Making Money Blackjack Online
Since blackjack is the one casino game where skill truly matters, it’s important for players to test different strategies and start incorporating them into their gameplay. But before you test any of the blackjack systems out there, there’s a simple truth you must realise – every valid blackjack strategy is based on logic and maths. Therefore, the best strategy you can adopt right away would be to leave your superstitions behind, forget about your ‘winning rituals’ and trust only the numbers. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s take a look at the best tactics you can adopt to help you win at online blackjack every time you play.
Tip #1: Pick the Right Casino
A video on how to increase your income based on readily available funds and enjoying the rush of a fast paced blackjack session at the same time. Build a bankroll: If you do not have 50x the minimum table bet in bankroll money you are not ready to play live or online blackjack. Delay your trip to the blackjack table until you have enough money to play the game correctly. Think of yourself as an old west gunslinger. When you play blackjack online you can’t count cards. This makes it almost impossible to make a long term profit playing online blackjack. But if you’re not card counter, you can make up for this by collecting deposit bonuses. You need to be careful about online casino bonuses.
Players often ignore this all-important step, so I decided to start precisely with it. I cannot emphasise enough how big of a factor picking a good casino site is for your future success at beating the game. And that process is not even that hard – the trick is to pick a reputable, well-known casino that features a lot of blackjack games and generous bonuses that you can use on them. Here are three stellar examples:
Blackjack Site | Rating | Highlights | Welcome Bonus | Trusted Site | Terms and Conditions |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
888 Casino | 7 RNG Games , 36 Live Tables | Up to £100 + £88 | Get Bonus! | Full T&Cs apply. 1st deposit only • £20 min deposit with code • Valid for selected games only • Bonus wins capped at £500 • 30x wagering – req. vary by game - in 90 days • UK - deposit balance available for withdrawal at any time • Withdrawal terms & T&Cs apply. | |
Ladbrokes Casino | 15 RNG Games, 10 Live Tables | £50 Welcome Bonus | Get Bonus! | Full T&Cs apply. 18+. New Casino players only. Deposit required. Min stake £10 on qualifying games. 40x wager reqs (bonus only) on selected games. 24hrs to accept. Bonus valid for 48hrs. Certain deposit types excluded. Bets covering >70% of Roulette table excluded. | |
Betway | 17 RNG Games, 30 Live Tables | 100% up to £250 | Get Bonus! | Full T&Cs apply. * New customers only. Opt-in required. 100% Match Bonus up to £250 on 1st deposit of £20+. 50x bonus wagering applies as do weighting requirements. Debit Card & PayPal deposits only. Irregular gameplay may invalidate your bonus. This offer is valid for 7 days from your new account being registered. |
But how in fact does your choice of casino impact your winning chances? Truth is that not all online casinos are safe and trustworthy. Moreover, even if you have won fair and square, some of them might refuse to pay out your winnings. By choosing a licensed and regulated casino, such as the ones we recommend, you secure yourself a fair chance at winning and, most importantly, guaranteed payouts.
Tip #2: Pick the Right Blackjack Variant
Picking the right game variant is yet another important part of an all-encompassing blackjack strategy. The most important detail about each game is undoubtedly the house edge – the lower it is, the better. Here is a comparison between the house edges of some of the most popular online blackjack games in the UK:
As you can see, the house edge of these games is already quite low (just for reference, most slot games have a house edge of 4%-6%). Still, this is the first thing you should check before trying a new blackjack game. There are, in fact, some online blackjack games that have a house edge over 1% and even over 2%. If your goal is to win and not just to have fun, then you should definitely stay clear of those.
Tip #3: Know Your Game Inside Out
Not all blackjack games are made from the same mold. In fact, there are hardly any two blackjack variations that have exactly the same rules. Therefore, applying the same basic strategy for different games simply won’t work. Every little detail about the game matters as it affects the house edge. You can learn about the specific rules of each variant from the help section of the game. Here is what information you should be looking for if you want to find the best blackjack strategy for the game you’ve chosen.
- How much does a blackjack pay?
- How many decks are in the shoe?
- Can you double on any two cards or only with specific total?
- When can you split your hand and up to how many times?
- Are you allowed to double after splitting a hand?
- Are you allowed to hit split aces?
- Do you have the option to surrender and in which cases?
- Does the dealer hit a soft seventeen?
- Is there a 5-, 6- or a 7-card Charlie?
