Online Blackjack Strategy Trainer. The Blackjack Strategy Trainer is a free blackjack game that teaches basic strategy while you play. You select the exact rules that you want, and the Strategy Coach warns you if you make mistakes. Blackjack Strategy Trainer v1 Blackjack Strategy Trainer v2. Sorry, but the Strategy Trainer requires Flash, and your device doesn’t support that.If you are using a mobile device, you can try our mobile friendly version here. You can do this by: Scoring 21 on the first two cards dealt, as long as the dealer does not have the same hand. This hand is called a blackjack. Beating the dealer’s final score without getting over 21. Allowing the dealer to extend his hand with additional cards and getting his score to go over 21.
Blackjack is the best gambling game in most casinos. It’s easy to play, it’s usually cheap, and if you’re willing to put in a minimal amount of effort, you can face the lowest house edge in the casino. The purpose of this post is to teach you how to play blackjack for fun. Future posts will explain how to get more serious about your blackjack hobby.
What do I mean when I saw “play blackjack for fun?”
On a lot of websites, this means playing free games on the internet. You don’t risk any money in such games, but you also don’t have the opportunity to win money.
I don’t think gambling with nothing on the line is much fun at all, though. I’d like to redefine that idea in this post. When I suggest that you should learn how to play blackjack for fun, I mean you should play for real money.
But I also think it implies playing without the goal of earning a living or getting too serious about getting an advantage over the casino. In other words, you’re treating the game as entertainment—which, frankly, is how you should treat every casino game.
I’m assuming you’re brand-new to the game, too. So, I’m going to explain the game and how to play.
The Object of the Game of Blackjack
The object of the game of blackjack is to beat the dealer, not the other players. There might be anywhere from 0 to 6 other players at the table, but what they do doesn’t matter. You only care about your total score versus the dealer’s total score.
The dealer represents the casino. All the players at the table compete against the dealer to determine if they win or lose money. This makes blackjack a fundamentally different game from poker, where you play against the other players at the table. (Casinos now offer house-banked poker games, too, and these games have more in common with blackjack than poker, in my opinion.)
A lot of writers focus on the importance of having a higher score than the dealer. The reality is that many times the best strategy for winning at blackjack is to just avoid busting. This distinction is more important than it sounds, too.
Blackjack is a “comparing game” where you get a 2-card hand to begin with that’s worth a certain number of points. You have the option to get additional cards and increase the point value of your hand. The dealer also starts with a 2-card hand that’s also worth a certain number of points.
If your total number of points is higher than the dealer’s, you win. If you get 22 or more points during a hand, you lose immediately. (That’s what “busting” or “going bust” means.) If the dealer gets 22 or more points, and if you’re still in the game, the dealer automatically loses.
I’ll go into more detail about how those points are determined and how the hand plays out later in this post. First, though, I want to discuss some of the basic mechanics of game-play.
How the Cards Get Shuffled in a Blackjack Game
Blackjack used to be dealt from a single standard deck of 52 cards. You can still find some blackjack games dealt from a single deck, but it’s more common to face a game that uses multiple decks. A blackjack game can be dealt from 1-deck, 2-decks, 4-decks, 6-decks, or 8-decks. Theoretically, you could use more decks than that, but the casino has little incentive to do so.
The dealer is the casino employee who’s responsible for shuffling and dealing the cards to both himself and to the players. The way the cards are shuffled varies based on how many decks are in use. In single deck and sometimes double deck games, the cards are manually shuffled by hand. This process is similar to how you’d shuffle the cards at home if you were playing cards with your buddies on a Thursday night.
Once you start dealing with more than 2 decks of cards, shuffling by hand becomes more unwieldy. Casinos use machines to shuffle cards, too. There are 2 types of machines used to shuffle decks. The more common of these is just an automatic shuffler. The machine shuffles the cards, a cut card is inserted randomly in the shuffled cards, and when the dealer gets to the cut card, it’s time to shuffle again.
