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Online Blackjack: Fun and Profitable

Are you planning a trip to the casino? Maybe your buddies are putting together plans for a trip to Vegas, or maybe you’ve simply got a night planned at your local. Either way, you’re going to need to know how to play before you head over there.

Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games out there, and has been for a number of years. A lot of its appeal comes from the fact that, unlike other casino games such as Roulette, it isn’t purely down to luck. With a bit of knowledge and a little practice, players can absolutely head to the tables and hold their own.

A good starting point for a new player are online casinos, such as coral.co.uk/casino. Coral as referenced also offer free play so you can practice risk free.These not only allow you to get used to the games, but also do so without the distractions that can come along with playing live in real casinos. Listen, we’ve all been distracted by a conversation, a commotion or whatever it may be, but you want to be able to limit that when it’s your money on the line, which is where online casinos can be invaluable.

Learning the Basics

A great way to get started in Blackjack is to have a read of this guide. The truth of the matter is, Blackjack is an incredibly simple game to learn, and an extremely fun game to play. Being dealt eleven, doubling down and receiving tens is one of the most exhilarating moments possible in gambling, with the added satisfaction that you made the decision by yourself.

After this, having learned basic strategy, it is possible to play online Blackjack, and do well. With live dealers, the interaction can take the enjoyment to a whole new level. The heart-in-mouth moment when you’ve been dealt a ten and your next card is about to be turned over? Recreated, live, from the comfort of your house without having to go near a loud, distracting crowd.

To add to the excitement, this fun can also turn out to be extremely profitable. As mentioned, basic strategy is a great starting point for new Blackjack players, and once you are used to the game, and feel comfortable knowing what you should do in each situation, you can really start to add more to your all-round play. So go on, before you head out to the casino, get online and get started. You never know how it could end.

Play Blackjack

If I were to ask you which casino game is the most popular in the world, what would you say? Most likely, the first game to pop into your mind would be Blackjack. You would be wrong, of course, Slots are the most played of all the casino games, but they’re just…Slots. Blackjack is familiar, it is exciting, it is a game you already know how to play. Blackjack is fun. And yes, Blackjack is one of the most popular games on earth. People play it even outside casinos, just for fun.

Blackjack has been around since at least the 1500s. The first reference to the game was in Miguel de Cervantes’ book, Novelas Ejemplares, written in 1601. Some of the characters play a game called 21, and the rules are basically the same as Blackjack. If it was written about in the year 1601, it is safe to deduce that the game was known for a long time before it was ever immortalized on paper by the author of Don Quixote.

The way the game is played is quite easy to grasp by merely observing a game in progress for a few minutes. Players sit around a semi-circular table with up to nine seats. The game starts when the dealer deals out two cards, face down, to each player. The dealer will then deal himself two cards. One of which will be face down and the other face up. The face down card is called the “hole”, which is where expressions such as “ace in the hole” come from. Once the cards have been dealt and everyone has looked at what was dealt to them, the game proper starts. The point of the game is to get the highest total point value without going over 21.

The cards hold their natural value from 2 to 10. Aces are either a 1 or an 11 and face cards are worth 10. Once the total for the two dealt cards is counted by the player, the options are to: hit; stay; double down; split; or surrender. Hit means the player requests an additional card to be dealt. Stay is to tell the dealer not to deal any more cards. Double Down is a special bet allowed before hitting. Players can double their bets with the proviso that they take the next dealt card and stay. Split is when the player is dealt two of the same card. Before hitting, players can split the two cards into two separate hands, which each gets dealt a new initial card. Surrender is when the dealt cards are deemed to be not worth playing and the player takes a loss on half the initial bet.

Simplicity is the key to Blackjack’s enduring popularity. It is simple. And easy to learn game with only a few basic rules to follow—get close to 21. Even a child could learn to play Blackjack at the most basic level. It would seem that all you do is hit or don’t hit and you hope not to bust. It would appear that it’s all based on luck. It would appear so, but appearances can be deceiving. Blackjack is, in reality, a very complex game with a very steep learning curve in order to play it the right way.

