Three Essential Tips for Playing Live Blackjack

Live dealer blackjack has been one of the emerging forms of online blackjack since its introduction to online players. Simply put, live blackjack offers players a taste of the atmosphere that we can see only in land-based casinos.

Plus, the human touch to the game is something that makes it extremely interesting to play.

Nowadays, we have plenty of options when it comes to live dealer blackjack games. However, what you should take into account is that there are some things you can do to get the most of it. Let’s take a look at them!

Feel Free to Use Strategy Charts

Every time we review blackjack platforms, we stress this — it’s completely legal to open a strategy chart in another window when you play this game on the web. The same is also true for all people who like to play live blackjack.

All you have to do is find one such chart and open it right next to the game. That way, you’ll be able to study each hand carefully and make the best possible decision that will make the house edge remain as low as possible.

Don’t Pay Attention to Side Bets

The truth is, many live blackjack games will offer you side bets that could really bring you a lot of money. However, blackjack experts agree that the best way to approach the game is to simply forget about the fact that side bets exist.

That way, you’ll be able to focus on the strategy part and improve your overall success in this game.

This doesn’t mean that you should never make these bets. There’s nothing wrong with placing them from time to time if you’re feeling lucky. If the lady luck is really on your side, there’s even a chance of making big money.

However, it’s important to know that this has nothing to do with the professional approach to blackjack, as no strategy can help you improve your chances with side bets.

Find the Casinos With Great Live Offers

Casinos on the web nowadays offer a wide variety of blackjack options, but only some of them really focus on their live offer. Therefore, make sure to check out casinos that can offer you the best possible live dealer blackjack options.

We made a list of casinos that have blackjack and offer various bonuses for people who like to play this game, so make sure to check them out and select the live blackjack option that meets your needs.

Oscar’s Grind — Does It Work in Blackjack?

We continue our mission to review blackjack betting systems that can help players in the game. The next one in line is the so-called Oscar’s Grind. It was originally documented by Allan Wilson in the book called The Casino Gambler’s Guide, which was published back in 1965.

This strategy is essentially a positive progression betting system, and it also comes with several different names, depending on your country of residence. For example, some call it Hoyle’s Press, whereas Germans and French gamblers like to call it the Pluscoup Progression.

The strategy assumes the fact that there are things such as winning and losing streaks in casino games. This strategy should help bettors have better control of their investments in casino games, including blackjack.

How Does the Oscar’s Grind Actually Work?

Once you review blackjack playing options and you’re ready to go, you can give it a try. First of all, you need to choose your default betting unit, which should not be more than 3% of your total bankroll. For example, let’s say that our default betting unit is $1. Also, let’s say that your balance for playing the game is $1.

You have to think in terms of profit, and in terms of sessions. Oscar’s Grind divides each play into sessions, which end once you gain precisely one unit of profit.

Therefore, if you bet $1 and you win, you need to consider that an end of the session and start a new session. However, the magic happens when you make a losing streak.

Every time you lose, you just keep betting $1, but as soon as you win, you need to increase your bet by one unit ($1 in this case). Therefore, you need to keep betting $2 as long as your bankroll doesn’t reach $101.

The goal is to keep increasing your bet by $1 whenever you win in your session. As soon as you reach the goal, and that’s increasing your budget by $1, you can begin a new session.

Let’s take a look at a practical example.

  • Bet $1 – Lose – $99
  • Bet $1 – Lose – $98
  • Bet $1 – Lose – $97
  • Bet $1 – Lose – $96
  • Bet $1 – Win – $97
  • Bet $2 – Lose – $95
  • Bet $2 – Win – $97
  • Bet $3 – Win – $100
  • Bet $1 – Win – $101

End of session.

To test this strategy, you should pick any blackjack game (or any other casino game where this system is applicable). Therefore, make sure to select one of the online casinos offering this game and test Oscar’s Grind now.

Just take into account that this strategy is there to help you control your bankroll rather than help you improve your chances of winning.

The 1-3-2-6 Betting Sequence — Does It Work?

Blackjack is a game of chance, but it also takes some skill to get the most of it. Although we review blackjack strategies from time to time, there’s a whole other level of play that we need to take into account, and that’s betting.

Betting in this game plays a role that is equally as important as the game itself. If you cannot manage your bankroll, you’re definitely going to lose, no matter how lucky you get.

Therefore, apart from following basic tips and tricks for the game, try focusing on how you bet on blackjack.

Now, there are various betting strategies here, and some of them are available for many other casino games. For example, the Martingale betting system is unique, interesting, and will help us manage our bankroll better.

But one of the systems that are really great in this game is called the 1-3-2-6 betting sequence. As you review blackjack strategies, you may find this one of the most simple to follow.

Not Hard

Although this combination of numbers may seem complicated, the strategy itself is actually pretty straightforward. In fact, you only need to remember two rules.

