The one major difference between playing Blackjack online and at a real life casino is that it is pointless to try to count cards on the online version as the cards are electronically shuffled after every hand. For anybody who likes to improve their chances by employing a little card counting, this might seem to be disappointing, however online casinos offer something that real casinos do not, and that is a bonus.
An online casino bonus more than compensates for not being able to count cards at blackjack. Sometimes this is paid as an introductory no deposit gift, and sometimes it is offered as a matching bonus equivalent to your first deposit. It is usual for a high play through ratio to be imposed before the bonus can be cashed in, and this is typically between 20 and 30 times the bonus plus deposit. For instance, if you deposit £100, and the casino matches this, you will have a bankroll of £200. You will then need to place bets totalling £6,000 before cashing in. Now if you select the game variant carefully and play perfect blackjack, it is possible to reduce the house edge to 0.5%. Playing perfect Blackjack with small stakes you can expect to lose around £30 during this process which gives you a nice overall profit of £70.
The point is that you must play perfect blackjack. Luckily perfect blackjack play has researched and published strategies are readily available. These strategies advise on whether you should stand, double, hit or split depending on the cards that are visible to you. Whilst looking up your best plays using a printed strategy card might not go down too well on a live casino, you can do it very easily while playing online.
Some versions of blackjack have larger house edges than others, and you should make sure that you are aware of the house edge of the game you wish to play. Also, the optimal playing strategies vary depending on the house rules. You are advised to make sure that you are using the one that matches the game.
By Hollie Wilcox
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