Another particularity you should be aware of when searching for a suitable online blackjack strategy is that there are some blackjack games that bear the same name but have different rules and, consequently, different house edge. This is due to the fact that the games are provided by different software developers. For example, Classic Blackjack by Microgaming has a house edge of merely 0.13% while the game of the same name developed by NetEnt has a house edge of 0.35%. A big difference, indeed.
Tip #4: Use a Basic Blackjack Strategy Card
Hopefully, you’ve followed our tips for playing blackjack and have already chosen a specific game to play, where to play it and you’ve familiarised yourself with all its rules. Now it’s time to find a basic blackjack strategy card specific to your game of choice which will help you make the right decision in any situation.
Below, you can see an example of a strategy card that’s especially created for Playtech’s Blackjack Pro. The image clearly shows how you should play against any given dealer upcard according to the hand you’re holding. The complete strategy chart for each different blackjack variation should consist of three parts – one for hard hands, one for soft hands and one for pairs.
The easiest way to find an optimal blackjack strategy chart for the game you want to try is to generate it yourself using one of the many blackjack basic strategy calculators you can find online. Using these strategy cards is very suitable for beginners since they are extremely easy to read and at the same time they are math-based. Still, there are some things that these cards don’t cover. They don’t tell you what to do with the side bets, how much to bet and whether card counting could help you. Those are exactly the topics that we’re going to cover next.
The Perfect Blackjack Strategy for Side Bets
As we have already established in the previous paragraphs, strategy cards can be very useful when playing most blackjack games, especially for the beginners. Yet, as you may have noticed, they don’t cover any side bets whatsoever. After all, the perfect blackjack strategy is the one that takes into account all aspects of the game and this includes whether or not to place bonus bets and if yes – how much to bet.
The truth is that blackjack is a casino game with an extremely low house edge. On top of that, skilled players are able to reduce this minimal advantage even further by adopting various blackjack strategies. This is why, in the hopes to increase the house edge and, consequently, the revenues, the casinos started adding extra decks to the different blackjack variations and came up with different side bets. And while these side bets definitely add fun and variety to te game, they make players lose money, slowly but surely.
So, it’s easy to see that the best strategy for blackjack side bets is actually not to place any! Just stick to the strategy cards until you’ve gained enough experience to start testing more advanced tactics.
What About Card Counting?
When most new players hear the words ‘blackjack strategies’, they immediately think of card counting. While this strategy may still be possible in some brick-and-mortar casinos (although, in general, it’s against the house rules or at least it’s frowned upon), it is virtually unfeasible in online casinos where the deck is shuffled after each hand. The only exception to this rule is live dealer blackjack. So, if you want to try some card counting techniques while playing online, your only option is to play live blackjack games.
Making Money Blackjack online, free
But what actually is card counting and can it really help you beat the casino? Card counting is a blackjack technique that helps you follow the number of high and low cards in the shoe thus giving you some insight as to what type of card might come next – a bit of knowledge that can, indeed, tip the scales in your direction. The easiest card counting system in blackjack is called Hi-Lo and works like this: for each low card (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) you see you add one point and for each high card (10, J, Q, K, A) you deduct one. The higher the count, the bigger the chances to get 10-valued cards, which are generally considered ‘good’ for the player (and bad for the dealer).
Which Is the Best Blackjack Betting System?
As we have already established, using a blackjack strategy card can help you make the right decision in any given situation, but it doesn’t answer the important question players always ask themselves ‘How much should I bet?’ As you probably already know, there are many betting systems out there, many of which claim to be a sure way to beat any online blackjack game. A huge part of those systems are progressive betting systems which are based on the idea that if you’ve lost a number of times, you’re bound to win soon. This, of course, is not true and is often referred to as gambler’s fallacy – a mistaken notion that has claimed many victims through the ages.
The plain and simple truth is that no betting system on its own can help you beat the house, but some can help you improve your odds even more when combined with other blackjack strategies. For example, when using card counting and basic strategy, you can allow yourself to increase the bet amount when the count is high, as then the strategy cards are considered to be ‘more correct’ and your chances at winning are higher. But, as we already said, this can only work if you’re playing live dealer games. The best betting strategy for RNG games, on the other hand, is to simply bet the same amount over and over again while wagering some convenient casino bonus – a topic that we’re going to discuss a little bit further down the page.
Tip #5: Test in Demo Mode
Now that you have a complete overview of an all-encompassing online blackjack strategy, you probably feel ready to finally start playing. But before you go and bet real money, it’s highly recommended that you first test your skills with play money. Going back to our example with Blackjack Pro by Playtech, we’ve prepared a demo version of the game below that you can try for free. Don’t forget to use the strategy card that we presented to you to secure yourself the best odds.
