Whether you play blackjack at a casino or on a website or even if you just play black jack for fun, you have to follow the black jack game rules. To win the black jack game you have to:

• Score the highest total you can without “going bust” (over 21)
• Beat the dealer’s score

Don’t let this intimidate you. You can rest assured that the dealer is obligated to obey a strict set of rules to eliminate chance factors that may occur from the dealing process.

The more detailed rules of playing black jack varies from casino to casino, whether online of offline. The first thing you should do before you start to play black jack is to figure out the specific rules that apply to the casino you entered.
Experienced black jack players know that the dealer is required to draw a new card until he reaches 17. In one casino the dealer is allowed to hit a ‘soft 17’ in another casino this is not allowed.

A soft-17 hitting means the inclusion of an ace in the hand. Since it represents a value of 1 or 11, an ace and a six is called ‘soft 17. Soft means that it may be treated as a total of 7. By contrast, a 10 and an 18 for example represent a fixed or ‘hard’ total of 18, under all circumstances.

Other black jack rules can also vary from casino to casino, for example

• dealing style (“face up” versus “face down”)
• the number of decks allowed in a “shoe” (a ‘shoe’ is a collection of decks)
• minimum wagers

and others.

So know the black jack rules for the specific casino you play in before your start to play

Blackjack before 1962:
Before publication of the classic book “Beat The Dealer” by Edward O. Thorp in 1962 no single player had ever suspected of such a thing as the Basic Strategy. Everyone used one’s own mixture of superstitions concerning the way in which one or the other hand had to play. Plus, some experience gained while playing at home in the kitchen. Excluding a small number of professional card-players who intuitively presupposed that their overbalance would be more if there were more bowers left in a pack, practically none won in blackjack. Naturally, casinos felt quite comfortable under such conditions. Till 1962 blackjack was not very popular, though percentagewise the profit rate was exclusively high.

The next decade: from 1962 till 1972:
After publication of the book by Thorp the situation changed radically. When the book mounted the peak of sales, became a bestseller, and the professor Thorp became an internationally famous personality, casinos were terrified that thus everyone could learn the system of Thorp and would start beating casinos winning huge amounts of money.

The results of this panic are well-known. The majority of casinos cardinally changed the blackjack rules creating even a larger overbalance in comparison with the previous set of rules. These introductions were effective a few weeks only as the majority of casinos’ clients simply refused to play a game with such bad rules. Subordinating to the law of supply and demand casinos had to quickly restore traditional rules for all. After this gamblers started immediately to play again, more than that in considerably larger quantities.

The popularity of Thorp’s book played into the hands of casinos. Blackjack started to attract crowds of people who thought they could “beat a dealer” only after they had read one book.

But the fact remained that casinos’ visitors continued to lose the same amounts of money while playing blackjack as before. Only the number of gamblers increased a hundred times. The majority of those who had read the book simply didn’t understand the way the calculation of tens given in the book worked, and those who got to the bottom didn’t take enough pains so as to master the system of calculation from A to Z. Casinos observed in surprise the incredibly increased profits.

Reedition of the book in 1966 gave a reader a simpler calculation system. Over that period of time a number of books on blackjack were published. The game gathered pace. Casinos were setting more and more tables. Blackjack was becoming the most popular game in casinos having outrun the previous leader craps.

Blackjack of the 70s:
The classic book “Playing Blackjack as a Business” by Lawrence Revere is responsible for further increase in popularity of the game in the 70s to a great extent. Revere published a shortened version of his systems at the beginning of 1969, but by 1972 already thousands of copies of the book were sold out. Revere republished an extended version of the book offering his simple and effective systems of the game which increased blackjack popularity even more.

Also the book “Winning Blackjack” by Stanley Roberts, was in the right place at the right time, in addition the author appeared in a number of radio and TV-shows. Roberts invested a considerable amount of money into advertising of his book making a splash.

Casinos were once again overcome by the fit of paranoia. They started to suspect that the systems developed with the help of research methods could considerably influence their profits. Casinos started to introduce a multi-pack blackjack instead of a one-pack blackjack to struggle against the system game.

At the beginning of the 70s a lot of scientists, mathematicians, university professors and other “intellectuals” started to write books about blackjack. Some of them developed their own cards’ calculation systems. One of the most popular and effective systems – Hi-Opt I, was developed in 1974 with the help of computer programs created by Julian Brown with participation of an anonymous postgraduate of a large Canadian university.

