Blackjack Tells
Tells are very popular in poker. A good poker player, with good reading skills, can win a hand and make better bets just by reading his or her opponents’ tells. Many people don’t realize this, but tells also exist in this game as well. It may not be as powerful as poker tells, but it can still be used to assess the relative strength of the dealer’s cards and act accordingly.
Compared to other Blackjack techniques and strategies, such as counting cards and figuring out odds, reading tells is relatively easier to do. Try standing near a Blackjack table, just stand near and not playing, and watch closely how the dealer behaves and the card he or she is holding. After a while you will notice certain gestures, tells, if the dealer is holding a relatively strong or weak hand.
As soon as you learn how to spot your dealer’s tells in Blackjack, you will be able to use it to your benefits. Combined with your knowledge on the open card, you can predict the dealer’s card almost effectively and act according to the hand you are playing against. If you are certain that the dealer is holding a 17, which will force him to stand, wouldn’t your soft 18 be enough to win?
Study the tells and learn how to use them as part of your overall strategy. You will be improving your games substantially. Besides, tells are quite easy to learn as long as you observe them well.
Playing Blackjack: You Only Have To Beat the Dealer
A lot of people just love to play Blackjack. The game is very simple and the chance of winning is relatively high. Blackjack is also very easy to understand, yet some people still make classic mistakes and lose money while playing. It is impossible to win every single time when you play Blackjack, but you can easily be profitable at the end of the day.
Out of several Blackjack classic mistakes I’ve seen, the most obvious one is forgetting that you only play against the dealer. After a while, you may feel a bit pressured to reach as high as possible with your hand that you forget about the strength of your dealer’s hand. You don’t have to construct a 21 all the time; even 16 can win if the dealer goes bust.
Keep paying attention to the dealer’s open card and try simulating scenarios with different hole card. If you see an 8, the best possible hand the dealer may have is of course 19. If you see a 7 or 6, your chances of winning with 18 is quite high. There are also scenarios where you can actually win with 14 or even 13; the dealer hit with 16 and went bust is all it takes.
Your hand’s strength is important, but visualizing the possible combination of your dealer’s hand using the open card will enable you to make better decisions when playing Blackjack. Use the knowledge properly and increase your profitability at Blackjack tables in no time at all.
Card Counting vs. Odds
Card counting has been considered to be the only tested way to win at Blackjack tables. It is depicted, even in movies, as a way to beat the system and win in every hand you play. It is not entirely wrong to think that way, but frankly speaking, there other more affecting factors that will alter your chances in winning Blackjack games.
While it is considered to be a winning strategy, counting cards is really hard to do. You will have to be very good in math and have strong memories to be able to count cards. With the casino pit boss watching you closely, this can be even harder to do. Having to focus all the time to count cards will surely take the fun away.
So can counting cards really guarantee a win? In movies, counting cards may seem very easy and accurate but in real life the technique is very hard to execute. House advantage are risen to anticipate card counters; they simply add the number of decks used in a Blackjack table to reduce the accuracy of card counting substantially.
Instead of trying hard to count cards, you should focus more on odds and improving your game. There are factors that can influence your odds,and knowing these factors will surely help you win more hands. Calculate payout ratio — usually a simple 3 to 2, which means you will get $3 for every $2 bet you make when you win — and check on game options, such as surrender or re-splitting, to turn the odds against the house and win more at Blackjack tables.
Blackjack: Choosing Your Game
Blackjack is a very simple game, and most people love to play it because of its simplicity. There are theories and strategies such as counting cards and memorizing actions that can make winning the game a step easier, but you really don’t have to be a rocket scientist to make a decent profit with Blackjack. What you need is the ability to choose your game carefully.
Most of blackjack players are not aware of the different Blackjack tables and payouts ratio in the casino. The common Blackjack table have a $3 payout for every $2 you bet, but there are also Blackjack tables with 6/5 payout ratio or, even better, 2/1 payout ratio. You should avoid tables with 6/5 payout ratio, and stay with 3/2 tables if you can’t find the one with 2 to 1 payout ratio.
The best blackjack table would be a single deck table with no double down restrictions and re-splitting as well as surrendering allowed. With this kind of Blackjack table, the house advantage is actually very low and ignorable. The perfect table may be hard to come by so you can settle with less perfect yet profitable tables instead. Make sure you are allowed to double down after splitting, and that you can surrender either early or late. Re-splitting is also a profitable trait, because when you split Aces and you get another Ace you can re-split it and have three relatively strong starting cards. As you can see, choosing your game and considering aspects of it can increase your chances of winning.
The Tens-and-Fives Rule
If you are familiar with Blackjack, you must know that you can split pairs and construct two hands. Different people may have different rules, but there are certain pairs that should be handled using a particular way. With a pair of Aces, the simple rule would be to always split. With a pair of 10s or 5s, the rule is entirely different.
You should never, ever, split a pair of 10s because the hand is already strong as it is. Why risk a possibly winning hand only to go after uncertain probabilities. Your 10s may turn into two Blackjacks, but the odds of that happening is relatively small. Stand your ground with the pair of 10s and you will most likely win against the dealer.
A pair of 5s should also never be split but for different reasons. With pair of 5s, splitting will cause you to have two starting cards with no strength at all. If you hit an Ace with one of those two 5s, you will be stuck with a soft 16; a very dilemmatic situation don’t you think? Since the pair of 5s total up as 10, it would be best to just work with it and have another card. 10 is not a bad number, and any card above 8 will construct a strong hand for sure.
With the tens-and-fives rule in mind, you can make better decisions when receiving either a pair of 10s or 5s as a starting hand and increase your chance of winning against the dealer.
Splitting Aces
In poker or several other card games, starting with a pair of Aces can be the best thing you would really love. In Blackjack, getting a pair of Aces is really that good. Pair of Aces will only construct a soft twelve; it is not a very strong hand at all. No matter what the dealer’s open card is, splitting your Aces is always the best way to go.
When in pair, Aces are not a strong hand at all. Once you split the two Aces, you will have a fantastically good starting hand that can easily construct 21 with any of the 10s or face cards. You need to be advised that you may only take a single card for each Ace, and lower cards can still turn your great starting card into a mediocre hand.
If you are not so sure about splitting your Aces, or if you just don’t want to risk more money, you can always start from the soft twelve and hit. Even if you get a 9 or above, you can use the Aces as 1 and try again for a stronger hand. Don’t push your luck though; once you get a hand strong enough you should just stand and hope for the best.
Don’t forget to pay attention to the dealer’s open card. Make predictions of what the dealer’s hand would be and see if the relative strength of your hand is good enough. You will be surprised by how often the split Aces can turn into two strong hands.
© 2009 Top Internet Blackjack. Powered by Wordpress.