Something else that you can do while playing in demo mode is to practice your card-counting skills, even though in all RNG games the shoe is virtually shuffled after each hand. After all, there are no demo versions of live blackjack, so your only option is to practice on their computerised versions.
Tip #6: Sync Your Bonus and Blackjack Strategies
Some of the biggest advantages of playing on the Internet vs playing at land-based casinos are undoubtedly the generous bonus opportunities that online casinos offer. Even if the casino has a slight advantage in any given game, playing with extra money that isn’t actually yours and being allowed to keep the winnings surely gives the players some edge. When it comes to blackjack, combining the already low house edge of the game with a solid math-based strategy and a suitable bonus is the most certain way to beat the casino. Of course, every bonus comes with its terms and conditions that are sometimes favourable but other times – not so much.
First of all, there’s always a wagering requirement that you have to fulfil before you can withdraw the winnings generated from the bonus. This requirement in most cases is set at 20 to 40 times the bonus plus the deposit amount. Furthermore, it’s important to take into account the fact that blackjack games don’t contribute at 100% toward the wagering requirement due to the fact that they have a pretty low house edge and give the players great winning odds. Usually, the wagering contribution for the game is set anywhere between 5% and 10%, the higher it is, of course, the better. Other important details you should take into account are the validity period of the bonus and the minimum deposit required to claim it.
All that said, let us present to you an easy-to-claim bonus that is perfect for beginners and offered by a casino that has a great array of blackjack games with both classic and innovative variants – Ladbrokes. At the moment, they offer a 100% bonus up to £500 to all new players that make minimum deposit of £20 at the casino – a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. If you agree with me and are ready to start playing for real money, then click the link below and you’ll be safely redirected to the official website of the operator:
Sure enough, this is not the only available bonus offer that is suitable for playing blackjack online, in fact, most UK casino sites give you the opportunity to wager bonus money on all their blackjack games. So, if you want to find more great opportunities to play blackjack with bonus money, then make sure you also check out our dedicated bonus page.
Final Thoughts and Advice for Long-Term Success
In conclusion, the best blackjack strategy you can adopt is the one that fully corresponds to the game variation you’ve chosen to play. Be careful to only use a game plan that has been created for the particular type of blackjack you’re playing. Otherwise, you won’t be able to achieve the results you expect.
Beginners, find yourselves a strategy card for the variation you play and stick with it. Combine it with a good bonus and you can expect a moderate return in the long run. Your number one priority should be to practice and learn. The more experienced players can, on the other hand, test their card counting skills against some unsuspecting dealer at a live casino of their choice – remember, you can see them, but they cannot see you! Furthermore, to make sure that you get the whole picture as to how to beat this game, you can also take a look at some game strategies analysed.
Last but not least, don’t forget to have fun! After all, it’s a game and its main purpose is to entertain you. Not getting too stressed about winning is a good tactic as it will help you keep a cool head and make better decisions while playing.
Blackjack games are available in most land based casinos and online casinos. They have different rules and betting limits, but the base game is played the same everywhere.
Some casino games are 100% luck based. You can’t do anything to change the outcome. But some games, like blackjack, are designed so you can use strategy to change the house edge. Once you learn what to do, and how to do it, you can change the house edge every time you play.
By following the 21 steps below, you can improve your chance to win every time you play. You don’t need to use every step to get better, but the more of them you use, the better your results will be.
On the list below there are two different types of advice. One type deals with strategy. The other type of advice deals with rules. In order to have the best chance to win you need to understand which rules are best, and which ones hurt your chances.
It would be great if you could find blackjack games that offer every favorable rule, but the truth is that you can only find games with some good rules and some poor rules. Once you learn about the best rules, pick the game that has the most favorable rules.
Once you find a game with mostly favorable rules, the strategy sections come into play. Blackjack has a low house edge when the rules are good, and you can use strategy to keep the edge as low as possible.
It’s even possible to make money playing blackjack if you can count cards. I’ve also included a few advanced advantage plays for you to explore.
Blackjack dealers follow strict rules on how they play their hand. They start with one card face down and one card face up. After all of the players at the table make their playing decisions, the dealer turns over their face down card.
When the dealer’s total is less than 17 they take another card. When their total is 18 or more, they stay. They also stand on all hard 17 totals. A hard total is one that doesn’t have an ace counted as 11.
If it isn’t printed on the felt, look for a card on the table explaining the rules for this information.