A lot of professional gamblers transferred from the Revere system to the Hi-Opt I system because of the relative simplicity and effectiveness of the latter one. A lot of ordinary gamblers started to use the system together with the basic strategy. These two systems evidently made the biggest impact upon casinos’ profits because of their use by professionals. Roberts’ systems were more often used by amateurs.

Kenneth Uston, teams and Great Horror:
Kenneth Uston noticed sometime at the end of 1976 that he was amazed by the way how effective the simplest systems of Hi-Opt I type could be. In Uston’s book “Big Player” the way how Uston and his companions won together more than a million of dollars playing blackjack is described. Later on his teams transferred from very complicated systems to the simplest of Hi-Opt I type. Uston was thrown out of a few big casinos of Las Vegas, and he filed lawsuit against them for a total amount of 80 million dollars.

With the arrival of Uston the whole new era of blackjack began. Casinos were once again frightened that teams could win huge amounts of money in blackjack. Nearly at once some casinos did away with a one- and two-pack blackjack transferring to 4-, 6- and 8-pack ones. For an average gambler blackjack became too difficult. Plus, casinos started to cut most cards out of play – to two packs. As has been mentioned by Roberts in one of his articles, such practice was at the very least doubtful. By the way, the fact itself of availability of cards which didn’t enter the game caused new kinds of crooked gambling connected with withdrawal and addition of cards.

Casinos up to now change the number of packs and the extent of cutting, and compare levels of profits, thus balancing rules. In any case, rules are extremely difficult for gamblers in the USA, especially beginners.

The nightmare continues:
The funniest thing is that gamblers’ thoughts are not rigid. Uston’s teams were followed by Keith Taft with his pocket computer for blackjack which played better than any profs in the world. The court of Nevada State broke the record of the USA on the quickness of adoption of statute on use of computers in casinos. Up to five years with confiscation in the current situation, though Taft and his advocates were sure of the unconstitutionality of that law.

Forbade the computer? There appeared Tommy Hyland and his most complicated systems of tracking. A new headache for casinos… To worsen the cutting, introduce more packs and make the procedure of riffle even longer. To invent shuffle-machines!

Stanford Wong was the first to outwit these shuffle-machines. The most important thing was to know how they worked. Poor casinos didn’t know what to do. These machines cost rather a lot.

Perhaps new varieties would help? Spanish 21, Super-fan 21, 6:5 blackjack, “Open” blackjack, Blackjack-switch, Pontoon… With every introduction there was one problem: either no one played it at all or profs immediately found the way to beat it. Tournaments? Old Wong created teams especially for tournament struggle. Every new rule was calculated and intensively looked into a week in advance. The development of the Internet caused quick information distribution.

Further on the whole pleiad of gamblers of the contemporary generation came on stage. Wong, Sneider, Anderson, Dogerty, Shlesinger and heaps of people who were occupied with theory and practical aspects of the game. Mathematical models of the game were worked out. Texts on Blackjack were published in scientific reviews.

Finally, up to the present moment a small number of professionals still win in blackjack. And will win in the future. Some profs transfer to more complicated systems which are plentiful (let’s say, Hi-Opt II was published as far back as 1976). New methods and techniques are being developed.

There is no doubt that it will get still more and more difficult to win in blackjack. However, there difficulties only make gambling wits work harder and harder. Right away new game systems are being worked out in many heads and at many computers of the world.

It is important to understand that gamblers always have a hope. They can change games. They can finally read a textbook on the theory of probability. They can read the same books themselves. They can spend even more money on the newest technologies. However, I assure You, there will always be a way to beat them.

On the December 21st, Patricia C staked only £4 on a game of Swamp Rat and came away with more than £8,000 as an early Christmas present.

Fellow Swamp Rat player Jonathan M also cashed in before the festive season began, turning his £1 stake into £1,371 and collecting another £200 win with a separate bet of only £4.

Meanwhile, a host of players won hundreds of pounds with free bets, including Roxana T, who scooped more than £1,100 after trying her luck free-of-charge at Jewel Jackpot on December 28th.

Furthermore, a number of other CyberSlotz favourites, including Race For Riches, Hot Slots and Mayan Treasure, also paid out sums in excess of £500 for individual wins over the course of the past week.

There was also an extra helping of Christmas cheer for Sunset Dreams player Stella L, who managed a £400 win with a free bet on December 25th.

