Live Dealer Blackjack: 5 Things to Do as a First-Time Player

Live dealer blackjack is a different experience from traditional online blackjack. It involves a real dealer and casino atmosphere rather than just a software-generated setup.

You won’t find live dealer blackjack as intimidating as sitting down at a land-based table for the first time. However, you might be thrown off by the different structure a little. You may even miss out on big bonuses that can add far more winnings to your bankroll.

The following guide discusses five things you can do to prepare for your first live blackjack game. It covers everything from choosing the perfect live dealer casino to taking advantage of great bonuses.

1 – Read Live Dealer Casino Reviews

Live gaming sites used to be rare a decade ago. However, more and more online casinos have added live dealer gaming in recent years.

Therefore, you’ll enjoy an endless amount of options to choose from. You may even feel overwhelmed when picking a live casino.

Luckily, many reviews exist on the subject. I highly suggest that you read a few reviews on a casino before signing up and depositing.

But what if you don’t know where to begin when looking for a live gaming site? You can always visit affiliate sites, many of which rank live dealer casinos.

You could look more into the first few live gaming sides that are listed. From here, you might check out a few reviews on each casino until finding one that’s worthwhile.

Some of the different sections that are covered in reviews include game variety, bonuses, customer support, banking options, and reputation.

The latter element is especially important when looking for a quality online casino. A reputable gaming site is more likely to offer fair blackjack games and make payouts on time.

You should also pay special attention to the game variety. Some live dealer casinos offer more blackjack variations than others.

A few of the different blackjack variants that you can look forward to across the industry include:

• Blackjack Party – Includes the host and dealer
• Diamond VIP – Offers a more-luxurious setting than the average live blackjack game
• Free Bet – Features interesting side bets in addition to regular wagers
• Infinite Blackjack – Allows bet behind so that numerous players can enjoy the action
• VIP Blackjack – Exclusive setting with $50 minimum bets

You may be interested in other games beyond just blackjack too. Other common live casino games include baccarat, Caribbean Stud, European Roulette, and Three-Card Poker.

2 – Watch the Game First

Real money online blackjack gives you the ability to play for free. You can launch a game and play as many free hands as you’d like.

Although offered at online casinos, live dealer blackjack doesn’t give you the same privilege. It requires that you actually bet money before playing.

Live casinos must pay real dealers to handle the games. This differs from standard online blackjack where software handles all the action.

With that said, live dealer sites want you to ante up money to play. You won’t be able to simply try games before depositing.

What you can do, though, is watch the action first. Live casinos allow you to open tables and view games. This provides a nice way to both learn the live version and figure out if you like the relevant casino.

Assuming you do want to play at a particular live dealer casino, you can place a deposit using one of the available banking methods. Here are common deposit options that are available throughout the live gaming industry:

• American Express
• Bank transfer
• Bitcoin
• Discover Card
• EcoPayz
• Mastercard
• Neteller
• Paysafecard
• Skrill
• Western Union
• Visa

To deposit, you just need to head to the banking section and select one of the options. Afterward, you enter how much you’d like to deposit and confirm the transaction.

Once funds arrive, you’ll be able to play live blackjack hands. Common minimum stakes run from $1 to $5. Of course, you can always wager more than this if you feel like going after bigger wins.

3 – Take Advantage of a Bonus

Many online casinos offer bonuses that cover standard mobile and live dealer blackjack. You should take advantage of these offers whenever possible.

However, not all live casinos allow blackjack to qualify for bonuses. You definitely want to ensure that blackjack is among the games where bonus deals are offered before depositing.

You can figure this out by checking the terms and conditions page. This section should cover bonuses and also discuss what’s required to earn them.

Certain games may be restricted from bonus offers. Therefore, you want to ensure that live dealer blackjack isn’t a restricted game.

Upon determining that blackjack qualifies for a bonus, you can deposit and get started on meeting other terms and conditions.

Rollover is an especially important term. It decides how much you’ll need to bet before being able to withdraw bonus funds.

Here’s an example on how rollover works:

• The casino offers a 100% match bonus worth up to $200.
• You deposit $100 and, thus, qualify for a $100 bonus.
• Rollover is 50x for standard online and live dealer blackjack.
• 100 x 50 = $5,000 must be wagered
• You’ll get to cash out the $100 bonus after betting $5k.

You’ll certainly want to be aware of any other terms and conditions as well. With that said, I highly recommend reading the bonus conditions page before placing your first deposit.

4 – Learn the Strategy

Blackjack is one of the highest-paying games in the casino. No matter whether you’re playing in a land-based or live dealer casino, you can look forward to upwards of 99.5% RTP.

You can’t achieve this high payback, though, unless you use proper strategy. This being the case, you’ll definitely want to study basic blackjack strategy before actually playing.

Perhaps you already know the basics. If not, however, you can quickly learn it by grabbing a strategy card for blackjack.

These charts show the optimal decisions to make in each situation. They list what actions you need to take based on the score of your hand and the dealer’s up card.

For example, here’s what information these charts contain:

• Your total score is 15.
• The dealer’s face up card is 5.
• The strategy card shows you need to stand in this situation.

You can also learn blackjack strategy through other means too, such as books, articles, and trainers. The latter is software that shows when you make correct and incorrect strategy based decisions. You can find free blackjack trainers across the internet.

5 – Use a Bankroll Management Plan

Bankroll management is important with any casino game. The same holds true with live dealer blackjack, where are you can plan out funding ahead of time.

Live blackjack bankroll management accomplishes two goals:

1. Keeps you from betting money that you can afford to lose.
2. Helps ensure that your blackjack funds will last longer.

Bankroll management may sound like work. However, you can properly manage your funds with little time wasted.

Here’s an example on how doing so:

• You go through your finances and decide that you can risk up to $500 on live blackjack.
• You place $5 bets on each hand.
• Your live casino deals approximately 100 hands per hour.
• The game that you’re playing features a 0.5% house edge.
• 100 x 5 x 0.005 = $2.50 in hourly theoretical losses
• 500 / 2.5 = 200
• Your bankroll figures to theoretically last for 200 hours.

You can always add to your bankroll at a later date and increase the stakes. The goal, though, is to initially settle on an amount that you can afford to lose. This way, you don’t take any risk losing money that’s meant for important expenses.

Conclusion

If you’ve played blackjack before, then you shouldn’t have much trouble getting started with the live version. However, the live dealer game does have a few intricacies that make it different from the land-based and traditional online versions.

You can quickly figure out these intricacies, though, by focusing on the five points covered in this post. Live casinos reviews, watching games, bonuses, strategy, and bankroll management are all important.

Assuming you take time with all of these matters before playing, then you should have an enjoyable time with live dealer blackjack.

Of course, you can always jump directly into the action too. Again, though, I recommend that you spend a little time reviewing live blackjack beforehand.