Stiff Hands in Blackjack and What to do With Them

On 04.28.11, In Blackjack Strategy, By Vivi

Stiff hands are like bad days. They happen and they suck and there really is not a thing you can do about them except to push on and play them out. Unless of course they are one of the four hands that you can surrender, in which case surrender and wait until the next round and hope for better cards.

So what do you do with stiff hands when you are dealt them?

Well, if it is a hard 13, 14, 15 or 16 your hitting or standing will be split in half. If the blackjack dealer is showing a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 you will stand. This is because it would be too easy for you to hit and bust. At least with standing you have the shot at winning if the dealer busts. But if you hit and bust then you definitely lose. But if the dealer has a 7, 8, 9, 10, king, queen, jack or Ace showing you had better hit. It is likely that they will win so what does it hurt taking a stab at improving your hand? Your odds of losing here are greater anyway.

Now if you have a hard 12 the options are a little bit different. You would still hit against a 7, 8, 9, 10, king, queen, jack or Ace; but you would also hit against a dealer 2 or 3. Because a hard 12 is still a relatively small hand, there is the chance of improving the hand so blackjack players should hit!

Above all it should be understood about stiff hands in blackjack that they are the underdog hands of the game. These blackjack hands do not have the odds with them to win. But following basic strategy and winning with one is good feeling.

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Winning in Online Blackjack

On 04.21.11, In Blackjack Odds, By Vivi

When players sit down at their computers and log in to play in an online casino, they want to win. Really that is not all that surprising. I mean, who wants to sit down and play a game with the intent to lose? No one. What does make sense is knowing which online casino game gives players the best shot at winning, and that is online blackjack.

Aside from having the best house edge, which is around 2% to 4% before strategy and 0.5% after using basic strategy, players have the best shot of winning each round out of all the online casinos games.

Now bear in mind that the house still has the edge, even if a player is playing perfect basic strategy, the house still has the edge. And since card counting is ineffective in online blackjack, there is no way to beat the house.

So keeping in mind that the house still has the edge even under the best circumstances, players can expect to win around 48% of the hands they play. And that leaves the house winning 52% of the hands you play. Those percentages are not taking into ties, but ties only happen 9% of the time. Removing them from consideration and you get the 48%-52% split.

All in all the odds for how often a player wins in online blackjack are not too shabby, especially when you compare it to games like online slots and online roulette; their house edges by comparison are awful. Online slots alone carry an average house edge of 14%. Now compare that to that pre-strategy 2% to 4%.

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Do You Know When to Hit or Stand?

On 04.14.11, In Blackjack Tips, By Vivi

While seasoned blackjack players may not get this, there are many novice players who feel a bit intimidated or pressured when it comes to playing blackjack online. The pressure surprisingly comes from the objective of the game: beat the dealer without going over 21. It is the “without going over 21” part that seems to be the cause.

There is such a fear of failure and losing that beginning blackjack players hem and haw over whether to hit or stand. If their first two cards are a low total then the answer is easy: hit. It is the higher hands, the ones that put a player over half way to 21 that seem to be the problem.

But then if you stop and think about it, that is really quite understandable. After all the hands that are more than halfway to 21 just so happen to also be the stiff hands. So no real surprise.

A lot of what determines the decision to hit or stand comes from what cards the player has compared to the dealer’s up card. As a rule of thumb if the dealer has a 7 or more, it is in the player’s best interest to hit; and if the dealer has 6 or less it would be time to stand. The only hand that is different is the hard 12. Naturally, there would be a difficult one.

If the player has a hard 12 and the dealer has a 2 or 3 showing, the player should hit instead of stand. The reason is because with only a 12, the player still has some room to work with when the dealer is also showing a small card.

Figuring out how to play stiff hands and other hands in blackjack—both online blackjack and casino blackjack—can be found on a basic strategy chart. That chart is a legal strategy that gives the best statistical play for every hand.

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Understanding Early Surrender in Blackjack

On 04.07.11, In Blackjack Tips, By Vivi

While it is not a common rule to be found at blackjack tables and in online blackjack games, it is important to understand what early surrender is in blackjack so that you can take advantage of it if you stumble across a game that offers it.

There are two types of surrender in blackjack first off: early and late. Late is the more common of the two, but of the two early is preferred. The two only differ in when the surrender can happen. Otherwise they play out in the same way: when declaring that you are surrendering the cards are given up and half of your wager is taken by the house and the other half can go back into your bankroll.

Now down to timing and early surrender. As you might have guessed early surrender happens early in the round. Early surrender happens before any plays are made and before the dealer checks to see if he has blackjack. In other words, you are making this decision based off of what your first two cards are and what the dealer’s up card is—if you are playing in a blackjack game in which the dealer gets a hole card, some variations allow for early surrender but the dealer does not have a hole card.

So early surrender is kind of like folding in poker, except you do not lose your entire wager, only half of it.

Early surrender can increase your edge by up to 0.24% so it is well worth keeping an eye out for a game of blackjack that offers early surrender since it has an impact on your blackjack odds.

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