Mind you, these wagers are not limited to $1. I’ve seen players risk as much on their side bets as on blackjack. If you’re playing at a mostly full table sauntering along at about 60 hands an hour, you’re putting $600 per hour at risk on your main blackjack bet. If you play basic strategy and are narrowing the house edge to about half a. Before you can bet big on blackjack, you need to know as much about the game as possible. You should never rush into placing your bets because this could backfire. You have to fully understand the. I personally think a 1-3-2-6 positive progression is a solid weapon for your blackjack attack. To start off you bet one unit. If it loses you stay at one unit, but when it wins you increase your bet after the initial win to three units. If that bet loses you return to one unit, and if it wins you drop to two units. Your bankroll is what you’re willing to invest in yourself as a blackjack player. Your betting unit should be 1/1000 of your total bankroll. Raise or lower your unit as your bankroll changes. By constantly adjusting your betting unit,you will never go broke,and your bankroll will increase faster in the long run. Positive progressive betting systems are designed to get the most of the players’ winning streak, commanding a bet increase every time you score a winning blackjack hand. The stakes are raised systematically and lowered after the first losing hand.
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Blackjack Betting Strategies are quite popular, especially since the game has been featured in hit movies likeRain Man, 21 and The Hangover.
No matter what the game, there is one universal rule; if the casino spreads the game, someone has developed the “perfect” betting strategy.
Roulette strategies are perhaps the most prominent as roulette strategies and systems have been offered for sale for centuries.
As a dealer and a player, I have been able to see and try many of the most famous Blackjack Betting Strategies.
Blackjack strategies don’t change around the world but it is interesting to see different perspectives. A good blackjack resource for Canadians is CanadianCasinos.ca.
Play Blackjack Live Online
Want to try playing blackjack online for real money? We recommened playing with live dealers at Bovada casino (US friendly)
The Two Best Systems
There are two strategies that every player should use every time they take a seat at or swim up to a blackjack table.
Play to Have Fun
Napoleon was a fan of Vingt-un (blackjack) near the start of the 19th century. For more than two centuries, blackjack has grown in popularity to become the most popular casino table game.Mathematicians have analyzed the game, hundreds of books have been written about it, and a number of myths and legends have been created.
Earning a place in the Blackjack Hall of Fame at the Barona Casino in California is the only honorary award for players of any casino table game. There is a reason that blackjack has remained popular for a couple of centuries; it’s fun! There are many varieties of blackjack. Mr. Green offers a great selection of 15 blackjack games by 6 software providers, including Double Exposure Blackjack Professional Series by Net Entertainment, VIP Blackjack by Extreme Live Gaming, and 6-in-1 Blackjack by Felt.
Spin Palace offers a remarkable amount of blackjack games. There are over 40 blackjack games in total on offer. They also offer practice play which is perfect for sharpening your blackjack skills before you start playing for real money. Most of their games are developed by Microgaming which are very popular in English speaking countries like Australia, New Zealand, UK and Canada.
Yes, the game has a really low house edge, which makes it appealing, but it is a very social game, so in many cases, the table wins or loses as a group. This builds comradery and makes it fairly common for players to talk with one another. The social aspect of the game is a very important one to most players.
Bet the Right Amount
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Set up a bankroll before you go to the table. This is your total stake.
As has been mentioned numerous times, blackjack is supposed to be fun. Playing with money you can’t afford to lose (what dealers and players call “scared money”) practically guarantees you won’t enjoy the game.
It is fairly easy to find table limits to fit most bankrolls.
The Martingale – Blackjack Betting Strategies
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The Martingale system originated in 18th century France and is one of the oldest systems around. The original theory was used to prove that someone with infinite wealth could always avoid a loss in even money bets by doubling the best after each loss. Most likely the first casino game where the Martingale system was touted was roulette, but it can also be used in other areas, such as in stock market trading.
You will often see players use the Martingale system at the blackjack table, doubling their wager after each loss. In theory, this strategy sounds solid. However, blackjack is not an even money game. And additionally, players will occasionally run into a bad streak of cards. At a $5 table using the Martingale system if you lose 8 hands in a row, you will be wagering $1280 on your next hand, so unless you are a legendary high-roller, you are probably better off taking the $5 loss.
2-1-2 (Manhattan) Strategy – Blackjack Betting Strategies
One of the common laments one hears from players is the one where they were “way ahead” but gave it all back. These players are the same ones that usually talk about “playing with ‘house’ money.”
