The Main Differences Between Blackjack and Poker

As we have often said, Blackjack is a very popular online and table game, with many people enjoying this game across the globe.

People often consider Poker the more popular or cooler game, due to the influence of movies, media and well advertised Poker Tournaments with celebrity players.

But Blackjack and Poker often get confused in the mainstream media and in the public eye, so here we discuss the differences between these two games.

There may not seem like there are any obvious differences but there are. Read more “The Main Differences Between Blackjack and Poker”

Noteworthy Blackjack Movies

Blackjack has played such an influential role on popular culture that it should be no surprise that there are many films that touch on or deal with Blackjack.

It is a near impossible task to compile a comprehensive list of Blackjack film highlights so let’s look at a few personal favourites of ours. These are all must see films for any Blackjack fan.

21

With an all star cast that features Kevin Spacey, Lawrence Fishburne and Kate Bosworth, 21 is an intriguing film.

Its story is based loosely on a true story of a group of MIT students that make use of mathematical formulas to improve their blackjack playing.

They eventually test their skills out in real casinos that are not too happy about it when they find out. It’s a shame they didn’t know about the best betting app in Australia where you can have much more fun.

Croupier

Starting off as a tale of a writer trying to find his feet, this film quickly switches to a noir styled direction as the lead character played by Clive Owen attempts to make sense of the world around him as he starts dealing at a blackjack table to make ends meet.

While this film has an average score of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, it was not a massive hit at the box office, but it did help make Clive Owen an almost household name in America.

Swingers

Swingers is one of those classic cult films that just manages to make all the right moves. Not only is Swingers well written and paced, it features some exciting Blackjack action.

This film helped launch the careers of Vince Vaughan, Jon Faverau and Heather Graham. It not only won critical approval but also an MTV movie award for best film.

The Cooler

Just like Swingers, The Cooler is a relatively small film that packs a punch. It stars William H Macy who is the cooler referred to in the title, and rather than referring to a strong Blackjack hand that gets beaten by an even stronger hand, it refers to Macy’s ability to “Cool” the luck of other players.

He works for a casino boss who through a series of events decided to start making our character’s live a bit harder. Also featuring Alec Baldwin, The Cooler is a sleeper hit well worth a watch.

Licence To Kill

While not strictly a gambling film, the 16th James Bond film starring Timothy Dalton does features some fantastic Blackjack.

There is a scene where Timothy Dalton wins $250 000 in a match and takes it in stride, just as cool as you would expect Bond to be.

Soon after the release of Licensed to Kill, legal problems arose over licensing and it would be another 6 years before a new bond film would see the light of day, by which time Timothy Dalton had unfortunately moved on.

Honourable Mentions

Rain Man and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest both deserve a mention even though they aren’t focused on Blackjack.

In these two films we see Blackjack bring strangers together in a way that conversation alone simply cannot. Let’s hope the world keeps remembering that unique power of Blackjack.

What Makes Blackjack So Popular?

What Makes Blackjack So Popular?

Anyone who has ever even dipped their toes into the world of online gaming knows about the game blackjack.

Blackjack is one of those card games which leaped into the limelight and firmly stayed there.

Today one can find it in almost any online and brick and mortar casino. Blackjack is so popular in fact, that it is often played recreationally by people of all ages at their homes or other gathering places purely as a form of entertainment. Read more “What Makes Blackjack So Popular?”

Blackjack on the Big Screen

Blackjack on the Big Screen

Blackjack is endlessly fascinating, so it’s no real surprise that it has featured in so many blockbuster films over the years.

Some of the movies feature important revelations made against the background of a Blackjack game, and some make it one of the major themes running through the storyline.

With the fascination that the whole world seems to have with Blackjack growing stronger all the time, there will no doubt be many more movies featuring the game of 21.

These movies are a selection of the best examples of Blackjack in film right now.

21

Loosely based on Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down the House, and the real-life escapades of a Blackjack team made up of MIT students.

The youngsters were mentored by Professor Micky Rosa, played by Kevin Spacey, who taught them to card count and use team tactics to win at Blackjack.

For a time they were wildly successful, but the law eventually caught up with them.

The movie 21 is an in-depth look at how the strategy of card counting works and how it can successfully be applied with dual teams.

The MIT students were divided into a team of spotters and a team of big players. The spotters would play minimum bets while counting the decks at the Blackjack tables in their targeted casino, and then signal to the big players when the count would be favourably taken advantage of.

The story is fascinating, and expertly told with fine acting.

Croupier

Croupier is a darkly psychological film that uses Blackjack as a vehicle for sadism; Clive Owen plays a detached card dealer named Jack, who takes pleasure in watching punters lose.

