Increase Your Chances of Winning with Basic Blackjack Strategy

Card Counting vs. Basic Blackjack Strategy

Aside from counting cards, which is actually quite an effective way of increasing your chances of winning a game of blackjack, a less difficult solution in increasing your likelihood of winning with a dealt hand lies in learning the game's basic strategy. Blackjack basic strategy is not a manipulative or malicious practice (as if you're cheating when you do this) because the strategy makes use of mere logical inferences gathered from what cards have already been dealt and shown on the table. It doesn't even involve card counting in its purest form although for the more"tenured" card players, they usually incorporate both.

For the Beginners

Your main goal in blackjack is to exceed the total value or count of the hand of the dealer without going over 21. You can add more cards to what is dealt to you by hitting. But there is actually more to just hitting to get an additional card to increase the total value of your card. There are a lot of things or angles you need to consider and this is what you will find out in learning basic blackjack strategy.

In blackjack, you are given the chance to choose from a set of allowed moves, thus a combination of chance and skill is always involved in the game. First, the dealer deals two cards for you faced up and two for himself, one face up and the other face down. Before he opens the faced down card, you must select to hit, stand, double, split, or surrender based on the two cards that you already have with you. There are more options depending on house rules but these are the basic moves. By being familiar with the strategies, which are actually based on logic and probability, you will be able to make more sensible decisions as to what type of move you will make.

The Moves

We're almost getting to the strategy part. But first, you have to understand at least the basic predefined options or moves you are allowed to make in the game.

After being dealt with your two cards and you decide it's too low from 21, you can hit or get an additional card to add to your total. If you believe that your two cards are good enough then you"stand". A double is doubling your bet and getting one more card. A split is allowed when you're dealt with cards dealt that have the same rank. If you opt to split your hand, each card will be considered as the first card of two new hands to come out of the split. The wager is also doubled in this move. Now, if you think the two cards dealt you has very little chance of winning, you can opt to surrender and take back half of your total bet. These are the basic moves and they can be used to maximize your chances at winning when selected with the basic blackjack strategy in mind.

Basic Blackjack Strategy

Finally, we've come to the strategy part. Here is where you will learn to identify the possibilities and your options in trying for a win in each deal. Now that you have familiarized yourself with the basic moves, take a look at these approaches in applying what you know. The more you practice, the more approaches and new strategies you can come up with to increase your chances of winning.

• If you are dealt with an Ace, the best way to go is to hit so that you can get a new card and increase the total of your hand.
• If the dealer is showing a high card like a 7 or more then take a hit if your hand is less than 17. This is risky but somewhat worth it because there's a big chance the hole card (dealer's faced down card) has a high value too.
• Always split when you have two aces.
• You can do a double if your card total is larger than 10 and the dealer's hand is less than that.
• When you have a hand value higher than 9 and the dealer's is lower, it's wise to"stand". If you hit, there's a risk that you will get busted. Instead let the dealer deal more cards for himself and hope he gets busted.
• When you have a soft ace, you can do a double and if that's not allowed, you hit.
• Never purchase insurance unless you're sure that most of the naturals and aces have been dealt already. This means that you're already doing some card counting.

Remember, the more you practice, the more you can develop your style with some new approaches and techniques in employing the basic blackjack strategy.

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