A while back I, rather generously I thought, decided to impart a few pearls of wisdom about some of my top tips for blackjack. The whole point of that post was to get people off my back about teaching them blackjack tricks but, unfortunately, it seems to have had the opposite affect and now everyone’s been clamouring for more.
While I don’t want to hand people tools of the trade on a silver platter, I’m feeling in a pretty good mood after England’s win yesterday so I’ve decided to explicate on one of the points I made previously, namely knowing when to split in blackjack.
Firstly, splitting is all about considering the odds. For example, I said before to always split eights because there’s a 77% chance of losing if you stand on a 16 and a 62% chance of losing if you hit a 16. Even those of you less mathematically minded than myself can recognise the benefits of splitting in that situation.
Secondly, it’s important to make your decision based on what the dealer is showing. It’s wise to split twos and threes only when the dealer is showing any card between four and seven. That way, he’s always at risk of having to stand on a 17 or of going bust.
Are you still with me?
I know it seems complicated but winning at blackjack is really only down to common sense and a little know-how. The best thing to do is just start playing, you’ll be much more comfortable with calculating the odds when you’ve got a few games under your belt.
A friend of mine, who had a bit of experience with blackjack but was nervous to attend tournaments at my level, recently said that playing blackjack at an online casino helped him get to grips with the game, so if you’re still a bit unsure about playing in a casino that could be a good way to get started. Who knows, maybe it won’t be long before you’re jet setting down to Surrey to play alongside yours truly.