A lot of the technical ins and outs of land-based Blackjack games are shown too, such as casino regulations and the skills that a croupier needs to have.

The Gambler

The Gambler shows the dark side of Blackjack in all its gory glory, and may make some people want to stick to mobile pokies for the rest of their gambling careers!

The game of Blackjack is portrayed almost as a villain, which together with Roulette is the monkey on the back of protagonist Jim Bennet, played by Mark Wahlberg.

The 2014 remake of the 1976 film follows Bennet as he spirals out of control, asking his mother to help him cover his debts and then enlisting some of the students in a class that he teaches.

The climax of the film is when Bennet gets his students to help him with a point-shaving and betting scam, pays off his debts and then risks everything on a single Roulette wheel to settle the rest of what he owes.

Rain Man

Once again, Blackjack is used to make some very important points in this classic and beautifully-acted film. Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic man whose brother, played by Tom Cruise, only learns about him when their father dies.

Through a course of complicated events, Cruise’s character ends up kidnapping his brother, but when he finds out he is $80,000 in debt the brotherly bonding session is over.

Until, that is, the genius-level mathematical splinter skills of Hoffman’s character are discovered and the pair heads to Vegas to (successfully!) count cards.

The Hangover

Blackjack on the Big Screen

To end off on a light-hearted note, consider The Hangover, a movie about how just how debaucherous a bachelor’s party can be.

When everyone wakes up to mayhem in their Las Vegas hotel suite the morning after, they have to face more than a physical hangover; it seems a friend is missing and they think he is being held hostage by a gangster.

Card-counting skills are once again called in to save the day, as the pals scramble to raise the ransom money.

Martingale System And Blackjack

What is the Martingale System in Blackjack?

Blackjack is one of the most popular table casino games in the world. Using a simple, graspable system, yet remaining an extremely difficult game to master, it is one of few casino games that are both simple, yet deeply advanced.

It is also one of very few casino games were a truly skilled player can win consistently, to such an extent that a living could be made off of playing a casino game.

The Martingale betting system is a simple, yet logical betting system that can be applied to casino games. There are a number of betting systems that can be used, often extremely complicated and difficult to apply correctly.

The Martingale system, however, is as simple as a betting system can get, yet often gives incredibly good results. In the game of roulette the Martingale system can be used along with a simple strategy, granting curiously consistent results, given how simple the system itself is.

But can the Martingale system be used when playing online blackjack in Canada or anywhere else for that matter, and still give acceptable results? Let’s take a closer look.

How Martingale Works

The Martingale system is negative progression, which simply means that a player ups their bet upon losing, in an effort to recoup the losses, while still making a profit. To put it more simply, the player may start with 1 unit of bet currency. If a lose is suffered, the bet is raised to 2 units. This will cover the lost, and make profit, assuming the round is a win. If it is a lost, the next bet will be 4 units, and so on. It’s a simple system that is easy to understand, and easy to apply to a game.

The problem with the system is that a losing streak can quickly but the betting amount astronomically high. If winning, the system grants a slow, but steady stream of small winnings.

If losing more than about 5 times in a row, however, the player is quickly having to bet huge amounts in an effort to cover losses. In other words, the system can quickly collapse in the face of a losing streak.

Combined With Blackjack

Using the Martingale system with blackjack is as simple as one would assume. The bet need only be doubled after a loss, and reduced back down to 1 after a win.

On the surface, the system works reasonably well, and can be adequate for some time. But, once again, will fall apart if enough losses in a row are incurred. For this reason many professional gamblers suggest not using the Martingale system.

For beginner players, however, the Martingale system is a great teacher on how more advanced betting systems work.

Using the Martingale system, even for a short while, will help a learning player get into a mindset of how betting systems can function, and so for this reason is a good starting point.

It need simply be kept in mind that only low stakes tables should be tackled with this betting system, lest the situation get out of control fast.

Other betting strategies are also available online, for free.

Card Counting Explained – Know the Facts and How to Win

Regardless of who you may be, if you’re paying a visit to your local casino then your main goal is to try and win as much money as you possibly can, which ultimately requires getting an edge over the house.

This is exactly why casino put a lot of effort into stopping the players at their casinos from cheating and trying to gain an upper hand.

Whether it is a loaded die or a complex signalling strategy, cunning players will do anything to win more money.

Card Counting in Blackjack

Card counting is primarily used when playing Blackjack, and in spite of what you may think, it actually isn’t illegal, nor is it considered cheating.

So, if you’re willing to give it a go, fear not because you won’t end up ‘sleeping with the fishes’, despite what many movies will have you believe.

Know the Facts and How to Win - Card Counting Explained

We tend to believe a lot of the thing depicted in films, which is probably why most people think it requires a pure genius to do, and probably also why I’ve had a sneaking suspicion the world’s casino industry is responsible for movies like Rain Man, 21 and even the Hangover.

