stand at 17” on their tables. You can see it in most online casinos. This rule can be explained in this manner. When you have 17 you will most likely bust with next card. Odds of busting are roughly 70%. Therefore you should avoid taking this risk.
Another important tip says that you should always be reactive. This means that you should build your strategy on cards of a dealer. Always remember that your goal is to outclass a dealer, you don’t need to collect 17-21 points!
And the last aspect of basic strategy for blackjack is related to insurance. Probably you know that casinos offer insurance option if a dealer is being dealt ace. Insurance protect you from dealer’s blackjack but you should remember that you will lose if a dealer doesn’t have a blackjack. Alright, consider this. If blackjack dealers use several card decks probability of hitting blackjack by dealer with first card A is quite small. According to basic odds counting, your insurance will save you 4 times out of 13. As you might guess this is quite small figure. This means that constant use of insurance is disadvantageous.