My friend is called Emma. She is not exactly what you would call good with money and I am often amazed at the amounts she spends when we go out shopping together. Emma earns a fairly good wage but many people would probably expect that she earns three times this amount by her attitude towards money. If there is a store card available, Emma will sign up for it. I have often tried to advise her that she could find herself in a nasty position if she does not take more care with her finances, but she would never listen and thought that I was just too careful and even tight with my own money.

About a year ago, Emma confided to me that she was in quite a large amount of debt. She had bought a lot of items on her credit cards and had been unable to make all of the repayments. Emma also had a car loan which she also found hard to pay back, she of course had to drive around in the best car. Emma said that it was not a problem as she was looking into ways of reducing these debts and had read many debt consolidation articles on the internet, which had provided her with some useful information.

Six months later, Emma confided in me again. She now stated that she was in too deep and that she had been stupid as she had tried to gamble her way out of debt. I could not believe it, however tried to remain positive for her sake. I asked her to explain what had happened. She replied that she had started to play poker on the internet. Originally it was only for a bit of fun and in the first two months she was up around three hundred dollars. Emma then thought that this was a possible way to help her to reduce her debts and started to play for much higher stakes. Her winning streak was not to last and she ended up losing a lot of money.

Emma is still finding it hard to pay back all of the money she owes various people and companies, but has realised that gambling is not a form of debt solution for her.

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Before You Begin: For most of these systems, you will need to decide what your betting unit will be ahead of time (such as the minimum allowable bet at the game and online casino in question).

1-3-2-6 Betting System

This is what’s called a Positive Progression system, meaning that as you win, your bets increase. The foundation of this online casino betting system is the premise that a player can win any game a maximum of 4 times in a row before they’ll probably lose.

Here’s how the system works:

- Bet 1 unit each betting round until you win a round;

- After you win a round, bet 3 units on the next (second) round;

- If you win a second round in a row, bet 2 units on the next (third) round;

- If you win a third round in a row, bet 6 units on the next (fourth) round;

- Then, no matter what happens (win or lose) return to the beginning of the pattern, betting 1 unit per round until you win one, etc.

The risk-reward scenario with the 1-2-3-6 betting system is simple. You can win as much as 6 times your original bet after 4 rounds of play while only putting 2 units of your own at risk.

The worst case scenario with the 1-2-3-6 betting system is that you lose 6 consecutive times in the second round. No matter, though. You can make it all up by winning 4 times in a row.

The Martingale System

This is a Negative Progression system, meaning that as you lose, your bets increase.

The foundation of this online casino betting system is the premise that a player cannot possibly lose an infinite number of times without ever winning a single round. Therefore, what the Martingale system is designed to help you do is offset all of your accumulated losses with a single win.

Whether you consider it cynical, realistic, or both, this system works best in cases when the online casino game is paying out a 1 to 1 payout ratio on each bet. Here’s how it works:

- First, place whatever bet you’ve decided to start with;

- If you win, bet the same amount again, but if you lose, bet double the amount;

- If you lose again, you double your bet again.

The downside to the Martingale system is that you need a large bankroll to start out with as well as the resolve to keep increasing your bets as your losses compound. Not just anyone can pull this online casino betting system off.

In the rarest of cases, you may, after enough losses, reach the online casino’s betting maximum and then not be able to raise your bet further or offset your losses with one win.

The D’Alenbert System

This is another Negative Progression system. It’s also considered an Insurance System in that, as you win, the size of your bets increase. Here’s how it works:

- Each time you lose, you raise your bets by one unit;

- Each time you win, you lower your bets by one unit;

This system also requires a large enough online casino bankroll to pull it off.

By adding the insurance system to the negative progression system, you’re hedging your increasing losses by pulling some profits off the table each time you win.

The Labouchere Betting System (a.k.a. The Cancellation System)

This system, another Negative Progression, is somewhat more complicated than those listed so far. Depending on the odds in whatever online casino game you’re playing, you’ll come up with some sequence of numbers — of any length you wish — and not necessarily sequential.

Each number in your sequence is a multiple of your predetermined betting unit (7 therefore is 7 times your betting unit; 5 is 5x, etc.) Here’s how it works:

- Your first bet should be the sum of the first and last numbers in your sequence;

- If you win, cross out those two numbers you just added together (the two outermost in your sequence) and bet the sum of the next two;

- If you win again, cross out those two outermost numbers and repeat the process

- If you continue winning until you have no more numbers in the sequence to add together, you simply start from the beginning with the entire, original sequence.

