Win at Blackjack

	If his up card is an Ace, the dealer offers the chance of buying insurance. Basic strategy dictates that you don’t!

The aim in blackjack is to get a hand totalling 21 with two cards (A-K, for example) or as close to it as possible with more cards. You also have to get a better total than the dealer. If your cards reach 22 or more, you’re bust. If your fi rst two cards total 13 and the dealer’s up-card is a King, you call for another card (‘hit’), hoping for an 8 or less. If the next card is an Ace, which counts as one or 11, you hope for a 7 and hit again.

However, if the value of your cards is 17, either with two cards or after hitting, trying to improve your hand is too risky. Some casino rules dictate the dealer must stop at a hard 17 (for example, 8-9). Some casinos say a dealer must stop on soft 17 (A-6, for example). Others rule that it must be played as a total of 7. If your hand is 17, you have to hope the dealer has to stop at 17 or goes bust. If he equals your hand, you don’t lose or win – it’s a stand-off. If he busts, he will return a match of your stake.

The rules used by online casinos vary. Shop around from the hundreds on offer on the web. You’ll be glad to know that many let you play with pretend chips while you learn.

Playing strategies

There are three ways to play blackjack:

1. Rely on your gut instincts regarding whether to take another card, have no understanding of splitting or doubling-down and, above all, never look at the dealer’s up-card. As you’re essentially giving the casino a needless 30% advantage, you’ll be dead meat!

2. Learn basic strategy. This is the most sensible option. Thanks to computer programs that have tested how to play every possible hand billions of times, players needn’t take decisions based on gut reactions or ignorance. Basic strategy has transformed the pot-luck approach of pontoon, and playing hands from instinct rather than computerised logic is as old-hat as when morris dancers were prime-time TV viewing.

Using basic strategy, you’ll win more often (although you’ll sometimes still get burned). And remember that the odds remain against you, so managing your stakes and having a clear fi nancial strategy for winning or losing is essential.

3. Use a card-counting technique. This is the best way to win. It isn’t diffi cult to understand, but it takes time to perfect. Operated well, card counting reverses the odds. Instead of the odds favouring the casino by about 2% even for a good basic strategy player, a card counter turns the odds to perhaps 2% in his favour. However, for those who play in high-street casinos, be warned: the better chance of success via card counting comes with a severe risk of being banned and facing a scary session with the gorillas below stairs.

How to bet

Whether playing online or at the casino, you must place your bet before a card is dealt. That stake changes in the following situations:

a. You’re dealt any pair – two Aces, say. You split them and play two hands in the hope of getting at least one blackjack (although you’ll be paid only even money after a split rather than 3/2). You match your fi rst stake to play the second hand.

b. You get 9-2. Eleven is an excellent total, as there are good prospects of getting a 10 or a face card to give you 21. If the dealer’s up-card is anything but an Ace, you would buy a card, called doubling-down. (Personally, I wouldn’t double-down against a 10, either, but I am ultra-cautious.) If you double your stake, you get only one card. If it’s a 2, you’re stuck with a lousy hand. If you get a 10, you have a great chance of winning. If the dealer’s up-card had been an Ace (or in my case a 10), you simply hit, taking more cards without adding to your stake.

c. If you’re permitted to surrender a hand that you don’t like, fold your hand and lose half your stake (unless the dealer has blackjack, in which case you usually lose the lot).

The most important card

Once you have seen your two cards, check the most important card – the dealer’s up-card, the one you can see. His second card, the ‘hole’ card, is unseen. Your strategy depends on the up-card compared with the total of your own hand.

A hand worth 14 against the dealer’s King is played entirely differently to that hand against a 5. That’s the essence of basic strategy – a gut reaction that a 7 is about to appear should be studiously ignored.

Hit if you’re playing against the dealer’s King. You may still improve your hand and there’s a high probability that either the hole or additional cards will give the dealer a winning hand against 14, so you’ve got little to lose, as you probably wouldn’t win anyway.

However, if you’ve got 14 against the dealer’s 5, you ‘stand’ (do nothing), because you hope the dealer’s hidden card is a 10 and that he then hits a 7 or higher to go bust.

The above example explains in a nutshell what basic strategy can do for your blackjack chances. You won’t always win – the dealer’s 5 may be improved by a 6 (his hole card) and then he could hit a King so that his hand is 21 – but at least you know you went down in fl ames having played the hand correctly.

The anchor position

Until you’re confi dent of your abilities, don’t sit at the anchor position. Indeed, never play at a higher-stakes table, as good players get vocal about bad play. The anchor is the extreme left end of the table and can have the most direct infl uence on what card(s) the dealer may get.

I played at the Bellagio with a friend who assured me he was a good player. He took the anchor seat at a $100 table. When his fi rst hand totalled 13, the dealer was showing a 5. To everyone’s horror, he said ‘Twist!’ Not only is this word from pontoon never used (you simply scratch your cards on the baize, signal or say ‘hit’ to get another card), but no one with half a brain would hit with that hand. I sensed the fury at the table and after two more hands, during which he broke every rule of basic strategy, I took him to the bar and explained that he had much to learn. I bought him a basic strategy card costing two dollars that explains the correct decisions. Buy one! Most casinos won’t allow you to use them at the table, but they can be useful when playing online.

Hit the big time

There’s no one perfect basic strategy for every blackjack game, as the rules are variable. But, for a typical set of casino rules, the decisions you take are set out in the tables on the previous page. I play slightly more cautiously than one or two of the suggested options here and use the surrender option (when offered) if I have bet big with a hand that looks unlikely to win.

So, you’ve had your introduction – now take the information to the table and get winning!