When new players think of blackjack, they think the objective of the game is to get their hand total up to 21. To play to 21 in other words. However this is a bit of a misconception. Sure, 21 is the magic number in blackjack but it is not the objective.
The true objective of blackjack
Sometimes you are in the mood to play blackjack, but you either do not have the extra money in the bank account or you just do not feel like wagering any money. If you played blackjack in a brick and mortar casino you would be out of luck. But if you play blackjack online there is a way to get it for free.
And who would not want some free blackjack?
Thankfully online casinos understand that players sometimes just want to play, and unlike their brick and mortar counterparts, many online casinos will offer a free play or play for fun version of their games.
If the online casino that you play online blackjack at offers a free play mode, it is easy to access. The free play modes can be accessed regards of whether you play with the casino software downloaded on your computer or whether you play in the flash version.
To get your free blackjack on, sign in to your player account. The next screen that pops up should be one that asks if you want to play for free or play for real. Simply click on play for free and you will be all set to go.
Online blackjack players are at an advantage with free blackjack online.
Not every single online casino game is offered in free play modes. But thanks to blackjack being one of the most popular online casino games, just about every free play mode will offer it. Unlike slots
Since we discussed surrender as a part of your blackjack strategy this morning, I figured it might be beneficial to go over the two types of surrender that you are bound to come across: late surrender and early surrender.
The basic concept of surrender is to exit the round at the cost of half of your wager.
Late surrender is the variety that only allows you to bow out of the round after the dealer has checked to see if he has blackjack. This is the surrender variety that has the smaller impact on the house edge because the dealer is allowed to check first. And if he does have a natural blackjack, guess what
No one likes to admit defeat. Especially when money is involved. This is probably why many blackjack player for-go the option to surrender when the house rules allow for it.
But what a good blackjack player has to keep in mind is the overall picture, not just one round. What surrender does is let you out of a hand that you are more than likely going to lose, for half the cost.
When a player decides to surrender, he makes the decision when his turn to play comes. He can either surrender or play out his hand. If surrender is chosen, he loses half of his wager and surrenders his cards
We began discussing this morning the pairs that the smart blackjack player will always split, starting with Aces. But there is one more pair that it is in a player
Yesterday I talked about blackjack strategy in regards to pair that you do not split when you are dealt them. And it does not matter whether you are playing online blackjack or blackjack in a brick and mortar casino, you still do not split those two pairs.
So today I thought we would talk about pairs that you always, always, always split. First up is a pair of Aces.
Logically you have to split a pair of Aces. Do the math and it just seems smart to do so. An Ace is worth 11 or 1, with 11 being the first value given; if that 11 does not work in the hand it is then reduced to 1. So a pair of Aces first adds up to 22, which is a bust. So naturally one of the Aces is reduced to 1, giving the player a hand total of 12. Nasty hard 12.
You can see why any smart blackjack player would split that pair of Aces.
Once split you have two hands that are starting at 11. Not only that you have half of what you need to make 21. If you are playing blackjack in a brick and mortar casino and also happen to be a card counter, and the deck is running with high cards, that would be a good time to split those Aces since your chances of being dealt the cards for a hard 19, 20 or 21 are increased.
Even if you are not a card counter or are even playing blackjack online, it is good blackjack strategy to split a pair of Aces. Doing so takes your hand from a weak position to a stronger one.
This morning I talked about a pair that, according to good blackjack strategy is never ever split: a pair of 5s. But there is one more pair that is never eve split either: a pair of 10s.
A pair of 10s could be literally two 10 cards. Or it could be two face cards, not necessarily the same two face cards, meaning a pair could be a Queen and a Jack. Or a pair of 10s could be a 10 card and a face card. The whole point to the pair is that the two cards have the same value.
There are two mistakes that happen when a blackjack player uses some misguided blackjack strategy and splits a pair of 10s. Either he is ill-informed or he is just all caught up in being dealt a pair and cannot resist splitting it.
Mistake number one is that the split is made with the idea that the player can then double down on each of those 10s. First off, not all blackjack games allow for doubling after splitting. This rule is typically found at blackjack tables in casinos and not found at all in online blackjack.
The problem with this strategy, aside from the instances in which doubling after splitting is not allowed, is that the player is giving up a strong hand for something weaker. True, starting a hand with 10 is not too bad of a building block. But it is weaker when compared to an unsplit pair of 10s.
The other mistake that the player forgets about doubling after splitting, and is intent on trying to build two strong hands. But, again, the player is giving up strong blackjack ground for weaker ground.
The reason why you do not split a pair of 10s is right in front of the player
Like any game of skill, blackjack requires strategy. Any good game of skill worth the trip to an online gambling site requires good strategy. The most commonly used strategy tool in both online blackjack and blackjack played in a brick and mortar casino is basic strategy.
Basic strategy comes in the form of a chart with player hands running down the left hand side and all of the dealer up cards running across the top. When using basic strategy you find your hand and run it across the line until it intersects with the line of the card the dealer is showing. The play at the intersection is the best statistical play for you to make.
But if you look at a basic strategy chart you notice that it is somewhat divided into three sections based on the player
The whole point of having a strategy for online blackjack is to win more. And winning more means more money. There is one play in online blackjack that can increase your profit faster. It should also be a big part of your online blackjack strategy as well.
Doubling down is one of the basic plays in blackjack. It is when you double the amount of your original wager and only receive one more card. If you win the round you win double the amount you would have normally won because you doubled your original wager.
It has the same potential of winning a round as two rounds of blackjack. In effect, if you double down at the right moments (read: play according to basic strategy) you can earn twice as much money as you normally would. That is what makes doubling down such a strong play in online blackjack.
If you can double down when it is most advantageous (again, read: play according to basic strategy) you can reduce the houses edge by 1.6%. This is all because you are winning twice as much money in one hand as you normally would.
Let
Barney Frank