However:

- If you lose, you add to the end of the sequence, the sum that you had just used, thus creating a new sequence;

- Crossing out no numbers at all (because you didn’t win yet), add the first number in the sequence to the new last number that number and use that new sum as your multiple;

The supposed benefit of this complicated betting method is that anytime you have to start over with the original sequence, you come out with a profit. The drawback is that you can accumulate enormous losses before you ever win (if you ever win).

Your success at the Labouchere system really depends on selecting the right sequence.

The Paroli System (a.k.a. The Anti-Martingale System)

This is another Positive Progression system. More than simply selecting a unit of betting, with the Paroli system you also need to determine two other criteria before you begin:

1. A cap: The uppermost amount at which you will stop increasing your wager and return to your starting unit;

2. A multiple: How much you’ll increase your bet every time you win (1 unit, 2 units, 3 units, etc.)

You should base these factors on the odds of the online casino game you happen to be playing. The appeal of the Paroli System is that you can play at the online casino for a while with a small bankroll. You cut your losses and let your profits ride.

The Parlay System

This is another Positive Progression system. Similar to the Paroli System, the effect of the Parlay system is to “pyramid” your profits, meaning that every time you win you wager both your winnings and the amount of your initial bet as your next bet.
The reward of the Parlay system can be huge. The risk is that you can lose it all in a single bad online casino beat.

Oh, and one other thing: freebies. The best online casino players are looking for the best odds, and getting something for nothing is about as good as they get. That’s why, following our list of the best online casinos overall, we’ve also listed those sites that give the best bonuses, both matching/deposit bonuses and the “freest” of freebies, No Deposit Bonuses.

Our research has concluded that these are the overall best online casinos: Golden Palace Online Casino, 7 Sultans Casino, InterCasino, Casino-on-Net, UK Casino Club, Black Jack Ballroom Casino, English Harbour Casino, Spin Palace Casino, and Casino Fortune.

When looking at the best online casinos with No Deposit Bonuses, remember that No Deposit Bonuses come with wagering requirements that you must meet before you are permitted to withdraw them (or whatever’s left of them after the wagering requirements have been met). Even the best online casinos with the best No Deposit Bonuses have wagering requirements so high that it’ll be quite the challenge to keep the bonus fully intact before you’ve qualified to withdraw it.

But if you go into these best online casinos with the intention of using their No Deposit Bonus to test their waters, to feel out the online casino and its patrons before deciding to commit your own hard-earned money to your chip stack, then you’ll maximize your use of the No Deposit Bonus with no unrealistic expectations of actually pocketing the bulk of that $10 or $15 at the end of the day.

The best online casinos with no deposit bonuses that we’ve found include the following: At 25 pounds sterling, Gaming Club Online Casino; followed by $25 (Jackpot City Online Casino), $16 (Captain Cooks Casino, Casino Kingdom, Miami Paradise Casino), $15 (7 Sultans Casino, Aces High Casino, Piggs Peak Casino and Sci Fi Casino).

It’s much easier, however, to walk away from the best online casinos with some of your deposit bonus/matching bonus intact. As the wagering requirements are typically more reasonable for the bonuses that do require a deposit first, you can really make an entrance whenever you sit down at any new online casino’s tables for the first time backed by an intimidating chip stack.

The best online casino bonuses we’ve found include the following: $200 bonus for a $50 deposit (Lucky Nugget Online Casino, AllJackpotsCasino and Gaming Club Online Casino); $300 bonus for a $100 deposit (Golden Palace Casino, Aspinalls Casino); $150 bonus for a $50 deposit (Spin Palace Casino); $90 bonus for a $50 deposit (VIP Casino); $250 bonus for a $125 deposit (Lasseters Online Casino); and $200 bonus for a $100 deposit (Captain Cooks Casino and Royal Vegas Online Casino).

Of course, bonuses and bonus structures are changing all the time, and which casino is truly the best online casino is up to you, the player. What’s important to you at an online casino? Certain games? Certain stakes? Promotions? Atmosphere/ambience? Celebrity endorsement? Heck, the best online casino for you may not even be on these lists, but we’ve at the very least given you a jumpstart on your search and a solid guidepost by which to gauge any other online casinos you investigate.

