Blackjack is the most widely played casino game in the world as the mix of skill and luck coupled with its simplicity appeals to gamblers.
The objective of the game is quite simple, you must build a hand that totals 21 in value or get as close as possible without going bust.
Even though the objective of Blackjack is the same across different variants, the variant of the game that you play can alter the advantage that the house has over you.
While there is no such thing as a perfect Blackjack strategy, there is a basic strategy that can be followed that can reduce the house’s advantage to less than 1%, which is another reason the game is so popular.
To offset this, most online casinos have several Blackjack variants that increase the casino edge over the players and improves their earnings in the long run.
The first variation is the number of decks used at one time. Whilst not very common, some online casinos offer a single deck blackjack game.
This popular Blackjack game features a casino advantage of just 0.17%
To help offset this low house edge, the game has a number of different rules in the game that favors the casino.
In contrast a Blackjack game played with four decks of cards has a casino advantage of 0.6% and if you play the most common version of Blackjack which uses 8 decks of cards, the house edge increases to 0.66%
A common rule in place in most casinos is that the player will only receive one extra card when they split a pair of aces.
The reason for this is that if you were allowed to Hit after splitting Aces, this would effectively reduce the casino edge by 0.13%. If you consider that the casino’s edge is only 1% then this is a significant reduction.
You will be happy to know, however, that most online casinos do allow you to “Double Down” on any slit pairs, apart from split Aces. Doubling down on a split pair will give you an advantage of 0.12%.
The largest variation will arise whenever you’re dealt a natural blackjack hand.
You can expect this to happened in about 4.8% of all hands played. So deviating from a usual 3:2 payout for natural blackjack will massively swing the odds in the casino’s favour.
A 6:5 payout reduces the player’s edge by 1.4% whilst some casino who only payout 1:1 do so to give themselves a huge 2.3% edge.
Before you start playing blackjack for real money, it is advisable to first have a look at rules of the blackjack variant you want to play and check the advantage that the casino has over you.
The best table would be one that plays four decks, makes the dealer stand on soft-17, offers late surrender, allows you to double after a split, allows you to double any two cards and pays out 3:2 on Blackjack. If you find one that does this, please let me know!
To learn more about online blackjack, please go to this Blackjack Games review page. To see the latest online promotions, please go to this Blackjack Promotions guide.