Blackjack Against Dealer

If you've ever played blackjack online before, I think you'd agree that you're always wondering:

Is this game rigged?

NOT CHECKING THE PLAYING RULES. Most players just plop themselves down at the first open. Basic strategy advises players to stand on hard 12 against dealers who expose a 4, a 5, or a 6. If you take the time to examine the chart in our article on blackjack odds and probabilities, you will immediately notice that these three cards are very disadvantageous for the dealer because they carry over 40% risk of the dealer busting. Genre: Card & Casino. If you like Blackjack, you'll love Microsoft Bubble! Beat the dealer! Make your bet, and you're dealt two cards. If you think you can get closer to 21 without going over, have the dealer give you another. Do you feel lucky? Want to win at 21 Blackjack card game? There are many tips & strategies to win at 21 Blackjack: one is Card Counting! If you do card counting successfully, you’ll get back all of your bets and win against the Dealer, no questions asked. But be careful because card counting isn’t easy to do! The dealer will reveal his hidden blackjack card and must always hit if they have 16 or lower. They will stop hitting if they have 17 or more. Step 7: win or lose You win when the combined value of your cards is greater than that of the dealer.

How different is this compared to playing at the casino?

Well online casinos have heard your thoughts and have come up with a solution to ease your concerns by providing a much moretransparent and real experience to substitute that annoying RNG dealer.

Live blackjack dealers.

In this article we're going to look at how live blackjack works, how they compare to RNG blackjack and where you can playsafely for real money.

Live Dealer Blackjack Sites

Live Blackjack for US Players

Bovada

As seen in our complete review of Bovada, they are the most recommended casino for US players due totheir longstanding reputation.

They currently use Visionary iGaming software to power their live dealers which has a decent selection of live games as wellas mobile compatibility.

BetOnline

While we didn't review them as high as Bovada, BetOnline are a decent alternative and utilize the exactsame software (Visionary iGaming). Established since 2004, their reputation took a hit in 2017 but they have bounced back strong and have provided a great service ever since.

Their live blackjack options include:

SportsBetting.ag

While not as well known as the above two options, SportsBetting.ag is a sister site to BetOnline and offers the exact sameservice but with a different skin/layout.

Their live blackjack options include:

Is Live Blackjack Legal in the US?

Live Blackjack for UK Players

888 Casino

One of the most reputable brands in UK since 1997, 888 casino uses Evolution Gaming software to power it's live dealers which allows them toprovide an impressive 50+ blackjack tables.

888 also provide private blackjack tables to assure that no matter how busy their site is, there is always a table to playlive blackjack on.

Their tables include:

Casino Cruise

A relatively new casino to the industry (established since 2014), we have decided to list them here because they have builtquite the reputation for providing a great all around service.

They primariy use Evolution Gaming software to power their live dealer games however they also use Net Entertainment as wellto add more diversity to their live dealer gaming catalogue

Their live blackjack options include:

Live Blackjack for Canadians

888 Casino

One of the most reputable global online casino brands, their presence in Canada certainly doesn't fall short from high expectations. 888 casino uses Evolution Gaming software to power it's live dealers which allows them toprovide an impressive 50+ blackjack tables.

888 also provide private blackjack tables to assure that no matter how busy their site is, there is always a table to playlive blackjack on.

Their tables include:

Mr Green Casino

Mr Green Casino is fast becoming one of the most popular live blackjack destinations for Canadian gamblers. Their slick and modern interface makes for a very seamless experience with a combination of multiple software providers bringing a large diversity of games.

Their live blackjack options are powered by both Evolution Gaming and Net Entertainment to bring the best experience possible for it's customers

Their live blackjack options include:

Is Live Blackjack Legal in the Canada?

