Blackjack Strategy

One of the hands that often confound blackjack players is when they are dealt a soft 17. Should I stand or hit? What about doubling down? What follows are the facts on how to play this hand accurately every time you play blackjack.

Card counting has been around since the days of the dinosaurs (in casino years). Edward Thorp published his infamous book on card counting, "Beat the Dealer," in 1962. Since that time, hundreds of books on card counting have been written. Movies such as Rainman, "21" and The Hangover have featured card counting.

In blackjack, Basic Strategy represents the mathematically optimal series of decisions that minimizes your losses over time. It tells you when to stand, hit, double down, split, and surrender (where you forfeit half of your initial bet to the casino).

So, you’ve decided to give this blackjack game a try. It looks so easy, and so profitable, in “Rainman,” “21,” and “The Hangover.”

But before you imitate Alan from “The Hangover” and plop down a $10,000 buy-in, have an idea of what you’ll do at the table. If you avoid these seven common beginner mistakes, you’ll get the most from the game.

When a person walks out of a casino the question that inevitably arises in their mind is “Why did I lose?” Most people that play casino games are losing players.

A blackjack player once asked me this question: “Every time I play blackjack against the dealer, he always seems to beat me.

When you are playing blackjack and dealt a pair of 2s (also known as “deuces”), you have two viable playing options: