Effective Online Blackjack Strategies to Improve Your Game

Online Blackjack Strategy: What You Need to Know

• Explore key online blackjack strategies to enhance your gameplay experience and increase your chances of winning.
• Understand the unique aspects of playing blackjack online, such as live dealer games and electronic interfaces.
• Utilize tactics like basic blackjack strategy charts and card counting simulations to improve your decision-making skills.
• Take advantage of casino bonuses and promotions offered by online casinos to boost your bankroll and extend your playing time.
• Stay disciplined with your betting limits and practice responsible gambling habits while enjoying online blackjack.

Mastering an online blackjack strategy can give you skills to boost your odds of winning and extend your bankroll. Below, we will introduce you to the best blackjack strategies and how you can use them to increase your skill and confidence.

Online Blackjack Strategy: Key Principles

Any good online blackjack strategy starts with understanding the basics of the game and learning how to play blackjack online. The good news is that learning blackjack is a relatively easy and combines skill and luck for an exciting casino experience.

Blackjack is a card game that involves multiple decks of cards. You play directly against the dealer to try and get a hand as close to 21 as possible without going over while also having a better value than the dealer. Online blackjack is usually played on between one and eight decks of cards, and both the player and dealer start with two cards.

With those cards, you can choose to “Stand” and only use your current two cards. Alternatively, you can “Hit” and take additional cards to potentially improve your hand. Card values determine the total of your cards, with cards 2 to 10 having their face value. Picture cards (jacks, queens, Kings) are valued at 10, and Aces can be 1 or 11. If you have a hand without an Ace, this is known as a hard hand. Hands with an Ace are known as soft hands.

So, how does this all come together during a game of blackjack? Let’s take a look:

1. A round of blackjack begins with the player placing their bet.
2. The dealer now deals two cards to you and two cards to themselves. Both your cards will be face down, and in most variants, the dealer has one card down and one card face up.
3. Check your cards and decide if you want to Stand or Hit.
4. You can also make other decisions, such as Split pairs or Double Down.
5. Most variant rules state that the dealer must Stand if they have 17 or higher and must Hit if they have less than 17.
6. Both player and dealer reveal their cards, and the winner is the one closest to 21 without going over (Bust).

Are Blackjack Strategies Important?

Blackjack strategies are useful but not necessary to play the game. Even so, whether you are a beginner or expert, a basic blackjack strategy is helpful. The goal of an online blackjack strategy is to give you clear instructions on which gameplay choices to make for each card combination you have. In other words, a blackjack strategy tells you when to Hit, Stand, double down, split, and so on.

Common Blackjack Terms You Need To Know About

Before you start using blackjack strategies, it is important to know classic blackjack jargon you will see often:

• Deal: When the dealer gives you the cards you will use during gameplay.
• Hit: If you want to improve your hand, you “Hit” and receive an additional card.
• Stand: When you are happy with your hand, you “Stand” to stick with the two cards you have.
• Split: A pair of cards with the same values, such as two 5’s, can be “Split” and receive cards for two hands, which you must bet the same amount on.
• Double Down: With some card combinations, you can choose to double the bet.
• Insurance: A side bet where you receive a payout if you lose when the dealer has a face-up Ace card.
• Hole Card: The dealer’s card that faces down is known as the Hole.
• Up Card: The dealer’s card facing up is the Up Card.
• Blackjack: The best winning hand, featuring an ace and a ten, jack, queen, or king (21 in total).
• Surrender: A side bet in some variants where you can “surrender” your hand and get 50% of your bet back.
• Bust: If you or the dealer has a hand that is over the value of 21.

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Online Blackjack Strategy: Basic Blackjack Strategy

When using an online blackjack strategy, you will be given a set of instructions on which actions to take with specific cards/hands. In simple terms, a basic blackjack strategy shows you what to do based on the hands you have. This makes this type of plan excellent for beginners who may not be confident or even experienced players who want more structure in their game.

