Blackjack Beginners Tips

When you're new to the game of blackjack then there are a couple of important things to remember before you go wild at the table. Blackjack is not a game of luck, it's a game of skill and cunning, using developed strategies and tips will all give you an advantage over the house.

The casino or house has a 2%-3% advantage at the Blackjack table which believe it or not is pretty good given the house advantage over some of the other casino games. But, despite this low advantage, blackjack tables are the second highest source of revenue for casinos. This seems a little strange - how exactly does a game with such good odds for players bring in so much revenue for the casino?

The answer is simple - players make too many mistakes, through arrogance, ignorance or plain errors. Because the odds are in the players favour, many tend to go out with a 'beat the house' attitude and end up losing instead. When enough people play this way the errors mount up and so does the casino revenue!

Remember these tips and don't fall into the trap

• Find a table whose minimum is no more than 5% of you total stash - if you have £20 to play with then make sure that the minimum you can play with is £1 per hand.
• Since the dealer has to hit (take a card) on any hand 16 or lower, you'll never win with less than 17 unless the dealer busts.
• Take a hit on your hand below 17 when the dealer shows Ace, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8 or 7
• If you are dealt two cards of the same value, you may "split" them, doubling your bet and playing two hands.
• Never split 10's or 5's.
• Always split 8's or 7's against a dealer's card of equal or lower value.

These are only meant as basic beginner tips - if you've already gotten a handle on the game you should move on to more advance tips.

 

Blackjack Rules

The blackjack table in a casino is generally set up with seven betting spots, although some games have as few as five. A dealer acts for the house and stands behind the table to distribute the cards. So now you know how the table is laid out, here are the rules to blackjack…

1. Blackjack can be played with one or more players.
2. The players play against the casino
3. The player must get as close as possible to 21 with two or more cards without going over it and to obtain a higher score than the dealer
4. The best possible way to get blackjack is to total 21 with two cards.
5. Players wager by placing their bets in the circle in front of them
6. The dealer places two cards face-up for each player who has made a wager and one for the bank
7. The player has two main choices - if he is happy with the two cards he 'stands'. If he believes he can make a higher score without going over 21, then he says 'hit' to ask for another card.
8. The dealer must continue to draw cards for the bank as long his score is under 17.
9. The dealer must stand at 17 or more.

You now know the basic Blackjack rules so what about the card values.

Aces = Either 1 or 11

2s through 10s = Face Value

Jacks, Queens and Kings = 10 (Face cards, along with actual tens are always referred to as 10s).

Blackjack Table

Below you can see the layout of a standard Blackjack Table, this example was taken from an online game but the table layout is the same in a real casino. You will notice that there are five betting circles with chips inside them, this is the area of the table that a player places bets. The dealers cards are only partially shown (In the example below we can see the dealer is holding a 3 of Diamonds) All the players cards are shown face up. In Blackjack always assume that the Dealers card you cannot see is a 10 and make you choices based on this assumption.

During game play you can make 1 of 4 actions: You can 'Hit' this means take another card from the dealer. You can 'Stand' which means take no more cards during that hand. You can 'Double' or 'Double Down' as it is also known, when you opt to 'Double Down' you double your bet in the betting circle BUT you can only take 1 more card from the dealer, you can 'Double Down' on any two cards. Finally you can 'Split' a hand, you can only split pairs such as 8/8. You must also place additional chips in the betting circle to the same value as the first bet. The dealer will then break the cards into two hands and add an up card to each, you can then play both hands out separately.

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