5 Steps to Winning Your First Blackjack Wager

Blackjack tables are found in almost every casino, and it’s by far the most popular table game in the gambling industry. The game is easy to play, and if you use good strategy with games that have good rules, it has a house edge that’s lower than any other table game.

These facts make blackjack a good game to try when you’re trying to win your first wager. This page includes 5 simple steps designed to help you win your first blackjack wager and to help you continue to play with the best chance of winning.

1 – The Small Edge Strategy Gives You

The first thing you need to understand about blackjack is that it has an edge for the casino when you play. This is the same as every other casino game, but if you know what you’re doing you can play blackjack with a smaller edge than other table games.

The edge depends on many things, but mostly deals with the rules for the blackjack game you’re playing and how well you use strategy. The edge can be as high as 3%, and as low as a quarter percent. Most blackjack games offer an edge of less than 1% when you use good blackjack strategy.

But how do you know what the best strategy is?

Most blackjack players don’t know the best strategy to use. But you can quickly find the best strategy plays to use when you use a strategy chart.

Here’s a link to a page that has a blackjack strategy chart for your use.

Using a strategy chart recues the house edge for most players by at least 1%. This might not sound like much, but it’s an extra $1,000 for every $100,000 that you wager. And you can quickly reach $100,000 wagered playing blackjack.

The strategy chart shows you when it’s best to stand, hit, double down, and split. It even shows you when you should surrender when the surrender rule is in play.

About the only thing you need to know other than what the strategy chart shows is to never take insurance when it’s offered and don’t make any side bets that are available.

2 – Promotion Possibilities

When you use strategy it helps you win close to half the time. This means that it’s only going to take a few hands before you win your first blackjack wager. But sometimes casinos offer special promotions that improve your chances to win.

The best promotion I’ve seen is a coupon that lets you start your first hand with an ace. Any hand that starts with an ace is a favorite to win. And starting with an ace is the best way to get a natural blackjack, which pays better than 1 to 1.

Promotions like these are usually only good for 1 hand, but there are all different kinds of promotions available depending on the casino.

If you play real money blackjack online, the most common promotion is a bonus. Online bonuses come in different forms, with the most common being a deposit bonus. You make a real money deposit and get a bonus on top of it.

Another type of online bonus is a no deposit bonus. This is just like it sounds. You get a bankroll, usually small, that you can use to play blackjack.

Look for blackjack promotions for wherever you’re planning to play before you start gambling. A good promotion can help you win your first blackjack wager.

3 – The Importance of Good Rules

I mentioned in a previous section that rules play a big part in the house edge. The basic rules are the same from 1 blackjack table to another, but there are many variations on the rules.

Some blackjack tables allow surrender, while most of them don’t. If all of the other rules are the same, a game with surrender is much better than a game without surrender.

The most important rule is how much the table pays for a natural blackjack. Many blackjack tables have reduced their payments to 6 to 5 for a blackjack, and this is a terrible rule. Only play on tables that pay 3 to 2. This rule is so important that if you can’t find a 3 to 2 table you shouldn’t play at all.

Other rules that you need to be aware of include:

• Dealer 17: Blackjack dealers either stand or ho when they have a soft 17. It’s slightly better for players when the dealer stands on a soft 17 instead of taking another card.
• Split: When you have a matching pair you can split them, receive another card on each, and play 2 hands. Some casinos allow you to split when you get a second pair after splitting. The best rule allows you to split as many pairs as you get.
• Double down: When you double down you double your initial wager and receive 1 additional card. The best rule is when you can double down on any cards or any total. The truth is that most of the time you’re only going to double down on totals of 9 to 11, but if you can double down after splitting and/or on any number of cards it helps you.

4 – Placing Your First Wager

Because you’re interested in winning your first blackjack wager, the odds are good that you’ve never played before. The good news is that it’s easy to play your first hand. Find an open seat at a blackjack table and place a small wager forward for the next deal.

The dealer gives you 2 cards and when it’s your turn to act you simply tell the dealer what you want to do. If you want to stand, simply stay stand. If you want another card, say hit. If you want to split, flip your cards face up, split them apart, and slide another wager forward for the second hand. If you want to double down slide another wager forward and say double down.

You can get a free account at an online casino and practice playing blackjack for free. This is a good way to see how the game works and it’s also a good way to practice using your strategy chart.

You’re allowed to use a strategy chart when you play online and when you play in a land based casino. But try to learn how to find what you need to do quickly so you don’t hold up the game. This is easy to do and only takes a little practice to do it quickly.

5 – Your First 4 Wagers

You have close to a 50% chance of winning your first blackjack hand. This means that you have close to a 75% chance of winning 1 of your first 2 blackjack hands. You have over a 90% chance of winning 1 of your first 4 blackjack hands.

The reason why it’s important to know this is so you don’t get frustrated when you play blackjack for the first time. Over thousands of hands you’re going to have winning and losing streaks. Some of these streaks will be longer than 4 hands, but most of the time you win a few hands and lose a few hands.

I mentioned in the previous section to start with a small wager. Start with the smallest wager the table accepts and stick with this small wager for a while. The truth is that the best size wager is always the smallest 1 you can make because you’re playing a game that has a house edge.

Don’t get frustrated if things don’t go your way right away. Stick with what you learned on this page, using strategy and playing at tables with good rules. If you stick with these things and use promotions when you can find them, the only thing that can throw you off your game is if you get frustrated.

Conclusion

Winning your first blackjack wager is simply a process of knowing what to do and following through. You’re going to win close to half of your blackjack wagers if you find games with good rules and use the strategy covered on this page.

This means that even if you have bad luck, you should win your first blackjack wager within minutes of sitting down at the table.

Start slow with a small wager and look for promotions. Many casinos offer a nice promotion to get you started, so if you can start with a free ace or some extra money for your bankroll you’re in good shape.