Live Blackjack for Aussies

BitStarz

BitStarz uses Evolution Gaming software and provides a great diversity of blackjack tables in a variety of betting ranges.Boasting over 50 tables for live blackjack alone, they also have live dealers for Baccarat, Roulette, Pokerand various other novelty games. Their live dealer experience is top notch and they also have a if you wantto try Their customer support is impeccable

Their live blackjack options include:

Joe Fortune

While not as entertaining as BitStarz, Joe Fortune provides an alternative live dealer experience targeted towards the limitedAustralian Market. Powered by Bodog software, they offer 19 different live blackjack tables of varying bettingranges as well as Roullette and Baccarat.

Their live blackjack options include:

How To Beat Blackjack Dealer

How Does Live Blackjack Work?

The latest evolution of online casino gaming allows you to play blackjack against a real physical dealer which you can seeover a live video stream in real time.

So just like visiting the local casino, the live action thrill is much more present as you can chat and interact with not only the dealer, but otherplayers and viewers on the table.

All of this is provided to you through a live stream on your desktop or mobile device however the dealer, and any other playerswill NOT be able to see you which should ease any privacy concerns.

All of the actions the dealer makes are visible and as he/she deals the cards, you will prompted on your screen on what optionsto take. This is achieved through microchips that are attached to each card so the software knows what the valuesare and can track your chosen actions accordingly.

RNG Blackjack vs Live Blackjack

RNG Blackjack

RNG (Random Number Generated) blackjack are the standard computerised games that are found at all online casinos.

These are powered by software that perform intricate mathematical algorithms to simulate the shuffling of multiple cardsso that the result is a fair system that mimics playing with actual cards.

The benefits of playing RNG blackjack is that you can play at a much faster pace (or slower if you prefer) than normal andmost online casinos offer a multitude of variations to choose from.

Now is it possible for these type of games to be rigged? Absolutely. This is why we list reputable online casinos only on blackjackinfo where their games are audited by third parties to ensure fairness.However, the live blackjack option certainly does give more comfort because you can visually see the cards beingdealt by a human dealer

Live Blackjack

Live dealer blackjack allows you to play against a human dealer in real time so there is no RNG used. The gamingexperience is much more realistic as you can interact with the dealer and other players on the table through alive chat function.

The negative aspect of live blackjack is that you can't decide how fast/slow a pace you want to play because there are otherplayers on the table waiting for you to make a decision. Each casino will have some sort of visual indicator toshow you how much time you have remaining to make a decision. If time expires then the lack of response is interpretedas a stand.

Also note that streaming the live feed of the dealer requires a lot of data so be sure to have a stable and fast internetconnection or it may turn out to be a more frustrating experience instead.

Live Blackjack Variations

Just like in normal RNG online blackjack, the type of live blackjack variation and rules offered depends on the softwareprovider the casino chooses to use.

Live Blackjack Software Compared

Playtech Live Gaming	Evolution Gaming	Net Entertainment	Extreme Live Gaming	Visionary iGaming
Tables	100+	100+	10+	20+	20+
Blackjack Pays	3:2	3:2	3:2	3:2	3:2
Decks	8	8	6 (Mid-shoe machine reshuffle)	8	6 (Shuffle Master i-Shoe)
Dealer Hits Soft 17
Double	Any 2	Any 2	Any 2	Any 2	Any 2
Double After Split
Hit After Splitting Aces
Resplit Allowed
Surrender Allowed
Insurance Offered
House Edge	0.48%	0.73%	0.44%	0.62%	0.69%
Min. & Max. Bet Range	£/$5-£/$20k	£/$3 - £/$20k	£/$5 - £/$10k	£/$5 - £/$10k	$0.50 - $2.5k(early payout tables) $5 - $100(Blackjack HD & American Blackjack)
Languages	English Russian French Spanish Italian Romanian Mexican-Spanish Mandarin	English Danish Swedish German Flemish Finnish Norwegian French Spanish	English German Dutch Italian Norwegian	English Italian German	English Spanish
Studio Locations	Spain Belgium Latvia Philippines Romania	Live studios: Malta Latvia Romania Canada Land Based Casino Stream Locations: Belgium Spain USA	Malta	London Gibraltar	San Jose Costa Rica

Let's go over a few of the popular providers so you can see the difference

Visionary iGaming

Here are the rules for the regular table :
· Blackjack pays 3:2
· Dealer hits on soft seventeen
· Peek
· Late surrender
· Double any two cards
· Play of multiple hands is allowed

The house edge for this game is 0.58%. While late surrender and the ability to double after you split are nice, the dealer choosing to hit on soft seventeen is a significant disadvantage for the player.

