How to Compare your Card and the Dealer’s Card in Blackjack
Here is one key point to keep in mind when you play blackjack at Everygame online casino. The entire edifice of strategy in blackjack is based on the relationship between your cards and the dealer’s up card!
A lot of blackjack players just look at their own cards and determine how to proceed based on their point count. These players usually stand on 12 or more points in all situations.
We will see how this is an incorrect approach to blackjack.
On the other hand, there are some blackjack players who look at the dealer’s up card and always project that the hidden card will be a10 point card so they hit when they should stand.
Who are You Playing Against?
A lot of blackjack players would answer the question: “what is the player’s objective n blackjack?” by saying that the objective is to get as close to 21 points as possible without going over that amount.
The part of that answer that talks about not going over 21 is correct but the part about getting as close to 21 points is incorrect. The better answer is simply that the goal of every blackjack player on every hand is to beat the dealer. If you can beat the dealer with 12 points, all the better because when you beat the dealer, you win money!
Win Back about 99.5% of the Money You Bet
Playing blackjack correctly has a return to player rate of about 99.5% so you can play the game for a while and win a little or lose a little. With correct strategy, you won’t get rich and you won’t lose your entire bankroll and if you enjoy the game, you will get a lot of satisfaction knowing that you played the game the way it was supposed to be played!
The Biggest Disadvantage in Blackjack is that the Player Always Goes First
When you play online at Everygame Casino, you are playing head to head with the dealer and no one else is playing alongside you. At a land-based casino, there will probably be other players at the table and the following scenario will play out pretty often: in this scenario, one player loses automatically because he or she went over 21 points and still loses even if the dealer gets an even higher point count than they had!
Thus, the player loses automatically if they bust, so a very big part of blackjack strategy is to avoid busting. That’s why so many gamers always stand with 12 points. As we said, that is incorrect strategy as we will soon see.
Land-based Blackjack and Player Intimidation
We have to mention here, as an aside, that some blackjack players at land-based casinos who are trying to use the best strategy will be intimidated to abandon that determination by other players at the table blaming them for their own losses when the “subversive” player hits with 12, 13, 1nd even 14 points!
If you find yourself at such a table at a land-based casino, our strong advice is to simply leave the table. Never abandon the correct strategy for a given blackjack hand. Better to “abandon” the table than to abandon one’s principles. This might have been what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote “to thine own self be true”!
What is the Only Reason a Player Hits in Blackjack?
The correct answer is simply to get a better hand. Now, we get to the art of comparing our hand with the dealer’s hand. Let’s say that the dealer has a six showing. She could have any card down but we have to compare our hand to her hand. If we have even as few as 12 points, we stand in this positon.
Statistical analysis has shown that the dealer will bust often with a six showing so even though we might not have a better hand than the dealer now, we will often have a better hand after the dealer takes a card or two. In that case, getting a better hand was not a reasonable goal so we didn’t take another card!
What if the Dealer had a Seven?
Here the strategy changes dramatically! The dealer will win with an ace or a 10 point card so the player has to hit with 12, 13, and 14 points. The player has to risk going over 21 in order to get a better hand. If the player has 12 points and gets a 4, she or he then stands even though the dealer has a 7 simply because the chances of busting with 16 points are too high.
When Should the Player Double Down?
Generally speaking, the best time to double down is when the player has 9, 10, or 11 points. You never double down with more than 11 points! It is also good strategy to double down with 8 points if the dealer is showing a 7 or 6 or possibly a 5. That’s because if you get 18 points, the dealer could lose with 17 points or bust after taking a card or two.
Even if you don’t get 18 points, you can win the hand if the dealer busts! Doubling down doubles your bet so knowing when to do so by comparing your hand with the dealer’s card can go a long way to doubling your wins on selected hands!
When Should the Player Split?
In general, the player will split aces but never two 10 point cards. Most analyses also say to split eights =unless the dealer has 9, 10, or an ace showing. The reason to split eights is because 16 points is a very poor holding for the player.
Always Trust the Random Number Generator
The RNG, as it is called, is software that randomly chooses the next card. You might have a run of poor luck. A lot of blackjack players abandon correct strategy when their luck is poor and lose even more. At Everygame Casino, you are playing online so the best strategy if your luck is running poor is to stop playing!
Players at land-based casinos play on because playing casino games is the reason they spent money travelling to the casino!
Now, as quickly as the RNG produces a run of poor luck, it could also produce a run of good luck. However, it is very important to understand that the RNG has no idea what your cards are or what the dealer’s up card is!
You have to play blackjack by understanding the synergistic relationship between your cards and the dealer’s card! The RNG puts paid to the Gambler’s Fallacy which basically states that bad luck will turn into good luck so to recoup losses the player should bet more.
This is poor judgment and we urge players to disregard it at all times.
Join Everygame Casino
We offer several variations of blackjack. You can use a strategy card to play blackjack here. So, blackjack is one of the best online casino games for gamers who want to have fun playing at little risk. The 99.5 % return to player rate is why the risk is so small.