There are many online blackjack games, each with its own rules. However, among the various forms of online blackjack, you can make two basic distinctions, which you should also follow in your strategy: Either the dealer will hold a soft 17 or draw another card on a soft 17.
How to Play Successfully When The Dealer Holds a Soft 17
This is the situation you will often encounter in blackjack, as this card game usually has a slightly higher house advantage. If you are planning to learn a blackjack strategy by heart, this is the best one to use. However, if you play in an online casino anyway, memorization is not necessary. After all, you can always consult this page and our blackjack table while playing. Each strategy includes three sections: the one for hard hands (i.e., without an ace), for soft hands (with an ace), and for pairs. Go by the hand you have in play and look it up in the appropriate table. Once you have identified the cards in your hand and the dealer's hand, refer to the tab for the statistically best play for your situation.
Many of the game decisions are based on logical considerations and are by no means arbitrary. The game situations with pairs are the most interesting. However, as you can see, your action depends not only on the type of pair in your hand, but also on the dealer's hand. So you might think that with a pair of 10s in your hand and a bad dealer hand on the other side, it would be best to split the hand to get the opportunity to win twice. The best blackjack strategy, on the other hand, would advise you to hold your hand at this point. This is because statistically, a split hand is often followed by hands of less than 20 points, which makes a subsequent loss more likely.
The Best Blackjack Strategy When The Dealer Draws on a Soft 17
In one of the most common rule deviations from the standard version of the game, the dealer draws the next card when he has a soft 17. This also affects the best possible moves. For this reason, I have prepared another strategy table for you, where you will find the best possible moves for the mentioned game situation.
As you can see, there are not so many differences between this blackjack strategy and the most common version. If you apply the mentioned rules, you can easily increase the payout rate (RTP, return to player) for you depending on the blackjack variant. For example, the Microgaming title Atlantic City Blackjack and the mobile-friendly Blackjack Pro are both characterized by the fact that the dealer will draw if he has a soft 17 as a hand. Once you've identified the subtle difference between the two games and the standard version, you can push your winning potential to the limit by adjusting your game strategy accordingly.
In the video I have introduced you to some of the more complicated game situations. However, you should keep in mind that even the statistically best move will not guarantee you a win. Now that you've had a chance to familiarize yourself with some of the moves in detail, you should be ready to look at some of the more advanced playing strategies.
Simple Blackjack Tips
The advantages of the strategy tables are obvious. When you play online blackjack, you can have the tables open and look up the optimal moves at any time. Of course, when you play online, you have no time limits for your decisions. Therefore, you should always take your time, look at the table and choose the best possible move to increase your chances of winning. On the other hand, if you are playing in a land-based casino, it is less easy. Many casinos do not allow you to use such strategic guides when playing. Therefore, you would have to memorize numerous details in order to play optimally. For those of you who would like to memorize a basic blackjack strategy, I have prepared a much simpler version of my table.
You can see at first glance that the simplified version is much easier to memorize. Of course, there are also some differences between the shorter table and the more detailed version. However, these are limited. If you use the shortened strategy table when playing in a land-based casino, it is possible that you will not choose the best move in all cases. Most likely, you will have a lot of fun with your friends in a real casino. With this in mind, it may not be vital for you to push the odds to the limit. However, if you aspire to play blackjack professionally and have the greatest chances of winning, you should tackle it at an online casino like Euro Palace. This way you can take advantage of the more detailed tables and take the time to make sure you make the best decision.
Advanced Blackjack Strategies
Learning how to win blackjack with a basic strategy is a fantastic starting point that will help you minimize the house advantage afterwards. Additionally, there are also a few other reliable factors that will minimally improve your chances of winning. With the following moves, you can further optimize your play once you've memorized the basic strategy I've presented in the basic strategy table above.
Considering The Composition of Your Hand
This section explains how you can further optimize your strategy based on the cards you've already played. Instead of simply using the number of points in your hand as a criterion, you also take into account the history and all the cards played so far in the blackjack game. The advantages that result from this are not overwhelming, and they don't affect the game much if the dealer uses more than one deck at a time. However, the advantages only affect a few isolated game constellations, so you won't have to memorize much. So once you have grasped the essential moves, you don't need to pay much attention. However, the following examples only apply to the standard variant of Blackjack, where the dealer holds the soft 17.
