Is Blackjack Worth Playing

Blackjack is famous for the low house edge, which can go below 0.50% when the game is played according to the optimal strategy. If you place a side bet, you can put your balance at danger since the house edge is much higher. For instance, the 21+3 side comes with a 3.2386% house margin.

One of the most attractive features of the game of Blackjack is the low house edge compared to other games on the casino floor. Good players will face a house edge of around 0.5%, and even if you. While playing blackjack, as soon as a player is dealt a winning hand, the house pays out immediately. The only time the player will not receive an immediate payout on a blackjack 21 hand is when the dealer’s face-up card is an Ace, or any card worth 10 points. Fluffy Favourites from Eyecon is playing blackjack online worth it? Games has been a staple of the slots roster at many a bingo and casino brand. If you prefer a game of skill over a game of chance, blackjack may be one of your favorites at any casino. Circus circus online casino play - How To Play Pokies. I’ve started playing blackjack. Are sidebars worth it?? I will add; however, most all of the tables with side bets that I see are paired with worse rules for.

If you’re a devoted low-roller gambler like me, you might be thinking about switching from live blackjack to video blackjack. After all, the minimum bet per hand on a video blackjack game is often as low as a dollar. Most casinos in Las Vegas have at least a $15 minimum on their blackjack tables, although it isn’t hard to find some smaller casinos offering the game for $5 per hand. (And you can find some low-rent casinos offering $1 or $3 minimums. That’s harder, though.)

But is it worth it to make the switch?

This post looks at the pros and cons of video blackjack as compared to live blackjack. It even includes some observations about online blackjack, which is almost always similar to video blackjack in terms of game-play, but similar to live blackjack in terms of rules.

Lower Minimum Bets per Hand – Video Blackjack

I already pointed out that you can play for as little as a dollar per hand on video blackjack games. That’s hard to find in live games, but it’s not impossible.

The Downtown Grand in Las Vegas sometimes offers $3/hand blackjack, which is still triple the minimum at most video blackjack games. It’s still worth mentioning. Jerry’s Nugget also sometimes has $3 games.

The Lucky Club offers $1 blackjack. It’s the only casino in Las Vegas with games at this low a limit. They’re not conveniently located to much, though—the Lucky Club is located right off I-15.

Since blackjack is a negative expectation game for most people, playing for lower limits should reduce the mathematically expected loss per hour.

But as you’ll see later in this post, it’s not the only factor determining how much you’re expected to lose per hour. Some of these other factors are arguably more important.

In terms of finding the lowest-limit blackjack games, though, video blackjack has a clear advantage over live blackjack.

Better Rules and a Lower House Edge – Live Blackjack

The house edge at blackjack is determined largely by what rules variations are in place. And live blackjack offers one huge advantage over video blackjack in terms of the rules:

A blackjack pays off at 3 to 2 in most live blackjack games.

But video blackjack usually only pays off at even money.

This gives the house an additional edge of 2.29%.

2.29% sounds like a small percentage, but when you apply it on average to every bet you make on average over time, it adds up faster than you can imagine.

Let’s compare the average hourly loss rate at 2 games with only 2 differences:

1. The video blackjack game has a minimum bet of $1; the live blackjack game has a minimum bet of $5.
2. The video blackjack game has a house edge of 3.29%; the live blackjack has a house edge of 1%.

Oh, there’s one other difference. I should discuss it in the next section:

Faster Rate of Play – Video Blackjack

One of the biggest factors affecting how much you can expect to lose playing a casino game is how many bets you’re making per hour. You multiply the bets per hour by the size of your bet to get the total amount of money you’re putting into action each hour.

At a live blackjack table, the number of hands you play per hour vary based on how many people are at the table with you. Most of the time, you won’t be playing heads-up versus the dealer.

For purposes of comparisons, I’ll assume that most of the time you’re at a blackjack table with 2 other players. You’ll see 105 hands per hour at such a table.

But when you’re playing video blackjack, it’s just you and the machine. You’ll see at least twice as many hands per hour playing video blackjack. I’ll just call that 200 hands per hour.

So when you’re calculating your expected loss per hour, you’re going to multiply your average bet per hand by the number of hands per hour. You’ll then multiply that by the house edge.

On the video blackjack game, that’s $1 per hand X 200 hands per hour X 3.37%, or $6.74 per hour in expected losses.

In the live blackjack game, that’s $5 per hand X 105 hands per X 1%, or $5.25 per hour in expected losses.

Even though you’re betting 5 times as much per hand playing live blackjack, your expected hourly loss is still lower playing the live blackjack game.

Of course, these numbers assume you’re playing with perfect basic strategy. You can read elsewhere on this site about how to do that, or you can just buy one of the little laminated basic strategy cards in the casino gift shop.

Counting Cards and Other Advantage Techniques – Live Blackjack

One thing you absolutely cannot do when playing video blackjack is use any advantage techniques like counting cards. These only work in live blackjack games. Here’s why:

When you’re counting cards, you’re keeping a rough estimate of how many high cards and low cards have come out of the deck and how many of each are left in the deck. When the deck has a proportionally higher number of 10s and aces in it, you raise the size of your bets. After all, you’re more likely to be dealt a blackjack and get that 3 to 2 payout for it.

Video blackjack eliminates this possibility in 2 ways:

1. You don’t get an increased payout for a blackjack, which eliminates any advantage you might have gotten from counting.
2. The game “shuffles” the deck after every hand, which means that any count you’d kept would be irrelevant as soon as the beginning of the next hand.

This isn’t a big deal for the average blackjack player, who isn’t counting cards anyway. But it’s impossible to provide an exhaustive treatment of video blackjack versus live blackjack without examining this aspect of the game, too.

