Blackjack Odds

When playing blackjack online, your best chance to win involves playing basic strategy. Basic strategy usually involves standing on hard 17 or better and hitting 16 or below if the dealer has 17 or better, although it is more detailed than that. If you want to understand basic strategy, it will help to understand the odds in online blackjack.

Odds of Busting in Online Blackjack

The house gets its edge in online blackjack in the fact that if you and the dealer both bust, you lose. Your odds of busting when hitting a 19 are 85 percent. When hitting an 18 you have a 77 percent chance to bust. Hitting a 17 gives you a 69 percent chance to bust, a 16, 62 percent, a 15, 58 percent, a 14, 56 percent and a 13, 39 percent. You can see why in most cases you would like to avoid hitting if you do not have to.

However, with 16 or below, the odds that a dealer showing a 7 or higher will have a hand to beat you are greater than the odds that you will bust, so you need to take a hit.

Odds of Dealer 21

Somehow it often seems like the dealer makes 21 much more often than he should. In almost all cases, the way the cards are determined at your online casino are completely random, and it is just more noticeable when the dealer makes 21. The odds of the dealer making 21 on two or more cards on any hand are about 12 percent. That means about one time in eight, the dealer will make 21. That may not seem like much, but over the hundreds of hands of online blackjack you play, it becomes noticeable.

Beating the Odds

The best way to beat the odds in online blackjack, and all other casino games for that matter, is not to play hunches. Employ basic strategy and if card counting is possible, keep track of the point count. Trying to outwit the odds in any other way is ultimately doomed to failure.