Author Archives: daveandbob

House Edge at Blackjack

November 19, 2015 – 2:52 pm

If you’ve ever played USA online blackjack then you should probably be aware that online blackjack has one of the lowest house edges of any casino game. In simple terms, the house edge is the advantage the casino has over the player and indicates how much the player can expect to lose during an average session. Here we take a look at the house edge in blackjack and what factors impact it, which should help you choose the game with the lowest house edge.

What is the House Edge?

The house edge is a little like the profit margin the casino builds into games. It is expressed as a percentage and a totally “fair” game, such as flipping a coin with odds of evens for either outcome, has a house edge of 0%. Blackjack typically has a house edge of around 1%, which means that on average, if you played 100 hands at $10 a time you would expect to be just $10 down in total. In roulette the house edge is 2.70% for a single zero game and 5.26% for double zero, whilst slots can be as high as 20%!

Use Basic Strategy

In roulette and slots, your decisions do not alter the house edge, however in blackjack, like video poker, they do. In order to achieve the “advertised” house edge, the lowest possible within any given ruleset, you must follow basic strategy as any deviation will increase the casino’s advantage and, ultimately, decrease your bankroll.

What Affects The House Edge

Different casinos offer slightly different rules and game variants when it comes to blackjack and various factors have an impact on the house edge. In order to pick the most profitable game of blackjack it pays to know a few basic factors that either help or hinder your chances and here are five of the biggest.

  1. Decks – the fewer the better, ideally one, certainly fewer than eight
  2. Blackjack Full Pay – NEVER play blackjack if a “natural” is paid at odds lower than 3/2
  3. Soft 17 – look for a game where the dealer stands on soft 17
  4. Double – if you can double on any cards great, if not doubling on 9-11 is better than just 10 or 11
  5. Split Aces – the ability to split aces reduces the house edge significantly
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Maybe Slots are OK After All

November 6, 2015 – 6:32 am

USA online blackjack is what we’re all about here (the clue is in the name of the site!) because we love the low house edge on blackjack, the element of skill and thought and the fact that you can enjoy long sessions at the blackjack table even with a relatively small bankroll. Slots, we often feel, are for part-timers and old Floridians enjoying their annual Vegas trip. Well, last month we heard a little story about a UK soldier who won $20m playing an online slot and that’s kinda made us reconsider!

Granted, the odds of hitting a progressive jackpot slot are pretty darn slim so we aren’t suddenly going to cash in our life savings and hit the nearest online slots site but, much as we love blackjack, you’d need some pretty big stakes and a seriously long winning run to match the win of world record online slot winner Jon Heywood.

The 26-year-old UK soldier from Cheshire in the North West region of England hit the biggest ever online slots win last month playing at online casino Betway, who sadly don’t accept US players. The Mega Moolah slot delivered him his life-changing eight-figure win from a single spin that cost around 40 cents. Mega Moolah isn’t an option for USA casino fans but other great progressive slots are, many with jackpots worth more than $1.5m!

Heywood, who has toured Afghanistan, will no longer need to worry about work after his huge win and plans to spend the money on his family. First priority is his father, who requires a lung and heart transplant, whilst more money is earmarked for a family cruise round the Mediterranean and with $20m to go at, safe to say it won’t be a budget trip!

He also has his heart set on a yellow Bentley. Great automobile, lousy color. His current ride is a Fiat Punto, worth around $12,000, so the Bentley Continental GT – asking price circa $250,000 – is a nice little upgrade for the lucky Brit.

As said, blackjack will always be our number one casino game but with lottery-style prizes like this available playing the spinning reels, and slots bonuses generally being the most generous offered, maybe slots are OK after all!

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Bovada Blackjack Bonuses and Site Review

October 23, 2015 – 6:59 am

Bovada is one of the longest-established online casinos around and one of the best places to play USA online blackjack. Many US casino fans may be more familiar with the site’s previous name: Bodog. Due to the complex legal issues surrounding online gambling here in the States the business has undergone some changes in corporate structure, but whilst the Bovada name is relatively new, the expertise and gaming experience that Bodog has gained from more than 20 years in the industry is plain to see.

Bovada offer a range of gambling products making them a great one-stop-shop for players wanting to play online blackjack as well as bet on sports, including horse racing, play poker or play a range of online casino games, including roulette and slots.

Of course, it’s their blackjack offering with which we are most concerned here – that and their bonuses of course. When it comes to both we really can’t fault Bovada, with their main casino bonus worth a total of $3,000.