The other type of shuffling machine used by casinos is called a “continuous shuffling machine.” In a game which uses this type of shuffler, discards are just fed back into the shuffler throughout the game. Some casinos like continuous shuffling machines because they eliminate the possibility of a card counter getting an edge over the casino. Such machines also enable the dealer to deal more hands per hour. The more hands per hour, the more opportunity the casino’s house edge has to drain the player’s money.
These details of how the cards get shuffled in blackjack might seem minor. And for the “just for fun” player, they are minor.
But blackjack actually becomes more fun as you get more advanced in your understanding of the game. You’ll see that, as you continue your education, the means of shuffling has a big effect on how the game of blackjack actually gets played.
Blackjack Betting
Before you can get a hand of blackjack, you must place a bet. And before you can place a bet, you must buy chips from the dealer. The first thing you need to know about buying chips is that you can’t buy them while a hand is being played. Wait until the current game wraps up before trying to buy chips in a blackjack game.
You’ll notice, if you look, that most blackjack tables have a sign posted on them indicating the betting limits for the table. This sign will list the minimum and maximum bet sizes at the tables. It’s important to pay attention to these limits. If you’ve seen the movie Swingers, you probably remember the scene where Vince Vaughn’s character has only $300 to gamble with, but he buys in at a $100 minimum table, so he only gets 3 chips.
Most casinos in Las Vegas have tables with minimums as low as $5, but you can find some casinos with limits as low as $1 or $3 per hand. Maximum bets per hand can be much higher, depending on the casino. Slots huuuge casino cheats. Some casinos have posted maximum bets of $10,000 per hand. High rollers can negotiate higher per-hand limits, too.
When you buy your chips from the dealer, you lay your money on the table. You do not try to hand the money directly to the dealer. This is a procedure instituted to prevent cheating and collusion. Casinos have cameras in the ceiling which monitor the action from above. They can see money laid on a table, but they can’t see what happens when a dealer’s hand and a player’s hand come together.
Before you can get a hand of blackjack, you must place a bet. There’s a small circle or rectangle on the felt of the table in front of you. Your chips go inside that circle or rectangle. If the table isn’t full, you’re allowed to play multiple hands at once. You must place a separate bet for each hand.
You can change the size of your bet every hand if you want to. This is the primary way card counters get their edge over the casinos, by the way.
Once all the players have posted their bets, the dealer deals the cards, as follows:
How the Cards Get Dealt in a Blackjack Game
The dealer starts with the player on his left and deals every player a card, one at a time. In single deck games, these cards are dealt face-down, except for the dealer’s hand, where the first card is usually dealt face-up. In games being dealt from a show—the box that holds the cards in a multi-deck game—the cards are dealt face-up. The dealer always gets his card last.
Once everyone gets their first card, the dealer starts over again with the player to his left, and he deals everyone a 2nd card. When the deal is done, every player has 2 cards, and so does the dealer. The players’ cards are either both face-down or both face-up, but the dealer always has one card face-up and one card face-down.
After the betting and the deal, the players get to make their decisions about their hands. The dealer then “makes his decisions” about how to play his hand. (I put that in quotes because the dealer doesn’t really make decisions; he must play his cards according to the rules specific to that casino.)
Blackjack Card Values and Being Dealt a “Natural”
As I mentioned earlier, blackjack is a comparing game where each hand has a point total. The game is resolved when someone goes bust (scores 22 or higher) or when the dealer’s total is compared to the player’s total.
The point values for the cards in blackjack are easy to remember. The numbered cards have point values equal to their ranking. The 2 of spades is worth 2 points. The 3 of hearts is worth 3 point. The suit doesn’t matter, just the ranking of the card.
The face cards—the jack, queen, and king—are worth 10 points each.
Aces are worth 1 point or 11 points, depending on what would be better for the player
If your hand has a total of 21 points on the 1st 2 cards, you have a “blackjack” or “natural.” This hand is an instant, automatic winner—unless the dealer also has a natural. If you win with a natural, in most blackjack games, you get a 3 to 2 payout. In other words, for every dollar you bet, you win $1.50. A $5 bet wins $7.50 on a natural. A $100 bet wins $150 on a natural.
