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Generally, people gamble for monetary gain, recreation, or to experience emotional excitement that helps escape problems or depression. In the early days, to socialize and gamble, people visited gambling shops after a hard day’s work.
Today, Casinos serve the same purpose and are commercially-run establishments where customers can gamble on different games of chance like Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack, etc. Technical advancement has led to online casinos today. If you are interested in gambling in top online casinos in South Africa, you can visit https://www.toponlinecasinos.co.za/.
In online casinos, you can play many gambling games based on chance. Most of them are simple, with no need of special knowledge like Roulette and Slots. In contrast, some games involve skills like Blackjack, and Pai Gow, where one must know the game thoroughly to have a better chance of winning.
The Game Of Blackjack
It is one of the most popular casino games played worldwide. This game uses a single or up to eight decks of 52 cards. The players play against the dealer (house or the bank) and do not compete with each other. A player tries to win by scoring more than the dealer, but his score must be equal to or less than 21.
The value of an ace may be 1 or 11; 1 when the total gets more than 21 by considering its value as 11. The face card and tens are valued as ten, and all other cards are their actual value. A total score is the sum of values of all cards one has.
How The Game Is Played
At the start the dealer deals out two cards to every player and himself. Dealer’s first card remains face-up. The players’ first card is also kept face up, but both cards remain face-up in some versions. Now a player speculates based on the dealer’s open card how much the dealer’s count of both cards can be.
If he finds that the count of his two cards is not enough to beat the dealer’s speculated score he hit, he calls for another card, keeping in mind his total count should not exceed 21. But if he thinks his initial count is enough to beat the dealer’s score, he stands, which means he does not ask for an extra card. You can ask for as many cards as you wish till your total count remains 21 or less.
In case both a player and dealer have the same count, it is a tie. If the total of the first two cards is equal to 21, that is, he has an ace and a face card or ten; it is called a natural or Blackjack. He wins an amount in the ratio of 3:2. If the dealer also draws a blackjack it becomes a tie.
After all players’ turn is over, the dealer turns up his second card, and his total score is compared with each player’s score. The player whose count is more than that of the dealer wins. The dealer pays the winner an amount equal to that he has staked and takes the staked amount of the loser.
If a player thinks, based on his two cards and before the opening of the dealer’s second card, that he has no chance to win, he can surrender. In such a case, the player gets back half the amount he has staked, and the dealer gets the other half.
The Basic Strategy
When the dealer’s open card is good, that is, he has a chance to score a maximum of up to 21, for instance, a 7, 8, 9, 10–card or an ace, the player should hit until his count reaches 17 or more. But when the dealer’s open card is poor, say 4,5 or 6, a player should stand the moment his count reaches 12 or more. Lastly, when the dealer’s upcard is very poor, say 2 or 3, a player should stand when he reaches a count of 13 or more.
When you have an ace that can be valued at 1 or 11, called the soft hand, you should hit till your count reaches at least 18. With a soft hand, you should go for a hit even at 17, as in case your score crosses 21, you can value the ace as 1 to remain below 21.
With a score of 11, one should always double his stake, and with a score of 10, he should double if the dealer’s upcard is not a 10-card or ace. If the score is at 9, one should double down only if the dealer’s upcard is from 2 to 6.
One can always split a pair of aces or 8s but should never split a pair of 10s or 5s. A pair of 4 is also not split as it is equivalent to 8, which is a good number. It is a general strategy to split pairs of 2s, 3s, or 7s only if a dealer’s upcard is not a good one other than 7. Lastly, if the dealer has a poor upcard, one must split the pair of 6s.
5 Tips For Memorizing The Basic Blackjack Strategy
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Make A Simple Chart
Make a simple blackjack strategy chart ignoring the exceptions. If your score is 11 or less, you go for the hit, and if it is 17 or more, you go for the stand. If your score is 12 through 16, you go for a stand if the dealer’s open card is 2 through 6 and go for a hit if his cards are 7, 8, 9, 10-cards, and ace. One can easily memorize the chart.
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Remember SSDH
Remember to check first when to surrender, split, double, and hit in the given order. You will automatically remember the conditions for them.
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Use Mnemonics
You can use mnemonics to remember specific conditions. For example, one should split 2s, 3s, and 7s; when the dealer has 2 through 7, one can remember it as 2 three and 7 for 2 thru 7.
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Watch Blackjack Games
Watch streaming games and concentrate on what players do with a particular score.
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Practice On Online Blackjack Games
Play free online blackjack games, as practicing is a must to remember the basic strategy, and you cannot lose money by practicing at real games.
Conclusion
Using the basic strategies in Blackjack increases your odds of winning. It consists of all decisions one must take to keep his chances of winning at a blackjack table. Remembering them may look difficult initially, but with practice, they get fixed in the mind and sometimes one takes decisions spontaneously.