That comes in the shape of four slots bonuses worth 100% up to $500 with bonus code SLOTS500, followed by four 100% bonuses up to $250 each with code GAMES250. The latter is the one for blackjack fans to really take advantage of and whilst single deck and double deck blackjack don’t qualify towards the rollover (40 times deposit and bonus), other forms of our favorite casino card game do count, as do a range of other non-slots casino games.

Bovada don’t stop there when it comes to keeping blackjack fans happy and they also offer a dedicated blackjack bonus to their existing customers too. Blackjack Weekends at Bovada is a great promotion that means you can earn up to $100 in free blackjack action every weekend, with $10 of bonus released for every 200 Casino Points you earn playing blackjack between Friday and Sunday.

Perhaps the best thing about blackjack at Bovaada though is the massive range of games and rulesets that really blows rivals away. If you like variety in your blackjack then you’ll love Bovada, with standard and European blackjack, Perfect Pairs, Face Up 21, Match Play 21, Super 21 and Pontoon available as well as single and double Deck Blackjack, Zappit Blackjack and also mini-blackjack.

You sure won’t go bored at Bovada and with $3,000 of bonuses too, you might just get rich!

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The Four Horsemen of Blackjack

October 7, 2015 – 11:03 am

The Four Horsemen of Blackjack are quite possibly the most important people in the entire history of the game of blackjack. Whether you are a regular of USA online blackjack, like to play a few hands whenever you’re in Vegas or play at home with your buddies, if you have ever used Basic Strategy when you’ve played blackjack, you owe a great debt to The Four Horsemen of the Aberdeen Proving Ground – to use their full and proper title.

Basic Strategy is the mathematically proven optimum strategy for playing blackjack and effectively tells you whether you should hit, stand, double or split in any given situation. Working this complex algorithm out now would be relatively simple with a cheap computer and a decent grounding in math, but back when the Four Horsemen figured it all out, they used just a pencil, some paper and their collective brainpower.

William Cantey, Herbert Maisel, Roger Baldwin and James McDermott were stationed at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland in the 1950s and decided to see if they could crack the game of blackjack. Upon learning that the dealer had to hit to 16 and stand on 17, Baldwin, who had a Master’s in Math, decided he could try and calculate the best move following the initial deal.

Given there are a fixed number of cards in the deck it seemed right that in any given situation there must be a “right” and a “wrong” call. Previously blackjack players went on received wisdom and hunches but these four bright army men decided they would attempt to work out what choices would yield the best results in the long term.

From 1953 onwards the four soldiers worked on their theory, testing and analyzing, using nothing more than army “adding machines”, as primitive calculators were then known. In fall 1956 they published “The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack” which essentially codified, created, invented, call it what you will, Basic Strategy.

Their original document is almost perfect, with some very minor alterations having been made over the years that produce returns a tiny fraction higher. Amazingly it wasn’t until 2008 that they were inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame but since then their amazing feat has been more widely and fully appreciated.

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Playing Mobile Blackjack

September 23, 2015 – 8:59 am

Loads of great online casinos offer USA online blackjack, but more and more of the best casinos around now offer USA-based players the chance to play mobile blackjack too. Playing your favorite card game for real money, wherever and whenever you like may sound too good to be true, but it’s not – welcome to the world of mobile blackjack!

Blackjack may have been around for 100 years or more but in essence the game has changed very little since the advent of online casinos in the mid-1990s. However, one of the best and latest developments means you can play blackjack on your cell and if you haven’t tried it, prepare for non-stop excitement and the most convenient casino action imaginable.

No more trips to Vegas, hell, no more trips to get the laptop ready or sit at your desktop: your favorite game is now resting neatly in your pocket, ready to be loaded in seconds whenever boredom hits, you have a few moments to spare or you just fancy a bit of blackjack fun.

Playing blackjack on the go couldn’t be easier: there is no need to download an app (at most of our featured online blackjack sites) and blackjack is available at just about every mobile casino there is. Apple and Android users will find they have access to just about all sites, although most modern smartphones should be able to access the mobile versions of sites easily enough.

As long as you have reasonable 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi connectivity, all the blackjack you could wish to play is in the palm of your hand. The gameplay on mobile is identical to standard online blackjack, with all the normal options and decisions open to you. The only difference between playing on your cell and on your laptop is that certain account functions (e.g. seeing all your gameplay) may not be available, but in terms of blackjack itself the experience is just as good.

Obviously the number one benefit of mobile blackjack is the total convenience so say goodbye to boredom and hello to mobile blackjack. Whether you’re waiting for a friend, collecting the kids from school or just have spare moment or two, those aces are right there in your pocket!

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Splitting at Blackjack

September 9, 2015 – 6:53 am

Splitting is one of the key decisions in blackjack and knowing when to split a pair into two hands (and when not to) will help you maximize your chances of success. Splitting at the right time will keep the house edge – the casino’s advantage over the player – as low as possible and that means you need only the smallest amount of luck in order to clear that casino bonus or make a nice profit from your session at the table.

