Did you know that even a rudimentary knowledge of statistics can greatly assist you in your Blackjack tournaments? While the popular claim that Blackjack is ‘only’ stats is a little dramatic, it’s also mostly true. And you can leverage that knowledge as a superpower for your own games. Let’s take a look.
Reducing House Edge
Blackjack is one of the few online casino games where a basic strategy can help you drop the house edge. Knowing how probability affects your odds is vital to maximizing your winnings, and reducing loss on bad hands.
That is, of course, if the online casino is playing fair. Unethical casinos will sometimes try to include extra decks in the show, add restrictive rules unnecessarily, or lower payouts. That’s why we recommended using a reliable review site to check out online reviews and make sure you’re playing with a fair casino. You can see an example with this Ladbrokes Casino review.
High Odds
The odds of a blackjack win can actually be as high as 42.22%. There’s also the third result- a push. Pushes account for the end of around 8.48% of games. Of course, that means a loss probability of 49.1%. These odds do, of course, depend on playstyle, rules, and the dealer, as well as the game variant. If you go in without a strategy, don’t expect to win or push 50% of the time!
This is why knowing a basic strategy can help you know when to hit and when to stand. Let’s look at some times when stats, not blind luck, can win the day
Low Pairs
Low pairs can be easy or complex. Low 4s? Split on the dealer 5 or 6. A pair of 5s? Don’t split. Aces? Always split.
But what happens with 2s, 3s, or 6s? If the dealer shows a card between 2 and 6, split. Split 2s and 3s on a dealer 7. Otherwise, don’t split. Hit 2s, 3s, and 4s if you don’t split. But for 5s? Double.
Why? The odds are in your favor to grab a 20 if the dealer has 2-9 up. Same with a pair of 6s when the dealer has more than 7. 6 or less, on the other hand, means you should split and hope they bust.
All of those solid and time-trusted strategies use the odds of various outcomes to guide them.
12 vs 3 (Dealer)
Let’s look at another strategy fueled purely by stats. Dealer is showing a 3, and you’re sitting on 12. Hit- but once. Stand for any additional card added to the hand. Hitting makes you fractionally more likely to win (by about a percent), unless, of course, you have 2 aces to split.
Blackjack and Probability
Even if you aren’t ready for card counting, probability can help you flourish in Blackjack. Most ‘real money’ online Blackjack deals from a 52-card deck, giving you a 32/663, or 4.83% chance of being dealt Blackjack in a single deck game. This probability doesn’t vary a lot for multi-deck games, either. This means a 1 in 20 hands winning average. House edge sits at about 0.5% if you’re playing with a good strategy.
Sounds like too much math for you? Well, playing with a strategy is as important as playing with solid internet. So look for a good strategy card, and follow its advice. While it’s better to build a ground-up strategy for yourself, these are invaluable to math-shy players and will help improve your winning hands. And, at the end of the day, that’s what we all want, right?
