Ultimate Blackjack Strategy

Blackjack is one of the most popular land-based and online casino games in the world. To win, you must do your best to not only learn but also use every advantage that opens to you.

Understanding the fine points of the game is crucial; without any optimal Blackjack strategy up your sleeve, you’re setting yourself up for defeat.

Four major components make up an ideal Blackjack strategy:

• Doubling down

• Insurance

• Splitting

• Surrendering

Knowing when to use each of these components is vital and can help you win the game, any day, any time.

Doubling Down

Once the first two cards are dealt, Doubling Down becomes obtainable, thus allowing you to double your opening or initial bet and draw one additional card. After this, you are enforced to stand.

Doubling Down entails placing a much larger bet than the initial one, but you must be careful when using this strategy, or else, your bankroll will deplete rapidly. The best time to use the Doubling Down component is when you have any of a 9, 10, or 11 and the dealer holds a weak upcard. In such a situation, there is an excellent chance that the dealer will go bust.

Insurance

Insurance shields you from the dealer’s blackjack. This is a side bet that is equal to half of your initial bet and is resolved before the commencement of normal play.

As soon as the cards are dealt, you will be offered insurance if the dealer happens to hold an Ace as their upcard.

If the dealer is holding a Blackjack, you will lose your original bet, but win the side bet, thus breaking even. However, if the dealer does not hold a Blackjack, you’ll end up losing the side bet. But play will commence normally.

On the whole, insurance is a bad bet to make since there isn’t any real advantage you stand to gain at the end of the day.

Splitting

Novices can split, and that is because they can. But veteran players play the game differently; they know when to split and when not to do so.

Splitting – just like Doubling Down – depends significantly on the cards you’re holding as well as that of the dealer’s.

An excellent Blackjack strategy you can deploy in this scenario is to either wait until you get a better hand – i.e., with a double 8’s – or take advantage of a dealer’s percentage to bust which is based on the dealer’s upcard by doubling your original bet.

Surrender

Veteran Blackjack players know that surrendering is a feature that is less common when it comes to playing the casino game. It is crucial for you to recognize when to use it once it’s available to you.

When the player surrenders, you give up half of your bet, but recover the other half. If the feature is available to you, surrendering can be beneficial when you find yourself in a situation that favors the dealer tremendously, e.g., when the dealer holds a “10” as an upcard, and your hand total is 16.

In such a situation, the chances of beating the dealer are slim. The best alternative is to cut your losses and surrender the hand.

When you learn optimal Blackjack strategy, you give yourself the best chance of coming out ahead.