There is no feeling in blackjack like being dealt a natural blackjack. Just seeing those two cards come face up in front of you is euphoric. It is because you won that round of blackjack and you know you have won. And then every now and then the dealer will rain on your blackjack parade and have an Ace for an up card. It does not mean that you have lost; it just makes the situation a little trickier is all.
Naturally the dealer
It is entirely up to the player in blackjack if he wants to use a blackjack strategy. Many players will take up basic strategy because of how easy it is to use and how effective it is. Playing every hand in blackjack according to basic strategy can lower the house edge to 0.5%. But for some blackjack players that is not enough strategy.
For those players looking for a little extra edge they will usually turn to brick and mortar casinos and card counting because card counting cannot be done in online blackjack.
Card counting is a way of tracking what cards have been played to have an estimation of what is left in the deck still to be played. Once card counting blackjack players have an idea of what is left unplayed in the deck they will base their wagering on that estimation.
Throughout an entire game of blackjack, these players will count the cards as they are played and discarded to manage their betting. This becomes a part of their betting strategy.
When counting cards, blackjack players tend to use one system or another. But like how basic strategy is the most widely used strategy for its ease and effectiveness, card counters in general will use the simplest counting system: the Hi-Lo System.
The Hi-Lo System assigns counting values to the cards, designating them as high, low or neutral cards. The breakdown is as follows:
2-6 are worth +1 and are considered low cards
7-9 are worth 0 and are considered neutral cards
10-Ace are worth -1 and are considered high cards
Well, now that you know that, let
Earlier today I explained how the odds of an insurance bet in blackjack are not equivalent to the payout, making it an unfair blackjack wager.
Yes, fair wagers do exist. Take that single number roulette wager. It carries 36-1 odds and has a 36-1 payout. That makes it a fair wager.
We already determined this morning that if in the first round of blackjack that the dealer had an Ace showing and neither of your cards were worth 10 that the odds were 2.0625-1, which does not equal the 2-1 payout that the house offers.
But that is an unlikely scenario. So let
Chances are you have heard countless times that you should not take insurance in blackjack. Does not matter if you are playing blackjack online or in a brick and mortar casino. It still stands that you do not take insurance in blackjack no matter what. You have been told that you are losing money faster to the house when taking insurance in blackjack.
And yet, there are players who still take insurance in blackjack.
Those of you who do take insurance, are you really aware of the odds on insurance? Do you know that you are not receiving a payout that is equivalent to the odds, which is a further rip-off on the casino
Many online blackjack players enjoy taking a break from regular game playing and take some time to play in an online blackjack tournament or two. Some of these players are serious high rolling players and they will seek out online blackjack tournaments with higher limits.
But not everyone wants to play in such a tournament; they would rather play in an online blackjack tournament with less pressure
Being that you are playing against other players in a blackjack tournament, your bankroll becomes very important. This is because advancement to the next round is based on who has the largest bankroll at the end of a blackjack tournament round. And ultimately the winner of a blackjack tournament is determined by the size of their bankroll.
So it is an understatement to say that your bankroll is just as important as your blackjack strategy in a tournament.
It does not matter whether it is a blackjack tournament that you have paid an entry fee to and are playing with that money, or whether you are playing with the nonnegotiable chips of a tournament. Your bankroll is just as important as your blackjack strategy.
That being said, let
Most of the time blackjack players are just fine playing against the dealer. They do not have to worry about what any other blackjack players at the table are doing. They can play out their rounds of blackjack only focusing on their strategy and what the dealer is doing.
But from time to time we like to increase the thrill of our blackjack games. And to do that we usually find ourselves a blackjack tournament. In a blackjack tournament we have to take what the other players at the table are doing, most particularly what they are betting.
And that brings me to my first blackjack tournament tip.
If you are trying to catch up to the table leader you are obviously going to have to increase the amount of your wager. But how? Do you increase it by a large amount in one or two rounds? Or do you increase by a moderate amount over several hands?
The thing to keep in mind is that, while blackjack players are used to not paying attention overly much to each other in a normal game, they are watching each other like hawks in a tournament game. Only the player with the largest bankroll will go on to the next round. Tournament games are highly competitive.
So considering how competitive blackjack tournament games are your best bet, no pun intended, is to do a couple of large increases over one or two rounds to try catching up to the table leader. Betting moderate amounts may not allow you to catch up to him, especially if he is betting higher than you to try to keep his lead.
Blackjack tournaments are sometimes played to a certain number of rounds. Do not waste rounds trying to catch up with moderately increased bets. You are more than likely not going to catch up, much less overtake him.
Blackjack is a gambling game. There is risk involved in a regular game, but in a tournament there is a feeling of even more risk
