Blackjack is a card game that is a world favorite. Gamblers like to play blackjack because it is one of the few best casino games, like poker, that involves skill. It is not purely a game of chance. There are things the player can do to increase his chances of winning. Remember, in blackjack the player is playing against the house, not the other players.  Find the table where you have the best chance of winning. This means find the table that uses the fewest number of decks, especially if you plan on counting cards. It is easier to win with one or two decks than with five or six decks. You might have to walk around the casino to find one since the number of decks can vary from table to table. Also read the placard on the table to find out the rules for the table, like minimum and maximum bet, if the dealer stands on seventeen, etc. When you’ve found the table that meets your requirements, take a position at an open spot, and buy your chips. The dealer deals and you have your two cards. Now what?

This is where your strategy comes into play. If you have a low hand, say below a twelve, then you want to hit. You can’t overdraw in this situation. Since you are playing against the dealer, you always want to know what the dealer has. He has the hand you have to beat. If the dealer has a seven or higher and you hand is between twelve and sixteen, then you will probably want to hit. You will probably want to stand if your hand is a seventeen or higher. If the dealer’s card is lower than a seven, you will probably want to stand. Remember, you only win if you come closer to twenty-one than the dealer does.

What if the totals are soft? Soft means that there is an ace and ace can be used as one point or eleven points. If you have a soft nineteen or higher, then you want to stand. A three or higher will put you over twenty-one. If you have a soft seventeen or lower, then hit. You have to look at the dealers cards because his hand determines what you do in other situations. You have to consider what your chances are of hitting the right card without going over while beating the dealer. This is why you want a table that uses as few decks as possible. 

When should you double down? You should double down if the dealer is showing a five, or six, and you have a soft thirteen or fourteen. If you have a soft fifteen or sixteen, and the dealer shows a four, five or six, then you want to double down as well as when you have a soft seventeen or eighteen and the dealer is between three and six. You don’t ever want to double down if your total is below eight but you always want to double down if you have eleven. The ten point cards are the most frequently occurring cards in the deck.

You can also double down when you have ten points and the dealer shows less than that.  These are the situations where the player has the advantage.

There are also strategies for splits. You should always split aces and eights and never split fours, fives or tens. Sixes can be split if the dealer has three through six and twos and threes can be split when the dealer has a four through a seven. You only want to split seven when the dealer has a three through seven. If the dealer has a two, three, six, eight or nine then you will have the advantage if you split your nines. You don’t want to play like a robot remembering a lot of rules, but you want to know in which situation you have the advantage, and in which situation the house has the advantage. Players make costly errors when they don’t split. Regarding insurance and surrenders, most people say to avoid them.

It is important to know the house rules also. This should also affect your play. For example, in some places the dealer is required to stand on a hand of soft seventeen. In other places he isn’t. On the Vegas Strip and in Atlantic City, dealers stand on seventeen, hard or soft. In downtown Vegas, deals hit a soft seventeen. This is something that should affect your strategy. You think the dealer is going to stand on seventeen and instead he hits a four!

Strategy means developing your game plan and sticking to it. Successful strategy means knowing when to quit. Successful strategy means sticking to your budget. The money you put aside for your gambling should not be your rent money or car payment. It should be money that you can lose without being hurt financially or emotionally. Before you walk into the uk casino you should have set your limit for the session. If your limit was $200 for the evening, and you have gone through that $200 then quit. Don’t start adding another $50 thinking you’ll win it back, because another $50 will follow the first, and so on. Part of a successful strategy is being self-disciplined enough to quit when you have reached your limit.

Above all, have a winning attitude. Think positively. Don’t walk into the casino with the attitude that you’ll play until you lose your $200. You’re walking in prepared to lose with this kind of attitude and you will probably end up fulfilling your prophesy. What does positive thinking mean - positive thinking means being realistic and giving yourself the best chance of winning. You know the game, you know the situations in which you have the advantage, and you know the situations in which the house has the advantage. Use it all in your favor and have a fun evening playing blackjack without the emotional stress or being without a strategy. Besides, blackjack you can also play bingo online game and other casino games.