Blackjack is one of the finest and oldest ways to gamble and it consists of beating the dealer. The famous table game has been portrayed in several blockbuster movies such as Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, 21 with Kevin Spacey and The Hangover with Bradley Cooper.

It’s a classic card game that all casino’s put some extra focus on and we have yet to see a casino without a blackjack game. Blackjack is easy to understand but mastering it is another thing. That’s why we at Gambler.co.nz has made The Ultimate Guide to Online Gambling available for you. Here we share our best tips, advices and strategies around the wonderful game of Online Blackjack.

One common misperception of Blackjack is that the object of the game is to get as close to 21 as possible, without going over. It’s easy to think, but the object is actually to beat the dealer. In order to beat the dealer you have to make sure that you firstly don’t bust (go over 21). Your second objective of the game is to outscore the dealer or make the Live Casino dealer go bust. We’ll explain how you go about to play blackjack like the pros, but first. Let’s go through the rules of Blackjack.

Here are the full rules of Online Blackjack:

1. Blackjack can be played with one to eight decks of 52-card decks.
2. Aces are counted as 1 or 11 points, 2 to 9 are face valued, tens and face cards counts as ten points. Example: a 9 and a queen equals 19.
3. The value of a hand is the sum of the values of the individual cards as explained above. A Blackjack is the highest hand and consists of an ace and any 10 point card (from 10 to Kings), and it outranks all other 21 point hands.
4. After you have placed your bet, the dealer will hand you two cards and two cards to himself. One of the dealer cards is dealt face up, and one is dealt facedown. The face down card is called “Hole Card”.
5. After the players have bet, the dealer will give two cards to each player and two cards to himself. One of the dealer cards is dealt face up. The facedown card is called the “hole card.”
6. In case the dealer has an ace showing, he will offer a side bet called Insurance. This side wager pays 2 to 1 if the dealer’s hole card is any 10-point card. Insurance wagers are of course optional and may not exceed half of the original bet.
7. If the dealer has a ten or an ace showing (after offering insurance with an ace showing), then she will peek at her facedown card to see if she has a blackjack. If she does, she will turn it over immediately.
8. Should the dealer have a blackjack, then all bets part form insurance will lose, unless the player also has a blackjack, which will result in a push. Push meaning that it is a draw and wagers are given back.
9. Play begins with the player to the dealer’s left at all times, when you are dealt your cards, the following choices are available to you: Stand: You stand still with your cards. Hit: You Draw another card, and another if you wish. If your accumulated cards exceed the total points of 21, then you are bust and lose. Double: You double your bet and get one, and only one more card. Split: If you have a pair or any two 10-point cards, then you may separate the cards into two individual hands. And play them as their own. Should you split with two aces, you are only dealt one card each. Surrender: You forfeit half your bet, and discontinue the round. This is not a common casino rule and only applies to the first two cards dealt. This is very uncommon and may not be available at all at your casino of choice.
10. After each player has had their turn, the dealer will turn over her hold card. If the dealer has 16 or less, she will draw another card. An uncommon situation is when the dealer has an ace and any number of cards totaling six points, also known as a soft 17. At some tables, the dealer will also hit a soft 17.
11. If the dealer goes over 21 points and goes bust, any player who didn’t already bust will win.
12. If the dealer does not bust, then the higher point total between you and the dealer will win.
13. Winning wagers pay even money – except a blackjack that usually pays 3 to 2.

Did you know?

16 is the worst hand in blackjack, followed by 15 as the second worst hand.

The wonderful game of BlackJack

The rules can seem overwhelming but most of them just happens without any action necessary from your end. The objectives of Blackjack is to beat the dealer. How do you go about to do that?

How to beat the dealer:

1. By drawing a hand value that is higher than the dealer’s hand
2. By having the dealer go bust (exceeding 21).
3. By drawing a blackjack on your first two cards, when the dealer does not.

How to lose to the dealer:

1. By going bust (your cards exceeds 21).
2. The dealers hand has a greater value than yours at the end of the round.

Making a living playing Blackjack

Blackjack is one of the very few Live Casino games where players can actually make a living playing.

The most well known advantage technique in blackjack is counting cards, as portrayed in the movies Rain man and 21. That is however not the only way to get an edge. And even if you’re not counting cards, you can play a close to break-even game if the house rules are generous. So how would you earn a living playing blackjack?

The first thing you need to consider is how much money you need to live. Let’s say that you want to earn an average salary in New Zealand which was $50,000 at 2018. That means that you need to win $4188 per month (on average) by playing Blackjack.

Let’s assume that you are a decent advantage player with a nice edge of 1% over the casino. That means that you would need to wager $418,000 each month in order to cover your living costs (1% x $418,800 = $4188).

If your average bet per hand is $100, you would need to play 4188 hands per month to earn your monthly living. That sounds like a lot, but when playing Blackjack Online, you can easily play 2 or more tables at the time. Let’s say that a single hand takes 2 minutes to play out, then you could play 30 hands per table you play. If you play 2 tables at the time, that would be 60 hands an hour. It would take you roughly 70 hours to play 4188 hands.

If you would wish to only play week days, and a month consists of 20 week days. You would need to spend roughly 3.5 hours a day playing blackjack, or 17.5 hours a week. That’s a pretty decent part time job.

In order to be self sufficient and have room if it dips, you would need a large enough backroll to withstand deviations, just because you have an edge of 1%, it doesn’t mean that every outcome is going to be in your favour. You therefore need a bankroll that in order to handle those swings.

Fun Facts about BlackJack

1. There is a Blackjack Hall of Fame. It honors authors, blackjack experts and professional blackjack players who have made significant contributions to the game of Blackjack. The Hall of Fame is located at the Barona Casino in San Diego, California.
2. Some casinos allow the dealer to hit a soft 17. You want the dealer to stay on ANY 17s.
3. According to statistics, betting on insurance is usually a bad move. You will lose more often than you win.
4. Australian Billionaire and Media Mogul Kerry Packer won between $24 million and $33 million USD playing blackjack at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas. Rumour says that he even tipped a door man a cool $1 million USD.
5. After Texas Hold’em exploded in early 2000’s. A televised show called World Series of Blackjack was aired where the winner would win $100,000 USD.

Can you count cards while playing Online Blackjack?

Card counting is impossible when playing Blackjack Online. Should you opt to play a table game style blackjack table, then a Random Number Generator will come up with the result. This program duplicates the odds of a 52-card deck, but every hand is freshly shuffled.

When playing Live Casino Blackjack, the studios use the automatic shuffling machine used by Atlantic City Casinos, which makes it near impossible to count.