Category: Uncategorized

Blackjack Hero Relaunch

After many years, we’ve decided to bring back the original Blackjack Hero guide and Blackjack Hero Blog. The blog itself has over 600 articles related to the game. Many of these are “timeless” meaning they are just as useful today as they were a few years ago and will still be useful even 100 years from now because it’s based on the mathematics of the game.

We’ve updated the design of Blackjack Hero and the blog, which are now “mobile friendly”. This means you can use our site on the go using a mobile device such as an iPhone or other cellphone, iPad, tablet or any other device!

We recommend using the search box on the left side of this page to find articles related to the topic you are looking for. We recommend also viewing our homepage as well to read the general guides, basic strategy guide, card counting systems and player biographies.

The casinos listed on Blackjack Hero are only the most trusted available, only those who have been giving the blessings and good reviews from Casino Meister. Casino Meister is known in the online gambling industry for checking casinos to make sure they are safe and they point out the bad ones as well. We only display the safest casinos, yet the most popular ones for blackjack. All casinos listed here are US-friendly, so players based in the US can deposit money using a credit card and simply play!

 

The Difference Between Hard and Soft Totals

The blog seems like it may be about something else, but I can assure you that it is only about your hand in a blackjack game.

I’m writing about this because I have gotten many questions about it, and although it seems like something obvious and easy, many players are still in the dark about it.

It is always mandatory to differentiate between hard and soft cards when playing blackjack online or in an actual casino.

A soft total has an ace as 11, and cannot be busted with a one card draw. For instance: if you are dealt an ace and a 7 that is a soft 18. If you draw a paint card, you do not bust the hand, you can then play the ace as a one. So your soft then becomes a hard 18, easy enough right?

Therefore, a hard total would not involve an ace, or has an ace being played as a one instead of an 11.

The dealer is required to hit anything under a soft 17. Also an ace in the dealers hand is always counted an 11. So they have to hit if they have a soft hand under 17, meaning an ace with a 2, 3, 4 or 5.

There a million different rules and guidelines for playing hard and soft combinations, that is going to take a whole new blog.

But there is also the stiff hand, which you want to avoid at all costs. A stiff hand is a hard hand value of 12 to 16. This hand is almost impossible to win with because it is too low to beat the dealer and too high to hit again.

Single Deck Blackjack at Bodog Casino

Playing blackjack for me is one of the most rewarding activities I engage in. I usually play online, seeing as the closest casino to me is nearly two hours away. Lately my favorite site to play at is Bodog.

I usually play roulette at Bodog Casino, so I decided their blackjack had to be just as good, if you want to play online black jack for real money this is the place.

Not only do they have a payout percentage of 94.3%, they also have no limit to their welcoming bonus amount. They will match any amount you deposit.

I played for free for a while, until I decided I was ready to wager some real money.  I picked 1 deck blackjack, because it’s new and I’ve been dying to play. These is a 25$ minimum bet, and the speed of play is relatively longer because more cards are drawn to achieve 21. It is next to impossible to get a pure blackjack.

Not only did they just add single deck blackjack, but also double deck blackjack, which has a slightly faster pace of play.

It pays 3:2, insurance pays 2:1, and you can split up to two hands. I played for about thirty minutes and ended up being up $20 which I was proud of considering it was my first time playing single deck blackjack.

I play a lot, and I have grown accustom to 4 to 6 deck blackjack, so playing with 1 and 2 decks was definitely a new experience, but a good experience.

Blackjack Tips

When sitting around a blackjack corner, you know that you are only playing against the dealer, no matter how many players there are. What if there was a way to get an edge on the dealer? What if you could sneak into their head and know the psychology of what is in their hand?

I am going to share with you a few tips about dealer’s “tells.”
Learning the dealer’s “tells” is a skill that must be perfected to be useful. It involves facial expressions as well as subconscious movements. Sitting down at your first table, you will not really know what I’m talking about, but with practice and a keen sense of your surroundings, this skill will become second nature.

Of course every dealer is different, your best bet is to survey the casino and familiarize yourself with the different dealers. Get a feel for which one you think is giving away the most info with their demeanor. Some are stone cold, while others have a more lackadaisical approach to dealing.

Your second step is to figure out the dealer’s hold card, or facedown card. Unlike you, the dealer is not playing with his or her own money, so they tend to be a little less careless with their “poker face.”

Pay attention to how long the dealer looks at their hold card. Also how much the card is bent plays a key role in figuring out what the dealer’s card is.

If the dealer is holding a paint card, they will look at it for almost a nanosecond. They know as soon as they see the color, they have a ten.

If their card is a stiff card (2, 3, 4, 5, or 6) they will bend it more, and higher. They also do this for an ace though, so you have to be careful, and pay attention to the cards that are already on the table.

