Blackjack Rules and Online Casinos to Play Blackjack

Blackjack is a terrific game to play in an online casino. One of the reasons for this is that it is very easy to play with the advance design of the interface, and you can actually give yourself a better chance to survive and even win by employing some smart principles of strategy.

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The object of the game of blackjack is to beat the house. That comes by way of compiling a hand that is closer to the total of 21 than that of the house or by staying under 21 while the house exceeds that total, or "busts."

In the blackjack game as it is played online, you are playing one or more hands against the house. Customarily you are going to receive two cards face-up, while the house deals itself one card face-down and the other card in plain view. Then it is time for you to make a decision. You can take a HIT, which adds cards to the hand you have already. If you like the hand you've got, at any point in the process, you can declare at the appropriate point that you want to STAND.

You can get more money on the table by choosing to DOUBLE, putting down a wager equal to your original bet, banking on the proposition that your hand is better than the house has. If you have been dealt a pair of cards of equal value, you can choose to SPLIT. You are somewhat fortunate if you are allowed to SURRENDER, where you can give up half your bet while half of it, as you want to minimize the effect of a bad hand. There is, in fact, a blackjack variation in some casinos that is called "Blackjack Surrender."

There are other options open to the player. You can, in some cases, DOUBLE AFTER SPLIT, which means that once you have split a hand, and created two separate hands, you can double on either of those hands. And RE-SPLITTING would permit you to split up cards again if received yet the same rank of card again after a split. With the exception of insurance, which we are going to cover in a moment, or "natural" blackjacks (two-card 21's), which pay out at 3-to-2, all hands in blackjack pay off at even money.

Blackjack Tips and Advice

Try to learn what is known as a "Basic Strategy," which is a set of decisions that represents the best play to make for any player vs. dealer situation. Once you play it, don't vary from it.

As part of that Basic Strategy, you are always going to split pairs of Aces and eights when they are dealt to you. There is really no other way to go.

Insurance, in which you place a bet equal to half the present wager and get paid 2-to-1 if the dealer turns up a blackjack, is an unwise option to exercise from a mathematical standpoint. The odds against it winning for you are almost 2.2-to-1.

Try to shop for games that offer the best options. We have already mentioned surrender as one of those options. Avoid games that limit your options.

It is not advisable to raise your bets in blackjack unless you are doing so strictly in proportion to a bankroll that has gotten bigger. And stay away from the "Martingale" systems where you double bets after losses. That is a sucker's game.

Remember that if you see games that appear to give you very advantageous options, like Double Exposure Blackjack for example, the house has more than made up for what would be perceived to be an advantage by taking back those edges and then some.