The first is never to trigger a sequence on a losing bet. It only starts on the winning ones. The second rule is that the sequence consists of four bets only, and resets to the beginning once it is complete.

Let’s see how it works in practice. Say you made a bet that is $10 for a hand and lost. The next thing you need to do is to repeat the same betting amount and hope for a better outcome.

Let’s say that you won the very next time. Now, you need to trigger the sequence and make another bet, which would be three times bigger than the first bet, and that’s $30 in this case. If you win again, you need to bet $20 the very next time.

If you win again, it’s time to bet $60. The next bet after that is $10, regardless of your result. However, if you lose mid-sequence, you need to get back to $10 and start all over again.

This sequence is not made to help you improve your chances of winning in blackjack. Instead, it is there to help you control your bankroll and have fun in the process.

If you want to test this right now, there are many great online casinos offering online blackjack. All you have to do is register and start your blackjack journey. Once you start exploring the 1-3-2-6 sequence, you’ll understand how this game can be entertaining on different levels.

The Martingale Strategy In Blackjack — Does It Work?

Every once in a while, we will review blackjack strategies and post our opinion on them. Right now, we are going to cover the so-called martingale betting strategy that could help you manage your bankroll better and increase the possibility of winning.

So, what exactly is martingale? It’s a type of negative progression system where players need to increase their betting amount every time they lose a hand. Opposite to that is the positive progression systems where players increase bet amounts every time they win.

The system is pretty easy to apply, but you need to understand how it actually works in order to make the most out of it. For example, if your bet amount is $1, and you win a hand, you should bet $1 again next time. However, if you lose a hand, you should double it up to $2.

At this point, you would have bet a total of $3. If you lose again, you will have to double up, which means that you would have to bet $4.

4+2+1=7. What makes it good is that payouts in blackjack are not 1:1, which is one of the bases for the strategy. However, it gets a bit more complicated here. If it was 1:1 and you win your $4 bet, you would have won a total of $8, which would cover all your previous losses and you would win $1 extra. However, blackjack has a 3:2 payout in most cases, so you would technically win a bit more than $1 extra.

Not Perfect

However, the problem with martingale is that there are streaks. Let’s say that your starting bet is $5 and you lose a hand seven times in a row. The first bet would be $5, and then, you will increase to $10, $20, $40, $80, $160 and $320. At that point, you would have to bet a total of 320+160+80+40+20+10+5, which is $635. In other words, you would require a significant budget to apply the martingale betting system well.

In other words, this system is risky, just like any other system. You have to remember that blackjack is still a game of luck, and as such, it cannot be “cheated” with a simple betting system.

On the other hand, you can minimize the house edge by using a blackjack strategy chart and improve your chances of ending up a winner in this card game.

Is Card Counting Illegal in Online Casinos?

Blackjack is definitely one of the most popular card games in both land-based and online casinos, but one of the main reason for that is that there are many strategies to increase your success. One of the strategies that are widely accepted both by players and casinos includes studying and applying the blackjack strategy chart, which tells players what to play in most of the situations. If you follow the chart, you could minimize the house edge and have fun along the way.

However, this is not the only thing that helps players who like blackjack. In fact, there is this black-hat technique which is often discussed among blackjack lovers, and it is called card counting.

What Is Card Counting?
It is an advanced blackjack strategy that uses math so that the players could count the probability of the upcoming hands. By applying this strategy, players not only decrease the house edge but sometimes even gain the edge over casinos. The risk and luck factor are minimized here, but they are not completely excluded and still play an important role. Now, this is an advanced technique that cannot really be explained in one short text, so we will not discuss it further as that is not the primary topic of this article. In fact, we are interested more in the legality of it.

Is Card Counting Illegal?
Casinos strictly forbid any kind of cheating techniques, but the truth is that card counting isn’t exactly cheating per se as players play according to the rules and only use math to gain an advantage. In other words, it is a sort of flaw in the game that is somewhat exploited by the players and as such cannot be welcomed by casinos.

Therefore, to answer the topic question — no, card counting is not illegal, and you can do it. However, casinos legally have the power to ask the players to stop playing blackjack if they notice that they are counting cards.

In the end, counting cards doesn’t really pay off, especially not in online casinos where such behavior is easy to notice and simply ban players from playing. Instead, you should stick to the blackjack strategy charts and have fun, leaving something up to chance. After all, blackjack is not only a game of skill but a game of chance as well, and luck plays an important role here. Make sure to check out sites that review blackjack casinos and games in order to play the best blackjack games on the web.

What Is Insurance in Blackjack and Should You Use It?

Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games ever, and its popularity stems from the fact that it is super entertaining to play and has a low house edge. The entertaining part is quite clear, as players usually love spending time playing this game.

When it comes to the house edge, it gets a bit more complicated, as this concept is not always familiar to the players who are new to blackjack. Therefore, before we proceed to talk about insurance bets, we need to discuss the concept of “house edge.”