Ok check back often for more Blackjack tips you can take to the table!

Basic Rules of Blackjack Changing!

International gaming big wigs have met and it has been decided to change the very way the game is played. I am not talking about a variation here—I am talking about the basic rules of standard blackjack. This change will filter down through to the various blackjack variations, yes; the change in rules is not in itself to be a variation.

For starters, and this is a biggie, the objective is no longer to beat the dealer without going over 21. Now players cannot go over 20. That is right. The objective is to now beat the dealer without going over 20. This will completely change blackjack strategies, especially basic strategy. But on the upside there will no longer be any doubt on how to play a pair of 10s—do not split.

Now for the other change made to the basics of blackjack.

When taking insurance players must place their index finger on the tip of their nose. This is to enable the dealer to better remember and recognize which players have taken insurance. Blackjack can be a fast-paced casino game, and dealers are human and can make mistakes. Casinos wish to cut down on those mistakes hence the finger on the nose rule.

Personally I think the finger on the nose is a good new rule for blackjack. It will let us all know who is enough of a booby to take insurance in blackjack when we all know that it is a play that is meant to favor the house. And furthermore—okay this was all a joke. Happy April Fool’s Day!

New Online Blackjack Bonuses at Silver Oak

Online blackjack players will be quite pleased to know that Silver Oak Casino has launched some new bonuses this month. Silver Oak is calling it their Bright Side bonuses and they are four in number.

The cause for celebration is that their year has started off on a very good foot, and they owe it all to their players, hence the bonuses. All four of the new Bright Side bonuses are deposit match bonuses of varying amounts which will appeal to a variety of online blackjack players—those who are just starting out and who are wagering small, and for the high rollers who are wagering $100 per hand or so.

The Bright Side bonuses start out with the Happy100. This is a 100% deposit bonus that does not require a minimum deposit. Next up is the Bright100. The Bright100 is a 150% deposit match bonus, but it does require a $35 minimum deposit. Because of the low to no required amount for deposit, these would be good Bright Side bonuses for online blackjack players who are just getting their feet eat in online blackjack.

Moving into the middle tier we find the Sunny175. This mid-range deposit match bonus gives players a 175% bonus amount so long as they deposit a minimum of $50.

The fourth Bright Side bonus is the Super200. This would be a good bonus for high rolling online blackjack players. The Super200 is a 200% deposit match bonus that only requires a minimum deposit of $75.

Regular online blackjack players can use those four bonuses as many times as they would like during the course of February. So long as players meet all of their play through requirements, the bonuses are unlimited.

There is one more Bright Side bonus but it is only for Silver Oak’s VIP players. For those online blackjack players who belong to the VIP program at Silver Oak, they can take advantage of the VIPositive Bonus: a 250% deposit match bonus that only requires a $125 minimum deposit. If a player is not sure if he or she is a part of the VIP program at Silver Oak, all they need do is contact the customer support team and find out.

All in all, not a bad bonus offering at all from Silver Oak this month. It is not often that online blackjack players find bonus offers that are this useful.

Blackjack Gimmick to Beat Online Games to Watch Out For

Not every new player is savvy in finding help when they are first learning how to play blackjack and learning a blackjack strategy. There are plenty of gimmicks and scams out there aimed at duping new players out of their money in exchange for some supposed uber tip on how to beat the house.

Such is the case with a recent eBook that I heard of that does not have an author.

That right there, no named author, is the first indicator that there is something fishy about this eBook claiming to give players the secret to beating multiple online blackjack games. Never trust someone who is giving beat the house advice and who will not identify themselves.

By the way, my name is Lucy and I came by my blackjack knowledge the old fashioned way—meaning that I read a lot of professional blackjack players’ books, practiced a lot and have done a lot of research while following the writings of gambling experts. In other words I learned and now feel compelled to help other blackjack players—which is why I will tell you that there is no legal way to beat online blackjack.

Now back to this eBook I found. The author who refuses to name him or herself claims to have worked at several online casino game software developing companies in the last few years. The list included Microgaming, Cryptologic and six other names plus the requisite “and more,” thus claiming that the number of software developers he or she worked for outnumbers their total number of years working for all developers combined. In short, he or she has a high turnover rate in the industry, which is not something I trust as it shows to me that this person does have the endurance to keep a job—why should I trust him or her to have the patience to learn the intricacies of a game?

But not only does this mysterious author claim to be revealing the secret to beating online blackjack, he or she is claiming to be revealing the secret in regards to multiple online blackjack games—one for each of the developers he or she worked less than a year apiece at.

