Blackjack Strategy

To increase your chances of winning, implementing a blackjack strategy is crucial for success. Compared to most other casino games, blackjack games allow you to overtake the house advantage if you play the game with perfection. Of course, unless you are a cyborg or Sheldon Cooper, it might be challenging to make the best decisions for every hand, but the more you practice, the better you get!

To help you on your quest to become a master of the game, we have gathered some of the best blackjack strategies that surely can raise your winning chances. We have even created a simple blackjack strategy chart to help you learn basic strategy a bit faster.

And just to be clear: counting cards is not a very good strategy, especially not in online blackjack. But we’ll get to it later on in our article.

Blackjack Strategy Chart

Using a basic strategy chart, like the one below, can be an excellent way to practice and improve your gameplay. By using blackjack charts, you can learn when you should hit or stand for the best winning chances. Of course, you can’t bring the chart to a brick-and-mortar casino. Doing so will most likely end up getting you thrown out in a heartbeat.

Nobody knows if you’re cheating with blackjack charts when playing online blackjack Canada, so feel free to do so. However, it might be challenging to play live blackjack while using a chart since you have limited time to decide. On the other hand, RNG-based blackjack games allow you to use your time between the decisions since you don’t play with real people but in a computer-simulated game.

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Blackjack Basic Strategy

Newbies have to start somewhere, and even though a basic blackjack strategy won’t break the bank, it can substantially increase your winning chances.

We recommend you save our handy cheat sheet above and use it to see what actions will give you the best winning chances depending on your hand. Using this will eventually allow you to learn it by heart and get you one step closer to becoming a professional blackjack player who knows exactly when to stand or hit.

Below, you can find three basic strategies to get you started on your journey to victory. They are universal in most blackjack variations, easy to remember for new players and can increase your winning chances considerably!

Always Split Aces & 8's If splitting is an option in your game, make sure you ALWAYS split aces and eights. These cards are like gold in blackjack, so make sure to double your winning chances.

Never take the Insurance Bet If the dealer's upcard is an Ace, you get offered the side bet insurance in case he gets a blackjack. There are times when it should be done, but for new players, it's better to avoid it altogether.

Always stand if you're Over 17 It might be tempting to get even closer to 21, but don't go there! The dealer must keep drawing cards until he reaches 17 or more, so he's more likely to end up bust than you getting a 4 or less!

Avoid Basic Mistakes

Many new players tend to make two mistakes: they allow their feelings to get into the game, or they ignore the dealer’s upcard. Sure, it might be more fun to play with your heart, but unless your heart is blessed with luck, playing with your brains will give you much better chances of success.

Instead of only looking at your hand, pay equal attention to the dealer’s hand, which will significantly impact the result. For example, if the dealer has a small upcard between 2-6, he is most likely to get a 12-16 on his first hand, and he needs to draw a third card, which is likely to make him go bust. Even if your hand shows a 12, it might be good enough to beat the dealer.

Perfect Blackjack Strategy

If you really want to become the master of blackjack, you need to implement a few more strategies. Once you have nailed the correct basic strategy above, you can go ahead and get more advanced, but we recommend you go step by step as there’s a lot to keep in mind.

The real game-changer for playing blackjack is mastering the side bets. The basic strategies above can get you far, but the side bets allow for a more advanced blackjack strategy, which you can learn more about below.

Surrender

Many blackjack varieties allow you to surrender before taking any new cards. The hand will be folded, and half of the original bet is returned to the player. It might seem like a coward’s way out, but actually, games with the surrender option tend to have a lower house edge, and it’s a crucial element in the perfect blackjack strategy.

The surrender option should not be used very often and is mainly beneficial in two situations:

• If your hand is 16 (not double 8’s) and the dealer’s upcard is 9, 10 or Ace.
• If your hand is 15 and the dealer’s upcard is 10.

If your hand is two 8’s, you’ll get better odds if you split than surrender and play on with two hands.

Split

If your two first cards is a pair of identical value, you get the option to split. You’ll then play on with two hands, each with one of the cards you split. You also need to make a new bet for your split hand.

Splitting won’t always be beneficial, but can certainly raise your winning chances if you do it right. And to make it clear, this is the times when you should split:

Double Down

The double-down option is not available at all blackjack varieties, but you can easily end up with a big win if it is! Usually, you can only double down if your hand shows a total of 10 or 11, but some variations allow you to double down after a split or with any two cards on your hand.

It works by doubling your bet, and one last card is drawn. Obviously, you shouldn’t do it unless it’s more or less a sure thing, as it’s otherwise will be a big waste of money. The only times it should be considered is if:

• Your total is 11 - The odds for scoring a 10 or a good number are great so take advantage!
• If you have a soft 16, 17 or 18 and the dealer is showing a lower card- You have a great chance of improving your hand, and if not, you will most likely end up with a good hand anyways.
• You have a hard 9 or 10, and the dealer has a low card - If you have 10 you should double down unless the dealer’s upcard is 10 or Ace, while if you have a 9 you should only double if the dealer has a card between 3-6. The odds are in favour of you getting a high card, and if not, you still have the edge over the dealer.

Insurance Bet

If the dealer’s upcard is an Ace, you will be asked if you want insurance. If you accept, you must pay half of your original bet, and if the dealer’s second card is a 10, the insurance will be paid out 2:1, so in the end, you still end up losing half your original bet. If the dealer doesn’t have a 10-card, the game will be played as normal, and you’ll lose the insurance money.

