Things you never knew about Blackjack

A favourite among many, there’s no doubt that you and your friends love to gather around and play Blackjack live. So, whilst you’re biding your time, waiting for your next shot at sweet victory, why not wow your friendly opponents with a few facts about the classic game? If this sounds like a good idea to you, then keep reading!

  1. If played with a few decks, reasonable rules and the standardised 3/2 payoffs, the house edge of Blackjack will be less than 1%. This edge is a representation of the average amount that you’re expected to lose per bet throughout the game when all is said and done, and you take a look at the larger number of hands.
  1. Blackjack is one of the only games in the casino realm where your decision-making skills ultimately determine the direction of the game. It is all about tactics, rather than chance. In games such as Slots or Roulette you are left to wait for the result to unfold on its own, whereas with Blackjack you must look at your dealt hand and make decisions in order to move forward in the game.
  1. When playing at land-based casinos, it is not uncommon for people to attempt to do what is known as “card counting”. The basic premise of this technique is to keep track of the cards that have already been played in order to determine if the deck contains a lot of high cards – favouring the player – or a lot of low cards – favouring the casino. Looking at what cards have already been drawn can help you deduce what you may have left, and make decisions based off of this. However, when playing online it is impossible to count cards as the deck is constantly shuffled. For the card counting trick to work, the cards that are dealt must be discarded, but when playing online they are simply shuffled back into the deck. Bummer!
  1. Blackjack is actually one of the oldest gambling games to have ever been created. In Miguel de Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote – dating back to the late 16th/early 17th century – we can see the first ever mention of the prolific card game. Although the deck of cards which the characters use wasn’t described to be exactly the same as the ones that we use today, they were definitely close enough that the goal of the game was still to reach a total of 21, without going over. Compared to slot machines which have only been around for a little over a century, Blackjack is prehistoric. And you know what they say – respect your elders!
  1. Contrary to popular belief, some argue that the aim of Blackjack actually isn’t to simply get as close to 21 as you can without going over, it is actually to beat the dealer. Now, you may think that those two things are the same, but in some gameplay scenarios we can beg to differ. For example, if the dealer exceeds 21 and goes bust, then you will win the game, regardless of whether or not you yourself are anywhere near 21! When looking at it from that point of view, it is understandable why that idea may need to be somewhat distinguished.