To make blackjack strategies easy to understand, there are blackjack charts available that simplify all the actions you need to take. Blackjack tables are easy to read, and if you learn them, you can easily make the best gameplay decisions during blackjack hands. Below is an example of a basic blackjack strategy as a chart:

As you can see in the simple chart above, it gives clear instructions on when you should Hit, Stand, Double, or Split. You can also see that the action you take is based on the specific cards you have in your hand. If you do not use a strategy, you will be on your own making gameplay decisions on each hand.

When To Hit And Stand

Scenarios when you should Hit or Stand are extensive, but you can use the following rules as a great starting point when learning how to win online blackjack:

• ALWAYS choose to Hit if you have 11 or lower. It is impossible to bust by taking another card, so you will only be improving your hand. Because there are more than 10 value cards (10, Jack, Queen, or King) in blackjack decks, you have a higher chance of getting one and ending on a good hand.
• In most situations, Stand when you have a hand of 17 or higher. This is a solid value on its own, and the chances of going bust if you Hit are high. More importantly, in most online blackjack variants, the dealer must hit on 17. There is a good chance the dealer will bust while you are sitting pretty on 17+.

What About Splitting?

Two cards of identical value, known as a pair, allow you to choose the Split side bet in many blackjack variants. This is a handy option because you can split these cards into two separate hands. The dealer will now provide two additional cards on the original split pair, creating two separate hands of two cards.

You will also need to double your bet, making a matching wager on your second hand. This can be a good option because you can double your potential payout. However, the trade-off is that in many online variants of blackjack, you must stand on both your new hands.

When to split in blackjack is an important skill, and below are some guidelines to help:

• Face Cards: If you have a pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings, or 10s, you should not split. You already have an excellent hand that is likely to win and give you a payout.
• Aces: Two Aces have a value of 11 and 1, giving you a total of 12. You can Hit your normal hand, but we recommend splitting Aces. With 16 cards with a value of 10 in a single deck four 10s, four Jacks, four Queens, and four Kings), you have a good chance of getting a 10 and 21 on both hands.
• 8s: Most blackjack players hate a hand of 16 made. This value is too low to Stand and high enough to make Hitting risky. If you have two 8s, split them and try to make betting hands with your new cards.

Doubling Down in Blackjack

One of the most popular blackjack side bets is the Double Down. As the name suggests, you will essentially double your bet in an attempt to win a bigger payout. You can double down on any hand, but beating online blackjack involves knowing when to double down or not:

• If your hand is a hard 9 (no ace in the hand) and the dealer has a face-up card of 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, Double Down your bet.
• Double Down when you have a hard hand of 10 or 11 and the dealer has a face-up card less than 10 or 11.
• If you hold a soft hand (an ace in the hand) of 16, 17, or 18 and the dealer’s face-up card shows a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, you can Double Down.
• Avoid doubling your bet if your hand is over 11 or if the dealer has an Ace face up.

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Online Blackjack Strategy: Advanced Blackjack Techniques

Online blackjack strategy can expand beyond charts into different methods and techniques for expanding your gameplay and extending your bankroll. We will cover the more popular below:

Betting Systems

While a normal blackjack strategy provides guidance on which gameplay decisions to make, betting systems tell you which betting actions to take. They give information about what size of bet you should make instead of hand strength. Although, that means that betting systems can be more unreliable.

The Martingale is perhaps the best-known blackjack betting system. It is a negative progression, which means you increase bets when you lose. Specifically, in The Martingale, you double bets on a loss and halve them on a win.

Other important betting systems for blackjack players include the Paroli (positive progression, doubling bets on consecutive wins) and the D’Alembert (negative progression, increasing/decreasing bets by a fixed amount). While betting systems are fun, they do not guarantee wins.

Card Counting

Card counting is a controversial technique that involves tracking the cards dealt in a blackjack game to gain an advantage. It has taken a mythical position in blackjack, but it is actually a real technique. Card counting is not illegal in the US, but land-based casinos still tend to ban people they catch counting cards.

