I’ve been taking a break from poker later as the cards have not been running my way, and as usual I turn to Blackjack as my goto gambling game.
It is my number one game, I actually prefer it to poker, but whereas with poker I might have an edge, with Blackjack I have no such luxury. Still I love it, and when I run hot I can clean up. When I’m not running hot though, I run into trouble. But that’s another story.
When I’m not doing any good at any gambling game I find it best to go to my local casino. The games will be that much slower that if you are not getting cards you can still pass the night away without doing too much damage. When I am running good of course I prefer to play online, as you can get so many more hands in per hour and there are few distractions from the serious business of taking the casinos money.
Anyway, playing recently at a real life casino, it struck me how many players don’t actually know the simple rules of Blackjack. I suppose it could come from learning how to play online, where you can not actually do anything wrong as the software simply won’t let you make a mistake.
But then again I don’t know if that explains it as, with Blackjack being so broadly popular, and people of all ages play it, some of them must have learned how to play it in the real world. Either way, people make a lot of mistakes when playing. Not only in how they actually bet and handle the cards (don’t take them off the table), but also in when they hit and when they stick.
I have seen quite a few players stick on 16 when the dealer is showing a ten. Some will even stick on 15, and give a great cheer when the dealer busts. Ok, sure, they won that one, but over time playing like that will be a losing play. The percentages in Blackjack are so tight that making losing plays like that will eventually eat away any profit you have made from a lucky streak.
If you want a nice handy chart of when you should hit and when you should stick then head on over to http://www.gamingclub.com and go to their Blackjack page under the casino games menu item. They have a nice chart of the complete basic strategy that you should follow. You can even download it to you computer (I’m sure they won’t mind).
