Few casino games involve the amount of strategy that blackjack does, and it’s important to make as many correct moves as possible to lower the house edge. Of course, it’s virtually impossible to play the game correctly when you subscribe to all of the blackjack myths out there. After all, many blackjack myths revolve around poor strategy moves, and this can cost you a lot of money. So in order to avoid these problems, it’s important to identify the myths and avoid them.
Your need to shoot for 21
The majority of blackjack beginners have this preconceived notion that blackjack strategy is all about getting close to 21 without busting. And while your chances of winning a hand certainly improve when you get close to 21, this line of thinking will cause you to lose more money. Instead, you should be focusing on beating the dealer’s hand, which means basing your strategy off of the dealer’s upcard. For example, if the dealer’s upcard is 6 and your score is 12, the correct move from a strategical view is to stand – despite the fact that you’re not even close to 21. Long story short, follow basic blackjack strategy and focus on the dealer’s upcard.
You can Always Lower the House Edge to 0.5%
One reason why people love blackjack so much is because the house edge can be lowered to 0.5% when perfect basic strategy is used. However, some players mistakenly believe that they’re always dealing with this low house edge at every table they play. But the reality is that the blackjack house edge is only low when favorable rules are in place. So it’s really important to find tables where you receive 3:2 blackjack payouts (instead of 6:5), and the dealer has to stand on a soft 17 (instead of being able to hit). These two rules alone lower the house edge by 1.5%.
Avoid Tables with Bad Players
In casino blackjack, people like to blame bad players for causing them to lose. For example, let’s say the bad player is to the dealer’s right, and they take the dealer’s bust card while hitting when they’re not supposed to. In this instance, everybody who lost would be blaming the bad player because they not only made a poor strategy move, but also helped out the dealer. However, the truth is that bad players will cause the dealer to lose just as much as they help them win, so don’t leave a table because of them.