You want the dealer to stand on a soft 17. This is slightly better for you overall than when the dealer hits on a soft 17.
The soft 17 rule isn’t as important as some others, but if all of the other rules are the same, pick the table where the dealer stands on soft 17.
It’s better for your long term profits if you can double after splitting a pair. You won’t have many situations where you need to double after split, but the ability to do it is valuable.
When you use basic strategy, discussed later, it tells you when you should split and when you should double down.
The ability to double down after splitting aces is one of the most valuable you can find. You won’t find many games that let you do it, so when you do find one you should take advantage of it unless all of the other rules are bad.
Most blackjack games let you split aces once, but if you get another ace on one of the split aces they don’t all let you split again.
The more times you’re allowed to split aces the better. The most common ace splitting rules are two times, three times, and four times.
4 – Double any Two Cards
Most blackjack games let you double down on at least some totals. If you find a game that doesn’t allow any doubling, you should find another game.
If the other rules are good, don’t worry too much about this one, unless you can’t double at all.
Most of the items on this list are suggestions. They’re all good suggestions, and you should follow as many of them as possible if you want to have the best chance to win. But two of the items on this list should be considered rules instead of suggestions.
This is one of the two rules. The other one is strategy in section 10 below.
You should never play at a blackjack table that pays less than 3 to 2 for a natural blackjack. More tables that pay 6 to 5 are popping up, but it simply costs you too much money to play on one of them. If you can’t find a table paying 3 to 2, simply don’t play.
6 – Bankroll
If you want to have the best chance to win playing blackjack, you need to have a big enough bankroll to ride out short term variance. Short term variance is the natural tendency of your results to go up and down.
You can determine your long term expectations if you know the house edge of the game, based on the rules, and how much you bet per hand and how many hands you play per hour.
If you play a game with good rules and use the best strategy, your long term expectation is negative, but it should be a small loss per hour because the house edge is low.
In the short term, you’re going to lose some sessions and win some sessions. This is true whether you have a positive or negative long term expectation. This means that sometimes you’re going to lose several sessions in a row, so you need to have a big enough bankroll to keep playing.
The bigger the bankroll the better, but I suggest at least 200 to 300 times the biggest bet you place in a session. This includes after splitting and / or doubling down.
When you play casino games you can earn comps at most casinos, both land based and online, if you sign up for the player’s club. If you don’t see where you can sign up, ask someone who works for the casino.
Once you sign up, make sure you always have your club card and present it before you start playing. You earn free comps as you play. These can range from free meals all the way up to free hotel rooms and trips.
While comps usually aren’t in the form of cash, they still have value. I can only think of one reason why you shouldn’t collect comps every time you play blackjack.
If you’re a card counter and don’t want the casino to have your contact information you don’t want a player’s club card. But make sure you’re a good enough counter to make a profit before deciding not to play for comps.
8 – Online Bonuses
When you play blackjack online you can’t count cards. This makes it almost impossible to make a long term profit playing online blackjack. But if you’re not card counter, you can make up for this by collecting deposit bonuses.
Many online casino bonuses restrict the games you can play to slots. But you can still find a few that let you play blackjack.
The most common blackjack games are dealt from a 6 deck shoe or an 8 deck shoe. A few casinos deal single deck and double deck games, but these are usually coupled with bad rules.
When it comes to your long term expectation, games with fewer decks are better for you. But this is only true if all of the other rules are the same.
The number of decks has only a small influence on the house edge, so always go for a game with better rules, even if it uses a 6 deck or 8 deck shoe.
10 – Strategy
When you play blackjack, every playing decision has a single best way to execute it. Every decision has one way the either wins the most in the long run or at least loses the least amount in the long run.
The best playing decision is based on mathematical facts, and can be determined using long hand math or a computer.
This is the second thing on this list that you should consider a rule instead of a suggestion. The other rule is to never play at a table that offers worse than a 3 to 2 pay out for a natural blackjack.
Always use the best strategy for every decision while playing blackjack. Don’t ever make a play based on a hunch or feeling. In the long run, the only way to play with the lowest possible house edge is to use the best strategy.
Blackjack is one of the games offered by casinos where you can turn the tables and win in the long run. It isn’t easy, but if you find games with good rules and learn how to be a card counter you can win.
Card counters know that when the remaining cards in the shoe have more high cards than low cards the edge can swing in their favor. They bet more when this happens, which lets them overcome the house edge.
