Playing Blackjack to win
The basic strategy on how to use a casino’s money to your advantage.
Here is a little simple maths to show the money making potential of basic strategy.The “house edge” (the amount of money a casino expects to win from any player) for blackjack is estimated to generally be in the region of 2.5%. In other words, the casino would expect to win $2.50 in every $100 wagered by the average blackjack player.
By playing a strategic game you can reduce the house edge to 0.50% or even lower.
To encourage players to open accounts with them, most casinos offer new account holders bonus money as an inducement. For example – deposit $50 and get another $50 added to it for free. It does come with conditions attached though – usually by way of a wagering requirement. This means you have to wager a given amount of money first but this differs from casino to casino. It is important to check and understand wagering requirements.
Now – some simple maths to illustrate how you can profit from this “free” money: Example:
You open an account with Casino X, deposit $50 and are given $50 free. Your available stake is now $100. The wagering requirement is 10 times the deposit and bonus amount. In this case that means $1000. This does sound a lot but it isn’t really as all you wagers (wins and losses) count towards that $1000.
So – if you were playing at $1 a hand and had a sequence of W, W, L, W, W, L, L, L, W, W you would be $1 ahead over the sequence but have wagered a total of $10. Get the idea?
By playing strategic blackjack you reduce the house edge to say 0.50% (or lower). Thus, based on your $100 starting amount and wagering $1000 you can be expected to lose just $5 (1000×0.5%) under ideal conditions.
So, you have $95 after completing the wagering requirement. Take off your $50 and you’ve now got a $45 profit courtesy of the $50 the casino gave you on joining.
If you were to do the same in different casinos you can see how it can accumulate. An easy way to keep track on your progress towards the minimum wagering requirement is to write it down and keep a simple spreadsheet remembering to add “one” time you split or double down.
More importantly though, have fun – it is a game of cards, after all. That is what makes it exciting – strategy and chance !