Online casinos avoid the topic by using random number generators (RNGs), but live dealer blackjack can be theoretically counted. However, the live casino game shuffles and swaps decks regularly enough to make counting mostly pointless.

Card counting involves assigning values to cards and tracking the running count. A positive count suggests more high-value cards remain, while a negative count indicates more low-value cards. The true count considers the running count in relation to the remaining decks.

Surrender Strategy

Surrender in blackjack is a side bet available on some variants, allowing the player to “fold” their hand early and receive half their bet back. If your hand is terrible, you will only lose half your wager instead of all of it.

How the surrender option works:

1. Player’s Weak Hand: When the player’s face-up card is a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, and the dealer’s face-up is a 10 or Ace.
2. No Further Play: Once the player surrenders, the hand finishes.

Side Bets

Blackjack purists will tell you that they dislike side bets. However, these bets are a part of many online blackjack variants, so we’ll let you decide if you enjoy them or not. Popular and common blackjack side bets include the following:

• 21+3
• Royal match
• Over/under 13
• Super sevens
• Lucky ladies
• Pair square

One of the important things about side bets is the compromise you make for exciting additional bets, which results in a larger house edge. If you are playing for fun, side bets are interesting. If you focus more on winning, you should avoid these types of bets.

Online Blackjack Strategy: Maximizing Wins in Online Blackjack

We put our team of expert blackjack players to work and asked them to compile the following online blackjack tips and guidelines. Below, you can make the most of online blackjack strategy and see the common pitfalls to avoid:

• Always split pairs of 8s and Aces – Whenever you have a pair of Aces or 8s, split the deck to create two separate hands.
• Double Down a hard 11 – You have a great chance of getting a top hand. The only exception is if the dealer must stand on a soft 17.
• Never split 5s or 10s – A pair of 10s is a total of 20, which is a winning hand in most cases. On 5s, it is worth hitting instead of splitting.
• Never take the Insurance bet – While it seems like a good option, the insurance bet significantly increases the house edge.
• Avoid side bets – Side bets also increase the house edge, which is why most players do not play them.
• Strategies are best: Using a blackjack strategy, even a basic one, provides real statistical outcomes for each hand combination.
• Beware of betting systems: Betting systems can be fun, but they do not guarantee wins and can burn through a bankroll if they do not work.
• Watch your bankroll: As always, play blackjack within your financial means and never gamble with money you cannot afford to lose.

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Online Blackjack Strategy: Online Blackjack Resources

If you want to expand your blackjack knowledge further, the following resources can help:

• Strategy Calculators: These are tools that assist players by making blackjack strategies more automated. Players input data, and the calculator uses algorithms and stats models to analyze the data and provide recommendations for potential outcomes.
• Training Tools: Using a blackjack training tool can help you boost your hand knowledge and skills of when to Hit, Stand, Split, or Double. Tools provide practice scenarios that let you test strategies in real-game situations.
• Recommended Reading: Check out our other detailed online blackjack strategy guides to learn how to beat online blackjack.

Online Blackjack Strategy: Frequently Asked Questions

• Is there a strategy to online blackjack?

There can be, but it is not necessary. It is possible to play blackjack online with no strategy. However, there are online blackjack strategy methods that enhance gameplay by providing statistic-based gameplay actions and potential outcomes.

• Is online blackjack beatable?

No, blackjack is not a “beatable” game. Yes, you can absolutely win when playing blackjack and even use strategies to increase your chances. However, blackjack is ultimately a game of luck, and the final outcome is always left to random chance.

• Does a basic strategy work on online blackjack?

Yes, and basic blackjack strategy is arguably the best way to play the game. A basic strategy will simply instruct you on when to Hit, Stand, Split, or Double based on the specific cards you have. Information is given in an easy-to-read chart.

• How to consistently win at blackjack?

When learning how to win on blackjack online, you’ll need to understand that blackjack is a game of luck. However, using a basic strategy can give you more control as you have better knowledge of which gameplay actions to take.

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