Once you learn to play Blackjack properly, you will see the game in a whole new light. It is not just another casino game that lives and dies by the follies of luck. It is actually a game in which you, the player, can have a strong hand in controlling the way the game will go. There is only one other game at the casino that allows that kind of control over your fate—Poker. Have you ever played Poker at the casino? Have you ever sat there, looking around, trying to figure out who the fish is? The reason you can never figure out the fish at the table is because YOU are the fish. Poker is a dangerous no man’s land full of sharks that will take you for all you’re worth. Unless you’re a seasoned and grizzled Poker player with the wounds and the scars to show for it, you will not win at casino Poker. You might think the same thing about Blackjack but once again, you would be wrong. You can learn to play Blackjack well with a relatively short time expenditure on your part. It’s just not that easy is all. Continue reading “Play Blackjack” →

Legends of blackjack

Today, most people play casino games online rather than in a land-based casino. This should come as no surprise as playing at home whenever the mood takes you is so convenient in comparison with having to get to a casino.

You can find all the games that a land-based casino has to offer online. Almost all big names, including 32Red, Sky and BGO, are offering a wide array of game choices and promotions. Click here to visit the bgo casino site and you’ll see there’s a fantastic choice of blackjack games on offer there, as well as other casino classics like poker and roulette and hundreds of slots games to choose from.

Though they wouldn’t be able to use their shady practice of card-counting skills online, there is a legendary group of blackjack players that did manage to use card-counting to the best of their ability in the 80s and in so doing, got away with some huge wins at blackjack tables across the US. The MIT Blackjack Team was made up of talented Massachusetts Institute of Technology students who practiced for hours on end, perfecting the art of card-counting and working as a team before going out to play for real in different casinos.

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It wasn’t the MIT Blackjack Team that came up with the theory of card-counting though. It was actually a professor at MIT called Edward Thorp, who worked out the probabilities of blackjack using an IBM 704 computer. When he was confident his theory would stand up to real-life situations, he went on the road to different casinos with a friend called Manny Kimmel and together they earned $11,000 during the first weekend of using his system. Thorp could have kept the theory to himself, but instead wrote a book called Beat the Dealer (1996), which made him plenty of money as it got onto the New York Times best seller list.

The MIT Blackjack Team exploited card-counting to the max, winning an amazing $400,000 in the first weekend of play. The members of the team changed over the years, with new members being recruited from other renowned educational institutions such as Harvard, but gradually it became impossible for them to play in US casinos as staff were trained to spot card-counters and they began to be recognised. The team continued to play over the years, but tended to play in other countries instead.

The team’s exploits were written about by Ben Mezrich in a supposedly factual book called Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Though the characters in the book were composite ones, some of the real MIT Blackjack Team members have refuted some of the events described by Mezrich. The book formed the basis for the 2008 Kevin Spacey film called 21 – about a professor who recruits a number of students to execute a casino heist using card-counting.

Back in the real world, both the MIT Blackjack Team and Edward Thorp have been inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame and will go down in history as legends of blackjack.

Spice Things Up – Throw a Live Blackjack Dealer Into the Mix

If you’re thinking about getting more into casino action but you’re not sure what’s really going to increase your excitement, we have good news: a live blackjack dealer is the perfect way to spice things up.

Of course, we can’t mention live action without talking about blackjack. Blackjack is a game that’s easy to learn but it’s harder than meets the eye. Just when you think that you really understand blackjack, the entire game flips on you. The dealer can get you without you even noticing. Of course, a lot of people also overestimate their skills within the world of blackjack. The major reason behind this is that they are so used to playing against the computer. After a while, you understand what’s needed by the computerized dealer. You know what they’re going to do and how they’re going to do it. Generally speaking, a computer based dealer is going to stand on hard 17. However, what if you have a human dealer?

This is actually going to change the game because you aren’t going to be able to predict behavior anymore. Every dealer is going to be different. The way that the casinos pull this off is that they go and get lively players that can interact via webcam. So you will always be able to see them, and yes, they can see you if you have your webcam turned on. Sometimes this is a bit flirty, but you should never get too pushy with a dealer. They are there to help you have a great time, but there are lines that have to be drawn.

The best live casino will give you a mix of different casino games. As much as we do enjoy playing blackjack from the comfort and security of our own homes, we do admit that blackjack may be limiting. You probably want to play other games, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. It’s just time to decide what you want to do and go after it.