Here is a fact: Once the chips are in your stack, they are your chips, not the house’s.
The second most common lament you will hear is a player talking about missing out on a hot streak. The 2-1-2 strategy helps address both.
First, there is no mathematical foundation for “hot” or “cold” streaks at the blackjack table. Mathematicians will tell you (truthfully) that there is no such phenomenon. Blackjack players know they exist.
As a player you want to capitalize on a good run of cards and this strategy has some merits. Start with a 2 unit bet. If you win you reduce the bet to one unit. If you win that bet you increase to 3 units. Once the dealer wins you go back to your original 2 unit bet.
A run of 10 hands could look like this:
Wager Result +/-
When Can You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack
- 2 W +2
- 1 W +3
- 2 W +5
- 3 W +8
- 4 L +4
- 2 W +6
- 1 L +5
- 2 W +7
- 3 W +10
- 4 L +6
With the 2-1-2 strategy, players will win a bit more with a hot run yet not sacrifice all of their winnings.
Oscar’s System – Blackjack Betting Strategies
Oscar’s System was proposed in the 1960’s in a book by mathematician Dr. Allan Wilson. It is a fairly decent system. The goal of the strategy is to win exactly one unit per series.
The player starts a series by betting one unit. After a win, the player adds a unit; after a loss, the next bet is exactly the same as the previous one. That’s it.
Here are two examples:
When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Real Money
Wager Result +/-
- 1 L -1
- 1 L -2
- 1 W -1
- 2 W +1
Series complete
Wager Result +/-
- 1 L -1
- 1 L -2
- 1 L -3
- 1 W -2
- 2 L -4
- 2 W -2
- 3 W +1
Series complete.
Playing Multiple Spots
Many players feel that playing multiple hands increases their odds of winning. Playing multiple spots can be exciting, but it does absolutely nothing to increase your win rate.
Most of these systems fall under the heading of progressive bets. While these are among the most common, they are by no means the only strategies out there. It is perfectly fine to sit at the table and make the exact same wager every hand. While this strategy is a bit boring for me, if it works for you that is what counts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking out a deck of cards and developing your own strategy as well.
Blackjack Betting Systems in the Long Run
Ok so we’ve covered the popular blackjack betting systems here and highlighted how they are used but are any of them really useful in the long run? The answer is a resounding NO (this article goes into great depth as to why).
When Do You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack
While you might make great short term wins, any betting system will not be a formula for success in the long term. To truly gain an advantage against the casino you must start with learning basic strategy and then moving to card counting.
There are plenty of resources to get started. We recommend:
- BlackjackInfo’s Blackjack School – A comprehensive free resource that covers both basic strategy and card counting principles.
- Blackjack Apprenticeship – Run by Colin Jones, a professional counter who featured in the blackjack documentary Holy Rollers, this site provides a paid course offering video training material, private coaching and more.
- WizardofOdds – The wizard has some great strategy charts but only for 4-8 decks. If you need more customized charts then BlackjackInfo has a good strategy chart builder.
- HolyMolyCasinos.com – Offers a how to guide on the rules and how to play blackjack as well as other popular casino games.
When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Card Game
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10 Crimes of Blackjack
By Henry Tamburin
Many players make horrible mistakes when they play blackjack. Here’s a list of the 10 worst crimes a player can make.
- The crime: Believing blackjack is all luck.
If you think that all you need is a little bit of “luck” to win at blackjack, I strongly suggest that you stop playing the game. Blackjack is not all luck. The reason? The odds of winning are not the same from one hand to the next because the removal of a card from a deck of cards will affect the odds (sometimes in your favor, other times in the dealer’s favor). It’s true that on individual hands, or even a single playing session, luck can influence the outcome, but in the long term, the player’s skill will overtake luck and a player can win more than he loses, or at the minimum, play almost even with the house.
- The crime: Not using basic strategy.
In was back in 1956 when a group of scientists changed the game of blackjack forever when they statistically determined the absolute correct way to play every hand. This strategy became known as the basic playing strategy and by using this strategy to play every hand, the house edge can be reduced to a minuscule 0.2 to 0.5% (depends on the rules and number of decks). The bottom line is this: blackjack is not a guessing game. If you hold a 10-5 and the dealer shows an 8 upcard, there is one and only one correct play. It doesn’t matter whether you are playing in a Midwest casino, in Las Vegas, or Atlantic City, or whether you just lost five hands in a row, or just won five hands in a row, or whether you are winning a lot or losing or lot, the correct play for this hand is to hit. To be skillful at blackjack means you almost have to be robotic and make the same correct plays according to the basic playing strategy hand after hand after hand. You don’t hit 10-5 against a dealer 8 sometimes and stand othertimes. You always hit. If you can’t or won’t accept this, then you should hang up your playing cards and play a different game because you will never make it at blackjack.