Online Blackjack Is Different Altogether, Usually

Online blackjack games are, for the most part, video blackjack games with more generous rules than video blackjack games in the casino. Most of the time, they offer the same kinds of rules variations you’d find in various land-based casinos.

Most online casinos offer several variations, but usually only one of those variations will have the lowest possible house edge. But these rules will almost always include the 3 to 2 payout for the blackjack, which is the most significant rules difference between video blackjack and live blackjack.

You can plug the rules variations available into various websites’ house edge calculators for blackjack to figure out which variation at the online casino in question offers the lowest house edge. That’s the variation you should stick with whenever you play at that casino.

But not all online blackjack games are video blackjack games. One of the more popular offerings at a lot of online casinos in the current marketplace are live dealer blackjack games where the action is conducted by real dealers, real decks of cards, and webcams.

It doesn’t matter if you’re playing video blackjack or live dealer blackjack online, though. You’ll still need to use perfect basic strategy to get the lowest possible house edge.

You’ll also still be unable to count cards, even in the live dealer games. That’s because they use automated shuffling machines which start the deck over with the start of every new hand—which is exactly what happens in video blackjack, too.

Conclusion

Which game should you play?

I recommend sticking with live blackjack games, even if you’re a committed low roller. You might have to bet $5 per hand instead of $1 per hand, but the lower house edge and slower pace of the game means you’ll lose less money per hour than you’d lose playing video blackjack.

No matter which version you play, you should memorize and use basic strategy. There’s never an advantage to making playing decisions that aren’t mathematically optimal. And basic strategy isn’t that hard to learn anyway.

Also, when it comes to video blackjack and any variation of online blackjack, forget all about trying to count cards. That’s an advantage technique you can use with real live blackjack in brick and mortar casinos, but as far as I know, there’s not a single online casino where that’s a possibility.

Playing blackjack online is a great way to enjoy this popular game and offers several advantages over playing in a live casino.

You can play whenever you want, without leaving the house; and if you’re new to the game, you don’t have to worry about making any mistakes or annoying other players. The game is also played at a much faster pace, meaning you can get through a lot more hands.

There are some other notable advantages, too, explained in some detail on this page. We also provide a few tips for getting the most out of playing online and recommend the best online casinos for blackjack.

Blackjack Bonuses & Rewards

One of the biggest benefits of playing any game at an online casino is the bonuses and rewards on offer. Most online casinos offer all new customers a signup bonus when they first deposit, and these can be worth a lot of money. Playing blackjack can be a major advantage when it comes to getting the best value from them.

Bonuses tend to come with certain terms and conditions attached, and these usually include some wagering requirements. This mean that you have to wager a specified amount of money before your bonus is released as cash and can be withdrawn. Because blackjack has such a low house edge, it could be that you have a very good chance of meeting such requirements. You are less likely to lose all your money before releasing the bonus than you would be if playing a game with a high house edge.

These rewards are usually based on how much you play, so the more you wager, the more you earn. Again, the low house edge of blackjack can work in your favor. You have a decent chance of winning, and even if you lose, it should be at a relatively slow rate compared to some other games. You can earn some valuable rewards without necessarily losing much money.

It’s worth pointing out that some online casinos add game weightings to the bonuses and rewards they offer. This mean that wagering on certain games counts less towards clearing the wagering requirements and earning rewards. It’s worth keeping an eye out for these weightings, as they can mean that the additional value of playing blackjack is not so good.

There are lots of different variants of blackjack, and when playing in a live casino, you may only find one or two of these available. This limits your choice of games somewhat and highlights a major advantage of playing online. Many online casinos offer a wide variety of blackjack variants, which greatly increases your choice. This is a good thing as it can be fun to play different variants from time to time.

It’s also a lot easier to find favorable rules when playing blackjack online. Several rules vary from one casino to another, and these can affect the overall house edge of the game. If you’re playing in a live casino, you’re stuck with whatever rules that casino is offering. If you’re playing online, you can compare what’s available at different casinos and simply choose the best option.

Live Dealer Blackjack

Live dealer blackjack is a great way to benefit from the convenience of playing online and the other advantages online casinos offer, but you still get the feeling of playing in a live casino. With these games, you’re playing against a real-life dealer, using real cards on a real table. The action is displayed on your computer via a video feed, and the dealer will act according to your decisions.

Tips for Playing Blackjack Online

There are a few pieces of advice that will help you get the best possible experience playing blackjack online. First up is to make sure you set a budget. The convenience of online casinos is very much a positive, but they do also make it a little easier to get carried away and play too often or for too much. Playing blackjack, or doing any form of gambling for that matter, is no fun at all if you’re using money you can’t afford to lose. Please make sure you gamble responsibly.

Secondly, you should always read the terms and conditions before making a deposit to claim a bonus. We mentioned earlier how valuable bonuses can be, but it’s very important that you fully understand wagering requirements and any other rules. It is not unheard of for online casinos to offer bonuses that can be used at blackjack, and you obviously need to know if that’s the case.

Playing Blackjack Tips

Virtually every casino on the web offers blackjack games, but they are not all of a comparable standard. You want to play where there are high-quality games and the site enjoys a good reputation.

Is Blackjack A Poker Game

We have tested and evaluated a great many online casinos, looking at a range of different factors. This enables us to determine which are the very best so we can then make recommendations to our readers by ranking the leading casinos in a number of categories. This helps you to find places to play that are not just reputable and of a high quality, but that are also ideal for your needs.

Is Blackjack Worth It

The following casinos are, in our opinion, the best options if blackjack is your game of choice.