You can find numerous categories with subcategories and lengthy discussions on this site. There is a general section on internet casino with discussions of general issues like what to look for, legal issued and gambling problems. There is a page on learn to play game for newbie players. There is Bonus of the Month section which contains monthly selection of the site with a good description of online establishment’s practices and policies. There is a section on best bonuses with the links. The Casino of the Month has a good detailed description and review of the internet casino site. There is another big section on casino games which include games like blackjack, roulette, video poker, craps and slot machines. Each of these games contains the full detail with history, gaming rules and playing tips.

This casino gambling site offers good practical advice for players. There is another section More Games. This section leads to links for a long list of other casino games. The Live Casino Games section explains how they differ from other online games and provides links to best live casino sites. Players can find very long list of Payout Percentages for various sites as well as a section on Progressive Casino Jackpots. This is a good informational casino site for online players with information on gambling, news and poker.

The trick to maximize casino gambling profits is to choose the right games to play. High pay-out games usually give you more money for limited funds. However, skill is highly needed in playing these games. Being a novice and attempting this game with the more experienced players only make you lose your funds. The rules may vary in different casinos, but still the most favored high-paying games are blackjack and video poker.

Depending on your casino’s blackjack rules, blackjack is a game wherein a player can expect high returns providing he plays wisely. There are many variations in blackjack rules like the number of card decks, splitting and doubling bets, and other rule variations. Years back, most casino gambling websites offer great odds. If played strategically, the player even gets valuable advantage. However, rules change and now, the odds are in the casino’s side regardless of the player’s strategy. So to ensure good pay-outs in playing blackjacks, it is to your favor to seriously consider being an advance blackjack player.

Of course, not everyone is born with jacks and aces in their hands. But learning good blackjack strategy is easy. There are many free and downloadable blackjack software tools that you can download and practice on. Also, blackjack books are available at most bookstores. These books are usually authored by top blackjack players who have gained fame and fortune in playing the game. Don’t frown because nothing is easy these days. Being a winner requires effort, so that at least you can enjoy yourself doing it. With regular blackjack practice, you could soon be the next casino gambling blackjack king.

Video poker is another casino gambling game that has a reputation for high pay-outs. However, like blackjacks, video poker rules and pay-out schemes vary among casinos. Examining the casino’s pay tables is important before starting video poker, or any game for that matter. Usually, there are different video poker machines at a given casino. Be sure to choose the one with best pay tables, otherwise, you’re just giving the casino your money without a fight. Good pay tables are assurance that the game you’re playing actually favors you.

Good video poker machines usually allow over a hundred percent return the longer you play the game. Also, despite being similar to slot machines, video poker is not a game of chance. This means that you have an actual advantage depending on your skills. Consequently, you cannot play the game and expect a high pay-out without understanding the basic rules and arming yourself with useful techniques. Casino gambling is fun, but it does entail some work.

Most casino gambling websites and traditional casinos offer both games. Betting experience and game skills improve your chances of winning the games and getting high pay-outs. Though playing requires effort in learning the games and mastering the skills, it does have its rewards. Besides, casino gambling is more fun if you go home laden with cash than big debts.

Placement of one’s checkers can be essential to actually winning a game, as leaving yourself open to hits isn’t very smart. But moving around the board to your home area can take some thinking and good dice rolls. It may sound contradictory, but in the beginning of a game it’s must better to leave a checker open to a hit, rather than later. That is because it’s much easier to get back on the board and through your opponents home board in the beginning when they won’t have many checkers there to block you in as later in the game. This can be determined by odd dice rolls early on and help you later in the game to win by getting past your opponent with those individual checkers.

One thing that is a challenge in the game is setting up a five-point in your opponent’s home board (defensive anchor). This is will keep your opponent from bearing in if you can accomplish it. Another good thing about pulling off this move is making sure your opponent can’t block you out if they hit you. This move also takes some luck with the dice to only move your two checkers in your opponents’ home board to the five-point location however other hit checkers may jump in to help make that anchor too.

On the same note, you will want to get your own five-point filled up to keep your opponent in your home board when you hit them. This won’t be as difficult if you have a opening roll of 3 and 1 or if you slot a piece down there and don’t get hit on your opponents roll. But trying to do both without losing too many checkers to hits can be hard if the dice are not giving you what you need.

Playing the game will teach you how to win by learning what you can each time. Playing against better players will teach you other ways to win. But these tips can make it easier to challenge the next person you play. And possibly make them wonder just how long you have been playing.