What is blackjack ?
Blackjack is an old yet still very popular casino table game. You can play it is all land-based casinos but also online thanks to Evolution. This game provider allows you to play Blackjack from home, on tables hosted by real-life dealers. These tables are very popular and widely appreciated among online casino players. It’s not because this card game is popular that players don’t make mistakes when playing this game.
Today, Become Gambler will present you the 5 most common mistakes players make at the Blackjack table. The tips we are about to give you can apply both to real life and online Blackjack sessions. Some of the tips we are about to give you may seem obvious, but keep them in mind. They will be very useful for your future sessions.
On which casinos can I play online Blackjack?
As we said before, the game provider Evolution offers a lot of Blackjack tables to online gamblers. This studio is the world leader in the live casino category. Being so, its games are available to be played on the vast majority of online casinos. Here is a selection of trusted casinos where you can play online Blackjack. You can benefit from welcome offers on these casinos, to start playing with a boosted balance.
What are the most common mistakes in Blackjack?
There are quite a few mistakes players make on a regular basis. As we want you to put all the chances on your side, we present you the 5 most common mistakes in Blackjack. Keep them in mind when playing and you will become a better Blackjack player than you already are.
No matter if you are a beginner or an experienced player, we are sure that these tips will be of great help to you.
Ignoring the Blackjack basic strategy
Did you know that a Blackjack basic strategy exists? Yes there is such a thing. It is extremely useful, especially for players who have a hard time taking decisions at the Blackjack table. Most of the time, it takes the form of a table that advises you based on your starting hand and the dealer’s. Following the basic strategy of Blackjack is not a way to win every hand. Its purpose is to lower the home advantage as much as possible.
Ignoring the basic strategy would result in you taking risky decisions, or playing too safe when you are suppose to take risks. This table gives you the best moves to make so you don’t make any mistakes. It tells you when to stand, hit, double or split your hand. At first, we advise you to keep it open on the side of your screen when you play. Once you have played hours of Blackjack, you will know this basic strategy by heart.
As you can see just above, the basic strategy chart gives you valuable information to take the best decisions at the Blackjack table. It tells you that you should always split pairs of aces and pairs of eights, that you should almost always double on a 10 or figure, and that you should always stand at 17 or plus.
The worst mistakes: splitting tens and standing on 12 vs 3
If you have read the previous paragraph and apply its principles, you will not make this mistake. There are two things you should avoid at all cost: splitting tens and standing on 12 vs 3. Let us explain to you why it is considered as big mistakes to take these decisions.
Why should you never split tens? When you receive a pair of 10s or two cards worth 10 (Jacks, Queens, Kings), your hand has a value of 20. As you know, your goal when playing Blackjack is to get as close as you can to 21 without busting. With a hand that has a value of 20, the job is pretty much done. We know you might be tempted to split these tens to try to get two winnings hands, but that is a mistake. Why? Simply because when splitting tens you have more chances to get hands of lower value than your current hand. This is a risk you don’t want to take. Moreover by doing so you would be taking cards that were destined to other players and to the dealer. It would change the outcome of the current round and could make the whole table lose.
Why should I hit a 12 against a 3? When your hand has a value of 12 and the dealer’s first card is a 2 or 3, you have to hit. The reason why you have to hit is pretty simple. With a 2 or 3, the dealer has a high probability of getting a good final hand. You do not want to give him this opportunity. This is why you should absolutely hit your 12, so you try to get a better hand while you can.
Not caring about bet sizing
Have you heard about bet sizing? If not, this information will be very useful to you. While Blackjack is a game based at 90% on luck and 10% on skills, there are betting strategies you can apply to play smarter. One of these strategies is bet sizing. What does it consists in exactly? Let’s see.
Bet sizing is a theory that says that when joining a Blackjack table you should bring at least 100 betting units. This is of course if you want your session to last for a bit. If you start with a bankroll of 100€, you maximum bet should be 1€. It will be 2€ for a 200€ balance, 3€ for 300€, 4€ for 400€… Of course, a lot of players prefer to take risks and tend to place big bets because they are interested in fast profit. While this can sometimes work, in most cases it could end up in you losing your balance way too fast.
Being influenced by other player’s decisions
When playing on a Blackjack table, it’s you and the other players versus the dealer. No matter if there are two, four or six players on your table, you should only care about your hand. Why? Because if you start paying too much attention to the other player’s hands and decisions, it could distract you too much. You may even end up going on tilt because a player takes wrong decisions according to you.
If you decide to play using the basic Blackjack strategy, just keep doing so, no matter what other players do. If you only play in reaction to other players’ decisions, you would end up making a lot of illogical moves. Just focus on your game. If other players are too much of a distraction to you, just play on a VIP table (if you have a big enough balance).
Not knowing when to stop playing
The final piece of advice is useful for every single casino game: Blackjack, Poker, Roulette and even slot machines. It is crucial that you learn to stop playing. When you are losing too many hands in a row, taking a break from the Blackjack table will allow you to think about what you want to do with the remaining of your balance. Do you want to keep playing live casino games or do you prefer to chill on slot machines?
It’s not only when you lose that you should learn when to stop playing. You just had many winnings hands in a row and your balance has increased drastically? Maybe it is time to pocket your winnings and stop playing for today? The lure of money is the casino player’s worst enemy.
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