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Know the Rules of the Blackjack Game; it’s Different at Most Casinos

At almost any casino you might walk into the blackjack will look about the same.

But don’t be fooled.

Each casino has its own set of blackjack rules. Such as:

How many decks they use.

Can you double down after splits?

Does the dealer stand or hit on soft 17? Can you re-split a pair of Aces if you catch a third Ace?

Do they allow Surrender?

The casino always has a percentage advantage over the blackjack player. But depending on the rules and the player, it can vary from .20 percent to .75 percent.

If you’re a bad player, it won’t matter that much which game you play because you’ll be giving away a couple full extra percentage points to the house on top of their basic advantage anyway.

But if you know your correct basic plays, your actual net disadvantage can cut up to half of that away if you stick to the good games. For a $25 bettor who plays once a week for three hours per session, that’s likely to make a $1000 difference at the end of the year.

Let’s review the blackjack games you might run into at your local casino.

Standard Blackjack: The most typical blackjack game will be dealt with a six-deck shoe and the dealer will stand on soft 17. You’ll also be able to double down on split pairs, re-split them out to four hands — and that’s
about it. With this setup, the house will have a 0.43% advantage over a proper basic strategy player.

Hand-held Blackjack: Since fewer decks are known to be better for the player, some casinos pull the wool over your eyes by offering a double-deck game with “tight” rules. If they hit soft 17, don’t allow double after
splits and restrict doubling down to hands of 10 or 11 only, the house has a 0.75% basic strategy advantage. As bad as this game is, you’ll probably find them packed with sheep who flock to play blackjack with only two decks
– but you’ll know better. Don’t get sucked into games just because they’re double deck.

Know the rules.

Now, single-deck blackjack used to be the dream game, but not anymore. Most single-deck games today pay only 6-to-5 on blackjack, making it the worst blackjack deal just about anywhere. Depending upon the rest of the rules involved, 6-to-5 single-deck puts the basic strategy player at roughly a 1.60% disadvantage. 6-to-5 blackjack is a no-no!

Great Blackjack: If you want to trim the house edge to the bone, places in Vegas like the Bellagio, Mirage and Treasure Island have double-deck games with the typical six deck rules (stand soft 17, double after split), which
bring your basic strategy disadvantage down to 0.20%. This is about as good as it gets.

A few casinos in Tunica and Biloxi Mississippi are known to still have a few 3-to-2 single deck blackjack games. A great gamble.

If you want to practice your game of blackjack, I suggest checking out 888 blackjack to play for free.