Master your own online gambling blackjack strategy

Blackjack is often called ‘twenty-one’ because 21 is the number you need to come closest to in order to win. The top three aims of a blackjack game are:

• To calculate the best possible chance of winning by studying your cards and the dealer's cards.
• To reduce your chances of busting.
• To minimise losses by knowing when to surrender and when to stick.

Remember that there’s no blackjack strategy in online gambling that guarantees success every time, but learning the basics of the game is the first step to mastering a betting style that works for you.

Start with the fundamentals to develop a solid blackjack strategy for gambling online:

• Blackjack can be played with up to eight 52-card decks
• An ace can be counted as a 1 or an 11
• Tens and face cards are counted as 10
• An ace and any 10 point card outrank all 21-point hands

Blackjack strategy in online gambling isn’t a one size fits all approach. Each website is different, and not all casinos offer the same versions. To select the ideal variant for your skill level it’s worth looking at a few of the options available.

Basic online gambling blackjack variants include:

• Blackjack double exposure, in which both of the dealer’s cards are exposed at the start of the game.
• Single deck blackjack, played with only one deck of cards.
• Blackjack 5 hand, which has the same rules as the single hand game, but you play with 5 hands simultaneously. Try it when you have an advanced betting and blackjack gambling strategy.
• Multiplayer, which offers seats to around 5 players and allows you to play against friends.
• Progressive blackjack, in which the jackpot increases with every bet you make.
• Blackjack switch, where you play with two hands at the same time and have the opportunity to swap cards between them.

Although there’s no online gambling blackjack strategy that can guarantee a win, there are a few suggestions to stick by as you learn to play the game. For example, when you’re dealt your initial two cards in the game, you have the option to split the pair into two different hands and place a second bet. When this happens here’s basic blackjack strategy for gambling online:

• Always split aces
• Never split fours or fives
• Split twos, threes, sixes, sevens and nines, unless the dealer's card is 7 or higher
• Always split eights
• Never split tens and face cards

This is when you’re allowed to double your bet after receiving your first two cards. The reason why doubling down is a favourable gambling tactic is because it gives you a statistical opportunity to beat the dealer.

Deciding when to take a hit or not is something you’ll figure out the more you play. There are many different statistical theories out there to help you figure out the safest approach, but here’s two top blackjack gambling strategy basics to get you started:

• If you have 11 points or less, take a hit. It doesn’t matter what the dealer is showing because you can’t bust.
• If you have 12 or 16 points, take a hit if the dealer has 7 points or more.

When a dealer shows an ace from his top card, he will offer players the option to place half of their original bet as an insurance. If the dealer turns over the second card and has 21 then you win your insurance bet. If the dealer doesn’t, then you lose the insurance bet. If you’re a beginner, gambling online blackjack strategy best practise is to avoid taking insurance during a game, because the odds of the dealer having 21 are so unlikely.

There’s no better way to learn than by playing. Now that you know about how to win real money with a gambling online blackjack strategy, why not try it for yourself at one of the recommended South Africa sites?