How to Improve Your Blackjack Results in 5 Minutes or Less

You can find plenty of ways to become a better blackjack player. You can watch hours of video or start reading the top 25 books about blackjack or spend days reading online blackjack articles.

All of these are going to help you and you should do them. But this article isn’t about how to get better by spending hour after hour doing something. This article gives you a few things you can do quickly to improve.

Here’s a list of 5 ways to start getting better blackjack results in less than 5 minutes.

1 – Learn How Rules Influence Return to Player Numbers

Every blackjack rule influences the return to player numbers. The return to player percentage tells you how much of the money you bet while playing blackjack is returned to you, and from this it tells you how much the casino is going to win.

Basically you want to play at blackjack tables with high return to player numbers. At these tables you lose less money overall and have the best chance to have at winning in real money blackjack.

While blackjack has a limited number of possible rules; when you combine all of the possibilities you end up with a large number of combinations.

You don’t have to memorize the return to player numbers for each possible rules combination. But you do need to know which rules are better than others. When you know the best rules you can look at any blackjack game and get a good idea if it’s a good game or not.

You need to do some research and look at every rule. But here are a few of the most common rules to help you get started.

• If you can double down after splitting it makes the return to player go up.
• The dealer standing on a soft 17 is better than when they hit.
• Surrender is better than games that don’t offer surrender.
• If you can split pairs 4 times or more it’s better than if you can only split 1, 2, or 3 times. Splitting 3 times is better than 2, etc.
• When you can double down on any 2 cards it’s better than more restrictive rules.

2 – Print a Strategy Card and Use It

Do you use strategy when you play blackjack? Most blackjack players don’t even know what strategy is, and even if they do they don’t use it. And the blackjack players who don’t use strategy lose more money than the players who do use strategy.

Every blackjack hand has different ways you can play it. But there’s only 1 best way to play each hand. You have to consider the card the dealer is showing and your 2 cards, and then determine which playing decision is the most profitable in the long run.

For years the problem was that it wasn’t easy to determine the best play. You needed to know a lot about math to figure everything out. But this all changed when a few blackjack players used computer programs to run all of the possibilities.

These computer programs produced a mathematically proven way to know what the best way to play was. And these results were organized on a card or chart that anyone can use.

Find a strategy card or chart online, print it out, and start using it when you play. Even if you get a gut feeling or think a different play is better, stick with the play listed on the card or chart. This gives you the best chance to win.

3 – Get a Free Blackjack Software Program

Winning blackjack gamblers practice to improve their skills. Most of them practice while playing real money blackjack, but there are tools available that don’t require real money play to practice.

In the last section you learned how important using strategy is when you play blackjack. One of the best ways to learn how to use strategy is to play free blackjack while using your strategy chart. You can use free blackjack software to do this, or you can play free blackjack at a mobile or online casino.

Even if you only play real money blackjack in a live casino, practicing using software on your computer or at a mobile or online casino is going to help you.

It only takes a few minutes to find free blackjack software and/or sign up for a free mobile or online casino account.

You’re going to learn a little bit about counting cards in the final section in this article. You can find software programs that help you learn how to count cards. Even if you have to make a small investment in a good counting software program, it’s worth it if it teaches you how to beat blackjack.

4 – Never Play on 6 to 5 Blackjack Tables

The absolute worst sin a blackjack player can make is joining a table that pays 6 to 5 for blackjack. The fix for this problem only takes a few seconds. Make a commitment right now that you’re never going to play a single hand of blackjack at a 6 to 5 table.

If you aren’t sure why 6 to 5 is so bad, don’t worry. Most blackjack players don’t know just how bad it is. But by the time you’re done reading this section you’re going to understand, and make the commitment to never play on a 6 to 5 table again.

Traditionally, most blackjack tables pay 3 to 2 for blackjack. Many tables still pay the traditional amount, but there are also more 6 to 5 tables available than ever before. The main reason for this is because casinos make more money when they pay 6 to 5 than when they pay 3 to 2. And as long as blackjack players are willing to play on bad tables the casinos are going to keep offering them.

The difference between 6 to 5 and 3 to 2 can be shown using a simple example. I’m going to use a $100 wager amount because it’s an easy number to work with, but it doesn’t matter how much your average wager amount is. Even if you just risk $10 or $20 on average per hand, you’re going to reach the $100 total risk amount quickly.

Here’s how much you win when you get a blackjack with a $100 wager at a 6 to 5 table. You win $120, which sounds decent. But when everything else is the same except you get 3 to 2, you win $150.

If you only average one blackjack an hour, this is a difference of $30 an hour. In other words, you’re giving the casino an extra $30 every hour just to play blackjack.

5 – Commit to Learning How to Count

The title of this article promises that you can find tactics that will improve your blackjack results in 5 minutes or less. And the first 4 sections deliver on this promise. This final section is not exactly the same, but it’s such an important step that this article would be a failure if it wasn’t included.

It takes a long time to learn how to count cards. You can probably learn how it’s done in a couple hours, and you might even be able to learn how to do it at a decent level in 10 hours of practice. But to get really good at counting you’re going to have to invest a lot of time.

The reason why learning how to be a card counter is so important, is because it’s a realistic way to make money when you play. This is unlike almost every other game in the casino. Most casino games don’t offer any real way to win. Every blackjack player should learn how to count.

Every card counter had a time when they had to make a decision. They could either keep losing or do something to change. The players who decided that they had to make a change made a decision and stuck with it until they learned everything they needed to know.

This is what you need to do right now. Make a commitment to learning how to count cards. The decision only takes a moment, and it’s going to change your gambling life if you stick with it.

Conclusion

You don’t have to invest hours to become a better blackjack player. You can make a few big improvements by investing 5 minutes or less. Of course, some things do require more work and a bigger investment of time, but there’s no reason why you can’t work on simple and complicated things at the same time.

Taking a couple minutes to print a blackjack strategy chart and using it when you play is going to pay immediate dividends. And learning how each rule influences your return only takes a few minutes and helps you pick the best tables forever. All of the tips on this page are going to help you be a better blackjack player.