You’ve just been dealt a hand in Blackjack. Crunch time Do you hit or stand? Double down? Split pairs? Ask anyone familiar with Blackjack and they’ll tell you—understanding basic strategy should be your goal before sitting down at the table. Luckily, you don’t need to figure out Blackjack strategy yourself. Instead, you can study a pre-made, ready-to-go, Blackjack strategy cue card. Think of it as your personal insider’s guide to the game.

The science behind the strategy

Tom from Communication Group 34 takes you through the maths of blackjack! Hub Video: Rule Video: https://www.yout.

What makes the Blackjack strategy card so special? Math. Developed way back in the 1960s, the strategy was devised by an early IBM programmer named Julian Braun. This clever computer whiz theorized that the odds and possibilities that occur as cards are distributed, could be calculated by machine. Turns out, he was right.

The first scientific and mathematically sound attempt to devise an optimal blackjack playing strategy was revealed in September 1956. Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott published a paper titled The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack in the Journal of the American Statistical Association.
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Setting his sights on breaking Blackjack down into its basic mathematical components, the enterprising Mr. Braun sat at his room-sized computer terminal where it sorted through more than nine billion card combinations (yes, you read that correctly—nine billion).

How it works

The results of his work can be found today on the Basic Blackjack Strategy cards commonly available online, and in some casinos. In a nutshell, the cards explain how to respond to any and all possible Blackjack card combos. With just a glance, players can get a sense whether the odds are better to hit, stand, split, double down, etc.

When it comes to PlaySmart’s versions of the card, there are two, depending on whether dealers must “hit” or “stand” when their hand totals 17—a rule which varies depending where you play. While the random chance of the cards mean no decision ever guarantees a win, basing your moves on basic strategy can give you an edge over going with your gut.

Here’s what the cards look like.

To use it, players simply find their hand in the left hand vertical column, compare it with the “dealer’s hand in the top horizontal column, and follow the guidelines. Among the rules are universal insights like:

Always split Aces
Never split tens
Always stand on a 17 (if the hand doesn’t include an ace)
Always hit on an 8 or lower

It feels like cheating, but it isn’t

Using a basic strategy card may feel like cheating, but since it’s based purely on the logic of card values, it’s more like having a math tutor at your side. If you’re playing at a casino instead of online, make sure to check with your dealer if you can use one during play, and if not, you can always study up beforehand.

Ready to tackle Blackjack? Download and print PlaySmart’s Blackjack very own strategy card.

To learn even more about Blackjack, including basic rules, odds and etiquette, visit PlaySmart now.

If you’re a beginning casino gambler, the odds are good that you don’t know the best games to play. And you probably don’t know the best way to play them. Casinos offer so many options that it’s challenging to know where to start.

In this article about seven proven casino strategies for beginning gamblers, you’re going to learn some simple ways to get started and quickly advance beyond beginning casino play.

It all starts with a simple decision that every casino gambler needs to make. After you make this decision, all you need to do is learn how to use some simple math.

1. Specialist or Generalist Casino Gambler

Casino gamblers usually fall into one of two groups. They either play one game all of the time or they play many different games. Casino gamblers almost all have something in common. Most casino gamblers are losing more money than they win. And this is true for both groups that I mentioned.

It’s possible to be a generalist casino games player, which means playing more than one game, and win. But this is the hard path. An easier path is to become a specialist.

This makes sense if you think about both options. Casino games are set up to make it difficult to win. This means you’re going to have to become a master at a game to have any realistic chance of winning.

The fastest way to master a casino game is to spend all of your time focusing on it. You still have to choose the right game. But when you divide your attention between two or more games, it’s going to take longer to master a game.

You’re going to learn what the best casino game option is before the end of this article. But the next thing you need to learn is how you can use some simple math to become a better casino gambler.

2. Use Simple Math

Most people don’t care much for math, and some people flat out hate using it. Casino gambling is based almost 100% on math. The combination of these two things is one of the main reasons why casinos are so profitable.

The most important thing you can do as a beginning casino gambler is to learn how to use a few simple mathematical principles. And the good news is that these principles aren’t hard to master, even if you don’t like math or don’t think that you’re good at it.

To get started, you need to learn what the return to player percentage and the house edge are, then learn how you can use these numbers when you gamble.

Every casino gambling activity has a return to player percentage and a house edge. These two numbers are related, and when you add them together, they always equal 100%. This means that if you have one number, you can quickly determine the other.

The return to player percentage is how much of the money you wager is returned to you. The house edge is the percentage of the money you wager that the casino keeps.

A game with a 97% return to player number has a house edge of 3%. You can quickly compare casino gambling activities using either return to player percentages or house edge. A casino game with a higher return to player (RTP for short) is usually better. And a casino game with a lower house edge is usually better.

3. Understand How to Predict Losses

The next step is to use either the return to player percentage or the house edge percentage to predict how much you’re going to lose when you play any casino game. This is easy with only a few pieces of information.

Here’s what you need:

Either the return to player percentage or the house edge percentage
The average size of your wagers
How many wagers you’re going to make

If you have the return to player percentage, subtract it from 100% to get the house edge percentage. If the return to player percentage is 99%, the house edge is 1%.

Multiply the house edge percentage times the average size of your wagers times the number of wagers you’re going to make. House edge percentage X average wager size X number of wagers = Expected loss amount.

You’re playing a blackjack game with a return to player of 99%. This makes the house edge 1%. Your average wager size is $25 and you play 50 hands every hour and play for 4 hours.

1% X $25 X 200 = $50

When you play in this situation, you can expect to lose close to $50. This is the average loss expectation based on a large number of hands. In a four-hour period, your actual results might be higher or lower.

4. Learn How to Find an Edge

The house edge is what makes casinos profitable. This is why all casino gambling activities have a mathematical edge.

Does this mean that you can’t win gambling in a casino?

Of course, because of short-term variance, some casino gamblers win sometimes. But very few of them have learned how to win in the long run.

They never learn how to find an edge. Sadly, there are only a few casino games that allow you to get an edge. The best one to play is covered in the last section in this article. Other than this, you should play casino games

Blackjack Mathematical Strategy