When you read articles that review blackjack, you usually come across the term house edge, and it is nothing more than the approximate amount of money that the house (casino) earns from games. For example, slots have a house edge of approximately 2% to as much as 20-30% (don’t play the latter). However, blackjack has a house edge of only 1.5%, and if you apply the right strategy, you can lower it even further to 0.5%. In other words, gains from this game are usually very low for casinos.

In order to have a larger house edge, casinos decided to offer the so-called “insurance” bets, which are side bets that are treated separately from the main wager. The idea of this bet is to buy yourself an “insurance” if the dealer has a blackjack. This bet pays 2:1, meaning that you will receive $2 for every $1 that you bet. However, in order for this bet to make sense, you need to make the maximum insurance bet and only then will you be able to earn a lot of money if the dealer beats you in the main game.

The thing with insurance bet is that they don’t rely on strategy at all and are pure chance. They are often missed, and it is not advised for people who want to play blackjack seriously to place this bets at all. In other words, if you want to follow some of the basic strategies and refer to the blackjack strategy chart, insurance bets are a big no-no for you as they will probably make you lose more money.

In other words, the house edge gets much higher with this type of bets, and they can do nothing but harm in the long run. However, if you play blackjack for fun and want to take risks, feel free to place insurance bets whenever your gut tells you to do so, but make sure not to overdo it.

What Is the Difference Between American and European Blackjack?

If you like playing blackjack, you probably know that there are a couple of different variants of the game, with the two most popular being American blackjack and European blackjack. Although both games are based on virtually identical blackjack rules, there are a couple of differences that you need to take into account so that you know what kind of strategy you need to apply in order to minimize losses and maximize wins.

The main difference is that in the European blackjack, there is no hole card. Meaning that the dealer cannot peek at his card to see whether there is a chance for a blackjack. Instead, he receives the second card only after all the player hands are completed. In other words, he is dealt only one face-up card so that means that there is no chance for the round to end immediately after the cards have been dealt. When hands end early by the dealer who managed to get a blackjack, that prevents players from losing more money. However, that rule doesn’t exist in European blackjack. Furthermore, it means that the American blackjack strategy chart is probably not going to work on the European variant.

Another important rule is that doubling down in the European blackjack is possible only on hands that have a value of 9, 10, or 11. On the other hand, players can use the double down option on virtually any hand in the American blackjack.

Also, the number of decks that are used for playing the European type of blackjack is two, while in America, dealers usually use six to eight decks when playing. The main difference here is that the fewer decks there are, the easier card counting becomes. However, card counting is not allowed in casinos, so don’t try it even when playing the European blackjack.

When it comes to splitting, European blackjack allows players to split only cards that are like valued and have a value of 10, meaning 10s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings. Furthermore, they are allowed to split only once, whereas in American blackjack, players can split three times.

Finally, there is no late surrender in European blackjack, which makes things a bit more difficult compared to the American variant where players can surrender whenever they think there is no chance to win a hand.

To sum up, if we were to choose what blackjack type is the most suitable for the majority of players, we would have to go for the American one as its users are more user-friendly and flexible. If you want to play the best American and European blackjack, make sure to check out sites that review blackjack and find an online casino that suits your tastes.

How to Play Spanish 21

Blackjack comes in various shapes and sizes, and one of the popular variants is called Spanish 21. It was introduced to American casinos back in 1995, although the game itself originated in Spain long before that. The game is heavily based on classic blackjack, with a couple of differences that make it very entertaining.

If you are interested in trying this type of game, make sure to check out sites that review blackjack casinos and find the one includes this blackjack variant. Even if you don’t manage to find it, there will always be the classic type of blackjack which is very similar and equally enjoyable to Spanish 21.

The game is played on a custom table layout which is pretty similar to the classic table. Furthermore, six to eight decks are used, but all suited 10 cards are not included in the game like in other forms of blackjack. On the other hand, Jacks, Queens, and Kings are in the game.

Furthermore, one of the interesting rules is that a players 21 will always beat 21 that dealer has. Also, a dealer can choose to hit or stand if being on a soft 17, and some casinos will enable players to redouble up to three times.

One of the interesting rules is that late surrender while the player is on the first two cards is also enabled much like double after a split. Players are allowed to draw several cards after Aces are split.

When it comes to hit, stand and split rules, they are actually pretty much similar to the classic blackjack games. You can choose to hit, stand or split only after you place your bet and the dealer gives you the first card. Nevertheless, make sure to check out some of the Spanish 21 strategy sheets and charts before you actually start playing the game in order to get the most out of it. As a matter of fact, even if you want to play an ordinary blackjack game, you should check out a blackjack strategy chart to understand how to deal with most of the possible situations when playing this game.

To sum up, if you like playing online blackjack and all of its variants, make sure to claim welcome bonuses in casinos you choose to register at and boost your blackjack experience. These bonuses usually reward you with extra money that you can use to play games such as blackjack and other popular online casino games.