Mistakes That All Blackjack Players Should Avoid

Blackjack, the famous card game that’s become a favourite at most online and land-based casinos, is a game that’s known for its simple rules and unique strategies, and for the fact that a player can spend a lifetime with the game and still be surprised at the outcome of a table session. Most people who start playing the game quickly find that its intuitive rules are extremely easy to learn, but also that many of the online strategies that they try might not work out as they planned.

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How To Save Money While Playing Blackjack

One of the biggest problems that blackjack players face early on is a lack of money, specifically they burn through their bankroll far too quickly and find that they can no longer put any bets down. Being able to properly manage money while playing just about any casino game is the key to long-term success, and it’s one that can be difficult to get right within the first few months or years of playing.

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Becoming A Professional Blackjack Player

There are many casino players in the world that take a great liking to their favourite pastime, often finding that they make enough money to start getting by without needing to work anymore.

Sometimes, they’re so good at what they do on the table that they decided that they want to take their pastime and make it professional, allowing them to shift the way that they earn an income.

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The Top Reasons Blackjack Is Popular Worldwide

For well over a century, the game of blackjack has been in the top 5 most popular casino games ever, and even today it’s enjoyed by millions around the world. Similar to poker, blackjack is a game based on chance, meaning that the players never know exactly what’s going to take place next. Blackjack is a thrilling game that has appealed to countless people over the decades, and these are some of the reasons for the game’s continued global popularity.

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4 Blackjack Strategies That Are Best Avoided

4 Blackjack Strategies That Are Best Avoided

Blackjack is one of the most popular games offered in both land-based and online casinos and as such ‘fool-proof’ strategies are a dime a dozen.

However, it’s important to remember that while most strategies will offer some success in the short-term, in the long-run most will end up being entirely unsuccessful.

In fact, the only blackjack strategy that works is to use the best play mathematically based on each card, in comparison to the dealer’s up card. Anything else is just a waste of time, and ultimately a waste of money.

Mimic the Dealer

Using the ‘Mimic the Dealer’ strategy will see you draw on any total of 16 or below and stand on any total of 18 or more (and hard 17).

The idea behind this strategy is that mimicking the dealer is clever seeing as the casino has an edge, so the dealer must be playing in a way to maintain the casino’s edge, right? Wrong!

The casino’s house edge is largely created by the player being forced to act before the dealer so that when player’s bust they lose no matter what the dealer’s hand is.

Negative Progression

Using a negative progression strategy, of which the Martingale is the most famous, will see you change your bet after a loss.

Many negative progression variations exists, but all of them see you chasing your losses by trying to eventually secure a small win which may in fact wipe out your entire bankroll.

Some negative progression betting systems state that you should increase your bets by half of your last bet, or one and a half, or even more of your previous bet – you can quickly see how this can spiral out of control to the point where the online NZ casino table doesn’t allow such big bets!

Positive Progression

A positive progression betting system will see you changing your bets after each win, as opposed to a loss with a negative progression strategy, and the idea behind this strategy is to take advantage of a good streak while reducing the risk of taking a big loss.

Using a positive progression may give you the illusion of cashing in on a winning streak, but it is in fact no better than flat betting in the long run.

Unfortunately, no matter what the ‘experts’ say, you cannot overcome the house edge by changing the size of your bets as each bet is independent of any others.

Always Take Insurance

Taking insurance is the complete opposite of using good strategy, as you should never take insurance even if you have an incredible hand.

Even though the casino has done an excellent job of making insurance seem like a good idea, it is simply a side bet on whether the dealer down card is a 10, a face card, or not.

You will be paid out 2-to-1 on this second bet when the dealer’s down card is worth 10, and you lose your 2nd bet and play out your original hand if the dealer’s down card isn’t worth 10.

The problem with this is: the insurance bet pays out 2-to-1 but the odds of winning are not 2-to-1, so you are increasing the house edge by taking insurance.

In conclusion, the only strategy that works is the mathematical best play when comparing your hand to that of the dealer’s up card.

If you’ve come across a blackjack strategy that we have not covered here, do plenty of research before putting it to use in your next game.

Are Real World And Online Blackjack Really One And The Same?

Real World Versus Online Blackjack

We live in a world where technology is evolving at an astonishing rate. Movies can be watched online, banking can be done on a portable electronic device, and entire casinos are available to play online, for real money.

People from just a decade or two ago would be astonished at the technology we have today, which suggests that in another decade or two, the same will be true. It’s an amazing time to be alive.

