Blackjack, when you are standing on the outside looking in, seems like a fairly easy game to understand and play. There is some truth to that. Blackjack has some very simple rules and as long as you know the rules you can play the game with a moderate success rate. But let's face it, when you are playing any casino game you are there to gamble and win more than you lose. With Blackjack there are some very important playing tips you might like to follow in order to gain the winning advantage.
The first thing you should know about any gambling game, not just Blackjack, is that you can't win a hundred percent of the time, unless you are card counting or using illegal practices. In Blackjack the important thing is your strategy. The tip we will discuss in this article is "Never Split your 10's."
In Blackjack you can split a pair. For example, if you have a pair of two's you could add an ante bet for the second hand when you split the two into two hands. As the game continues you are playing on one hand to try and reach 21 and then you will play on the second hand to try and reach 21.
The reasons it is said that you should never split your 10's, are simple. If you have two tens you have a total of 20 points. This is as close to 21 without busting that you can obtain. It is possible that if you split your tens you could end up with two aces to make 21 or you could come up with a jack, queen or king. Those cards would give you 20 again.
The likelihood of that happening is minimal though. Most often when you split the higher number card you will bust or not get close enough to 21 to win. Here are a few examples of that.
Say you are dealt two 10's that you split. The first hand you receive a seven, the chance that you will get a card that is under four is very small; in fact you are more likely to get another ten point card. So you stand.
In your other hand you receive a five card. Now you have 15, the table tells you that you must take a hit. The next card is the 7. You have just busted that hand. You still have a possibility of winning the other hand if the dealer doesn't get higher than 17.
The dealer has a seven card showing, and when they flip over the other card they have an ace. So they could have 9 or 18. To end the game it is going to be counted as 18 and you will lose the other hand. In this scenario you have just lost both hands and therefore double the ante you originally placed. By splitting tens you are really asking to bust or come in too low to win the game. |
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I think that a good tip for any blackjack player whose starting out is to really study and understand basic blackjack strategy if you do then you'll have the ability to lower the house edge in the game to less than 1% over time... It's a very handy tool and good thing to know. You can find blackjack strategy cards all over the internet as well. I think I actually found the one that I'm currently using here on Casino Advisor actually.