If you and the dealer both have a natural, the bet is considered a “push,” which is the same thing as a tie. You don’t win any money, but the casino doesn’t, either. You just get your original bet back.
If the dealer has a natural, any player who doesn’t have a natural loses immediately. The players don’t even get to play their hands.
If you don’t have a natural, and if the dealer doesn’t have a natural, which is most of the time, you get to play your hand. This means deciding whether to take more cards or not. I cover those decisions in the next about strategy.
Dealer Strategy vs Player Strategy
You have only a handful of decisions in blackjack, but that’s more than in most casino games, where your decisions don’t matter. As in all casino games, your 1st decision in blackjack is how much you want to bet.
The more important decisions have to do with whether you take additional cards in your hand. The 2 basic decisions in blackjack are these:
- Hit – To hit is to ask for one additional card from the dealer.
- Stand – To stand is to decide to take no more additional cards and go with the total you have.
You do have other possible decisions, but these are really just variations on hitting. These include:
- Double down – You double down by doubling the size of your bet. You get one additional card, no more, no less.
- Split – You can only split a hand in blackjack if you’ve been dealt 2 cards of the same rank. When that happens, you can put up a 2nd bet, and play 2 hands instead of one. Each of the 2 cards you were dealt becomes the starting card for a new hand. You then play out each of these 2 new hands normally. You could win both of them, neither of them, or win one and lose the other. They’re totally independent hands.
- Surrender – If you really hate your hand as compared to the dealer’s, you can just drop out, similar to folding in poker. You only have to forfeit half your bet when you surrender, which saves you some money when you feel like you have almost no chance of winning.
The decisions that you make are your strategy, and they can vary based not only on the cards you’re holding, but also on the value of the dealer’s face-up card. Mathematicians, by the way, have calculated the mathematically optimal decision for every situation in blackjack. They call this basic strategy, and it’s easier to learn than you might think.
The dealer has a “strategy,” too, but it’s based on the house rules of the casino. The dealer must follow the prescribed strategy, regardless of what kinds of totals the players at the table might hold. His strategy is based exclusively on his total.
If the dealer has a total of 17 or higher, he must stand. If the dealer has a total of 16 or lower, he must hit. That’s it for the dealer, with one subtlety.
A hand with an ace in it is considered a “soft hand.” The ace counts as an 11, but if you hit such a hand and get a high card, you can consider that ace to be worth 1. This prevents you from going bust.
In some casinos, the dealer must hit a soft 17. In others, the dealer must stand on all totals of 17.
The order of play is simple, too. The players play their hands 1st. If they bust (get a total of 22 or more), they immediately lose their bets.
If they have a total of 21 or less after taking their actions, they have a showdown with the dealer after he plays his hand. If the player gets closer to 21 than the dealer, the player wins even money.
And if the dealer busts, the player automatically wins—assuming he didn’t bust before the dealer played his hand.
This, by the way, is where the house gets its edge in blackjack. The players must play their hand 1st, so they lose their bet when they busts EVEN IF the dealer also busts later in the hand.
Conclusion
And that’s how to play blackjack for fun. It’s really not a complicated game at all. In fact, most casino dealers are friendly and will help you figure out what you should do and when you should do it.
I think, though, that blackjack becomes more fun when you learn more about the intricacies of play. The first step is to memorize basic strategy—the mathematically optimal way to play every hand. The next step is to learn how to count cards, which is easier than you think.
Future posts will deal with these subjects, too. For now, go have some fun playing blackjack. You’re facing some of the best odds in the casino when you do.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Mike: Hi, I'm Mike Shackleford with The Wizard of Odds website and I'm here to teach you how to play Blackjack. I'm here with my student, Angela Wyman and Lamone, our lovely dealer and I'm going to up try to explain what I call my wizard simple strategy for Blackjack. Now, first of all, let me explain the object to the game.
It has always bothered me when people say the object of Blackjack is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over. No, the object of Blackjack is to have more points than the dealer without going over. So it's important to understand that you're playing against the dealer and trying to outscore the dealer.
I'm not going to get into all the rules of Blackjack because it's such a common game and most people already understand it already. So let us jump right into the strategy, all right Angela?
