By now, just about everyone has heard of the MIT blackjack team who took casinos for millions of dollars, but if you think they were only successful because they were intelligent, you would be wrong.
Bill Kaplan trained his students like soldiers – intense training and meticulous tracking of their progress and they turned $89,000 into a whole lot more.
However, the good news is that you don’t have to be able to count cards in order to be successful at blackjack, because we have the blackjack secrets the casinos don’t want you to know.
Hit, Split, Double Down, Stand
- Always hit on soft 17 (ace-6)
- Always split aces and 8s
- Always double down on 11
- Always stand on a hard 17 or greater
- Never split 5s or 10s
- Never stand on 12-16 if the deal’s up card is a 7 or higher
- Never believe you’re on a winning streak
Beware the Gambler’s Fallacy
Just as you should always remember that there is no such thing as a hot or cold table – whether online or land based – just so should you take heed of the gambler’s fallacy.
The gambler’s fallacy is the belief that losing a few times in a row makes you ‘due’ for a win and this type of thinking must be avoided at all costs as many a gambler has lost their own bankroll this way.
Don’t Worry About the Shuffle
Unless you’re a veritable card counting expert, don’t worry about the shuffle of the decks. An automatic shuffle machine may make tracking specific cards or decks theoretically impossible, but a handheld shuffle is almost never perfectly random, so don’t even give it a second thought. At least this is something you don’t have to worry about with Bitcoin betting.
Five Decks Are Enough
You should always go for blackjack games which use 5 or fewer decks of cards during gameplay, as games using 6- or 8-decks are slightly more disadvantageous to the player.
It may only be a 10th of a percentage difference, but you’ll be surprised how much of a difference this can make over time.
Join the Table Anywhere
If there’s one thing gamblers have in common, it’s their tendency towards superstition and we have some news for you: it doesn’t matter where you sit at the table.
Your chosen seat at the table will not have any direct influence on whether you win or lose, so just take a seat, relax, and get your head in the game.
Never Take Insurance
We cannot stress this enough: insurance has always been and will always be a loser’s bet.
Sure you may make some extra cash every once in a while by taking insurance, but most of the time you’ll be giving your cash up for essentially no reason.
Unless you’ve been keeping track of how many aces and 10s are still left to the play in the shoe, insurance should always be turned down.
Progressive Strategy Doesn’t Work
As much as other would have you believe, the truth is that progressive betting will not increase your chances of blackjack success.
Unfortunately progressive betting cannot affect your probability of winning in blackjack and will most likely only force you to spend more money than you likely would have if you didn’t make use of a progressive betting ‘strategy’.
In Conclusion
Our final pieces of advice are to always keep your emotions in check, never chase losses, practise intelligent bankroll management, and memorise a basic blackjack strategy chart before taking a seat at the table. Good luck!