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5 Top Tips for Playing Blackjack

One of the most popular casino games you can find in a casino is Blackjack. Whether you play in a land-based casino or online casino, the game is fun and easy to learn. The goal is to score a higher value on your hand than the dealer’s hand and not exceeding the score of 21. By developing a good feeling on when to hit or stand, you can easily win a good amount of game rounds. However, it requires skills and to some extent strategy to progress in your gameplay.

Since Blackjack isn’t a game that entirely depends on luck, you can have a direct influence on the outcome of your hand. There are a few things you can do to get the most out of your round when pulling up your seat. 

We have compiled for you five of the top tips on how to get the most out of your Blackjack experience when playing at our Live Casino tables.

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Tip 1: Learn the basic strategy

Before developing a great strategy to optimise your chances at the Blackjack tables, it’s crucial to familiarise yourself with the rules of the game. It’s important to understand the value of each card, different bet types as well as terms to use. 

Over the past decades, many great mathematicians have studied the game and found a way of proving, the game provides a great chance to succeed with your dealt hand. By learning the basic strategy, you can minimise the house edge to less than 1% as well as your losses. 

The basic strategy is a set of rules that tells you the optimal way to play every hand dealt by only knowing the up-facing card of the dealer. Basically, Blackjack is a mathematical game and therefore this strategy is the mathematically correct way of how to play your hand. Ideally, you get yourself a basic strategy card until you’ve memorised all rules.

Here are a few primer rules of the basic strategy:

  1. Stand when your hand shows 12-16 and the dealer has 2-6.
  2. Hit when your hand shows 12-16 and the dealer has 7-Ace.
  3. Always split Aces and 8s.
  4. Double 11 when the dealer has 2-10.
  5. Double or hit Aces-6.

Tip 2: Avoid insurance and choose your seat wisely

The Blackjack insurance is a side bet, which is offered to you should the dealer’s face-up card be an Ace. You get the chance to insure against the dealer’s hand being ‘blackjack’. The insurance is offered before the dealer checks the face-down card and will be paid out should this card have a value of ten.

However, this side bet doesn’t pay well in the long run unless you are an experienced card counter. Expert card counters can keep track of the amount that is still in the card deck and therefore are certain when choosing to place that bet.

Another small but beneficial aspect is to avoid the first base seat at the table. If you are deciding on a table, try to pull up your seat further down as it gives you more valuable time to review your own hand as well as the dealer’s up-facing card.

Tip 3: Consider your stake well

When playing according to the earlier mentioned basic strategy you can win almost as many hands as you lose. Yet, this applies mostly in the long run. Playing casually offers you the chance to win a lot more hands than you lose as well as losing a lot more hands than you win. 

Therefore, always keep an eye on your bankroll and your bet amount. It’s not uncommon to get caught up in a bad run and by staking high on each hand you could easily lose a lot more than necessary. Stick to smaller bets on each hand to ensure a longer-lasting experience and don’t chase after losses or get carried away by the feeling that you are due to win. After all, Blackjack is still a game of chance and luck.

Another thing to consider is what kind of shuffling system a table is using. Having continuous shuffling machines means the cards get shuffled after each round, more hands are dealt per hour and more exposure of your bankroll to the house edge, which has a huge advantage for the casino. Therefore, play at tables that use mechanical or manual shufflers after 50% to 75% of the cards have been dealt.

An extra tip on keeping an eye on your bankroll is to join more crowded tables as the number of rounds played per hour will automatically decrease.

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Tip 4: Online Blackjack for practice

Nothing beats the real-life experience of sitting at a Blackjack table at the glorious casino. However, due to Online Blackjack at Online Casinos, you can have a very similar experience as well as benefit from other advantages.

Besides the fact that you can play wherever you are you can also play a lot more hands as gameplay online is a lot faster. Especially for beginners, playing online is a great way to learn Blackjack, without feeling intimidated by maybe more advanced players at the tables. Before spending real money, many casinos also offer the possibility to play for free. This means you can take your time to get more confident in your decision making.

Another advantage is to be able to play with generally lower stakes than a land-based Live Casino. This means you can stay within your comfort zone and still have the full Blackjack experience. 

Last but not least, Online Casinos also offer a wide range of different bonuses and promotions at their tables. Bonuses in the form of bonus money or cash could be earned for example by playing a certain amount of rounds at a respective Live Blackjack table. To not miss out on special offers, have a frequent look at our promotions page.

Tip 5: Knowing when to stop

It might surprise you, but due to the generally lower house edge in Blackjack, it’s not totally uncommon to get lucky and win a higher percentage of your hands. Whenever you experience a winning streak and start losing a few hands, be alert, lower your stakes or even call it a day. Keep in mind no winning streak lasts forever. 

Many players push their luck over the edge and finish up by giving all their winnings back to the casino. Stay aware of what you’ve spent, how much you’ve won and how much you’ve lost. Make sure you are leaving the table with some profit in your pocket.

The same applies when you experience the exact opposite. When finding yourself on a losing streak, do not get caught up by increasing your stakes to chase your losses. You’ll notice by the way you feel when the time has come to quit for this particular day. Listen to it and remain responsible. Have a look at our Responsible Gaming section to set yourself limits beforehand.

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