Games Against Multiple Players
In an advanced strategy, the hands of the other players can also affect the best move for you. As mentioned earlier, the cards already dealt in a game will affect the statistically optimal move for you, as this will obviously change the inventory of cards that can potentially still come into play.
In some variants like European Blackjack, the dealer draws his second card only after all other players have already completed their turn. In a land-based casino, it is even possible for other players to criticize you and your decisions, as your choices will naturally affect the cards drawn by the dealer. For example, if you choose to hold instead of draw, the dealer's hand would look different as a result.
Of course, you can't predict which card will be drawn next. Therefore, you can safely put this "advice" aside. Your decisions should always be based first and foremost on the cards that are currently available to you and the card that the dealer has turned over. Meanwhile, you should also consider the composition of the respective single cards that are already on the table. In order to understand the full meaning of the cards already played, you would need to count the cards. This is a more advanced type of blackjack strategy.
The Card Counting
If you apply the strategy tables I have already presented, you will get the best chances of winning. However, there is still a small house advantage at the end. By using the card counting method, you can further reduce the house advantage and increase your potential profit. This is not a completely new technique. Ultimately, it is a consistent extension of the moves presented in the strategy tables. In my separate article I will show you how blackjack card counting works.
The Legitimacy of Blackjack Strategies
When I am asked if the winning strategies for blackjack are legal, people usually refer to card counting. For example, Hollywood movies like 21 introduce a protagonist who gets caught counting cards and takes a beating in a back room because of it. However, this is far from the actual reality. Card counting is completely legal, just like all other strategies presented on this page. At worst, you might be politely asked to leave a casino if your winnings are higher than the casino likes. Therefore, you don't have to worry if you use one of these strategy cards in blackjack.
Watching The Hands of The Other Players
This betting strategy is a counter to the other blackjack betting systems and is only suitable for use in land-based casinos. It requires interaction with your fellow players at the table and is therefore not suitable for playing blackjack online. The basic principle is composed of two sides: You observe the other players at the table and take advantage of their hands.
For example, the dealer himself may have a ten card and a fellow player may have a hand totaling 10 points at the same time. The correct strategy in this case would be to double your bet, as I have shown you in my strategy chart. A blackjack beginner, however, might hesitate when it comes to raising his own bet in the face of the dealer's ten-card hand. This could be due to the well-known blackjack myth that the dealer's face-down card is usually negative for the player. In such a case, a more experienced player could take advantage of his fellow player's lack of experience and capitalize on a hand that has already been played.
Interaction with your fellow players can also become a bit more controversial. For example, you can cut your losses by selling a bad hand to an inexperienced player. This is a good way for skilled players to protect themselves if they are dealt a bad hand and are up against, say, the dealer's ace. If your teammate bets money on a bad hand, you protect yourself from bigger losses. However, according to an unspoken law, all players play against the house. In doing so, it is by no means good manners to put a fellow player in trouble.
Insurance And Side Bets
Side bets like insurance should not have any concrete impact on playing the perfect blackjack strategy, as they do not affect the main hand. However, I generally recommend that you avoid insurance and side bets, as these additional options significantly reduce the payout rate.
The main Blackjack game has an average payout rate of 99%. Side bets, on the other hand, have payout rates between 95% and 97%. So if you are looking for the best betting strategy, you should disregard side bets and insurance. Even if you can make some profits, you will lose your money faster in the long run. If you want to learn more about side bets, I recommend you read my article on blackjack rules.
Weaknesses
Yes, it does take something to play the perfect blackjack strategy that helps the player minimize the house advantage as much as possible. Nevertheless, the truth is that many betting systems, while promising mathematical advantages on the surface, ultimately fail to deliver on the hoped-for luck needed to win. The main problem many players face is that even the best betting strategy can't protect them from a huge losing streak.
Take the martingale as an example: if you double your bet with every lost game, you can incur enormous losses in a short time. For example, an initial bet of €5 will result in a loss of €1,275 after only eight losing hands. Even if the amount is still within your budget, it can come dangerously close to the maximum betting limit at your table. Once you reach the table limit, you will not be able to double your bets.
The problem with betting systems in casino games of all kinds is called the Gambler's Fallacy. This and other blackjack myths are presented below.
