I’ve been interested in how casino and gambling games work for as long as I can remember. I remember rolling dice and recording results on paper when I was somewhere around 10 years old. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this curiosity helped me learn many things over the years.

1. Can You Be Good At Blackjack Card Game
2. Can You Be Good At Blackjack Games
3. Can You Be Good At Blackjack Poker

Card counting is the gold standard when we’re talking about winning at blackjack. But some blackjack experts claim you can win without counting. Blackjack is a casino game. That means that the house has an inherent mathematical advantage over the player. Theoretically the more the player plays, the more the casino drains from their pockets. In blackjack, you will get the chance to learn the strategies, and the chance of winning the game is much higher. The biggest advantage of learning the blackjack strategy is that you can win more money and if you lose, your loss will be lesser than playing the game of baccarat.

If you look at gambling the right way and learn how the games work and look for strategies to help you win, it can be a wonderful educational experience. This process can definitely make you smarter.

Here are five ways that blackjack can make you smarter.

The Basic Rules and Game Play

When you learn to play real money blackjack the odds are good that you already know basic math. But this doesn’t mean that learning the basic blackjack rules and game play won’t make you smarter.

Your mind is an amazing tool, and you need to use it to keep it sharp. The more you use your brain, the better it operates. When you play blackjack you learn to quickly add numbers. You also work with at least one variable number when you have an ace because it’s worth either 1 or 11.

Blackjack also helps you improve your reasoning and critical thinking. Do you double down or just hit? Do you split the pair or play them together? Do you take insurance or decline?

All of these decisions require the use of available information. Most blackjack players don’t put much in the way of accurate thought into these decisions. But the truth is that you have access to all of the information you need to make the best decision.

Many blackjack players take insurance because they don’t understand the numbers and odds. Some players know they shouldn’t take insurance, but they don’t understand why. But you can run a simple odds calculation to understand why insurance is a bad wager.

Instead of taking my word that insurance is bad, run the numbers to prove it. This is valuable beyond just learning why insurance is a bad wager. This is valuable because it teaches you to think things through and figure them out yourself.

If you don’t know how to start, here’s how to prove insurance is bad.

The dealer is going to have a blackjack when they have an ace showing 4 out of 13 times on average. This means the ratio is 4 to 9, or 9 to 4. Compare 2 to 1 to 9 to 4 and you see that 9 to 4 is worse than 2 to 1.

2 to 1 is the same as 8 to 4. You can multiply both numbers by 4 without changing the ratio. In order for this to be a fair wager the dealer needs to get a blackjack at the rate of 8 to 4 or better, or the wager needs to pay 2.25 to 1 or better.

Now your job is to use the same kind of thought process and actions on other blackjack situations. And then you can take this beyond blackjack to other things in your life.

Understanding the Casino House Edge

This is important when you play any gambling game so that you understand why you usually lose when you gamble. But blackjack has a low casino house edge compared to most other games, and the edge is changed based on the rules.

When you compare this to other games with a higher casino edge, like slots at 3% to 13%, you can see why blackjack is better. But you need to understand how much better. And this is easy to see when you understand how the casino edge works.

When you know the casino edge you can determine how much you can expect to lose on any casino game. You just need to know how much you risk. Here’s an example of determining your expected losses for blackjack and slots.

Can You Be Good At Blackjack Card Game

You’re playing blackjack against a .5% casino edge, betting $20 per hand and playing 54 hands an hour.

Your expected loss every hour is .5% times $20 times 54. Your expected loss is $5.40.

You’re playing slots on a machine with a 6% casino edge, betting $2 per spin and taking 523 spins every hour.

You use the same method here. 6% times $2 times 523 is an expected loss of $62.76.

As you can see, once you understand how to use the casino edge numbers you can make improved decisions when you gamble. Blackjack is not only better than slots; it’s over 10 times better.

Calculating Online Casino Bonus Value

How do you know when a mobile or online casino bonus is a good deal? If you don’t already know, most bonuses aren’t as good as they appear. In fact, it’s rare to find a bonus that actually helps you win.

You can use the information you learned in the last section to determine if a bonus is a good deal or not. Here’s how you do it.

You deposit $500 and receive the bonus of $500, for a total of $1,000. You have to play a minimum of $50,000 to clear the bonus.

Now you use the casino edge to see what your expected loss is on $50,000 worth of blackjack play.

You look up the rules and find the blackjack game has a casino edge of 1%. 1% times $50,000 gives you a total expected loss of $500. This means you can expect to lose $500 while clearing the bonus.

In this example it means that the bonus is basically a break even proposition. You should have somewhere around your original $500 left after clearing the bonus.

Strategy Decision Making

In order to play with the lowest casino edge, you need to use blackjack strategy. And the way to determine the best strategy is based on the odds of what can happen with each decision you make.

For example, if you have a pair of 8’s, you can play the hand as is or split it into 2 hands. If you play the hand as is, you have a hard 16. This is the worst hand you can have, and you have a high chance of busting.

If you split the 8’s you start 2 hands with 8. You have good odds of getting a card that’s better than an 8 on each hand, so the best strategy is to split the 8’s.

This is an easy example to understand, but some hands are more complicated. But every hand can be played using the best strategy based on odds. You should get a strategy chart and work out the odds for each hand to see why each strategy decision listed on the card is correct.

Card Counting Systems

You can use a special strategy called card counting to get an edge when you play blackjack. This is important in itself, because this isn’t possible with most other casino games. But it’s even more important to learn the process because it helps you think about gambling in a different way.