Can you qualify for a new welcome bonus stepping into the live casino world? Absolutely! In fact, we’re pretty convinced that the live casino game action is going to be here to stay for a while. Some people dismissed the trend earlier, saying that it’s simply going to be a passing fad that fizzles. However, it looks like the casinos really have invested quite a bit into the technology behind the live casino. Check it out today!

Blackjack – Counting Cards

The first thing many people think of when counting cards is mentioned is the Rainman (movie). However, counting cards is not about knowing what exact card is coming out and is not that difficult. When a player counts cards, that player is trying to utilize math to determine the value range of the remaining cards. By knowing this, your probability of knowing, or guessing, the next card increases dramatically. Counting cards in single-deck blackjack is very easy and it becomes more of a challenge as the number of decks increase.

When you are counting cards, your counting does not become particularly effective until you have tested a good sample size – half of the deck is a good meter. For this reason, it´s important to monitor when a dealer shuffles the cards. If you are at a table where the dealer shuffles mid-deck, your counting will not help much and can hurt you. Ideally, you want to be at a table where the dealer doesn´t shuffle until 80-90% of the deck or shoe has been used.

The actual count patter is very simple – just pluses and minuses. Here´s how to do it:

*Start count at zero

2,3,4,5, or 6 = + 1
Aces, faces and tens = -1
7,8 or 9 = 0

There are some variations, such as making 2:s and 3:s plus two, but this is a general way to do it. When you see a card, you simply modify the running count by the required number. For example, if your count was 4 and you see a two and a three, your count is now +6. The higher the count, to the positive, the better your odds of drawing high cards is, thus your probability is higher – it´s time to place a larger bet. If your math ability permits, you would try to get the true count by taking your running count and dividing it by the percent of the deck that remains. For example, your running count is 9 and there´s 25% of the deck left. For the next hand, the true count is 36, which is 9 divided by .25.

Counting cards is not illegal, but a casino might throw you out if they see you doing it and you are winning. It´s not too difficult to count cards and win, provided that you practice and don´t run out making $100 bets instead of your usual $2 bet. Counting cards in blackjack does not mean you will win, it simply allows you to formulate a better guess. If you are a solid blackjack player, counting cards can help tilt the advantage in your favor. Look for more articles on blackjack and counting cards in the future!

Online Blackjack Basics

For the most part, there are very few differences between playing online blackjack and playing live blackjack. The card values are all the same, the cards are dealt in the same fashion, and you have the same actions such as being able to hit, stand, double down and split. In short, if you’ve played the game in casinos and/or know simple blackjack rules, you should have no trouble when it comes to understanding online blackjack basics.

Of course, there are a few discrepancies you should understand before playing online blackjack. The first one is that most online casinos pit you heads-up with the dealer; this differs from land-based casinos where there are often several other players at the table.

Another thing you should be aware of when it comes to internet blackjack is that you don’t have to worry about etiquette such as touching cards you’re not supposed to or making bad plays that anger other players. The blackjack software deals the cards to you, and handles all of the chips when you choose the actions/bet sizes you want.

Most people would consider this a big advantage, along with the next point, which is that online blackjack doesn’t require you to tip the dealers. Now this isn’t to imply that dealers aren’t important and shouldn’t be tipped in live play; it just means that you won’t have to worry about your blackjack profits being cut into by tips for dealers.

Speaking of profits, hopefully you earn BIG profits if you decide to play online blackjack.

The History of Blackjack

The game of blackjack developed its name from an early bet, which has since been discontinued, that paid 10 to 1 if the player’s first two cards were a jack of spades and an ace of spades, both black cards.

The history of the game is hard to trace, but it is commonly thought blackjack evolved from other French games, like “chemin de fer” and “French Ferme.” Blackjack started to be played during the 1700s in French casinos, where it was called “vingt-et-un” (twenty-and-one). In the 1800s, the popular gambling game came to the United States.

Mathematical information showing how to play nearly even with the house and possibly even gain a slight edge was published in the late 1950s and during the1960s. One of these books made the New York Times bestseller list. With this information developed an interest of the public, making blackjack the number one table game in the U.S. in the 1960s. Blackjack’s widespread popularity carried through into the new millennium, with casinos making millions.

But, the casinos were not impressed with the success of a book that showed everyone how to beat the house, so they changed the rules of the game to make winning more difficult. But, the old rules were quickly put back in place after people protested by not playing the new version of blackjack.

