7 Things I Hate About Blackjack

I like blackjack. It’s challenging and fun. Plus, if I do everything right, I can even win a little more than I lose in the long run. But there are still plenty of things that I hate about the game.

Some of the things I hate about blackjack are never going to change. As a blackjack player, you can either learn to live with these caveats or stop playing and find another game.

But many of the things I hate about blackjack can be dealt with or avoided if you know what to do. In this article, you’re going to learn what you can’t change and how to avoid or change the things that you can.

1 – The Dealer Plays Last

This is never going to change, but have you ever thought about how much better blackjack would be if you got to play last instead of first? The casino has an edge with every game they offer, and a large part of the edge the casino has in real money blackjack is because the dealer always acts last.

You have to make all of your playing decisions first, and you have to make them with limited knowledge about what the dealer has. And even when the dealer busts, if you’ve already busted your hand, then you lose.

The only way you’re ever going to be able to play last at the blackjack table is if you run your own private game or buy a casino.

This is the only thing on the list of seven things I hate about blackjack that you can’t either change, avoid, or use to your advantage. You can hate being forced to play first, but your only options are to live with it or stop playing blackjack.

2 – 6:5 Blackjack Tables

The casino gets a big part of their edge by forcing you to play your hand before the dealer plays their hand. But an even bigger edge might come when the casino only pays 6:5 for a blackjack.

Most players don’t realize that there’s such a huge difference between a 3:2 table and a 6:5 table, but this isn’t going to be the case for you any longer. Here’s an example that shows you exactly how much a 6:5 table costs you in real money.

If you bet $500 on a hand of blackjack and get a blackjack, you get $600 if the table pays 6:5. But if you’re playing 3:2 blackjack, you get $750. This is a difference of $150 on a single hand.

I know that most gamblers reading this article aren’t betting $500 a hand, so consider a smaller example.

If you’re betting $100 a hand, and get 10 blackjacks in a day, you can quickly see the difference in how much you win or lose. At 6:5, you win $120 on each blackjack. At 3:2, you win $150 on each hand. At 3:2 over 10 blackjacks you win $1,200. Over the same 10 blackjacks at 3:2, you win $1,500. This is an extra $300 that the casino keeps and you lose.

As you can see, every time you get a blackjack that pays 6:5 it costs you money. And this adds up to a lot of money in a very short time.

3 – The Insurance Lie

It’s always a bad feeling when the dealer has an ace showing. It’s even worse when you have a good hand. You know that when the dealer has an ace that he or she might have a blackjack. And even if they don’t have a blackjack, the odds are good that they have a good hand.

So, when the dealer asks if you want to take insurance, it often sounds like a good idea. Sometimes, the dealer calls it even money instead of insurance, which makes it sound even better. After all, what’s better than breaking even when the dealer has a blackjack?

The problem is that the answer is that you’re always better off not taking insurance. All that insurance does is place a wager on whether the dealer has a card worth 10 in the hole. It has nothing to do with your hand or your first wager.

When you take the even money, or insurance, wager the dealer first checks to see if they have a blackjack with their two cards and resolves that bet. If the dealer doesn’t have blackjack, then the first bet is resolved. This might seem a little confusing because when the dealer has a blackjack and you take insurance, you break even on the hand.

What you’re missing is the fact that you still have to play your original bet when the dealer doesn’t have a blackjack, and you lose the insurance wager. And the dealer only has a blackjack four out of every 13 times on average. This is worse odds than the 2:1 that the wager pays out when you win.

4 – Advise From Other Players

If you play blackjack in a live casino, the odds are high that you’ve received quite a bit of advice from other players. Most of them mean well, but most of them don’t know anything about playing winning blackjack.

The first thing you need to do is learn the correct strategy for every blackjack hand and situation that you have to deal with, so you always know the best play. That way, you can safely ignore any advice you get because you already know the best mathematical play.

If you don’t know the correct strategy you shouldn’t be playing. But if you’re playing anyway, my best advice is to ignore any and all advice you hear at the blackjack table.

5 – Shoe Games

This is a fairly minor concern, but shoe games aren’t as good as handheld blackjack games. Single-deck and double-deck blackjack games are hand held games, and four or more deck games are dealt out of a shoe.

The reason why this isn’t a huge concern is because, in the long run, it doesn’t make a big difference. But it does make a small difference, and you need to make use of every advantage you can get when you’re gambling in a casino.

When all of the other rules are the same, a single-deck game is better than a shoe game. And a double-deck game isn’t quite as good as a single-deck game, but it’s still better than shoe games.

6 – Complicated Blackjack Strategy

I wish that blackjack strategy was a little easier to learn and use. If it was, it wouldn’t have taken me so long to master it. If blackjack strategy was easier, maybe more players would use it. It does require some diligence if it doesn’t come naturally for you.

No matter how long it takes you to learn how to use it, blackjack strategy is definitely worth the effort. When you use proper blackjack strategy, it improves your odds of winning against the casino. With correct strategy, you have the highest return to player percentage that you can get without counting cards.

You can get a cheat sheet in the form of a card or chart to help you learn the proper strategy. I recommend getting one as soon as possible and learning the proper strategies for the variants you love.

7 – Getting Kicked Out for Using Your Brain

The thing that I hate the most about blackjack is that the casinos can kick you out of the casino for using your brain to count cards.

This is unfair for many reasons, but the main reason is because they want you to play as long as they can win. But if you’re smart enough to use counting to make money, they don’t want to let you play very long.

In a few areas, the casinos don’t have the legal right to throw you out for counting. But they still have the right to do other things that eliminate the edge you can get by counting cards.

At the end of the day, the only thing you can do is try to count cards without getting caught. You’re not going to be able to change the way the casino operates, but you can use a few tricks in order to ensure you don’t get caught. Still, this requires a lot of practice and you need to be elusive.

Conclusion

In the perfect situation using perfect skills, blackjack is one of the best gambling games you can play. But most people understand that things are rarely perfect in real life. And this is why there are many things that I hate about blackjack.

This is never going to change, but the dealer acting last is the main reason why the casino has an edge at the blackjack table. Tables that pay 6:5 for blackjack are almost as bad and should be banned everywhere in the world.

You do have a chance to win, but you have to become a strategy master, then learn how to count cards. And you have to be able to count without getting caught! It can take quite a lot of effort, but in the end, it could be worth it if you enjoy playing the game.