Blackjack is more than just a gambling game that involves guessing, contrary to what gamblers might think. Most casinos are games that involve guessing. However, with every blackjack hand there's a proper strategy as well as an ineffective strategy. The most basic strategy is the best strategy. The most effective strategy is the mathematically optimal strategy-that is, it maximizes your winnings while minimizing your losses on each hand over time.

most played games of other games on cards such as poker do not have a fundamental strategy. For instance, there is no basic strategy in poker. Poker players play their hands based on whether or not they think his opponent holds the strongest or weakest hand.

A fundamental strategy is not possible for any card game so long as the opponent is able to make decisions, regardless of whether those decisions are good or bad, on how to play his hand. There wasn't a blackjack strategy to be found for thousands of years. Blackjack was not a game played in casinos in which the dealer was obliged to display only one card, and then play according to the house rules. Instead, it was more of a type of game where both of the dealer's cards were hidden, the dealer could play his hand however he wanted, and players were able to fool the dealer by using their own strategy.

The American casinos introduced significant changes to the rules of Twenty-One to expose one of the dealer's cards, and to require that the dealer adhere to a hit/stand strategy. The game was transformed from a traditional poker game that was based more on psychological factors to one that was purely mathematical.

The Reasons Why the Basic Strategy Works ... The "Odds"

It is assumed that dealers today are fair to meet our needs. No sleight-of-hand, no chicanery. While we won't forget the First Rule of Professional Gamblers we'll take a break from it to be able to deal with the logic of every game and discover the fundamental strategy that eliminates all of the house's mathematical edge. The majority of the games that are played in casinos are fair and trustworthy. If you encounter a game that isn't on your level, you shouldn't attempt to beat it.


Mathematicians utilized high-speed computers to analyse every single hand and dealer upcard in order to figure out the most basic strategy for the honest dealt game. One thing that likely surprised the initial mathematicians to conduct the computer-based analyses was that an almost perfect basic strategy was already figured out and released by four GIs who had desk jobs and lots of free time during the 1950s. They had no computers however they'd worked for three years using mechanical adding machines to run through all of the possible outcomes that could be derived from the hands they dealt. It was possibly the most price Uncle Sam ever obtained from the four GIs' pay!

Also, we are aware that many professional gamblers from Nevada were able to figure out basic strategies before computers became widely used. These guys figured out the strategy by trading hands to themselves on their tables in the kitchen. Certain decisions required thousands, tens or even thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of hand. Similar to most professional gamblers they didn't publish their strategies. Blackjack was their main source of income and they'd spent many hours working out the best strategy. They would not divulge to anyone what they knew.

One thing for certain is that the casinos didn't know how to play the game, and neither did the players who read the most highly regarded books on the subject. The Hoyle's guidebooks of the past advised that players always keep their totals to 15 and 16, regardless of what the dealer's top card was to split tens, and not to split nines, or to not hold onto the soft 17. The "smart" gamblers of that period, those who read these books about gambling from reputable experts, played a variety of games that are still very expensive in the present.

A lot of people aren't aware of the logic of basic strategy. Let me show you an example. If my hand totals 14 and the dealer displays a 10 upcard, blackjack strategy says to hit. That is the mathematically correct strategy. Sometimes, you'll hit the 14 and then draw an 8, 9, 10 or 10 to stop. It will be apparent that the dealer changed his hole card, which is a 6. This shows that, to stand on your 14 the dealer must reach his total of 16. The dealer would have busted with that 10. You lost a hand by making the mathematically correct decision.

Certain players will assert that there really isn't a basic strategy that's always correct. Blackjack is, according to them it's a game of playing guesswork.

Understanding basic strategy requires to think like a professional gambler. This means you must to be able to grasp the notion of "the Blackjack odds".

Let me discuss the fundamental logic behind the strategy using a different example which illustrates how the math of statistics and probability work. Let's suppose I have a jar containing 100 marbles. The marbles in the jar are black, while the other fifty of them are white. Blindfolded, reach in and grab a marble. But, before you do this, place a $1 bet that the marble you select will be either black or white. If you find the color you guess and win, you will be awarded $ 1 If you don't the marble is black, you will lose $ 1.

Are free games to play now sure?

Absolutely. How do you know which color marble you're going to choose in advance? If you win, it's just good luck, and if you lose you're in bad luck.

But what if you know that ninety of those marbles are black and only ten marbles are white? Would you rather bet black or white before you draw? If you were a smart person, you would select black. It is possible, of course, to get white marbles, but it is much more unlikely to find an white marble than a black one. It could be a guessing exercise, and you may lose $1 if you happen to pull out the white marble, however If you wager on black, the odds are to your advantage.

Professional gamblers earn their livelihood by constantly considering "the odds" and only placing bets when odds are favorable. With this bet, the gambler would bet on black since the odds are 9:1 in his favor. If you bet on white, odds are 9 to 1 against you.

It is possible to lose money when the dealer displays an upcard of 10. However, the odds are against you in the event that the dealer has 10.

If you take your decisions using your intuition you might get lucky however you'll lose more hands over time. Math is the only method to make an informed choice about any hand. The laws of probability determine your expectations for every possibility.