There is also the option to back bet behind other players, but this is generally not recommended because if they make a poor decision you are stuck with their choice.

'>The early payout game is a ‘Blackjack Unlimited’ variant, where an unlimited number of players can bet on three hands at once. The main difference in this variation is that the process of playing the hand is semi-automated in that it follows the basic strategy for playing (although you can choose to opt against it if you like.

However unlike most other blackjack unlimited implementations, the player’s options are slightly limited as you are unable to take more cards than basic strategy dictates. So you are allowed to stay when basic strategy urges a hit, but you are not allowed to hit when basic strategy tells you to stay.

This version is called early payout because you also have the option to exit the hand prematurely and get paid a certain amount. Presumably the payout option is always less than the expectation of the hand and the player should refrain from taking it, although if the payout is close to expectation it is possible that some hands (stiffs for example) might eventually become worth less than the payout at higher counts.

Compared to other online live dealer games, the Early Payout game allows players to play a lot of hands per hour. You can play three hands simultaneously, and you get in significantly more rounds per hour as well.

The rules are as follows:

• Total Decks – 6
• No Peek
• Deal Hits on Soft 17
• No resplitting allowed
• Double on any 2 cards
• Insurance pays 2:1

The house edge of this blackjack variation comes to about 0.69%

'>

Visionary iGaming is the only software provider that powers the live dealer games of all US casinos and interestingly usesonly 6 decks as opposed to the usual 8 seen in other providers.

They have two variatons called Normal and Early Payout which also allow for Side Bets which can make things interesting.You can read more about Visionary iGaming here. They have a house edge of around 0.58% (RTP 94.2%) for their regular tables.

Evolution Gaming

The rules are as follows:

• Uses classic seven seat tables
• Cards are dealt from an 8 deck shoe
• Shoe is manually shuffled (around halfway through)
• US style deal (dealer cards are one face down, one face up)
• Dealer must stand on all 17’s
• Doubling after splitting is permitted
• Doubling any two cards is permitted
• No hit on split Aces (one card per Ace only)
• Re-splitting is not permitted
• Insurance is available
• Bet Behind is available
• Side bets available: 21+3, Perfect Pairs

With these rules in mind, the house edge comes out to be 0.73%. The 21+3 side bet house edge is 6.29% and the Pairs side bet house edge is 4.10%. They also provide a feature called pre-decision where you can, similarly to poker, make a decision while waiting for your turn to speed things up.

'>Blackjack Party has the same rules as regular blackjack however the presentation is more like a TV set with a dealer and a co-host creating a much more lively experience. This dynamic, along with the pumping music and bubbly chat makes for a chilled and fun environment.

These are generally low stakes (£0.50 – £25) tables with 7 seats available although an unlimited amount of viewers are allowed to bet behind any player they choose.

'>

My personal favourite, Evolution Gaming has live dealer studios based in Latvia and are known for providing highly energeticand entertaining dealers. Their platform was built specifically to provide casinos with live dealer games.

While Blackjackinfo is filled with information about strategy, sometimes all you want is fun and Evolution Gaming poweredcasinos are the best at providing an entertaining live blackjack experience.

They use 8 decks and have a house edge of about 0.73% (RTP 99.27%) with the options for side bets called Perfect Pairs and21 + 3. You can read more details about their rules and variations in our complete review here.

Playtech

Streaming directly out of Playtech’s Riga studio, Playtech Grand Blackjack, along with Playtech Royale Blackjack uses the US style of blackjack deal. Grand Blackjack is available 24/7 and is a multiplayer 7 seat game.

