12 Blackjack Strategies - Including Ones You Should Never Use!
If you want to boost your chances of being successful when playing blackjack, our list of tips should help. They can't guarantee that you'll win every game you play, but they can help you understand and implement techniques that will help and provide for a better outcome over the long-term. This card game involves an element of skill but there is also some luck to it as well. The blackjack strategies listed below should help you if you are just starting out and wanting to know the different decisions to make when playing blackjack online.
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#1 Understand the Rules and Paytable
Make sure to know the rules inside and out before you ever start playing. Look at the pay table for how a blackjack (ie: a natural 21) is rewarded before playing.
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#2 Play Games with Fewer Decks
Something you'll commonly find is that the best blackjack games often have the fewest decks. Single deck games in particular have more strategic opportunities for players and better odds to begin with in many cases. Along these lines, they're our top recommendation for both serious and more recreational players because all players benefit from having fewer decks used to deal from.
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#3 Learn the Best Starting Hands
It's important to know what starting hands are good and what ones aren't. Your starting hand influences the decisions you make, so being able to tell how good a hand is can help you a lot.
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#4 Use a Blakjack Strategy Chart When Playing Online
By following a blackjack cheat sheet or basic strategy chart, you can significantly improve your chances of winning. What these charts do, is give you the information on what you need to do based on the cards you are dealt and the dealer's up card. As you will see from the image above, the dealer's up card is listed horizontally above the grid and your cards are listed horizontially. The coloured squares tell you what you should do for every outcome. We always recommend beginners refer to a basic strategy when playing.
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#5 Avoid Advanced Blackjack Strategies (like Martingale)
Beginners should always avoid using advanced strategies like the Martingale where you double your bet with every loss. This can be risky and if you have a low budget or are only starting out, it can be very daunting, especially when losing streaks hit, and they nearly always do. There are other advanced strategies such as the D'Alermber and the 1326 Betting system and again, as a beginner, these should be avoided.
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#6 Never Take the Insurance Side Bet
It's never correct to take the insurance side bet. The insurance bet has less than a 33% chance of winning. It's not worth placing this bet because chances are it won't help you in the long run. The insurance bet is blackjack's main side bet. There are others and the availability of these varies. It's tempting to place them especially since some of them have high payouts. However, their long-term payout rates can be quite low. If you want to place a side bet, make sure you know how likely it is to win.
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#7 Split Pairs of Aces and Eights
Split pairs of eights or aces in all situations in online games unless you can surrender eights when facing an ace yourself. With pairs of Aces or eights, it is always going to be an advantage to split them into two separate hands. Splitting Aces affords you the opportunty to have two hands with a value of eleven and this automatically increases your chances of getting a stronger hand when you hit. Splitting eights is a great way to avoid getting a hand of 16, which is always harder to win with.
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#8 Double Down on Hard 11
Always double down with a hard 11 unless you're facing an ace in a game where the dealer stands on a soft 17. When you double down in these circumstances you get to take advantage of drawing a card with a value of 10 and you also get the chance to create a stronger hand. Other times to double down include when you have an A-2 through to A-7 and the dealer's up card is a 5 or 6. If you are playing a single deck blackjack game, it is always a good idea to double down on 8 if the dealer's up card is a 5 or 6. If you are playing multi-deck games you will not double down when you have two cards worth 8.
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#9 Never Split 5s or 10s
Don't split pairs of fives or tens no matter the circumstances. A pair of fives is essentially a hard 10 and you are better off hitting to have a chance of a higher hand than playing with two hands of 5. The reason not to split tens is that you essentially have a hand worth 20 and a better chance of beating the dealer.
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#10 Know When to Hit
You should hit totals of 12 when the dealer is showing a 2 or 3. There are other times when you will alway hit too, and these are shown on the blackjack chart. We always recommend referring to this when starting out. There are times when you won't hit too, and again, it is important to study the cheatsheet to know when to do this.
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#11 Never Play 6/5 Blackjack Games (a valuable strategy)
The best games to play are those with 3 to 2 odds. There are some games that are 6/5 which means if you wager $10 you'll only win $12 compared to the 3/2 where if you wager $10 and win you get $15. The house edge is increased by 1.45% in single deck 6/5 games and if it's a multi-deck game it increases further to more than 2%.
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#12 Set a Budget Before you Begin
Set a budget before you begin so that you don't have to make money decisions once the cards start hitting the virtual felt. Whenever you gamble for real money, you should come up with a budget. This should only be money you can afford to lose. Don't spend money that you need for important things (bills, food etc.) on gambling.
Advanced Blackjack Strategies
The top blackjack strategy approaches in terms of popularity aren't always the most productive, especially online. Nonetheless, we want to give players an understanding of what they're looking at, so if they hear of a particular strategy, they'll know what it is. These can include the Martingale strategy where you essentially double your bet size after each losing hand. There's also the 1326 betting system where you triple your bet on the next hand if you win and you start over when you lose. Both of these options can lead to a drastic decrease in your bankroll over a very short period of time.
Other advanced startegies include the d'Alembert system where you are basically chasing your losses. You increase your bet when you lose and decrease it when you win. Finally, we have card counting which is often frowned upon. This requires a deck or shoe that is dealt from over and over again without being reshuffled, which doesn't happen in online blackjack and is essentially a waste of time.
Advice for Playing Online - Choose a Legit Casino
Whenever you're going to play blackjack at an online casino, you should pick a legit one! Most of them are trustworthy and reliable, so you shouldn't have any major issues. To be on the safe side, consider one of the sites we've recommended and look for generous blackjack bonuses. They're all licensed and are run by reputable companies. If you know you're going to be playing blackjack regularly, you should join a casino with a loyalty scheme. By doing this, you'll earn regular rewards for your loyalty. These can include bonus money and cashback, both of which you can spend on blackjack.
FAQs
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What is the best blackjack strategy?
What is called basic strategy is the best way to play in each situation in this game. -
Do you hit or stay on 16?
Players should typically hit against a 16. -
Do you hit on 13 against a 2?
You should typically stand against a 2 with 13. -
What is the golden rule of blackjack?
The goal is to win the hand and not to get a high total. -
Does dealer hit on soft 17?
This varies by game. -
Are there instructions on how to read blackjack strategy chart?
We have included instructions on how to read our charts and we have a downloadable basic strategy chart too. -
What are the odds of winning blackjack with basic strategy?
Your payout rate will vary depending on the specific table you're playing at. -
How do I increase my chances of winning?
Learning the correct strategies and using table games bonuses. -
How can I practise my skills without risking any money?
Free play games are a great way to practice. -
Are there any good bonuses for blackjack?
Plenty of solid table games bonuses are good for this genre.
Written by
Amanda Evans - Chief Editor Amanda has been involved with all aspects of the content creation at Top10Casinos.com including research, planning, writing and editing. The dynamic environment has kept her engaged and continually learning which along with +15 years iGaming experience helped propel her into the Chief Editor role.
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