You bet more when there are more high cards remaining and bet less when there are more low cards remaining. When you do this correctly it gives you a slight edge over the casino.

Conclusion

I started teaching my kids how to play blackjack at a young age. I knew that it was going to teach them math skills without them thinking of it as learning. Starting with the basic rules and game play they learned how to quickly add small numbers.

Moving on to using odds to make strategy decisions, and then teaching them the basics of card counting helped them in many different ways. Neither child plays blackjack in casinos now that they’re grown, but the things they learned playing will help them in many areas of their life.

These same things can help you. It’s not too late to benefit from the game of blackjack.

A few years back, in an article in Blackjack Confidential magazine, I first detailed an idea that has proven to be among the most useful tournament strategy shortcuts that I know. The “Rule of 2, 4, and 5” allows you to quickly determine an optimal bet in many situations where you are trailing the table leader, but must bet ahead of him. This tool belongs in every tournament player’s bag of tricks, and deserves another look. While I’m at it, I’ll add a few extra items to the mix.

One of the more frustrating spots at a tournament table is when you’re behind in chip count, and betting in front of the leader. No matter what you bet, the leader has the ability to roughly match your bet and snare both the high and the low for this hand. Add to that a tournament rule that limits the time you are allowed to think before betting, and it can be tough to make a good bet. Fortunately, there’s a great shortcut that you can use to choose a bet size that maximizes your chances of passing the leader, without having to do a lot of calculations.

As usual, we’ll use some concrete examples here, so get ready to think a little. Let’s imagine our tournament allows betting limits of $5 to $1000, and we’re trailing the leader with $2000 in chips compared to his $2050. The good news is that we’re only $50 out of the lead. The bad news is that the leader can margin our bet easily, since we’re “on the button” and must bet first. The dealer is awaiting your betting decision, and time is running out. How can you decide the best bet size? If there are several hands to go yet in the round, it would be nice to take the lead here, but we don’t want to risk any more chips than are necessary to help the cause.

Since the leader can match your bet behind you, you can’t catch him with a single bet win unless he makes a betting mistake, or you get better cards. However, options for doubling, splitting, and blackjack all give you additional ways to overtake the leader. Let’s look at a few of these possibilities.

His optimal bet will likely be whatever you bet, plus almost all of his lead.

First, consider how much the leader can bet behind you. His optimal bet will likely be whatever you bet, plus almost all of his lead. If you bet $100, he can bet up to $149 and still have both the high and low. (For definitions of the “high” and “low”, see the previous article: Free Hits.)

You’ll overtake the leader if you win while he pushes or loses, and also if you push while he loses. That’s true anytime you bet at least your deficit plus a chip. However, your bet of $100 adds an extra way for you to win, that the minimal $51 bet does not provide. Let’s assume that he bets $149 behind you. Now, if you can win a double-down bet, you’ll overtake him even if he wins his hand. You gain $200, he gains $149, and now you have a $1 lead. That’s no coincidence. But, we can do better yet.

This time, you bet $200. He places an optimal bet of $249. You’ve just added an extra way to win. A double-down obviously still wins for you, but now look what happens if you draw a blackjack. A blackjack on your $200 bet pays $300. If he wins his $249, and you win $300, you’re $1 ahead again. Again, no coincidence there.

One more time, this time you bet $250. Your opponent bets $299. This time, he’s the lucky one, drawing a blackjack. You groan, but then push out the money to double on whatever hand you have. If you succeed in your double down, you win $500. The leader picked up only $448.50. You now lead by $1.50.

Each of these decisions involves several calculations, and going through this process at the table is clearly a problem. That’s where the shortcut comes in. You’re guaranteed to have these extra ways to win if you simply make sure you bet at least the following multiples of your deficit. In our example, we had a $50 deficit going into the hand:

• Bet 2x your deficit ($100): You win with a double-down over a single bet win by the leader.
• Bet 4x your deficit ($200): You win with a blackjack over a single bet win by the leader.
• Bet 5x your deficit ($250): You win with a double-down even over a blackjack by the leader.

So, when in doubt, try to bet 5 times the deficit. If a bet that large endangers your position to other players at the table, consider betting 4 times or 2 times the deficit instead. Worst case, drop back to 1x plus a chip.

Can You Be Good At Blackjack Games

Sometimes these multiples overdo it, and a smaller bet will accomplish the same thing. If your bet is near or at the maximum, the leader won’t be able to bet much of his lead on top of the matching bet. Also, if betting must be in multiples of $5, sometimes these multiples overshoot the target by a little. But, the real beauty of this rule is its simplicity. It’s quick and easy to calculate, and you’re guaranteed to have the benefits described.

You’ll also often find that the leader will not make anywhere near an optimal bet behind you. They may bet too little, and give you extra ways to overtake them, or often, they’ll overbet and give you the low on the hand. Even though you have a considerable bet working, you might be pulling for the dealer to wipe out the table.

Can You Be Good At Blackjack Poker

Of course, in each of these cases, the leader can double-down behind you to retake the high. But, hey, you’re trailing, on the button. Of course you’re an underdog! You have to make the best of your circumstances. Using the Rule of 2, 4, and 5 gives you an easy way to do just that.

See you at the tables, -Ken-

For more articles on blackjack tournaments and tournament strategy, you can:
Return to the Blackjack Tournaments Section, or
Move on to the next article Beyond Wong – A Few Tournament Tips That Uncle Stanford Never Told You.