Playtech Grand Blackjack rules include:

• Uses an 8 deck shoe
• Dealer must stand on all 17’s
• Double after split is permitted
• Doubling any two cards is permitted
• Hitting on split Aces is not permitted
• Re-splits are not permitted
• Insurance is available
• Side bets on offer include: 21+3 and Perfect Pairs
• Bet behind is available
• 10 Card Charlie applies
• House edge: 0.48578%

Blackjack Vs Dealer 21

'>Playtech VIP live blackjack offers blackjack players higher limits than the regular or lounge Playtech blackjack tables do. Currently only available during peak times, Playtech Blackjack VIP is a 7 seat multiplayer live blackjack game.

Playtech Blackjack VIP rules include:

• Uses an 8 deck shoe
• European style of blackjack deal
• Dealer must stand on all 17’s
• Doubling after split is permitted
• Doubling any two cards is permitted
• Hitting on split Aces is permitted
• Re-splits are not permitted
• Insurance is available
• 10 Card Charlie applies
• Bet behind is available
• House edge: 0.29593%

'>Streaming directly from Playtech’s European studios, Playtech Lounge Blackjack offers lower limits as well as the choice between US or European style of blackjack deal. Playtech Lounge Blackjack is a 7 seater multiplayer table and is available 24/7.

Playtech Lounge Blackjack rules include:

• Uses an 8 deck shoe
• Dealer must stand on all 17’s
• Doubling after split is permitted
• Doubling any two cards is permitted
• Hitting on split Aces is not permitted
• Re-splits are not permitted
• Insurance is offered
• Side bets are offered including: 21+3 and Perfect Pairs
• 10 Card Charlie applies
• Bet behind is available
• House edge: 0.48768%

'>Select Playtech blackjack games that are now streamed from Playtech’s live studio in Romania are presented as Playtech Blackjack Soho. The Playtech Blackjack Soho tables are new for 2018 and are available 24/7 as 7 seater multiplayer options.

Playtech Blackjack Soho rules include:

• Uses an 8 deck shoe
• Dealer must stand on all 17’s
• Doubling after split is permitted
• Doubling any two cards is permitted
• Hitting on split Aces is not permitted
• Re-splits are not permitted
• Side bets offered including: 21+3
• Bet behind available Player Pair, Dealer pair, 21+3
• House edge: 0.48578%

'>Playtech Blackjack Soiree is aimed more at high rollers but with a low enough minimum bet to make it accessible to players looking for a slightly richer game than standard Playtech’s standard blackjack games. While many of the basic rules stay in line with Playtech’s standard live blackjack rules, there are some interesting variations here that may interest experience blackjack players in particular.

Playtech Blackjack Soiree rules include:

• Uses an 8 deck shoe
• Minimum bet is set at £/€/$50
• Maximum bet is set at £/€/$10,000
• Dealer window is 30 minutes
• Players can request a new dealer after 30 minutes or keep the same dealer
• Players can request a shoe change via the dedicated Playtech Blackjack Soiree Host
• Players can request the shoe be reshuffled
• Side bets are available including 21+3 and Perfect Pairs
• Insurance is available
• Blackjack pays 3:2
• Multi seat
• Bet behind available
• US style of blackjack deal

'>Playtech’s Royale Blackjack is another new live dealer blackjack variation aimed at VIP players and high rollers.

Playtech Royale Blackjack rules include:

• Uses an 8 deck shoe
• American dealing style
• Multi-seat
• Bet behind available
• Blackjack pays out 3:2
• Insurance pays out 2:1
• Side bets available including 21+3 and Perfect Pair
• Dealer must stand on all 17’s
• Doubling any two cards is permitted
• Insurance is available
• House edge: 0.48578%

'>As the name suggests, Playtech Transylvania Blackjack offers a cool and dark variation on Playtech’s standard live blackjack platform. The game features seven seats with play behind as an option.

