5 Tips for blackjack strategy

• When to stand and use soft hands

When you play blackjack, the object is to reach a total of 21 points without going over 21. The aim is to beat the dealer's hand and there are various strategies and rules that you can use to help you do this. One of these is to stand when you reach 16 especially if the dealer has a ten showing. More often than not the dealer will bust trying to beat your 16 or he will already have blackjack.

Soft hands are when you have an Ace. The ace can double as a one unit instead of the typical 11, but this should only be done if the dealer does not have a deuce or 2. There are 18 different soft hands that can be played in a blackjack strategy and this should be done, unless you have blackjack or higher than 16 points. If you can safely raise your total amounts of points by then you should do so.

• Do not sell yourself short

There should be no blackjack strategy for “doubling down for less”. The whole reason that people love to play blackjack over other card games is that the odds are great. They can win large amounts of money and when they have a great hand they will double down, so do not get caught in this trend. Maximise your profits and take no prisoners. Another way to do this is to not take “even money”. This will only reduce your winnings and increase you losses.

• Splitting has no benefit to winning.

When you have two identical cards, you can choose to split the cards so that you are playing with two hands. You may feel that you now have two chances of winning, but the truth is that you have the exact same amount of odds for each hand against the dealer. This is a fun blackjack strategy to play like this but if you are using the same strategies and techniques, the odds are the same. It cannot help you to win.

• The No Mid Shoe Entry Rule and betting tips

This rule is to protect casinos from allowing card counters to jump when they have counted back the cards and will know when the next hand is filled with tens and aces. It does not actually protect the players in any way, except from card counters. This rule does not mean that if you are on a winning streak that you are safe. In actual fact there is no such thing as a wining streak. The odds of you winning the hand following either a win or a loss are the same and visa versa. This also means that betting more as a blackjack strategy just because you are winning a few hands does not mean that you will win overall. You could just as easily bet all of your cash and lose the very next hand.

Another betting tip is that you should not used progressive betting based on the previous hand's outcome. The only way to increase your wager is to follow which cards have been played and how, and increase the betting amounts accordingly.

• Which seat to sit at and other basic betting tips

Many players believe that a specific seat at the table can help them to win, however this blackjack strategy is not correct. You may notice that some tables you play at will have the third seat getting regular wins, so you must decide from there what you want to do, if anything. Once you are comfortable at a seat you must concentrate on the cards you are dealt. If you have any card from 11 or less you should ask for a “hit”. If you have a 13 or higher then you will have to make your choice depending on what card the dealer has.