Blackjack is one of the oldest casino game along with craps, roulette and poker. Over the years its popularity increased as more and more land-based casinos opened all around the World. With the arrival of online casinos and thanks to Evolution Gaming, it is possible to play Blackjack online, from home, just like in a real-life casino. The Swedish game studio even created variants of this classic card game, for the players utmost enjoyment.
This game is very popular, that’s a fact. A lot of players, both rookie and experienced, play Blackjack daily on the hundreds of tables provided by Evolution Gaming. While most players have a good knowledge of this table game, others are still pretty inexperienced. This guide is dedicated to these players, who are looking for ways to get better at Blackjack.
Below, you will find 5 Blackjack tips to keep in mind when joining a table. It will help you better understand this game and will allow you to make less mistakes.
On which online casinos to play Blackjack?
Gamblers of the 21st century could not be any luckier. Evolution Gaming is the leading live casino game provider in the World, and their games are available to be played on the vast majority of casinos.
Here is a selection of trusted online casinos where you can play Blackjack:
Size your bets according to your balance
This may seem like a stupid advice, but a lot of players don’t apply this basic rule. Always place bets that are coherent with your balance. It would be quite stupid and risky to place 30€ bets with a 100€ starting balance. On the other hand, placing 10€ bets with a 10,000€ balance would also be counterproductive. If we take the example of a 100€ starting balance, bets between 0,50€ and 5€ per hand seem pretty reasonable if you want your session to last.
Of course you can totally decide to place bigger bets if you want to. This would be an aggressive strategy. It could pay big if you win a few hands in a row. On the other hand, it could also be very costly if you end up having a losing streak. If you decide to use an aggressive Blackjack strategy, keep one thing in mind: you could lose your whole balance in the blink of an eye.
Follow the Blackjack basic strategy chart
Although Blackjack is a card game where luck plays a big part, there is a strategy you can follow to lower the casino advantage. This strategy takes the form of a chart in which you are told whether to stand, hit, double or split depending of your hand and the dealer’s hand values. Every decision is justified by the risk factor. If you are told to hit, it’s because this decision is safe or because it is the only option to beat the dealer. On the other hand, when you are told to stand it is either because it would be too risky to hit, or because you rely on the dealer to bust.
For more information and other tips, read our guide « Blackjack strategy chart: maximise your chances of winning ».
Find the Blackjack strategy chart just below:
Only play the side bets if you have a big enough balance
On Evolution Gaming’s Blackjack tables, you have the possibility to place side bets in addition with your main bet. There are two kinds of side bets: “21+1” and “perfect pair”. The first one offers you to bet that your cards and the dealer’s face up card will make a combination. With the other one, as its name indicates it, you are betting on the fact that your two first cards will make a pair of identical value.
Here are the side bets combination and their respective payout rates:
perfect pairs
- Perfect pair: 25:1
- Coloured pair: 12:1
- Mixed pair: 6:1
21+1
- Suited trips: 100:1
- Straight flush: 40:1
- Three of a kind: 30:1
- Straight: 10:1
- Flush: 5:1
The perfect pairs and 21+1 side bets can add up in two specific situations. The first one is when you get a three of a kind. In this case you will also be paid for a mixed pair or a coloured pair. The other situation is when you get a suited trips. You will also receive a perfect pair.
Know when to leave the Blackjack table
We know it can be hard for some players, but you have to learn when it is the good moment to leave the Blackjack table you are playing on. Some players tend to go on tilt when having an unlucky streak. They bet bigger and bigger, and try to get back their losses. Don’t be this player.
The best thing you can do to know when to leave your Blackjack table is setting yourself limits. When joining a table, always set yourself a winning and a losing limit, so you stay in control of the situation.
Never split tens
This is the golden rule of Blackjack that every player should know and apply. It does not matter whether the dealer has a low or a high card, a pair of tens is a hand you should never split. This advice applies to pairs of tens, but also to pairs of jacks, queens and kings.
Why, you may ask? When you have a pair of tens, your hand value is 20. This is the closest you can get to 21. Splitting this hand is a huge risk of ending up with a weaker hand. Indeed, there are more low value cards that figures. We know it can be tempting to split tens when the dealer has a low card, but refrain from doing so. You don’t want to lose this advantageous hand you have.
Blackjack strategy FAQ
Blackjack is a pretty easy game to play if you put effort into it. It does not prevent players from having interrogations about specific aspects of the game. Become Gambler gives you answers to the most frequently asked questions about Blackjack.
Doubling after every losing hand is a strategy that is known as the martingale. You should know that this is a very risky and costly strategy to use if you don’t have a big balance. This is also a strategy that is forbidden on most casinos, both land-based and online.
There is no minimum deposit needed to play Blackjack. If you want to play on the classic tables, the minimum bet is often 5€. If you want to bet even smaller, try the Free Bet Blackjack table, the minimum bet there is 1€.
While card counting was a profitable technique back in the days, it is not as strong nowadays. Why? Because on online casino tables, you are playing with a shoe of 8 decks with a cutting card randomly placed around the middle. When counting cards, you want as much deck penetration as possible. This cutting card prevents it, as you never play the whole shoe.
There are two hands you should always split: it’s the pair of aces and the pair of eights. Why? Because these two hands offer you the most possibilities to get as close to 21 as possible.
That’s entirely up to you. The question you should ask yourself is not should I keep playing but do I want to keep playing. As long as you don’t go on tilt, you can totally continue playing and hope for a winning streak to arrive.