Playtech Transylvania Blackjack rules include:

• Uses an 8 deck shoe
• Dealer must stand on all 17’s
• Doubling after split is permitted
• Doubling any two cards is permitted
• Hitting on split Aces is not permitted
• Re-splits are not permitted
• Insurance is offered
• Side bets are offered including: 21+3 and Perfect Pairs
• 10 Card Charlie applies
• European betting style
• Bet behind is available
• House edge: 0.48768%

'>Playtech’s Unlimited Blackjack can be played simultaneously by an unlimited number of players. As a result, some of the basic game rules are a bit different to other Playtech blackjack games and include:

• The game automatically splits certain hands
• In the case of a split, you have the option to split or to fold
• If you fold your bet will be returned to you minus 20%

Additional rules in Playtech Unlimited Blackjack:

• Dealer draws until 16 and always stands on any 17
• Re-splitting is not permitted
• Only one extra card is drawn for split Aces
• Doubling after splitting is permitted
• Dealer does not check for blackjack in any case
• When doubling: If the dealer gets blackjack, you lose both your bets if the dealers first card is of 11 value (ace).
• You get your double bet back if the dealer fist card is value 10 (dealer gets blackjack)

'>

Playtech have been a software provider for online casinos since 1999 and have rapidly expanded their catalogue to includelive dealers.

To stand out from it's competitors, Playtech look to be the first in implementing live blackjack dealers for specific languages.They currently have a staggering 500 dealers who are well trained and cater to audiences from the UK, Italy, Spainand Romania.

They have several blackjack variations but their regular tables use 8 decks with the option to sidebet on Perfect Pairs.

Sparing no expense, Playtech built a large studio of 8,500 square metres in Latvia back in February 2017 and have clearlyset their goal to be the leader in the live dealer space.

Extreme Live Gaming

Extreme Live Gaming Blackjack rules are as follows:

• Uses an 8 deck shoe
• Vegas rules apply (2 cards for dealer)
• Dealer offers insurance on ace up card before checking for blackjack
• Insurance pays 2:1
• Blackjack pays 3:2
• Tied blackjack is pushed
• Dealer must stand on all 17s
• Players can split pairs
• Split pairs can get unlimited cards
• Split Aces can only get one card each
• Any pair may be re-split
• Aces can only be split once
• Players can split any two cards of the same rank
• Double down on any first two cards
• Doubling down not permitted after split

The house edge comes to 0.62%

'>

Founded in 2013, Extreme Live Gaming has a studio based in London and offers live blackjack with 8 decks similarly to otherproviders.

What sets them apart however is their 'LiveBox' product which streams a feed from an actual land based casino where you canplace bets alongside people inside the venue itself.

Unfortunately this is only available for their roulette games but it will be interesting if they ever provide this experiencefor blackjack at some stage

Ezugi

This is the classic blackjack that is utilized at most online casinos using Ezugi and has tables with various betting ranges from €10 – €1,000, €20 – €2,000 and €50 – €5,000. The house edge with the most optimal strategy is at a very low 0.11% due to the early surrender option that is rarely seen anywhere.

• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Early surrender against ace available
• Eight decks
• Dealer peeks for blackjack with aces
• Doubles possible on any two cards.
• Doubles after a split is possible
• Re-splitting not allowed
• Back betting is allowed
• Insurance for blackjack is available

Extra Features:

• 21+3 Side Bets
• Perfect Pair Side Bets
• Bet Behind

'>The rules for European Blackjack are well known, especially on online casinos. The house edge for European Blackjack is 0.62% with the most optimal strategy.

The rules for Ezugi’s European Blackjack are as follows:

• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Early surrender against ace available
• Six decks
• Dealer peeks for blackjack with aces
• Doubles only possible on hard 9, 10, & 11
• Doubles after a split is possible
• Insurance for Blackjack is available

Extra Features:

• 21+3 Side Bets
• Perfect Pair Side Bets
• Bet Behind

'>Hybrid Blackjack offers a live casino and virtual casino experience in one. Once the seats on a table are filled, players can still sit alongside the players and have cards virtually generated. The rules for Hybrid Blackjack are the same as the rules for Blackjack Unlimited except that splitting to more than two hands is not allowed.

