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Name a more popular card game than Blackjack. Go on, we dare you. Chances are your fumbling around for an example, but you know what? There really is not any other casino card game that can touch Blackjack in terms of popularity, not even Poker. Amongst countless reasons for this hundred (if not thousand) year old game’s popularity is its simplicity, and also its favourable odds when compared to many other casino games.
Blackjack is also one of the easiest things to adopt a specific strategy for, therefore increasing your chances of a win and thus enjoying yourself even more. As most of us know, the game of online Blackjack is all about reaching as close to 21 with your hand without going over – sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, it is simple, but there is more than one strategy that could dramatically improve your chances of winning. Let’s have a look.
The Basics
In order to make most of these strategies intelligible we must first take a quick look at some essential terminology when playing Blackjack. For instance:
· Hit: Obtaining an extra card.
· Stand: The opposite of hit – i.e. to be used when you don’t want another card.
· Double Down: This is where things get interesting. A double down allows the player to raise their bet by 100%, however it also means they must stand after receiving the next card.
· Split: The split tactic is not used often amongst novices, but when you get to a higher skill level it could make all the difference. It works like this – the first two cards can be split into two distinct hands if they have the same value. After doing so there are now two hands available, and increased odds.
Pair Splitting
Making use of the split play can be incredibly lucrative in some scenarios but also pretty detrimental in others, so its pays to know a bit about the strategy behind it. There are definitely some basic rules here, namely to never split a 10 or indeed a 5 – this will actually increase your odds of losing.
Other than these two values splitting is really a case of how many decks you are playing with, and what the dealer’s hand looks like. You will also want to consider what you want out of splitting: is it to win more? To try and save your hand? Or to logically cut your losses? The answer to these things will influence how you go about implementing the pair splitting strategy.
The Double Down
Blackjack gets really exciting whenever anyone employs the double down strategy because the odds are flipped at once. This can be such a good way of increasing your jackpot, but it is also crucial that it is not used brazenly and without reason.
For example, it is very important that you are confident of beating the dealer because of what their hand looks like, not just yours. Many people forget this, and it means that a double down is best performed when it looks like the dealer will bust.
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