Count Cards & Then Your Money

Jokes aside, card counting is a lot easier than you think and it basically requires a decent understanding of Blackjack as well as knowing how to add and subtract.

This ultimately means that whether you only find yourself at the Blackjack table from time to time or even if you spend most of your time enjoying the many great online slots Canada has to offer, you have just as much chance counting cards and winning big money as anyone else with a high-school diploma.

The best thing to do is practice your Blackjack skills and implement strategies to get a deeper understanding of the game and how to keep track without having to memorise every card drawn.

The Art Of Counting Cards

If you know Blackjack, you know that the 10s, the picture cards and the Aces are useful to players, while the lower cards (2-6) will be useful to the dealer because they have to stick with anything over 17 and hit with anything less.

The remaining cards, 7, 8, and 9 are considered neutral, as they don’t always benefit the dealer or the player.

This essentially means that there is always an even number of desirable and undesirable cards in play, which is where the card counting starts to come into play.

We know that every time a card is dealt the number of cards (or shoe) gets smaller, and that there are 20 desirable cards, 20 undesirable cards and 12 neutral cards.

So, when trying to become a card counting connoisseur your task is to subtract or add cards from the deck with simple maths, whereby you’ll assign +1 to undesirable cards, -1 to desirable cards and 0 to the neutral cards.

The trick thereafter is to take note of whether you are in minus figures then you know you are at a slight advantage and you can place your bets accordingly. It isn’t fool proof in terms of winning, but it certainly increases your chances.

7 Tips for Success with Blackjack for Beginners

7 Blackjack Tips for Success When You’re Just Starting Out

Ready for some blackjack tips? Even beginners to the game of blackjack know about card counting, and while some argue that it’s a piece of cake, the idea of card counting is beyond the purview of the average player.

However, blackjack offers good odds and it possible to achieve blackjack success without counting cards – as long as you follow a few basic rules and strategies.

We consulted a few experts for advice for rookie players.

1. Basic Blackjack Playing Strategy

Remembering the right way to hit, stand, double down, or split your hand is absolutely imperative, and if you stick to these basic rules you’ll cut the house edge down from 1-2% to 0.5%!

  • Stand when you hold between 12-16 and the dealer shows between 2-6
  • Hit when you hold between 12-16 and the dealer shows between 7-ace
  • Always split aces and 8s
  • Double down on 11 when the dealer shows between 2-10
  • Hit or double down on anything between ace-6

2. Don’t Take Up Insurance

Unless you are a skilled card counter, taking up insurance is a complete waste of money. When taking up insurance you are essentially making a 2nd bet with extra money with regards to whether the dealer has blackjack.

On average, the house has an almost 6% advantage over the play when it comes to insurance bets and even if you do have blackjack you will only win your original bet.

If the dealer has blackjack as well, it’s a push.

Blackjack tips for Beginners - online casino

3. Check the Dealer’s Up Card

This is one of the most important blackjack tips. Before you make any decision regarding whether to hit, stand, double down, or split your hand, take a careful look at what the dealer is holding.

It’s good news for you if he’s showing anything between 2-6 but bad news for you if he’s showing anything between 7-ace.

The dealer’s up card should always influence your next move. Remember, you will make mistakes when you’re getting started, but that’s why taking advantage of Canadian casino bonuses is so important – they can cushion the blow in the beginning.

4. Choose Your Seat Wisely

When you’re just getting started you’re going to need some extra time to review the dealer’s up card and your own hand before making a decision, so make sure to not take the first base seat.

Avoiding this seat will buy you some extra time while the dealer moves through the other players. This is one of the blackjack tips often overlooked.

blackjack tips for beginners - 7 tips when playing blackjack at an online casino

5. Start Small

When you’re new to blackjack it is advised that you start off slowly and ease your way into the game.

Don’t go in firing on all 4 cylinders if you’ve never played a hand before, as you will most likely come up short unfortunately.

Slow down, enjoy the experience, and every move will become far more calculated.

6. Don’t Believe the Gambler’s Myths

No matter what you’ve read, it isn’t possible for another player at the table to influence the way your hand goes.

Even though there are other players at the table, you are playing alone against the dealer, and the other players don’t know what you have and vice versa.

7. Know When to Stop

Many casino surveys over the years have documented how as many as 75% of players will be winning at some point, but only 4% come out with more than they went in with.

Having said that – decide on an amount that you’re willing to lose in a single session and stick to it. If you’re up in numbers at any point, that’s when it’s a good time to stop.

Hopefully you enjoyed these blackjack tips, and if you did, don’t forget to share this with others!