In October, Slots Play Casinos wrote an article about roulette and craps. We promised a follow-up article on blackjack and roulette. Here it is.
Games of Skill Sharpen Wits and Minds
Of all the games available at online casinos, blackjack and video poker are the pre-eminent games of skill. While statistical analysis of millions of hands has been done, it still takes some time for gamers to learn the strategy charts perfectly.
While gamers can sit back and simply enjoy the play in slots, roulette, craps, and Banana Jones, since they are all games of chance, you have to have your wits about you when you play blackjack and video poker.
There will be a statistically best play on every hand, but sometimes that play is masked by what appears to be the best play. When you do make the statistically best play on every hand, your return to player rate in both blackjack and video poker should be about 99.5% over time. That means that if you bet $1000 in a session, you should expect to “lose” $5!
Not a bad price for an hour of gaming fun!
It also means that with just a slight uptick in your luck, you will end that session $5 in the black.
Didn’t You Say that Blackjack and Video Poker are Games of Skill?
Yes, we did.
But even in a casino game of skill, there is a big smidgen of luck. You might make the statistically best play, but that simply means that you will win with that play more often than you will lose with that play. Luck is certainly a factor in both blackjack and video poker.
It is actually a bit easier to talk about blackjack, so we will start there.
The Player Goes First and the Dealer Makes No Decisions
It seems so simple, but it isn’t.
At a land-based casino, where several people are playing blackjack, the player who busts (goes over 21 points) loses immediately, even if the dealer ends up with more points! This leads to the extremes of great blackjack strategy and also to the extremes of poor play on the part of many players.
At an online casino, you might play multi-hand blackjack. The same rule applies: you lose a hand immediately when you go over 21 points. You might win your other hands, but the hand that went over 21 loses right away.
The Many and Few Choices in Blackjack
You have several options in blackjack. They seem few, but you have to consider each of them on every hand. Here they are:
- Hit
- Stand
- Double down
- Split
- Surrender
Most casinos don’t offer surrender. Look for a casino that does offer this excellent move since it will save you money in the long run.
Should a Player Hit with 12 Points?
This is quite the ultimate question in blackjack. Some people never hit with 12 or more points. They lose money, and then they will blame the player who does hit when it is the right move.
You hit with 12 points if the dealer shows a 7 or better. You stand if the dealer has a 5 or 6. You hit with 12 points if the dealer has 4 points, and you always hit when the dealer has a 2 or 3. You may not understand the statistics behind all this, but blackjack has been studied, and these moves will win money over time.
When is it a Good Idea to Double Down?
Start with 9, 10, or 11 points. You might double down with fewer points if the dealer has a 6. So, let’s think about those hands with a 9, 10, or 11 points. You have to look at the dealer’s card. If she has an ace, you should never double down. If you have 10 or 11 points and she has 10 points, you can double down. Never double down with 90 points if the dealer has 10 points.
Blackjack is Both Straightforward and Very Complex
You have a lot of things to think about on every hand. A full-fledged tutorial about blackjack would be a short book, but a book, not an article. So, let’s review the finer points about blackjack quickly so that we have space to talk about video poker.
These are the things to do on every hand:
- How many points do I have?
- What is the dealer’s up card?
- Do I have a hand that I can double down on?
- Do I have a pair, and if so, should I split?
- Do I have a hard hand or a soft hand?
- Should I surrender?
It takes some time to fully master these many decision points. For gamers who love blackjack, the effort is well worth it.
How Should a Gamer Approach Video Poker?
The first thing to understand is that, along with blackjack, video poker offers the best value per dollar bet in the casino. Online casinos still generally pay out 9-6 for a full house and a flush, while land-based casinos increasingly pay out only 8-5 or 7-5.
With the higher payout at online casinos, the return to player rate in video poker is about 99.55 with correct play on every hand.
The key, then, is to learn how to play correctly.
Strategy Card for Video Poker
These strategy cards are widely available online. Here, we would like you to learn how to read the chart and relate it to your hand. There are simple, moderate, and advanced strategy charts for video poker. The most advanced charts can be quite complex.
Here we will talk about the most basic chart that still has 35 lines of reference.
What is a Line of Reference?
We used that term because, until you have the chart fully memorized, you will have to refer to the chart on every hand. Thus, every line on the chart is a line of reference.
Should I Read Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top?
We recommend neither!
We suggest that you train yourself, over time, to immediately sense the possibilities in your hand. Most hands fall in the bottom fifth of the dealt hands. However, you want to see a great dealt hand when you get one.
One of the more difficult strategy decisions video poker players face is what to do when they have the possibility of a really great hand, and they already have a winning pair. For example, if you have four to a Royal Flush or a straight flush and you also have a winning pair, you give up the pair in pursuit of the super hand.
The reason is that the super hand pays so much more, and there are still many ways you could win that hand. You could get the Royal Flush or the straight flush, you could get a straight or a flush, or you could still pair a high card.
The Basics of Video Poker Strategy
It might take a while to master the strategy card for video poker, but the return to player rate is so high that the effort is worth it. Here are the basic elements you need to think about:
- Trust the statistics. The difference between the intuitive choice and the better choice might be very small, so choose the statistical choice rather than the intuitive choice.
- Accept the simple fact that you will have losing streaks. We all tend to forget the winning streaks, but there are also losing streaks. The 99.5% return to player rate is over time, not necessarily today.
- If you have two high cards, keep both. Some players say that keeping just one is better, but statistically, keeping both is better.
- If you have a winning pair, you should keep it in most cases, but look carefully to see if you have the possibility of a better hand by breaking the pair.
- Avoid making the mistake of breaking a pair when the statistics say keep it.
Slots Play Casinos Recommends Many Online Casinos
We cover online casino gaming in all facets. Our emphasis is on online casino gaming for all of the many reasons, one of which is that online casinos still pay 9-6 in video poker, while so many land-based casinos pay only 8-5 or 7-5.
This is just one of the many things we cover and reiterate for gamers so you can make informed decisions about casino gaming.
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