Blackjack Basic Strategy

If you are looking for a fun and exciting casino game that you can learn to play well fairly quickly, then blackjack is a great choice. It is the most popular worldwide banking casino game, and is available in just about all casinos, including, of course, online casinos you can play it at regardless of what time of day or night it is or how far away you are from your nearest land based casino. In blackjack, you play against a dealer, and there can be other players at your table for you to socialise with, though you don’t actually play against them like you do in games like poker – you are all trying to beat the dealer with your own cards.

When people talk about strategy for most games it refers to the way you choose to play. In poker, strategy is a large and complicated subject and a lot of it is down to personal playing style and strengths. In blackjack, however, when people talk about strategy, they are referring to an established and accepted set of decisions which mathematically give you the best chance to win. This is because blackjack is a game of chance, so all you can really do strategically is know how to pick the decision with the highest probability of letting you win.

There are four things you can do when your cards are dealt in blackjack. Usually, it is just a case of deciding whether you want to stay at the value of the cards you have (stand) or take another card (hit), but you also sometimes have the option to split your hand into two hands each with their own (equal) stake, or to double your bet and hit. Basic strategy means knowing for each combination of two cards you might be dealt, which of these four things to do depending on what the dealer is showing.

It sounds like a lot to learn but there is a pattern to the basic strategy chart that makes it easier to remember than it seems. You can also get apps that help train you in basic strategy for blackjack while playing simulated games against the computer. This can be a great way to practice so when you begin to play for money you know exactly what you are doing and are giving yourself the best chance to win at the real or virtual tables!