Blackjack Reviews

As one of the most popular casino games in the world, Blackjack does have a lot of variations. The simplest form or Blackjack variation is of course table rules; naturally, different tables use different rules. You may be allowed to double down after splitting or even re-splitting when your hand constructs another pair on certain tables and denied the same advantages in others.

When you play at non-U.S. casinos, the dealer has no hole card; both cards will be open and you can easily act accordingly. This will seriously affects players’ decisions, but it will also increase house edge by 0.11%. Players can choose to double down or split even better when the dealer has no hole card because they know just how strong the dealer’s hand is.

Blackjack side bets are also available in certain casinos, allowing you to make extra profit when you achieve certain things. One of the most common Blackjack side bets is of course the three 7s, which allows you to wager additional chips and win regardless of the main game result. Side bets are great, but the house advantage is usually quite high.

Last but not least, the most unprofitable Blackjack variation: dealer wins ties. Certain tables do use this particular rule, although they are quite hard to find since players usually avoid such tables.

Knowing the number of decks used on a certain table can seriously help you count your odds as well as the house’s advantage. It is no secret that the number of decks used affects players substantially; you may discretely ask the pit boss or your dealer about the number of decks being used on a single table, but most of the time you will be able to assess it yourself by seeing the kind of shoe used to store the cards.

Casinos usually offer better rules and payout ratio for multi-deck Blackjack tables. Single-deck tables usually pays 6 to 5 for Blackjack, which is fairly low compared to 3 to 2 or even 2 to 1 offered by multi-deck tables. Although the house advantage on multi-deck tables are relatively higher, it will be compensated with better payout ratio as well as other options — such as allowing re-splitting or doubling down after splitting — making the game still very profitable.

You should, however, avoid tables where they use continuous shuffling machine where cards are returned to the shuffler after each round. Such practice makes the house advantage soar very high, and beating the game will be that much harder for sure.