But more specifically, online casinos are currently in a state of growth. And not just an ordinary state of growth, but one that seems to be happening at an absolutely astonishing speed.

More and more people are signing up to try online casinos daily, and trends seem to suggest that it won’t be long before online casinos are as popular as real world casinos.

The question is, however; just how similar are online casino games to their real world counterparts? Can real world blackjack, and online blackjack, really be considered one and the same?

Blackjack dealer land based casino

Online Versus Real World Blackjack Rules

Like the slots NZ has to offer, Blackjack is a straightforward game, with relatively easy to understand rules. Get your cards as close as possible to 21, and hope that the dealer doesn’t get closer. There is much more strategy then that involved, of course, but this is the core of the concept.

And, in case there was ever any doubt, yes, online blackjack follows exactly the same rules as blackjack played in real world casino. An enormous amount of effort has been put into online versions of games, and the rules have been followed to the smallest details.

What can be noted, however, is that there are often many variations of blackjack available at online casinos, more so than is generally found in real world casinos. Real world casinos have limited space, which means that there can only be so many tables dedicated to blackjack in any given venue.

In online casinos, space is obviously not so much a problem. This means that online players can try out many variations of blackjack, with different rules, and likely never have to leave a single online location. As far as convenience and freedom of choice go, online casinos are a winner.

A Matter Of Ambiance

Another notable difference between online and real world casinos is that online casinos simply do not have the ambiance of real world casinos.

Many visitors to real world casinos will say that they love the ambiance, with is generally electric with excitement and tension. It is often a contagious environment, and part of what makes real world casinos so appealing.

This, however, is a double-edged sword. Sometimes when a person is serious about their blackjack, what they don’t want is distractions, and there certainly isn’t any escaping the potentially distracting ambiance of a real world casino.

Play at home, however, and you can be sure of a distraction free environment, if this is what you are looking for. So in this case, it really is a matter of preference. A

As far as rules are concerned, however, online and real world blackjack are more or less identical, depending on the chosen rule set.

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.

Single VS Multi-Hand Blackjack Games

Single Vs. Multi-Hand Blackjack Games

If you’ve just opened the virtual doors to the incredibly big and exciting world of online blackjack and you’re looking to find out what the difference is between single hand blackjack and multi-hand blackjack, then fear not because we’re about to face the 2 variants off to help you decide.

You will have noticed that aside from single deck blackjack games, you can try your luck at games with 2, 4, 6 or 8 decks, offering a far more intense and rewarding game of blackjack. Let’s take a look at the differences so that you can decide which suits you better.

Single Hand Blackjack: The Holy Grail

A large portion of long-time playing blackjack enthusiasts consider single hand blackjack to be the best in offering greater chances of upping your bankroll, with the house edge as low as 0.15%.

More recently, however, a rise in the number of people counting cards in order to gain higher profits has pushed casinos to shift towards multi-hand blackjack. It offers a more difficult gameplay and slightly increases the house edge.

Which Gives You Better Odds?

While many casinos still offer single deck blackjack, you should for a second be fooled into thinking it will give you better odds. Most casinos will offer you a payout of 6:5, whereas single hand games usually offer 3:2.

This essentially means you’re in for a bigger payout if you can face the challenge of a multi-hand blackjack game – and whether you are a fan of table games or Aristocrat pokies bigger payouts are always worth your while.

The Art of Card Counting

The many crafty card counters that walk among us have attempted implementing their strategies in multi-hand blackjack games and, in spite of it requiring far more calculations and even more risk of losing your count, they have proved successful.

Unfortunately, casinos have started to employ an arsenal of manoeuvres to interfere with counters, including a shuffle machine that shuffles cards with every hand.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Single Hand Blackjack

So to sum things up, the advantages of single hand blackjack include the low house edge that sits at 0.15%, along with the fact that card counters can easily implement their strategies when playing.

The disadvantages, on the other hand, include the fact that casinos have caught on to the card counters intentions, and have thus made it a lot harder for them with disadvantageous rules, which could very easily effect the house edge.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Multi-Hand Blackjack

Multi-hand blackjack has a number of advantages for those looking for a bit more thrill and higher payouts.

You can implement different blackjack strategies for each and every one of your hands and you can double down on each, so overall the possible rewards will be higher.

That said, card counters will have a tough time using their strategies with multi-hand blackjack games, and the house edge is of course lower than single-deck games. It really depends on the kind of player you are, or want to be.