Blackjack Rules, Blackjack Strategy, Internet Blackjack and Play Blackjack Games

How to Play Blackjack, Play Blackjack learn Blackjack Basic Strategy and Blackjack Tips

Black jack is one of the world's most popular casino card games. Much of its success can be put down to its heady concoction of chance and skill, but also because it's a game that's incredibly simple to play. Just make a hand totalling 21 without going over and busting. Picture cards (Jacks, Queens and Kings) count as 10, with all the other cards representing their face value. The exception is the Ace, which can count as a 1 or an 11 - depending on what's best for you. Before any cards are dealt, each player involved in the game bets something between the minimum and maximum values as stipulated by the table and then you are dealt your cards!

If the dealer is showing an Ace, you're given the option of buying insurance. This protects you from the possibility that the dealer has an unbeatable 'blackjack' hand (a score of 2l) by refunding your stake if this happens.

So, once you've been dealt your two cards, what next? You can either hit - ask for another card – or stand, which means you're happy with your cards because you're as close to 21 as you dare get. Blackjack is a unique game, because unlike other games where you play against the house, there is an element of player choice - allowing the wily player (that's you) to reduce the casino's advantage to a small percentage by following what's known as 'basic strategy' - a guide that tells you when to hit and when to stand, and also detailing when it's prudent to double down or split. Whilst on the face of it blackjack can appear to be primarily a game of luck, there is a large strategic element to the game and with skill you can do well.

Besides hitting and standing, you have a few other options. If you have two cards of the same value, you can 'split', creating two separate hands, So if your initial bet was £10, you need to add a further £10 to split the hand. The split hands are then played in turn, and are considered to be two completely separate entities. The other option open to you is to double down. This requires you to double the initial amount wagered, and in return one card is added to your hand. You can usually only double down your opening hand, although there are games that will extend this to cover splits as well. Note that some variations of the game only allow doubling down on hands totalling 9, 10 and II, so read the house rules to see what their own particular rules are before playing.

With online Blackjack you have a distinct advantage over bricks and mortar casino players. In a real life casino you can't access strategies that explain the best way of playing a hand, Play tables need to be memorized and you generally have to be extremely focused in order to do well at the game. Play from the comfort of your home however, and you can have any number of tables, play guides, and lucky charms dangling from your monitor as your sit cracking your knuckles at the virtual baize.

The advantage that this brings to the game shouldn't be underestimated, especially as online Blackjack does subtly favour the house due to the fact that the dealer acts last. It depends on the variation being played, but the house usually has a 5% advantage over the player. However, by employing odds tables, you call drop this to a much more reasonable 0-5% - giving you a fighting chance of walking away a winner. Plus, keep an eye peeled for blackjack promotions - sometimes, casinos offering special rules like surrender and double-after split may actually be offering a positive expectation to basic strategy players; they are counting on players making mistakes to make money.

Usually though, in common with all casino games, the house does have a slight statistical advantage that will bite home in the long run. There are other variations that give you an advantage. Look out for doubles permitted after splitting, doubles permitted on any two card hand, resplitting aces, late surrender, 'Charlies' - where five or more cards with a total under 21 automatically win - and early surrender, where you can forfeit half your bet when the dealer draws a face card.

Black jack is one of the online casino's most popular card games, because it's a fast game that's easy to pick up, but there is one downside to online Blackjack - and that is that you can't card count. Unlike casino-based games, the decks for online blackjack are shuffled after every hand. This means that you can't sit there writing down every card that comes out of the shoe and turn this to your advantage. Many players, enthused by books like Edward O'Thorpe's 'Beat The Dealer', don't realise this. Card counting would, of course, be very easy to do in the privacy of your own home, which is exactly why the cards are shuffled. This also means that online casinos don't need to play with six decks of cards – two is usually sufficient.

When it comes to the specifics of playing online Blackjack, we'd recommend following the same basic principles of gambling in any online casino. Focus on the more popular, well-known sites to get you started. It is extremely easy to implement a Blackjack table though, so you'll find that all of the major virtual gambling sites offer some sort of Blackjack support. When you're still getting started, it's definitely worth playing the practice games, which will get you used to the game before you sign up for an account.

When you do start playing for real money, remember to stick with small £1 bets to begin with - that's enough to give you a warm glow when you win without having to put the family silver on eBay if you lose! However, that's not to say there isn't an advantage to be gained from varying your bets - there is, if you know what you're doing!

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Overall, William Hill's experience in the gambling industry makes their online casino a reliable choice for players searching for a solid all-around experience and perhaps a change of pace from other sites run on Playtech and Microgaming software. They've even become the fastest UK based internet gambling site online and that's not the result of dumb luck. So, to sum up, we'd certainly recommend giving William Hill Casino a chance and, at the very least, and will be keeping an eye on its progress.

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Sky Vegas Casino has a good number of different games to jump into here and users will have a lot of variety to play with. Among the offered table-fare players can check out different styles of roulette, Blackjack and traditional poker.

Slots are well established, featuring a lot of great themes from Monopoly to Wheel of Fortune and they regularly reach large jackpots especially for those that are progressive. Aside from these there are a lot of fantastic and unique mini-games to bet on that provide the kind of play only found through internet casinos. It should be mentioned as well that players also receive access to all of the related Sky sites which include industry leading offerings in poker, sports betting and bingo. Visit their website »

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If you're looking for Blackjack jackpots, Jackpot City is the place to be. This online casino is part of the Microgaming network and thus shares the network's jackpot prize pool. A small part of all deposits that are made in any of the around 60 Microgaming Casinos are accumulated into a special promotion called 'Jackpot Madness'. The jackpot is growing rapidly and the lucky winner will take home an enormous amount of money.

In addition to this, Jackpot City pays $5,000 to every jackpot winner, which makes this a very popular casino room among slots gamblers. If you're not a jackpot hunter, but just looking to play some fun online casino games, Jackpot City is a good alternative as well. The game variety is good with all the popular games, including roulette, craps, Blackjack, and video poker, available. The average payout is high, 97.4%. Consequently, you will have a reasonably high chance of actually winning some money at Jackpot City.

You will also be able to find a suitable betting limit, no matter if you're a low risk hobby player, or a bold high roller. If you like to play the slots you can bet between 1 cent and $75 per spin. In Blackjack you can bet between $2 and $1,000. Jackpot City's sign-up bonus is among the best in the business. If you, for example, deposit $50 the casino matches it with 200% which gives you a total of $150 to gamble with. Visit website »

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