This does have a minor 0.05% increase in the house edge bringing the house edge of Hybrid Blackjack to 0.59% assuming that you employ basic strategy. Unlike Blackjack Unlimited, where there is only one hand played, with Hybrid Blackjack you have a full table but players can bet on existing spots and control their hand’s destiny without being forced to follow the decisions of the spot holder.

'>Blackjack Unlimited is a variant of blackjack where there is only one spot and an unlimited number of players can bet on the hand. Actually, other versions have up to three spots that you can bet on but in the case of Ezugi their game only has one.

Despite the fact that everyone is playing the same hand, people are allowed to play their own hand how they want it and if they choose to stay while someone else chooses to hit that card does not affect them. The rules for Ezugi’s Blackjack Unlimited are as follows

• Dealer Stands on Soft Seventeen
• Double After Split Allowed
• One Card Only to Split Aces
• Eight Decks
• Double Any Two Cards
• European No Hole Card
• No Surrender
• Blackjack Pays 3:2
• Insurance available

Extra Features:

• 21+3 Side Bets
• Perfect Pair Side Bets
• Bet Behind

One advantage to the Blackjack Unlimited variant is the game speed. Because there is only one hand to play rounds are significantly faster than at a normal table. Unfortunately, they do cut off what appears to be three decks out of eight.

The documentation suggests a house edge of 0.43%, which is not accurate unless the dealer peeks for blackjack. Assuming you can resplit to four hands and the game is played with the European No Hole Card rule the house edge is actually 0.54%

The house edge on the Perfect Pair side bet is 4.1% and 6.29% for the 21+3 side bet.

'>

Offering a variety of different themed tables, Ezugi has some great options when it comes to live blackjack.

In fact, they are one of the only providers who offer the early surrender option which can be found in any of their American Blackjack tables with a very low 0.11% house edge

You can read more about Ezugi and their catalogue of games here

Is Live Blackjack Rigged?

Considering all actions the dealer makes is visible to multiple players/viewers, it would be extremely difficult for a casinoto rig blackjack.

HOWEVER:

Having said that there was an incident that went viral in February 2017 where video footage of a dealer dealing cards in a peculiar mannerlead many to believe BetOnline was intentionally cheating.

There is no concrete evidence that this was either an accident made by the dealer or purposeful second dealing. It does makeyou wonder though, since it's so easy to record video footage of gameplay, why would a casino even attempt to rigtheir games in a manner like this?

Live Blackjack FAQ

No. While they all practically offer the normal RNG style blackjack, it takes a lot of resourcesto provide a solution for live blackjack so many of the smaller casinos are unable to provide it

No. Casinos have shuffle policies in place to avoid players gaining any advantage through card counting. Blackjackapprenceship.com has a great article about this as to why it's not effective

Yes. Although the interface can get a little bit annoying on a small screen, there are several casinosthat do provide live blackjack solutions for mobile

If you've ever been curious where twitch streamer sodapoppin plays, he plays at BetOnline which is a US casino brand.

While there is no definitive winning strategy, you can still apply our basic blackjack strategy charts to avoid any mistakes.

Odds are everywhere you look. Seriously. Odds are in a casino, your workplace, your day-to-day live and habits, your marriage and where in the world you live.

Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself:

• Odds of having twins (21st century) – 3 in 100 or 3%
• Odds of getting a divorce – 40 to 50%
• Odds of being stuck by lightning – 1 in 5,000 or 1 in 700,000 in any given year
• Odds of being audited by the IRS – .4% if you make less than $200,000 / year
• Odds of being dealt a blackjack – About 4.83%

Odds are just the likelihood that something will happen. As a blackjack player you deal with this all the time.

Lets look at a couple real examples to show you what I mean.

