Double Deck Blackjack Strategy
Does Double Deck Blackjack Have Better Odds
Free Double Deck Blackjack

Single Deck Blackjack has a 0.15% house edge that puts you almost on a even playing field with the casino.

Blackjack is a popular casino game of luck and skill combined and it is frequently played in land based, online and mobile casinos. The biggest reason for the popularity of the game is that it has one of the lowest house edges of all casino games and with basic or optimal blackjack strategy players can increase their advantage over the casino. Even though luck also plays a role, with appropriate skills they can indeed make a profit. Nowadays blackjack has many different variants suitable for different types of blackjack players. One of it is Single Deck Blackjack and, as the name implies, it is played with one deck of playing cards. The variant offers the best house edge for players and if they are familiar with a basic blackjack strategy, they are ready to play.

Aug 13, 2019 However, soft 18 against a dealer ace when the dealer stands on soft 17 provides the only known exception that I am aware of for any number of decks. As my blackjack appendix 9 shows, a 2-card soft 18 vs A has an expected value of hitting of -0.100359, and of standing -0.100502. So with two cards it is very slightly better to hit. Double Deck Blackjack takes the most popular casino game in the world and kicks it up a notch. It's as fun and exciting as regular online blackjack with just a few minor differences – the most important being a lower house edge, giving you a better chance of walking away with loads of online blackjack cash in your pockets.

How to Play Single Deck Blackjack

Double Deck Blackjack Strategy

The main objective of Single Deck Blackjack is to get a hand value of 21 or as close as possible to 21 before the dealer without busting or going over. An alternative is to stand and have the dealer bust. Before the game starts, you place a bet. Then you and the dealer are dealt cards. The dealer is dealt one face up card and one face down. You are dealt two face up cards. Based on the cards in front of you and the face up card of the dealer you decide whether to stand or stop drawing cards, hit or draw more cards, double down or place another bet or split cards.

The Rules

The following are the rules for playing Single Deck Blackjack:

Only one deck of cards is used. It is shuffled before the beginning of each gaming session.
The dealer hits on soft 17.
The player can split a hand up to three times.
Aces can be split and the player gets only one card to each Ace. They cannot be re-split.
A hand comprised of a split Ace and a card with a value of 10 is not blackjack.
Blackjack pays 3 to 2.
Wining insurance bets pay 2 to 1.
Other winning hands pay 1 to 1.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Single Deck Blackjack

Many blackjack fans consider Single Deck Blackjack as the holy grail of standard Blackjack mainly because it gives played the best chance to increase their bankroll. As a rule of a thumb, blackjack games that are played only with one or a few decks have lower house edge than Multi Deck Blackjack games. In Single Deck Blackjack, the house edge is just 0.15%. This may seem quite tempting, but the game also has a few disadvantages.

Advantages

As already mentioned, the biggest advantage of Single Deck Blackjack is that it has the lowest house edge. However, to take advantage of the low house edge, players should understand the game and its rules as well as use good blackjack strategy. Otherwise, the house edge will increase no matter how many decks the game has.

Single Deck Blackjack is also a favorable variant for card counters. When playing blackjack with six or eight decks players wait longer till they get favorable counts. With Single Deck Blackjack, they can get a favorable count fast. However, it should be noted that card counting works when playing the game in brick and mortar casinos, because on the Internet card are shuffled after each hand.

Disadvantages

Single Deck Blackjack also has a few disadvantages. Even though it has low house edge, some casinos modify its rules so the house edge of the variant may end up being higher than that of eight deck blackjack. For example, some casinos pay 6 to 5 for blackjack instead of 3 to 2 increasing the house edge from 0.15% to 1.45%. Having in mind that you can maintain a house edge of around 0.5% with both single and multi deck blackjack games, it might not be worth the effort to search for Single Deck Blackjack games.

Another disadvantage is that casinos usually don’t give many comp points for playing the game because in the long run, due to the low house edge, they won’t win much money from it. Therefore, they aren’t very generous with comp points.

The essential steps to becoming an expert player

By Henry Tamburin

If you’re a recreational blackjack player, you don’t need a Ph.D. to take your game to an expert level. You just need to know which games to play, and how to play them. Here’s a roadmap that will show you how to become a better player.

Game Selection

Nowadays, sitting at the first empty seat you spot at a blackjack table isn’t a smart thing to do. The reason is that not all blackjack games are the same any more. Here are a few guidelines to help you pick the best game.

1) Do NOT play at any table where a blackjack is paid at 6-5 (or worse, even money). You should only play a game where a blackjack is paid at 3-2. (Usually the playing rules, including the blackjack payoff, are posted somewhere on the table, or the payoff for a blackjack will be imprinted on the cloth layout. If you aren’t sure, ask the dealer.)

2) Do NOT play on any table that uses a continuous shuffling machine (known as CSM). You’ll know if the automatic shuffling device is a CSM if the dealer places the discards from every round back into the CSM (another hint is the table usually doesn’t have a discard tray). Play blackjack on tables where the dealer manually shuffles the cards or the table has a traditional automatic shuffler.

3) All else being equal, a blackjack game that uses a single deck or two decks of cards is better than one that uses six or eight decks. However, that is not always the case. You must check the mix of playing rules. Player-favorable rules include dealer standing on soft 17, double on any two cards and after pair splitting, surrender, resplit aces, and, of course, getting paid 3-2 for a blackjack. Rules that increase the house edge include using multiple decks of cards, dealer hitting soft 17, restrictions on what hands you can double down, and paying only 6-5 or even money for a blackjack. The house edge should be about 0.5% or lower for any game that you play. (If you are unsure what the house edge is, use the Blackjack House Edge Calculator located on the blackjack page at www.wizardofodds.com to compute the house edge for any game. Just key in the number of decks of cards and the playing rules and the calculator will compute the house edge).

Playing Strategy

If you want to become a better blackjack player, you must learn the basic playing strategy. This is essential.

The basic playing strategy tells you the correct way to play all of the 550 different possible hands that will arise when playing blackjack. You must memorize the basic strategy and be able to make the correct play with speed and accuracy. The basic playing strategy will vary slightly based on the rules and the number of decks of cards. You can get an accurate basic strategy for any game by using the Basic Strategy Calculator located on the blackjack page at www.wizardofodds.com. You simply key in the number of decks and the playing rules, and the computer prepares an accurate basic playing strategy.

An easy way to learn the basic strategy is to practice with the Blackjack Mentor software program, which is available for iPhone, Microsoft Windows, Palm OS, and Pocket PC (for details go to www.handheldblackjack.com). Playing mistakes will cost you money. To ensure that you always make the correct playing decision, bring a hand-held strategy card with you when you play (they are casino legal).

Using the basic playing strategy accurately when you play will make you a better player. However, if you do nothing else to enhance your skills, at the end of your playing career, you will lose more money than win. If you want to be a

Is Double Deck Blackjack Better