How to Win at Blackjack

Blackjack is a popular casino game where you try to beat the dealer by drawing cards that total as close to 21 as possible. There are several strategies that you can use to increase your chances of winning, but before you start playing blackjack, it’s important to understand how the game works and what your goals are.

Basic Strategy

As with any casino game, blackjack has a house edge. However, if you play blackjack according to a strategic plan, you can reduce this edge to a relatively small percentage.

Set Your Betting Limits

When you first start playing blackjack, it’s a good idea to decide how much you want to spend in advance. This will help you avoid losing too much money in one sitting and will also give you a better idea of how much to wager on each hand.

Don’t Double Your Bets Every Time You Lose

If you have a winning streak, you may want to double your bet each time you lose, but this is a risky move. In the long run, it will cost you a lot of money.

Be Aware of the Other Players on Your Table

You can get influenced by other people’s decisions when you’re playing blackjack. This is especially true if you’re playing with friends or in a social environment. Often, they will play with higher stakes than you would.

The problem with this is that it’s easy to become engrossed in what others are doing and how much they are betting. It’s a bad idea to let your emotions get the better of you when playing blackjack.

Always follow the Basic Playing Strategy

When you’re playing blackjack, it’s a good practice to stick to the basic playing strategy regardless of how the other players on the table are playing their hands, how much they bet and whether they lost or won the previous sessions. This will prevent you from making costly mistakes and will make the game less stressful for you.

Aside from following the basics, you should also know how to count cards in order to improve your chances of winning. This is a great way to add more value to your hand and can help you win big if you’re lucky enough to have a good number of 10-value cards.

Shuffle Tracking

If you’re a card counter, you should pay special attention to the cards the croupier deals after each shuffle. If you can predict which cards will be dealt, you can take advantage of certain strategies like doubling down or splitting.

Splitting Two 8s and Aces

Normally, you should only split your hand when you have a pair of eights or an ace that is valued at 16 points. This is because the odds of landing a low-value card with this hand are relatively poor.

This strategy is particularly beneficial if you have an ace in your hand and a six or seven on the table. This will double your chance of getting a 10 or higher card.