Blackjack and Card Counting Strategies

Blackjack gives the player the best odds in the casino. You can win at blackjack but it takes patience. First lets start with how to play Blackjack:

The objective is to beat the blackjack dealer. Any hand of cards that's is higher than the dealer's hand and doesn't exceed 21 wins; higher total than 21 is a "Bust". Cards from 2 through 10 are worth their face value, Jacks, Queens and Kings are worth 10. Ace is 11 or 1. The minimum bet in blackjack is set by the casino. After placing your initial bet, the dealer deals the cards. The blackjack dealer gives two cards to each player, in most casino blackjack cards are face up. One of the blackjack dealer's two cards is face-up. If the blackjack dealer's face-up card is an ace or a ten-value, the dealer checks to see if he/she has blackjack. If a player is dealt a natural blackjack or 21. Blackjack is usually paid 3:2 on his bet. If your first two cards total is 9 or 10, you can double your bet and received one additional card.

Basically you are betting the next card will be a 9, 10 or Ace. For example; if you are dealt a total of 9 or 10, it is recommended that you make the double bet and take only one additional card. If your next card is a 10 or face card, then your total will be 19, 20 or 21.  Remember that the dealer must hit on 16 and stop if he or she hit 17 or above. In this case the odds would be in your favor. Strong advice; do not double on anything other than 9 or 10 total.

If you are dealt pairs (two 9s, two 8s, two 7s, etc...) then you can request that the cards be split into two separate hands. You will have to make a bet equal to your initial bet. You are now playing two independent hands and your objective is still the same, make the dealer bust.  You don't necessarily have to get 21.

Pay close attention to the cards being played. Always look at the dealers up card. If the dealer's up card is a 4 then you can assume that the dealer's down card is a 10 or a face card, giving him or her a total of 14. Now let's say you are dealt a 10 and a 2, giving you a total of 12. Based on the past play, you noticed that a lot of low cards were played. Based on this you can assume that the next card will be a high card, such as a nine or ten. In this case I would not take another card. Instead let the dealer take the next card (the dealer must hit on anything under 17). If the dealer get anything above a 7 then he/she bust. If the dealer is dealt a 9 and you win with 12. Try as much as possible to remember what cards have been played. Of course you won't be able to remember them all, but this will give you a gut feeling when making these important decisions.

Betting: Knowing when to increase and decrease your bet is very important. Of course if you bet the max every time then you will run out of money very fast. When you first set down at a blackjack table always start with the minimum bet. Give yourself time to see how the cards are flowing and to learn what cards have been played. Once you believe that there are a lot of high cards left in the deck, then increase your bet. If you believe that there are a lot of low cards in the deck then decrease your bet.

The most familiar way of counting cards is the +1, -1 method. It works this way: Cards 2 through 6 has a value of plus 1, Face Card and 10's have a value of minus 1 and 7, 8 and 9 have a value of zero.Take a 52 card deck, shuffle the cards, now turn over the cards one at a time. For example you deal; 7,3, 8, 6, 10, 4, K, J, 4, Q, Q, 9. This will translate to: z, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, -1, -1. OK, therefore our last sum equals -1. This takes practice keep doing this as many times as you can.

Go through the entire deck as many times as possible. If you did this correctly win you get to the last two cards of the deck you should be able to tell what two cards are left. For example if your count is -2, then you know the two cards left are between 2 and 6. Why? Because two cards between 2 and 6 will bring me back to 0. This method can work with one, two or three deck of cards in blackjack. The down side is that you have to go through a few cards. Again, each player's goal is to beat the dealer, and win at blackjack. I can't say this enough, you are playing against the dealer Make the dealer bust (go over 21). I have to say it again: MAKE THE DEALER BUST, AND BEAT THE CASINO."

Our Recommendation on How to Beat the Blackjack Dealer and the Casino is to use both the blackjack strategy and the card counting above. Other words, combine the card counting and the strategy above. Keep a total on the number of high and low cards that are played. If you notice that the dealer is has been dealing a lot of minus cards, and you are at plus 4, or plus 5, increase your bet. The more high cards in the deck is to your advantage. The more low cards in the deck is to the dealer's advantage.

Insurance.  If the blackjack dealer's up-card is an Ace, the player is offered the option of taking Insurence before the dealer checks his/her cards. The player who wishes to take Insurance can bet an amount up to half his original bet. The Insurance bet is placed separately. The blackjack player who is taking Insurance is betting that the blackjack dealer was dealt a blackjack, a bet against yourself. It is called insurance because if the dealer has a blackjack, the bet wins the same amount of the player's Blackjack wager, no money is lost. Of course the dealer can end up not having blackjack. If the dealer beats you without blackjack then you have lost both your initial bet and the insurance bet.

 Insurance is a bad bet. Remember you are betting against yourself. You are betting that the dealer will hit blackjack, you will not advance your funds by making this bet. Take the risk, don't by Insurance.