Here are the odds of you busting your hand, depending on what you were dealt:

• 21 – 100%
• 20 – 92%
• 19 – 85%
• 18 – 77%
• 17 – 69%
• 16 – 62%
• 15 – 58%
• 14 – 56%
• 13 – 39%
• 12 – 31%
• <11 – 0%

Odds of Being Dealt Specific Hands

Here are the probabilities for being dealt a specific hand:

• Blackjack – 4.8%
• Standing Hand (17-20) – 30%
• Decision Hand – (1-16) – 38.7%
• No Bust – 26.5%

Here are the odds for the final hands that the dealer will make:

• Natural 21 – 4.82%
• 21 (3+ cards) – 7.36%
• 20 – 17.58%
• 19 – 13.48%
• 18 – 13.81%
• 17 – 14.58%
• 16 – 28.36%

Dealer vs. Player Odds

Finally, here are the odds of the dealer busting based on their up card:

• 2 – 35.30%
• 3 – 37.56%
• 4 – 40.28%
• 5 – 42.89%
• 6 – 42.08%
• 7 – 25.99%
• 8 – 23.86%
• 9 – 23.34%
• J,Q,K – 21.43%
• A – 11.65%

Of these examples, this is the most useful. Notice what hands the dealer is most likely to bust with. The dealer will most often bust with 4, 5 or 6, followed by 2 and 3.

The odds above are static. There’s nothing you can do to change them. However, you can find ways to improve your odds so that you lose fewer hands and less money. And the less money you lose, the more you can keep to play more blackjack.

Here’s what you can do to improve your odds in blackjack:

• Use basic blackjack strategy. Without basic strategy you’re playing at an 8% disadvantage. With strategy, however, the odds increase significantly. You’ll be playing at only .5 to 1.5% disadvantage.
• Find the best games. The rules make all the difference. For example, if you play a 6:5 blackjack game you’re adding a 1.39% disadvantage. If the dealer hits soft 17 that’s another .18%. However, it’s possible to find games where the player is paid 3:2 for blackjacks and the dealer stands on soft 17. So find those games. Also be careful about which blackjack variation you play. The best games to play are blackjack, Spanish 21, Vegas Strip BJ and Blackjack Switch.
• Avoid side bets. Side bets look exciting, because for a nominal amount you could possibly win a huge jackpot — worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The problem is that the odds against winning can be anywhere from 2-40%.
• Avoid wives tales. There are a lot of bad strategies like never busting (never hit a 12+), mimicking the dealer and assume that the dealer has a 10 in the whole (with ace up). The problem with using any of these strategies is that they increase the house edge from 3 to 10 percent.

You can do other things, too, like count cards or read books (usually a mix of basic strategy, card counting and general how-to’s for casino blackjack). However, you’ll improve your odds at winning at blackjack just by following my suggestions above.

Understanding the Long Run – Sample Size and Variance

I wanted to finish up this article with a brief explanation of odds, and how they work over the long run. You see, I think a lot of people will see the numbers above and get confused when they don’t match their own stats. In other words, someone might go to the casino play 500 hands of blackjack, and wonder why they didn’t get 24 natural blackjacks, or the other way around, why they got 42.

The thing is, odds and statistics are all about the long run. Long run usually meaning sample size, or the total number of hands (or games) played.

What that means is that over a significant sample size, hundreds of thousands or even millions of hands, the number of times you’ll receive a blackjack is about 4.82%. The more hands you play the truer this will become.

The reason why odds don’t match up in smaller sessions, say over 500 hands, is because of variance. There’s a technical term and definition for variance, but I’ll just give you my version; variance is the ups and downs you experience on your way to the long term (expected) results.

Mike Caro, a poker player and author, puts it this way:

A measure of the spread of statistical distribution about its mean or centre.

That means in a short time frame, it’s possible to experience more drastic odds. You might win or lose more than you’re supposed to. It also explains why people can go into a casino, not use basic strategy and win 3x as much as what they walked in with. The cards ran in their favor — they experienced a positive streak of variance.

So that’s the gist of it. So the next time you walk into the casino and have a wild swing one way or another, you know that that’s not normal, and that in the long run you’ll be closer to break-even so long as you stick to basic strategy — the plan with the best odds.