Blackjack Strategy – Tips and Rules of Blackjack

There are many names for Blackjack, Twenty-one or the French variation, Vingtet-un, or Pontoon.  But whichever name it is known by, it is the most widely played casino game in the world, owing its popularity to the mix of chance and skill.

Rules, Tips and House Advantages

Over 100 different rules for blackjack currently exist which affect not only the house advantage, but also your chances of winning.  While some rules are due to law or regulation, others are imposed by the casinos themselves.  The casino always has a house advantage, which is a point worth remembering.

Certain tips can help you get ahead of the game, so to speak.  Rule number one is this. “Always use the Basic Strategy” and follow it.  Guesses and hunches just will not work.  Following a mathematical strategy is best.

Some tips to keep in mind would be to scout out your table – find one which will work for you and where the pace is fast, but relaxing and where you can get on with your play without interference or interruptions by drunk or obnoxious people.   Unless you know what you are doing and are counting cards, never take out insurance as this is considered a ‘suckers’ bet.  

You need to stay profitable so managing your money is key in the long run, and don’t overplay your budget.  Something which goes a long way is to tip the dealer generously.  This can only work in your favour and apart from keeping friendly relations; your dealer is more apt to shuffle up a little later in the game.  Tipping will also help you take advantage of ‘dealer tells’ as your dealer might have more obvious ‘tells’, than one who is not tipped.

The Basic Strategy

Master this and you will become a successful player.  It consists of mathematical charts which show you what the correct mathematical plays are in any scenario, allowing for variations which are suited to the exact type of blackjack you are playing.  If you master this, you might be able to reduce a house edge from 7% down to a little as 1%.

The two most common charts are the single deck and the multiple deck charts and they are not complicated to understand as long as you can read and understand a basic chart.  Simply, the left vertical column on the chart represents your hand and the top horizontal column represents the dealer’s hand.  Lining up the two where your hand and the dealers hand meets will show the correct play.

The charts use letters to represent actions, for example, H stand for Hit while P stands for Split.  S means Stand and S/R stands for Surrender if you can otherwise stand.  You will need a good memory to remember all this --- and when you do it will enable you to make split second decisions.  The easiest way to commit these charts to memory is to look for patterns that are logical in the charts, or you can get a blackjack strategy card when you first start out. These cards are handy sized and some casinos may even allow you to use them whilst playing.