It can be tempting if you have a great hand yourself, especially if you have a blackjack too, but the insurance is more of a sucker bet. Even if you hit with the insurance, you will still lose money, and if you lose the hand after taking the insurance, you’ll lose even more money. Considering there are four 10-cards in a single deck and 9 cards that will not give blackjack, the odds are simply not in your favour.

Even Money

The even money bet is similar to the insurance bet and is found in some variations of the blackjack game. If you have a natural blackjack (Ace and a 10) and the dealer’s upcard shows an Ace, you’ll get the offer of “even money.” If you take it, you’ll receive your entire bet back, and the round is over. If not, you’ll risk a push if the dealer also has blackjack, so your bet will be paid back anyway.

Again, this is a sucker bet because the odds are in your favour for the dealer not having a blackjack. A natural blackjack also pays 3:2, so if you make a $10 bet, you’ll win $15. Just don’t do it!

Betting Strategy

It works by adjusting your bet depending on the outcome of the previous game. For example, if you win the round, you should lower the bet for the next round, and if you lose, you should raise your bet or vice versa. There are several blackjack strategies out there, each with slightly different rules to follow, so we recommend trying them out using free money to find the one that suits you the best.

It’s worth remembering that many casinos do not allow systematic betting, and if you win big, you’ll risk losing the money if the casino reviews your betting history. However, most casinos do not have this rule, so it’s rarely a problem.

Below, you can read more about the best blackjack strategies. They can even be implemented in more than one casino game, so the strategies work well in roulette and other card games.

The Martingale System

Martingale is the best-known betting strategy and originated in 18th century France. It works by doubling your bet every time you lose and go back to your base bet when you win. So a round can look like this:

• Bet: $1 - Lose
• Bet $2 - Lose
• Bet $4 - Win
• Bet $1 - Win
• Bet $1- Lose
• Bet $2 - Lose
• Bet $4 - Lose
• Bet $8 - Lose
• Bet $16 - Win
• Bet $1 - Win

It’s pretty basic and easy to understand and allows you to beat blackjack by winning enough money to cover your losses. In the end, you’ll always win your initial bet, so in the long run, you’ll always end up with a profit. If you lose $1 + $2 + $4 + $8 (=15) and win when you bet $16, your profit will still be $1.

Sounds flawless, but unfortunately, you can go several rounds without winning, so you might have to raise the bet by a lot in the end. Most games, and not just blackjack but any gambling game, have a max bet, so you need to have a very low base bet to be covered. It’s recommended to use the minimum bet as a base to give you as many options as possible, but it will take a long time before you win much with this strategy.

The Manhattan Strategy

This strategy is based on hot and cold streaks, which is a phenomenon gamblers know to be true, but mathematicians argue it’s not. Regardless, the system goes like this:

The base is a 2 unit bet. If you win, lower to 1 unit. If you again win, raise to three units and keep going up one unit until you lose. If you lose your 1 unit bet, keep going on $1 until you win and then raise. For example:

• Bet $2 - Win
• Bet $1 - Win
• Bet $2 - Win
• Bet $3 - Win
• Bet $4 - Lose
• Bet $2 - Win
• Bet $1 - Lose
• Bet $1 - Win
• Bet $2 - Lose

In this example, your profit will be $4. The system has a natural safeguard because it’s dropping on your first win, so your losses will be minimal if you don’t hit a hot streak.

Labouchere System

The Labouchere system is very popular but a bit more advanced and requires more focus. Therefore, it’s not great for beginners, but it might be worth trying out if you are well known around a blackjack table.

First, you need to select a series of numbers, for example, 1-2-3-4-5-6. They don’t have to be sequential, so 1-1-1-3-5-7 could work as well. Your bet will always be your first and last number in the sequence, so your first bet would be $7 (1+6). If you win, those numbers are crossed out, and you continue with 2+5 and so on until all the numbers have been crossed out. If you lose, the number will be added to the end of your sequence, and none are crossed out. A round can go like this:

• 1-2-3-4-5-6: Bet $7 - Win
• 2-3-4-5: Bet $7 - Win
• 3-4: Bet $7 - Lose
• 3-4-7: Bet $10 - Win
• 4: Bet $4 - Lose
• 4-4: Bet 8$ - Win

In this example, you’ll win $21, which is all the numbers in your sequence added together. The sequence should therefore be based on a realistic goal.

It’s quite difficult to remember the sequence in your head, which is a significant disadvantage with this strategy. Besides, it might end up becoming a very long sequence with higher and higher bets, so it’s pretty risky.

Card Counting System

Card counting is the best-known system for beating the dealer in blackjack. Obviously, knowing which cards remaining in the deck will give you a huge advantage, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Paying attention to the game and count cards at the same time requires a lot of brainpower.

You might think it’s easier when you play online, and you can make notes of the cards, but the online casino has, of course, safeguarded itself against this. For starters, it’s pointless with card counting in RNG-based games since the outcome is decided by a random number generator and not the cards in the deck. Counting cards might make sense if you play live blackjack, but the dealer switches the decks every few rounds to make sure card counters don’t get away with an advantage.

But if you want to try it out, we recommend checking the Hi-Lo strategy instead of keeping track of every card played.

Hi-Lo Strategy

The Hi-Lo strategy is a simplified form of card counting that pretty much anyone can do. It even works in multi-deck games as well as single-deck games.

The cards are divided into three groups, each assigned a different value:

• 10 cards + Ace = -1 point
• 7-9 = 0 point
• 2-6 = +1 point

As the game is played, you calculate all the cards dealt and keep track of the score. The score indicates whether there are more high or low cards left in the game so that you can play your hand accordingly.

Blackjack FAQ’s

Written by: Petricia petricia@new-casino.ca new-casino.ca