When playing at your favorite USA online blackjack site it’s easy to refer to basic strategy and unless you have memorized every call then we would recommend using a basic strategy chart to help you. However, if you don’t want to keep checking a sheet, or happen to be playing blackjack in a real-world casino, then knowing the essentials of when to split will help you play more quickly, more profitably and enjoy your entire blackjack experience that little bit more.

The following information is based on standard blackjack rules, assuming four to eight decks, doubling after splitting is not allowed and the dealer stands on soft 17. The easiest splits to remember are aces and eights, which should always, always be split. Even when the dealer is holding an ace himself and you think you might be better off trying to limit your losses, with a pair of eights, for example, splitting is ALWAYS the right choice.

The next simple one is a pair of fours, which should never be split and always hit, even to a dealer showing a six. The same applies with a pair of fives and a pair of 10s – these should never be split, even if you like the idea of taking two hands with a 10 against a five or a six. Basic strategy, math, science, call it what you will, is never wrong, so don’t play with your gut or instinct, make the call that is proven to deliver long-term profit.

The other splits are slightly more complex but:

  • Split nines unless the dealer has a seven, 10 or ace
  • Split sevens unless the dealer has a higher card
  • Split sixes unless the dealer has higher card or a two
  • Split twos and threes only to a dealer four to seven inclusive
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The History of Blackjack: Three Theories

August 26, 2015 – 7:44 am

Like many games found in casinos, the origins of blackjack have not been proven beyond doubt and there are plenty of contrasting theories which researchers have asserted as to how this fine game came about. While USA online blackjack is not that far removed from the game that arrived in the USA with migrants and merchants from Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, here we look at three theories about how it all began.

1. What have the Romans ever done for us?

There is a school of thought – chiefly championed by Italian researchers – that the origins of blackjack reach far further back than many believe, right back to the Roman times no less.

The theory goes that Roman soldiers who were hanging around their camps waiting for the next battle or conquest to be ordered would while away the hours inventing and playing various games on which they could gamble (they loved to gamble, apparently!) One such game involved the use of wooden blocks, each of which had a numerical value carved onto it. The players used the numbered blocks to try to get to a target total, the nearest to the total being the winner.

2. If in doubt, look East

Another theory about the origins of blackjack is that it was invented in the Far East (most probably China) some time around 900AD and that it developed from games that came about when Chinese merchants would shuffle paper money (something they certainly invented).

There are only sketchy accounts of such games and how they relate to blackjack, but there is certainly circumstantial evidence that merchants who ventured from Europe to the Far East were exposed to such games which might have inspired them to adapt the rules into something that more resembled blackjack.

3. 21 by any other name

The French game of vingt-et-un (which means “21”) is widely considered to be the true forerunner to the game of blackjack we know and love today. Originating sometime around the early 17th century, and probably as a variation of other games that existed at the time, vingt-et-un was a card game whose object was to reach a total of 21 without going over that total and in which aces counted as one or 11 in value. Sounds familiar, right?

Conclusion

All in all it is impossible to say how blackjack really came about and it almost certainly developed over the centuries as various games were morphed and adapted by those who played them. One thing’s for sure though, now we’ve got blackjack, it isn’t going away!

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Silver Oak Casino: Best Blackjack Casino Around?

August 14, 2015 – 6:43 am

If you like to play blackjack online and you don’t have an account with Silver Oak then you’re in luck, because we reckon they might just about be the very best USA online blackjack site around.

Silver Oak were founded in 2009 and are licensed in Costa Rica. Their games are powered by RTG and you can play games, including of course blackjack, in either their instant play casino, or a download version. They also offer mobile games and are owned by BTK Ltd Casinos and, crucially of course, they welcome US players and handle US deposits smoothly.

They have seven different versions of “blackjack” (games where making 21 is the aim) including the basic blackjack and European blackjack, as well as Perfect Pairs, Pontoon, Super 21 and Face Up 21. With many rivals only offering two or three blackjack variants, this is a major plus for fans of the best casino game around, especially if you like a bit of variation in your play.

However, perhaps the main reason that Silver Oak is such a great place for blackjack fans is that it counts 50% (effectively) towards the wagering for their bonus.

Huge $10,000 Casino Bonus at Silver Oak

New customers to Silver Oak can claim a $1,000 bonus on each of their first 10 deposits at the casino! The bonus is a 100% match of each deposit when you use promo code SILVEROAK1 (on your first deposit) then SILVEROAK2 on your second deposit and so on, right up to SILVEROAK10 when you claim your final $1,000 of free casino action.