When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Winnings
- The crime: Betting on side bets.
Nowadays, casinos have implemented side bets on blackjack tables as a way to increase their revenue because their edge on the game itself is razor thin. These side bets are cheap; usually, it only costs a buck to make them and they come in all different flavors: Pair Square (bet that you will be dealt a pair); Lucky Ladies (bet that you’re initial hand totals 20); Bonus Blackjack (bet that the dealer or player gets a blackjack), and so on. The problem with these side bets is that the house edge is high and although you might get lucky and win a few side bets, in the long run you’ll be donating a lot of money to the casino coffers by making these bets.
- The crime: Using a Progressive Betting System.
The majority of blackjack players use some form of progressive betting which means the player sizes his bet based on whether he won or lost the previous hand. The problem with progressive betting systems is that they don’t change the casino’s edge one iota. The odd of winning the next hand in blackjack isn’t dependent on what happened in previous hands (it is influenced by which cards were removed from the deck). So a player who uses a progressive betting system is deluding himself into thinking he has found the way to beat the house.
- The crime: Playing with a Continuous Shuffling Machine.
A continuous shuffling machine (CSM) is an automatic shuffler that randomly shuffles the cards after each round. Many casinos are replacing the traditional automatic shuffler with CSMs. The reason is because when a CSM is used, the house edge remains virtually the same from one round to the next. When a casino uses a CSM, they can also get roughly 20% more hands dealt per hour vs. a traditional automatic shuffler. The more hands that a recreational player faces per hour, the greater will be the player’s theoretical loss. So playing on a table that uses a CSM is a no-no. You should always play where the dealer is using either a traditional shuffler (where about 70% of the cards are dealt from the shuffler before all the cards are shuffled), or in a single- and two-deck game where the dealer manually shuffles the cards.
- The crime: Playing a single-deck game that pays 6-5 for blackjack
Many casinos have implemented single-deck blackjack games where a player receives only a 6-5 payoff for a blackjack instead of the traditional 3-2 payoff (a 6-5 payoff means on a $10 bet you would get paid $12 for a blackjack instead of $15).These games are really bad news because the 6-5 payoff increases the house edge to roughly 1.4%. It’s a real crime to play any game where the casino pays only 6-5 on blackjacks.
- The crime: Not scouting the tables
The playing rules are not necessarily the same from one table to the next or for that matter from one casino to the next. You shouldn’t just jump into a game without first knowing what the rules are and whether there are better rules on other tables. For example, a table where the dealer hits soft 17 is worst for a player than if the dealer stands on soft 17. Blackjack players should know which rules are player-friendly and which favor the house, and then scout the tables to find the best set of player-friendly rules.
- The crime: Playing when tired or inebriated
How many times have you seen the bleary-eyed player playing blackjack? Or the player that has consumed one to many alcoholic drinks. If you are tired, you shouldn’t be playing blackjack because you will be making too many playing mistakes. Ditto for consuming many alcoholic drinks while playing. Playing blackjack skillfully requires concentration and anything that disturbs your concentration will result in you losing more money (that’s why drinks are free to players).
- The crime: Not paying attention to the cards on the layout
When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Poker
Not too many recreational players pay attention to the cards on the layout. That’s a big mistake. For example, if you have seen a disproportionate number of small cards vs. large cards in the first couple of rounds after a shuffle, now would be a good time to bump up your bet slightly. On the other hand, if you see nothing but aces and faces in the early rounds, you should definitely not increase the size of your bet.
- The crime: Not getting rated
You should always get rated when you play blackjack. The reason? This allows you to receive comps from the casino (free meals, free rooms, free shows, etc.). It cost you nothing to get rated. Just sign up for their player’s card and show it to the dealer every time you play. Your level of comps depends upon your level of play. You can always check with a casino host to find out what kind of comps you will be eligible to receive based on your betting level and the amount of time you play. The comps you receive will lower your cost of playing and sometimes they will turn a negative expectation game (where the house has the overall edge) into a positive expectation game (the game with the comps will result in the player having the monetary edge). The point is that you won’t get any comps unless you get rated, so don’t miss this opportunity to get your share of the billions that casinos give away annually to players just for playing.