Blog Posted on 24/05/2019 | Author: Karen Macarthur

The Top Ten Amazing Things About Blackjack House Edge

The term “House Edge” should be immediately familiar to most Blackjack players, as well as those who have previously engaged in some casino and table games. Blackjack House edge is a term that crops up quite often in gambling-related literature and its precise meaning is frequently misunderstood. Are there some amazing facts about the house edge that bear knowing? Of course! Here are 10 of the most noteworthy ones.

Explore the Meaning and Importance Of The Blackjack House Edge

1. The House Edge Precisely Shows The Casino’s Advantage:Blackjack house edge is the most precise way to measure the advantage that the casino has over players. Thus, should a game have a house edge of 4%, that means over time, no matter how superb the player has been playing, he/she will average a loss of 4% of their wager.
2. The House Edge Only Applies To Lots Of Bets: Statistically, the house edge cannot apply to single, small bets that are sporadically made over a long or short period of time. Instead, it applies to a large number of bets that are made over a long period of time.
3. Blackjack Generally Has The Lowest House Edge: In the main, other casino games have a house edge higher than found in Blackjack. Given such a low house edge – often around 0.5%, some folks might come to regard Blackjack as an ideal game to get rich on, but that is not actually the case. While the house edge is quite low for a single hand, as more and more hands are played and for a long duration, losses attributable to the house edge will start to rise with a vengeance.
4. Blackjack House Edge Gets Low Only When Basic Strategy Is Employed:While a 0.5% Blackjack house edge was previously stated, that amount can vary widely depending on player skill and knowledge. Lack of these will add like an extra 1.5% to the house edge, bringing the overall house edge to around 2%. To experience the low end of the Blackjack house edge, players must make correct use of basic strategy, which involves knowing exactly what to do in every possible gameplay situation, based on previous mathematical calculations.
5. Without Basic Strategy, The Blackjack House Edge Can Be Limitless: Like stated previously, players who are not so good at basic strategy can have a house edge of 2% staring them in the face. However, this is not necessarily so. The house edge for very bad players who consistently make the wrong choices is being set at an incredible 100%! What this means is that Blackjack players should always strive to know the ins and outs of basic strategy and use this to suppress the Blackjack house edge to the point where it is least harmful to their pocket depth.
6. Getting An Edge Over The House Is Hard But Not Impossible:In Blackjack, getting a decisive edge over the house is often as simple as learning to count cards. During card counting, players strive to know the worth of the cards that are still left in the deck and use this to decide if to bet more or less. However, regardless of how perfectly it is done, card counting is an inexact strategy that does not achieve significant results in the short term.
7. The House Edge Varies Widely Even In The Same Casino:Now, the game rules for such games as Blackjack can differ widely from one casino to the next and even from one table to another. For example, a Blackjack table within a casino might be engaged in gameplay activities with a single card deck, while another table a few meters away will be using no less than 8 card decks. Due to this, the house edge in both Blackjack games cannot be the same. The game rules and condition can also affect the house edge and players must take all these into consideration before engaging in gameplay.
8. Using More Card Decks Enhances The House Edge:The more card decks are in use during a Blackjack game, the greater will be the Blackjack house edge. This might seem puzzling at first, but the answer lies in the fact that getting Blackjack is easier when a single deck is in use than when multiples are in use. In general, the house edge difference between a Blackjack game with 8 card decks and one with a single card deck is set at 0.25%.
9. Doubling After Splitting Improves The House Edge:Doubling down is regarded almost as good as winning the lottery, as it helps players pour in the moolah when they think something good is about to happen. This doubling down apart from making lots of sense also lessens the house edge by around 0.15%.
10. Online Blackjack Games Usually Have An Excellent House Edge: Online casinos have very low overhead costs as compared to physical casinos. Most online casinos pass on the benefits of their effective cost-cutting measures to their customers via the enforcement of better gameplay rules and a better house edge.