The casinos then introduced multiple decks, shuffling machines, and frequent and early shuffling to increase their odds. These new concepts and the fact the ideas suggested in the books were difficult to master and hard to understand, restored the casino’s odds to a way they found suitable and profitable.

Understanding Blackjack Terminology

Blackjack can be an intimidating game to beginners, and it only gets more intimidating if you don’t understand basic blackjack terminology. After all, blackjack is just like any other casino game in that you fit in better if you can actual speak the lingo.

Your first step in understanding blackjack terminology is knowing what the name of the game actually implies. If somebody says they got a “blackjack,” it simply means that their first two cards totaled 21. In this instance, the player with a blackjack would receive a payout worth 1.5 times their original wager.

Another major blackjack term you should know is “bust.” If you bust in a hand, it means that you went over the score of 21 and lost your bet. Busting is the worst possible scenario in blackjack because you don’t even get a chance to see if your hand would’ve beat the dealer’s hand.

Two more important blackjack terms are “hit” and “stand.” When you hit, this means you want the dealer to give you another card; when you stand, this means you are happy with your current total and don’t want any more cards.

The final term that we’ll discuss in blackjack terminology is “card counting.” Card counting is the act of tracking how many high and low cards have been dealt so one can increase bets and gain an advantage later on. Seeing as how lots of players have made millions using this blackjack strategy, Hollywood likes to portray card counters in some of their films.

And while understanding these blackjack terms won’t transform you into a card counting genius, it will help you get a better grasp on the game.

Increasing Your Odds at the Blackjack Table

Blackjack is a math-based game. Because the game is based on math, there are strategies that you can employ that will assist you in increasing your odds at the blackjack table. By paying attention to the type of rules you are playing under and by playing optimally, you can increase your odds of winning at the blackjack table.

Blackjack tables all have predetermined rules the games follow. From table stakes to the number of decks used in a shoe, blackjack tables vary in their individual rule sets. Small changes in the rules impact the odds you as a player get at the blackjack table. For example, sitting at a blackjack table that uses a six-deck shoe, as opposed to the standard eight-deck shoe serves to increase your odds at the blackjack table fractionally. In the event you find a single deck blackjack table, taking a seat at that table increases your odds at the single deck blackjack table by nearly one-half percent compared to your normal blackjack table. Almost going without saying, sitting at a blackjack table that pays a proper blackjack serves as a means of increasing your odds at the blackjack table, as opposed to sitting at a table that pays reduced odds for blackjack.

While table selection helps in increasing your odds at a blackjack table, playing optimally also helps to increase your odds of winning at blackjack. Hitting when you are supposed to hit and doubling down when appropriate really helps to turn the odds in your favor when at the blackjack tables. Consequently, you will do quite well increasing the odds away from the house at the blackjack tables when you play proper blackjack through using optimal blackjack strategy. In addition, implementing effective and valid methods of card counting also helps in increasing your odds at the blackjack tables.

Blackjack Movies

Blackjack is a topic or theme that has graced the silver screen quite a few times. The presence of the blackjack game in movies is quite natural, considering people are always intrigued with games of chance, especially when people play for high stakes or are beating the house religiously.

One such blackjack movie is the movie entitled 21. 21 was a blackjack movie released in 2008 and tells the tale of the MIT blackjack team. 21 is one of the blackjack movies that is actually based on a true story, as the MIT team of blackjack players revolutionized the concept of team blackjack play and card counting. This movie depicted how the team was trained in the art of card counting and showed how they took the casinos for millions upon millions in blackjack winnings.

While the game of blackjack was the predominant theme in 21, there are numerous instances where blackjack is not the main theme of the movie, but plays a significant role in the movie’s plot. Rain Man featured a story line where Raymond, played by Dustin Hoffman, won a ton of money after his brother Charlie (Tom Cruise) discovered that Ray is able to count cards at a very high level. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a movie where blackjack is discussed quite heavily. Jack Nicholson’s character talks of card counting and has cards with him regularly.

The Cooler is another of the many blackjack movies that involves blackjack and gambling. William Macy plays a character known as a Cooler for his impeccable ability to transfer his bad luck to anyone he meets, is employed at a casino to try to cool off any hot winners at his casino. When he is on his A game, he causes even the luckiest streaks at the blackjack table to come to a screeching halt.