Most casino games have a set of suggested player actions when faced with a specific situation. Here, these actions are hard and fast rules. The good news is, these tips increase your odds of winning over time. The bad news is….well, there’s actually no bad news. Memorize a few simple tips and you’ll be on your way to winning.
Blackjack is one of the few casino games wherein a player can decrease the house edge if he plays carefully and sticks to a predetermined blackjack basic strategy. Online blackjack tips can tell players if it is preferable to hit or stand, split pairs, and/or double down.
Play online blackjack according to blackjack basic strategy, and you can avoid the urge to make impulsive bets.
Black Jack Tips—Hit or Stand
When you play blackjack, it all comes down to deciding if you should hit or stand. Memorizing when to take a hit based on the value of the cards that you already have is crucial. Let’s start by examining a few possible hands and working through them.
- If you have a 9 or lower, always hit. There is a very low chance that you would be able to win with such a low hand, so taking a hit will always raise the odds of you winning.
- You should also hit on any hand with a value between 10 and 16, but only if the dealer’s face up card is a 7 or higher
- If you have a 17 or higher in your hand, stand. The chances are slim that you would be able to take a hit without busting. The best policy is to stick with 17 and hope that the dealer has a poor hand. This blackjack basic strategy, however, only applies to hard deals, when you do not have an Ace in your hand.
- If you have an Ace in your hand, you have what is referred to as a soft total. Soft hands need to be played with a slightly different strategy because Aces can be ranked as either eleven or one.
The most common mistake made by players who ignore these casino and online blackjack tips is to stand on a soft 17, where the player has an Ace and a 6. While it is generally a good policy to stand on a hard 17, a soft 17 can be easily improved. Eight of the thirteen cards in a suit will be helpful. Even if the hit doesn’t raise the total, rarely does a hit on a soft 17 hurt it.
- The above is true, in fact, with most soft hands. If you have a soft hand that is less than 19, take the hit. It can only improve your chances of walking away a winner.
Black Jack Tips—Tables to Avoid
After you have memorized the basic blackjack tips for when to take a hit, you can undertake a variety of other strategies for making your play both more enjoyable and profitable.
Most online blackjack players concur that one of the best online blackjack tips and a big blackjack help is to play in good company.
This is easiest to achieve in a casual home game among friends or at a game played in a casino online. But even if you are in a brick and mortar casino and cannot control who pulls up a chair after you, you can always decide to switch tables.
Avoid mean spirited or dejected players, as they bring down the tone of the table and steal your focus. The same applies to drunken players who have taken a little too heavy advantage of the free drinks offered at most casinos. They will distract you from your game.
Black Jack Tips—Maintaining Your Composure
Our final “blackjack help” tip? Don’t become one of the distracting players yourself, which means steering clear of the free booze and remaining emotionally detached from the game. When you feel that you are becoming too upset by your losses, take a break. Most casinos will allow the dealer to hold your seat while you do so.
Even if you just need to stretch your legs, getting away from the table for a few minutes will clear your head and keep you from taking the game too seriously and making costly mistakes.