The Basics Of Blackjack

If you want to play blackjack at an online casino, that doesn't mean, necessarily, that you're not going to win money. If you play at a free online casino, you can download the program for free and then begin to play without having to put up any of your own hard-earned cash. Instead, consider participating in free roll tournaments and those games that you can play with "pretend" money. Once you've mastered blackjack, then you may want to consider playing at the best online casino sites with blackjack, where real money is exchanged.

With blackjack, the goal is to get 21 points with two cards. You get "blackjack," for example, when you hold an Ace, which is worth 11 points, plus another card that is worth 10 points. This will win you the game. At a free online casino, your gameplay is going to be much as it would be if you were in Vegas. The dealer, for example, stands at 17 or takes a hit (card) on 16. As long as your hand is better than the dealer's hand without exceeding 21, you win the bet, which is normally paid out at 2:1. At the best online casino sites, blackjack games start at under one dollar and continue on up from there.

All players are dealt two cards, face down. The dealer is dealt one card down and one card up. The bet is based upon your chances of hitting 21 (or "blackjack") and on whether or not you can beat the dealer. You have to understand what the odds are to beat the dealer, when you place your bets.

If you're not sure how blackjack actually works, make sure you master it before you play for money. Here are a few tips. First of all, look at the dealer's "up" card. That can tell you what they might have. If, for example, they have an Ace turned up, that means they might very well have blackjack already. You can buy insurance that will pay two to one for you, but if that's true, you lose the first bet. If the dealer doesn't have blackjack, you lose the insurance, but you may win on the original bet.

However, if the dealer's "up" card is a seven or under, they may already have 17 and they have to stand. That assumes, of course, that they have an Ace, which is counted as an 11 on the dealer. For you, it counts as either one point or 11 points, depending on your choice. The best online casino sites use the same rules as Vegas does, but a good idea is to play the free games first so that you know how a given free online casino will play that particular game.

Other basic strategies for online blackjack are that you should take a hit on anything that's lower than 16 if the dealer shows a face or Ace card. Stand on anything that's 17 or better. Most of the time, you should win with these strategies.

Another option for you is to double down, which means that you double your bet to play two chances but will only get one card. You could use that with either of the others as well. It's the same strategy if you split a pair. In that case, you double your bet and play it as two separate hands. Whether or not you can use these more complicated strategies depends upon the free online casino you use as you're learning to play. If you want to win money at the best online casino websites, learn how to play the blackjack basics as described above.