Angela: Let's do it.
Mike: Okay. I'm going to break this down into various types of hands the player my get. Now normally, when people present what's called the Blackjack basic strategy that is how to play every single possible player hand by all 10 possible dealer hands. This is a great strategy that any good Blackjack player probably has memorized, but I'm going to teach a slightly simplified version of that.
Rather than looking at all 10 possible dealer up cards, I'm going to break them into just two types; a high card and a low card. A low card is a two through a six and a high card has a seven through an ace. Now, first let's talk about dealer hard totals where only standing and hitting are viable options. If the player has 8 or less, you always hit.
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Now, 9 to 11 can involve doubling so let's skip over those for now. Now, this is the most important rule of the whole strategy, if you have a hard 12 to 16, then you're going to stand if the dealer is showing a small card and hit if the dealer showing a large card. This happens all the time and it's the most important rule that you should remember out of all of these.
Next, let's talk about hard hands where doubling is a viable option, meaning a hard 9 to 11. If you have a hard total of 9, you want to double down if the dealer is showing a small card otherwise you hit if the dealer showing a big card. Now with the 10 of 11, the rule there is you want to double if you have more points than the dealer. For example, if you have a total of 10, you double down if the dealer showing a 9 or less, otherwise you just hit. If you have a total of 11, then you double down if the dealer showing a 10 or less. Think of an ace as being worth 11 points so if you have an 11 and the dealer showing an ace, you're just going to hit that. Next let's talk about the soft hands and these are commonly misplayed by recreational players.
Angela: Okay.
[laughter]
Mike: Okay, first of all, if you have a soft 15 or less, you always hit it-
Angela: Always.
Mike: And you know what I mean by a soft 15 for example?
Angela: I'm not sure what you mean with that.
Mike: That means that it’s a hand that could be counted as either 5 or 15 points because there's an ace in there. So an ace and a 4 would be referred to as a soft 15.
Angela: Got it.
Mike: So you always hit soft 13, 14 and 15. Family guy free slots.
Angela: Okay.
Mike: Now, if you have a soft 16, 17 or 18, then you're going to double if the dealer is showing a small card and very few players do this but trust me, the odds are in your favor because a small dealer up card is good for you and it's a good opportunity to get more money on the table while the odds are in your favor.
Angela: Okay.
Mike: If the dealer has a big card showing, then the odds are not looking so good for you, therefore you're just going to just hit it and a lot of people also make the mistake where they have a soft 18 and the dealer showing a 9, 10 or ace and they stand thinking, “Oh, an 18 is good enough for me.”, no, you should be aggressive in that situation and take a hit against any dealer big card with a soft 18. Okay?
Angela: All right.
Mike: Finally, if you have a soft total of 19 or more then you stand.
Angela: Okay.
Mike: Okay, next let's talk about the pairs or hands that you might split. Rule number one regarding pairs, always split eights and aces. You've probably heard it before but it's true. No matter what the dealer has, always split eights and aces. You never split what I call the three F hands; fours, fives and faces.
Faces meaning any ten-point card. Never split those no matter what the dealer has, and when I say never split, then you just revert to normal basic strategy. Finally, if you have any of the other pairs, meaning twos, threes, sixes, sevens or nines, then if the dealer is showing a small card, you split them, if the dealer showing a big card, you don't and you revert to regular basic strategy.
For example, if you had two sevens and the dealer is showing an 8 then because that's a big card, you don't split it then you revert to regular strategy and just think about it as 14 points in which case you would hit it. Angela, do you know about surrendering in Blackjack?
Angela: I have heard of it but I don't really understand it.
Mike: Okay, this is a powerful rule in the player’s favor that few players actually invoke when they should. I'm going to keep it real simple and just tell you the best situation to surrender because it happens a lot. If you have a total of 16 and the dealer is showing a 10, you surrender.
What does surrender mean you might ask, that means that you just forfeit half your bet. For example, if you had bet a $100 and got that hand, you make a gesture like this on the table and the dealers going to take half your bet or 50 bucks and return the other half to you. The reason you want to surrender that hand is because the odds are so bad that on average you can expect to lose 54% of that wager. You would rather lose 50% than 54% right?