The edge is small when this happens, so you need to get as much money on the table as possible. This can be challenging and it’s another reason you need a big bankroll.
12 – Camouflage
When you count cards you need to do it without getting caught. Casinos can tell you that you can’t play any more if they think you’re counting. You can do some things that help you hide the fact that you’re counting.
When you try to mask your abilities, it’s called camouflage.
Common camouflage techniques include:
- Switching tables often
- Jumping from casino to casino so you don’t play anyplace too long
- Changing your appearance and / or wearing disguises
- Playing as part of a team
If the casino does ask you to stop playing, don’t argue or make a fuss. Simply collect your chips and leave as quickly as possible.
Do you think you could beat blackjack if you knew the value of the dealer’s down card? If you know the value of both the dealer’s cards you can make the perfect strategy decision every time.
Most blackjack players think it’s impossible to know the value of the dealer’s face down card without cheating. And in many blackjack games this is true.
But if you know what to watch for you can find games where you can see the value of the down card sometimes.
You need to get your eyes as close to table level as possible without arousing suspicion to have the best chance to see the flash. The best way to see hole card values is to watch the dealer on every deal. Once you find your first sloppy dealer, you’ll learn what to watch for.
Shuffle tracking is when you see a group of high cards go into the discard try close together and then following this slug of cards through the shuffle.
It only works in hand shuffled games, and it takes a great deal of practice. Some players never learn how to do it well enough to make a profit, but with a lazy dealer you can follow a slug through the shuffle.
When you follow a slug of high cards through a shuffle, you make higher bets when the slug is getting ready to be dealt.
If you can cut the cards so the slug is close to the top of the shoe, you can start the round betting a high amount and have a chance to play with an early edge.
15 – Ace Tracking
Ace tracking, also called ace sequencing, is much like shuffle tracking, but you only track aces that are close together through the shuffle. Any hand where you have an ace as one of your first two cards shows a long term profit.
You can practice this every time you play until you get better. Then start making bigger bets when you’re likely to receive an ace.
Gamblers seem to have a higher rate of superstitious activity than normal people. This isn’t a scientific fact, but if you spend much time around gamblers you can notice of them doing funny things.
Making Money Blackjack Online Game
One of the things you can see at the blackjack table is players complaining when the last player to act takes a card that would bust the dealer.
No one at the table knows the value of the next card to be dealt, and the truth is that every remaining card has the same chance to be dealt. So anyone who believes that the actions of another player change their chance to win is simply wrong.
The only way to play every hand at the blackjack table is the one that gives you the best mathematical chance to win. Playing any other way, including based on any superstition, only makes you lose more in the long run.
Earn Money Playing Blackjack Online
17 – Side Bets
Most blackjack side bets have a higher house edge than the base game. Unless you know exactly how a side bet works, know it offers a low house edge, and know exactly how to use it for your benefit, you should avoid all side bets.
The easiest thing to do is never play one of the side bets. Concentrate on playing the base blackjack games as well as possible, and forget about everything else.
Insurance is always a bad bet, unless you count cards. Even when you count cards, rarely is it a good play to take the offer of insurance. While insurance seems like a part of the game of blackjack, the truth is it’s simply a side bet.
Never take insurance while playing blackjack. Once you’re a profitable card counter, you can learn about the small percentage of times that insurance becomes a good bet.
One way to get better at any game is to practice. If you can practice for free, it’s even better. Blackjack is one of the easiest games to practice for free.
You can deal hands yourself to practice basic strategy and counting, or you can play for free online. When you play free online blackjack it’s a great way to practice and learn the best strategy.
Use your strategy chart or card on every play until you have it memorized.
20 – Tips
Casino dealers make most of their money from tips. I usually tip good dealers when I play in land based casinos, but if your goal is to make as much profit as possible, you need to understand that every time you tip the dealer it reduces your profit.
I’m not telling you to stop giving tips, but make sure you don’t overdo it. Tips can eliminate your profit for an entire session, or increase your losses by a large amount.
Making Money Blackjack Online Multiplayer
The truth is that you can beat the game of blackjack. It requires quite a bit of work and a little skill, but most players have the ability to do it if they want it bad enough.
If you want to be a winning blackjack player, learn everything on this list and start practicing. It all starts with a decision to dedicate enough time and work into winning.
Are you ready to make the commitment to become a long term winner?
Conclusion
Blackjack profits are possible if you’re willing to do what it takes to grab them. But even if you simply want to improve your play without learning advanced techniques like card counting, this list of 21 steps to blackjack profit can help you reach your goal.