But on top of all of the fishy feelings coming from this illusive author’s claims, there is the underlying fact that online blackjack cannot be completely beat. Yes, with basic strategy players can bring down the house edge of online blackjack to less than half of a percent; combining that with opportune double downs and split pairs you can make a profit from online blackjack.

But without an idea of how the cards are flowing, you cannot anticipate how to bet and therefore cannot overcome that last half of a percent—which is what card counting is for, and I have already explained more than once why card counting is not possible in online blackjack.

The safest thing for you and your money is to not trust those who are selling secrets to beating the game. Your money—and your time—will be better spent on the words of professional blackjack players who put their names on their books and on the words and advice of gambling experts.

Reasons to Be Thankful for Blackjack

‘Tis the season. Well, almost. But it is the season to be thankful. Not that you should not be thankful the rest of the year, but Thanksgiving is the time of year that we put our focus on food and being thankful for said food and other things. While there are many things that I am thankful for, this post is dedicated to the reasons why I am thankful for blackjack.

Blackjack is the one casino game with the lowest housed edge. And that is before any strategy is applied. Blackjack starts with a house edge of 2-5% depending on what house rules are being used. But it by far beats out the 14% that easy games like slots have.

And speaking of strategy, I am thankful that blackjack offers the easiest and most effective strategy: basic strategy. All a player needs to do is play according to the basic strategy chart and they can lower the housed edge to 0.5%. The lowered house edge happens because basic strategy comes in the form of a chart with each dealer up card and each player starting hand; where the two lines intersect lies the best statistical play. You may not win every single time, but you will win more and make the most of profitable opportunities.

I am thankful that I do not have to worry about what the other players are doing because, in blackjack, their hands do not affect mine, nor am I playing against them. It is just me and the dealer regardless of whether I am playing blackjack in a casino or playing online blackjack—it is always just me and the dealer.

Thos are the main points that I am thankful of blackjack for. It makes it a simple and easy to play casino game. And most of all I am thankful that with blackjack strategy tools such as basic strategy, I can actually make a profit from blackjack.

Automated Blackjack Tables

I have been doing some more thinking about those automated blackjack tables that PokerTek has created. My mind keeps coming back to the idea that PokerTek believes that these automated blackjack tables will increase the social interaction between players at the table.

The whole reason for their belief in increased social interaction is because of the main screen. This central, main screen will have players all looking at the same place on the table. Players then use the controls in front of them to choose how to play out their hands, kind of like how you click on the appropriate button in a game of online blackjack.

But here is the thing that keeps tripping my mind. Blackjack is a one-on-one game, just you and the dealer. The other players’ plays do not impact your own game against the dealer. It is not like poker in where what the other players do matters. And it is not a social game for the most part. Sure, some people will talk at the table but it is not like craps where everyone is all excited and jumping around and all talking at once. At least that is how craps seems to me.

While I am sure that PokerTek has good intentions—meaning, they are trying to create a unique product and drive their business—I do not think that they can really change the essence of blackjack. And while I have no doubt that players will still play at automated blackjack tables, I doubt those players are going to have more “social interaction” than players at regular blackjack tables. It is just in the nature of blackjack—it is a one-on-one kind of game—and no automated blackjack tables are going to change that.

Blackjack App Thoughts

I have a couple of really good idea for a blackjack app for all these mobile devices out there, all of the smartphones and iPads and iPhones and what not. But I lack the technical know-how to actually create such mobile apps. So what I want to know is why someone without the technical know-how can think of these blackjack apps, but no one with the actual ability to create them has not done so. I mean, I would buy the apps.

I have heard about mobile blackjack apps that will help teach you the game and its rules. And I have heard of mobile apps that let you play blackjack on the go.

But there are two apps or parts of apps that I want to see.

I want to see a mobile blackjack app that can sync with others with the same app nearby. Kind of like those dating/flirting apps that people have—the ones that alert you when someone you are compatible with and who also has the app is nearby.

The way it would work in a blackjack app is for the person to play blackjack and receive a score based on how well they play. Then, when they are within the vicinity of another person with this nifty blackjack app, their phone will alert each person and their top score will be sent to each other. This will inspire some competitiveness between players. Play, spend time on the app, so that you will not be embarrassed with when another blackjack player with the app comes within the trading zone and your score gets zapped to them. Play hard, blackjack players!

Another blackjack mobile app I want to see is more practical. I want to see an app that teaches blackjack strategy. Specifically one that teaches basic strategy. Basic strategy is a free strategy that anyone can access after all, but not many players actually know how to teach themselves basic strategy. They need something that will teach.

So those are my ideas for blackjack mobile apps that I want to see. There are already plenty out there that simply allow you to play on the go, be they only about blackjack or part of a mobile casino app.