If you haven’t ever played blackjack yet, the rules are similar to playing Lucky 9. In Lucky 9, your cards must reach 9 or the value nearest to it. Any cards beyond 9 are busted and players with cards totaling more than 9 must declare this round a loss. The same thing applies to blackjack but this time, you should aim for 21 instead of 9. While in Lucky 9, you’re only allowed to draw up to three cards, in blackjack, you can draw up to a whopping five cards.

Tips to Win at Blackjack

Now that we’ve refreshed your memory on how to play blackjack, let’s proceed to tips that will help you win big at blackjack.

Soft and Hard Hands

If you’re still unfamiliar with blackjack lingo, understand that a soft hand is the term used to describe cards that contain an ace and a number card such as a six and then using the ace as eleven to reach a total amount of 17. On the other hand, a hard hand would compromise cards that do not contain any aces or cards that have an ace but don’t give it an equivalent value of eleven.

Some people say that it’s always better to have a hard hand rather than a soft one.

Choosing Tables

Yes, the right table can have a good effect on your success rate in blackjack so choose carefully. First and foremost, make sure that the minimum allowed bet is not more than five percent of your total chips. Get to know rules variation for each table because these can affect your chances as well, no matter how slight.

Entertainment

Another reason to learn how to play blackjack is entertainment.  There are people who play blackjack as a hobby; they use the game as a form of entertainment to occupy their leisure time.  Blackjack can be a very challenging game, but like anything else, the best way and usually the only way to improve your skills are to practice.  You can improve your skills two ways.  First, learn as much about the game as possible.  Second, challenge yourself continually. By following these rules, consistent winnings are just around the corner.  Some of the benefits of playing blackjack on a regular basis, and learning the strategies, are improving your reasoning and calculating skills.  The extra money you make will just be a bonus.  That’s not too bad for a hobby.

What’s More Fun, Winning or Losing?

Last but not least, the final reason to step up your blackjack playing abilities is because winning is much more fun than losing.  What could be more satisfying than leaving the casino with your pockets full of their money?  When you become an expert in blackjack strategies, you will enjoy the feeling of knowing that you beat the casinos at their own game.  It will take a lot of hard work and diligence to become a blackjack expert.  If you apply yourself, the rewards you receive will outweigh your efforts to learn tenfold.

This is because a deck filled with 10 increases the chance of the dealer getting bust. You on the other hand can just opt to stand. In an opposite manner, a deck filled with smaller cards makes the dealers chance to bust less. If you know the deck is filled with 10s or smaller cards, this can give you the advantage of knowing what strategy to use.

The dealer must then always hit until having a soft 17. To hit with a hand of 10 & 6 and knowing the deck is filled with 10s is a bad idea.

If the deck is filled with aces, there is high chance that you’ll hit blackjack. When the player has blackjack, the pay off odds are 3:2. The dealer will only win on the other hand if he also gets a blackjack. That’s why a deck filled with aces is always to the player’s advantage.

Blackjack counting is not done by memorizing each card that has come out of a 6 deck shoe of cards. If you are able to do that, I’d be in awe: you should be in the world records book or maybe even the loony bin.

Blackjack card counting is done by assigning the different card numbers with different point values. Always remember to pick a system that is easy to remember. This will cause fewer mistakes and you will lose less money.

As stated above, you will assign a point value for each card and you will have to add the value of the cards that have come out. This is called the running count. Based on the plus/minus strategy, here are the values assigned.

2, 3,4,5,6 = +1;
7, 8, 9 = 0;
10, J, Q, K, Ace = -1

To illustrate this more clearly:
The first card dealt is an ace, so we start by having -1. Then 6 is the next card dealt so we add 1. This makes the run count back to zero. Then a 3 and 4 follows, making the run count now 2.