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Angela: Yes.
Mike: Right.
Angela: Right.
Mike: And other players at the table may criticize you for it thinking that it's a -- like you're chickening out, no, you know that that's a lousy hand, cut your losses and surrender.
Question 1 - [07:41]
Angela: Does every casino allow you to do that?
Mike: No, generally speaking you can surrender in the shoe games but you can't in the single and double deck games.
Angela: Okay.
Mike: So if they say you can’t surrender, then just hit that 16 against the 10 and also, you can only surrender on your initial two cards. If you're 16 is composed of three or more or if it’s after a split, then they're not going to let you.
Angela: All right.
Mike: All right?
Angela: Think I got it.
Mike: Okay. Finally, the most important thing to remember. If you only remember one thing about this lesson is never ever, ever, ever, ever, under any circumstances play Blackjack if a winning Blackjack pays 6 to 5 and you're seeing this more and more all over the country is there short changing the players on Blackjack instead of paying the full 3 to 2, they're only paying 6 to 5, that is going to cost the player 1.4% on average which is like tripling the house advantage. So if you see that 6 to 5, just turn around and walk away and look for a better table.
Question 2 - [08:53]
Angela: Oh, I will. [laughs] Well Mike you know now I'm going to have to go out and play your simplified strategy but what are the odds of your strategy versus basic Blackjack strategy?
Mike: Good question. Of course, the odds are a little better with the basic strategy and as a reminder, this is an example of the full basic strategy. You can buy these cards at almost any casino gift shop, and I it's on my website of course and it shows exactly how to play any situation according to the player card and the dealer up card. While this has about 200 different situations, my simple strategy only has about 20. Playing this strategy is only going to cost you 0.14% in additional house advantage compared to the basic strategy. So it's getting you almost the full way to the basic strategy with the much easier strategy that I think is going to be easier for beginners to learn and if you're a good Blackjack player, you really like the game; I highly encourage you to study the full basic strategy once you've mastered my simple strategy.
Angela: For your strategy first.
Mike: Yes, for most people.
Question 3 - [10:05]
Angela: Fair enough. Does it make a difference the number of decks you're playing with?
Mike: Yes. Generally speaking the fewer the number of decks the better it is for the player. However the casinos know this too. Generally the rules are not as good on a single or double deck game as it is on a six or eight deck game, so you have to consider all the rules that the casino is offering.
If the rules are exactly the same between a double deck game and a six deck game you should absolutely play the double deck game. However a lot of casinos are going to take away the option to surrender or re-splitting aces or maybe even double after a split in the double deck game. In that case you can use the Blackjack House Edge Calculator on my website to calculate the exact house advantage under any set of rules.
Question 4 - [11:00]
Angela: Well we've all see those movies where, teams of people go into casinos and they count cards and what are they actually doing? Does it work?
Mike: It absolutely does work. The theory behind card counting is when the remaining cards left to be played are rich in big cards especially ten's and aces, then the odds swing to the player's favor. If they're rich in lots of small cards, then the odds swing to the dealer's favor.
So while these cards are coming out the player is remembering what cards he's seen which tells him information about the cards left to be played. So let's say for example the player knows that there's a lot of big cards left in that shoe, a disproportionate number, then he's going to bet more and he's going to change his strategy in certain borderline situations mainly doubling and splitting more and hitting less.
Now, card counting is not as powerful as the movies and TV shows make it out to be. It's not like in Rain Man or any card counter can clean out the casino. No it's a pretty thin advantage of about 1% depending upon how good the card counter is, so to be a successful card counter you need a lot of money to make a little money, grinding out that 1% advantage.
Angela: Mike, sometimes when I’m playing Blackjack this happens to me.
Player: Stand.
Angela: What are you going to do about that?
Player: I don't know about that. You took the dealers bust card. I would’ve won.
Angela: I was playing correct strategy.
[00:12:46] Player: Still, hey you took it from me.
Question 5 - [12:50]
Angela: What difference does it make? Was that other player right to criticize me?