The wagering requirement is 30 times the deposit plus bonus combined, and 60 times on blackjack and video poker. That might sound like a lot but when you consider that many rival online casinos and US blackjack sites have the same 30 times rollover, but with blackjack counting for just 25%, 10%, 5% or even, at some slots-centered casinos, 1% or not at all, 60 times wagering is actually very generous.

To make that clear, a 30x rollover where blackjack contributes 25% towards the bonus is actually the same as a having to bet the bonus and deposit 120 times, so it’s easy to see why Silver Oak is so popular with blackjack buffs. Now what are you waiting for?

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Latest Blackjack and Casino News

July 31, 2015 – 8:43 am

Playing at great USA online blackjack sites is how we spend most of our time but every now and again we take a break to keep up with blackjack news from around the world and in particular here in the US. Read on for some of the latest and most interesting blackjack news stories around.

Lady Gaga Hits The Tables

Lady Gaga doesn’t seem to be doing too much musically of late but she’s certainly enjoying some good casino time. She was playing at Atlantic City’s Borgata Casino and then decided to see what the casino was really all about by playing craps with Tony Bennett until three in the morning!

Personally, we’d have steered her to the blackjack tables but she obviously likes the glamour and attention that comes with shooting craps. Somehow we don’t see her playing online craps or blackjack in her kitchen on a Saturday night!

High Rollers Do As They Please

This may not count as news to many people but high rollers and the rich in general are allowed to do more or less what they please, at least according to one casino pit boss. A boss at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, has told of players urinating on walls, falling into screaming frenzies, throwing chairs, expecting to be allowed to cheat and even perpetrating sexual harassment.

Competition at real-world casinos and online blackjack sites for the big fish who spend top dollar is so intense that it is claimed that such outrageous behavior is accepted. The claims come as part of a hearing at a tribal gaming commission as pit boss Maria DeGiacomo is accused of allowing high rollers to cheat by placing late bets, action she was sacked for.

Glen Costales, testifying in support of his colleague said, “All men are created equal, except in the casino,” and said that such behavior around high rollers – allowing them to place late bets – was common and accepted.

DeGiacomo is trying to clear her name but in the process the industry of offline casinos and gaming is certainly being done no favors.

Seminole D-Day Draws Close

The ongoing issue of the Seminoles’ exclusive rights to blackjack and other card games shows no signs of an easy resolution, despite the exclusivity deal being set to expire on July 31st. Mediation is being sought as the Seminoles look to extend their lucrative deal but the ongoing battle in the state of Florida seems to be heading toward an unhappy conclusion for the tribe, who will have to close their blackjack tables.

If you want to play blackjack then playing online is, oddly enough, our favorite solution so why not check out the various casino and blackjack bonuses available right now?

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Does Card Counting Work for Live Dealer Blackjack?

July 17, 2015 – 2:00 am

Okay, we’ve all seen the movies, we may have read the books, but let’s get one thing clear at the outset, card counting at blackjack is no easy task. You’re as likely to get thrown out of a casino as to make any money from it if you are not very careful, and if you don’t already have basic strategy all but memorized, you might as well forget your chances of getting anywhere close to profiting from card counting. In short, card counting is not for the amateur blackjack player.

Card counting involves assessing when a deck has a glut of 10s and aces (which works out well for the players) or a lack of them (which puts things in favor of the dealer) and wagering accordingly. For instance, when the card counter knows there are many 10s, picture cards and aces to come in the deck, he would alter the way he plays, upping his bets and amending his strategy to go against the basic strategy in certain circumstances when deciding to split, hit or double when the basic strategy says to stand.

Of course, card counting usually takes place in bricks and mortar casinos rather than on USA online blackjack sites (whose standard blackjack games are powered by Random Number Generator software). The advent of live dealer blackjack, however, has given hope to some that you might just be able to get away with a spot of card counting when playing online while not of course running the risk of getting thrown out (there are no cameras watching your every move when you play online of course!). Even though live dealer blackjack games involve real dealers and real packs of cards, the likelihood of you being able to gain any advantage from counting cards is small at best, and even then it is probably reliant on dealer error. This is the case for one simple reason: deck penetration.

Deck penetration refers to how far into a deck (or, more usually, the decks – plural) the dealer will allow play to go before reshuffling. The larger the deck penetration, the better chance card counting has of bearing fruit. Alas, most live dealer blackjack dealers reshuffle after about half the cards have been dealt, which – especially with the commonly used eight-deck shoe – is not nearly enough to make card counting particularly effective. In other words, when playing blackjack online, simply stick to basic strategy for your best chance of winning!

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