Blackjack is the most widely played casino game in the world as the mix of skill and chance coupled with its simplicity appeals to gamblers.

The aim of Blackjack is to build a hand that is higher in value than the dealers hand or closest to 21 without going bust.

No matter what Blackjack variation youre playing, the objective of the game will remain the same but different variations will have a different house edge over the players.

Even though theres no perfect Blackjack strategy that can guarantee that you will win consistently over time, there is a basic strategy that if used properly can reduce the casinos edge below 1%, this ones of the reasons why Blackjack is so popular among casino players and gamblers.

In response many casinos feature different Blackjack versions that have a higher casino edge and helps them increase their revenue from this game.

The first variation is the number of decks used at one time. Whilst not very common, some online casinos offer a single deck blackjack game.

In this variation of Blackjack the house has an edge over the players of only 0.17%.

The disadvantage of this blackjack variant is that you will generally find a number of additional rules that help the house.

Adding three more decks increases the casino’s edge to 0.6%, while the most common eight deck variation gives the house a 0.66% advantage over the players.

One common variation of the rules in many online casinos is that players can only split Aces once.

This is because allowing the player to hit on split aces reduces the casino edge by around 0.13% and when the house only has around a 1% advantage to start with this amount is very significant.

However, many online casinos allow a player to “double-down” on a split pair, other than aces, even though this gives a 0.12% advantage to the player.

The largest variation occurs from the payout when a player does hit blackjack.

On average you can expect to hit a natural blackjack in 4.8% of hands. So if we deviate from a typical 3:2 payout for a natural blackjack hand, this puts the odds on the casino’s side.

If you’re playing a blackjack game where the payout is 6:5 then you should know that this reduces your edge by 1.4%. Furthermore, some online casinos that payout only at 1:1 have a huge advantage of 2.3%.

It’s good practice to have a look at the rules of the Blackjack variant you’d like to play and see what percentage of edge the casino has over the players.

In an ideal world, you should be playing online a blackjack game that features four decks of cards, the dealer must stand on a soft 17, late surrender is available, you’re allowed to double-down after splitting, you’re allowed to double on any two cards and pays out at 3:2 for natural blackjack.

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