Mike: Absolutely not. That's one of the biggest myths in Blackjack is that the third baseman or any player in Blackjack can somehow jinx the whole shoe. A bad Blackjack player does not cause the other players to win or lose anything.
Of course you can look at one certain hand and say you just made the whole table lose, but it's just as likely as anything that he does to help the whole table win. On average it makes no difference what the other players do. So that guy who criticized you was being rude and he was mathematically incorrect. So always follow that basic strategy.
Angela: Well, there's been times where I’ve had a Blackjack and the dealer asked if I wanted insurance.
Mike: Yes.
Angela: And this happens.
Dealer: Insurance.
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Angela: No, I don’t want insurance.
Dealer: Are you sure that [unintelligible 00:13:50] money?
Angela: No, I am sure. The wizard says you never take insurance.
Dealer: The wizard. That sounds like some kind of-
Angela: No, no, he knows what he is talking about it. I don't need insurance.
Dealer: All right, I don’t want to say I told you so. See I have a Blackjack, and it’s a push you would won even money.
Question 6 - [14:12]
Angela: Was the dealer right?
Mike: No, the dealer was absolutely wrong and this happens to me all the time. You absolutely should never take insurance. It's a sucker bet. On average the house advantage is 8.4%, it doesn't make any difference what the dealer has. Now, it happens all the time where the dealer says it's a sure win, even money don't you want it? No. Your odds are a lot better going for that 4, 3 to 2 to win. So repeat after me never.
Angela: Never.
Mike: Take.
Angela: Take.
Mike: Insurance.
Angela: Insurance.
Mike: Way to go.
Angela: All right.
Mike: Looks like you have another question, Angela.
Question 7 - [14:57]
Angela: Well Mike, what are the best Blackjack rules I can realistically expect to find in Las Vegas.
Mike: Good question. What I like to tell people is to try to find what I call the liberal strip rules that consists of a six deck shoe game. The dealer stands on a soft 17 which is very good for the player. You can double after a split, you can surrender and you can re-split aces. If you can get all those rules the house advantage is going to be about 0.25% which is about as low as it ever gets.
Angela: We'll have to find a casino that offers all that.
Mike: Casinos that offer that are generally on the Las Vegas strip. Lots of times they have higher minimums to those games, starting anywhere from 25 to 100 bucks. So if they're for the higher rollers.
In the high limit rooms you usually find these set of rules. So let's say that you are a little uncomfortable betting as much, into the green or black chip area, then you're going to have to suffer some worse rules there as long as you're not playing 6 to 5. You're going to be okay.
Again, the calculator on my Blackjack page on my website wizardofoz.com we’ll tell you the house advantage under any set of rules. Let me also say my other website wizardofvegas.com will tell you the current Blackjack rules for any casino in Las Vegas.
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Question 8 - [16:28]
Angela: All right. I think I know your answer to this one but I’ve got to ask. What about the side bets and Blackjack?
Mike: Repeat after me. All.
Angela: All.
Mike: Side.
Angela: Side.
Mike: Bets.
Angela: Bets.
Mike: Are.
Angela: Are.
Mike: Sucker.
Angela: Sucker.
Mike: Bets.
Angela: Bets.
Mike: The casinos are trying to eke more money out of their Blackjack tables by adding side bets to them. There are tons of them available. Time doesn't allow me to explain all of them, but they're all sucker bets, some are more sucker bets than others, but as a rule of thumb, just avoid all of them and just stick to the base game.
Let's summarize Blackjack. Blackjack is a great game, almost everyone knows it. It's very easy to find in any casino and that has a very low house advantage if you play properly. What I’ve been explaining in this video is what I call my wizard simple strategy.
It can be found in my business card if you're lucky enough to have one or it can be found on my web site wizardofoz.com. The house advantage. Following my simple strategy is just about a tenth of a percent higher than the full basic strategy. I have tons of information about Blackjack on my website wizardofodds.com including a demo game that you can play and it'll correct you if you make any mistakes and finally if there's just one thing to remember about this whole video. It's never play 6 to 5 Blackjack.