Friday, October 4, 2019

Blackjack Rules And Odds

Blackjack is widely played at casinos all around the world. The mix of skill and chance together with its simplicity appeals to gamblers and casual players alike.
The objective of the game is quite simple, you must build a hand that totals 21 in value or get as close as possible without going bust. No matter what Blackjack variation youA�re playing, the objective of the game will remain the same but different versions will have a different house edge over the players.
Whilst there is no such thing as a perfect Blackjack strategy, there is a basic strategy that can effectively reduce the casino's edge to less than 1%, which is another reason the game is so popular.
To offset this, most online casinos have several Blackjack variations that increase the casino advantage over the players and improves their earnings in the long run.
The first variation is the number of decks used at one time. Whilst not very common, some online casinos offer a single deck blackjack game. This popular Blackjack game features a house edge of just 0.17%
Blackjack versions with such a low casino advantage feature different playing rules that will ultimately help the casino offset this low edge.
In comparison a Blackjack game played with four decks of cards has a casino advantage of 0.6% and if you play the most common variant of Blackjack which uses 8 decks of cards, the house advantage increases to 0.66%
In many online casinos the rules will allow players to get only one more card after splitting aces. The reason for this is that if you were allowed to Hit after splitting Aces, this would effectively lower the house advantage by 0.13%. If you consider that the house's advantage is only 1% then this is a significant reduction.
However, most casinos allow a player to "double-down" on a split pair, other than aces, even though this gives a 0.12% advantage to the player.
The largest variation occurs from the payout when a player does hit blackjack. You can expect this to happened in about 4.8% of all hands played. So deviating from a typical 3:2 payout for natural blackjack will massively swing the odds in the casino's favor.
If you're playing a blackjack game where the payout is 6:5 then you should know that this reduces your edge by 1.4%. Furthermore, some online casinos that payout only at 1:1 have a huge edge of 2.3%.
Before you start playing blackjack for real money, it is advisable to first have a look at rules of the blackjack variation you want to play and check the edge that the casino has over you.
In an ideal world, you should be playing online a blackjack game that features four decks of cards, the dealer must stand on a soft 17, late surrender is available, you're allowed to double-down after splitting, you're allowed to double on any two cards and pays out at 3:2 for natural blackjack.