Can You Outsmart the Casino at Blackjack?

Blackjack is one of the all-time casino classics. Compared to games like roulette, it’s known for its multiple layers of complexity and playing your hand perfectly in each and every situation takes quite a bit of experience and skill (although, admittedly, you can shorten the time it would take to learn it by using a cheat sheet).

However, the question remains:

Can you beat the casino at its own game and turn the house advantage in your favor? Let’s find out!

Understanding sample sizes

Blackjack, by the very nature of its design, it’s a game that rewards skill. Although smaller sample sizes of games played can swing it in either direction, this becomes more and more apparent after having a sample size of at least a couple of thousand games played. The takeaway is that players of higher skill tend to have a better long-term outcome than those of lesser skill, which is the majority of the gambling population.

The opportunity to get it in when you’re ahead

Unlike other forms of casino games that are purely based on chance, blackjack rewards those who can mathematically determine a situation where the odds are in their favor. If you know how to calculate these, you can actually put yourself at an advantage by recognizing the right situations where you should double down on your original bet size. A concrete example is getting two jacks, where it’s mathematically correct to split your hand.

Card counting

The topic of card counting in blackjack has been explored by quite a few movies. By secretly collaborating with a group of accomplices and counting the cards that have been played, it’s possible to actually beat the house advantage because you’ll have a better framework to predict the cards that are yet to be dealt. Generally speaking, low value cards are undesirable while getting tens and face cards tends to be advantageous for the player.

However, the issue with this tactic is that a casino can blacklist you if you raise their suspicions too much. Plus, most dealers nowadays tend to use multiple decks of cards as an effective countermeasure against would-be card counters.

The concerns over online games being rigged

Certain players have second thoughts about playing any casino game for real money online due to believing the game is artificially rigged in the house’s favor. Since it’s impossible to know for sure what’s going on in the back-end of the application and whether the outcome is truly tied to the output of a random number generator, many prefer playing at a live casino’s controlled environment. The reason being is that, unlike their online counterparts, brick & mortar casinos broadcast the action live while accepting bets from online players.

In other words, this allows the outcome of every round to be determined by a physical deck of cards shuffled by an actual dealer rather than any software algorithm. Therefore, although there’s plenty of regulatory pressure on online casinos to engage in fair business practices, playing a live game from the comfort of your home essentially takes such concerns out of the equation, thus removing one extra factor that could potentially be working against you as a player.

Taking advantage of bonuses

Bonuses, if lucrative enough, can single-handedly transform a losing session into a winning one. In other words, if betting at blackjack contributes towards you being one step closer to clearing the betting requirements, it’s possible to come out ahead even if you don’t play every round 100% optimally. However, this largely depends on your ability to find the kind of operators that are willing to give you a good deal. In general, crypto blackjack sites that allow you to play with Bitcoin and USDT tend to have better bonuses compared to a traditional online casino. Therefore, doing your diligence will pay off in spades.

Conclusion

So is it possible to beat the house advantage by playing blackjack? In ideal circumstances, the answer is, surprisingly, yes! However, it won’t be easy. As already mentioned, you can get blacklisted by the casino if you get caught counting cards. In the vast majority of cases, however, it’s possible to reduce the house advantage near to zero by working on your understanding of the game and getting better over time and picking the best casinos to play at.