Best Blackjack Sites for Real Money in 2024

Blackjack is a popular card game with simple rules, played with a 52-card deck and a dealer. For those without access to a physical game, online blackjack provides a convenient alternative. Online blackjack retains the original game’s rules and features, while also offering player interaction through chat and live dealer options. Some online games include unique features such as multipliers or special rules.

This page discusses the best blackjack casinos, how to play it, rules, strategy and variants of online blackjack

What is Blackjack?

Blackjack is a card game that uses one or more 52-card English decks without jokers. The blackjack objective is to assemble the closest number to 21 without exceeding it by using the cards available.

The blackjack origins go back to 1602 when Miguel de Cervantes described a card game called “Ventiuna” played in Spain where the players had to sum 21 or the closest number without exceeding it. This mention marks the first historical reference to “Vingt-Un,” which would be later transformed into blackjack by American casinos.

The game starts with the dealer giving two cards to each player and drawing one face card. Once this is done, each player will have a turn to ask for more cards, sit with their current ones or ask to double the bet. After all the players have finished their turn, the dealer will draw face cards until he reaches 17 or more, and then he will sit and compare the results. The player that gets 21 or the closest number wins their bet, but if they get more than 21, it will go bust and lose its bet.

How To Play Blackjack Online

If you’ve never played online blackjack before, you will quickly notice that it is similar to physical blackjack. If you haven’t played in a while, brushing up on how to play before betting your money is not a bad idea.

Step 1: Place Your Bet

As in the normal blackjack, players must place their bets before beginning the game. Remember that some blackjack games will have different amounts available for the bet.

Step 2: Receive Your Cards

Once every player has placed their bets, the dealer will deal two cards to each player and draw one for himself, which will be revealed.

Step 3: Decide If You Want To Double Your Bet

Once the cards have been dealt, each player‘s round will commence from right to left. When your turn comes, you can choose to double your total bet.

Step 4: Consider If You Want To ‘hit’

During your turn, you can ask the dealer for another card. However, we recommend you take your time and consider before doing so because if you get a number beyond 21, you will lose automatically.

Step 5: Click ‘stand’

If you don’t want to draw more cards, then press stands to continue the rounds.

Step 6: Learn The Dealer’s Hand

After all the players have finished their turn, the dealer will start to draw cards; once they have reached 17 or more, they will sit and compare the results.

Step 7: Win Or Lose

After all the players have shown their cards, the dealer will compare results, pay those who have drawn a number greater than him without exceeding 21 and collect the bets of those with a score less than him.

What Are The Online Blackjack Rules?

Online blackjack has practically all the rules that the physical version has. However, the online version does have certain differences that are worth noticing, so if you want to start to play online blackjack, we recommend you follow the rules below while you get a grasp of how to play blackjack.

14 Key rules To Follow When Playing Online Blackjack

• Always play with a good connection

Most casinos won’t give back your money in case of a disconnect, so make sure your connection is good enough, especially if you are playing from your phone.

• Check if the casino has any special rules for blackjack

Some online casinos have special rules regarding their online or blackjack live games, so we recommend checking the terms and conditions before sign-in.

• Investigate the features of the game before playing

Not all the online blackjack games are equal, so be sure to check out the features of each one before playing.

• Check if the game uses a single deck or various deck

All the online blackjack games can use different amounts of decks; this affects the number of cards used and the overall probabilities in the game.

• Learn about the house edge that each game has

The house edge is the percentage a casino will earn in the long run. When you are playing a game, the higher the edge is, the harder it will be to win, but the rewards will be better.

• Practice in the demo mode if possible

Some online blackjack games have a free mode available, allowing you to try out all the features and functions of the game before using your money.

• Split your hand if you have any chance

If you get two cards of the same value, you will have the chance to split your hand in two and get a card for each new hand; this is highly recommendable because it gives you the chance of winning two bets without raising the risks.

• Don’t take insurance unless you are sure

If the dealer draws an ace, you will get the choice of taking insurance and saving half of your bet; however, this is not always recommendable as you will reduce your winnings and the chance that the dealer gets a blackjack is quite low.

• Always double your bet if you have 11

It’s an excellent idea to double your bet if you start with 11 because no matter what

the card you draw next, you won’t go past 21, and if you draw a 9 or 10, your victory will be most likely assured.

• Never hit if you have 16 or 17

It’s recommendable to never hit if you have 16 or 17 since any number bigger than four can make you exceed 21 and cause your defeat.

• Don’t be too cautious with your plays

You won’t win in blackjack if your hand is under 17; always hit if your hand is under 15.

• Learn when to stand

Knowing when to stop drawing and sit with your current hand is important.

• Be patient

Statistically speaking, you won’t always win every game of blackjack. If you don’t win at first, then relax, think about any errors you might have made and try again.

• Try out different versions

One of the great things about online blackjack is that hundreds of versions are available, so if you’re not having luck with one version, you can try another game.

Blackjack Strategy

One of the major differences between blackjack and other casino games is that in blackjack, the players can apply certain strategies to raise the odds in their favour. In this section, we will see some of those strategies.

Basic Strategy

Blackjack basic strategy consists in memorizing strategies for these four points:

Aside from these tips, we recommend acquiring a basic blackjack chart as it will let you see the better actions for each number more easily without needing to memorize it.

Composition-Dependent Strategy

The composition-dependent strategy considers all the cards in your hand and in the deck to make a play, unlike the basic strategy, which only considers the number you have in your hand regardless of how it is made.

For example:

Suppose you are playing single-deck blackjack. The dealer has drawn a two while you have a ten composed of 1+2+3+3+1. Since the deck is composed of 52 cards and there’s already a pair of 1, 2, 3 in play, the next draw is likely a number four or above.

Keep in mind that the component-dependent strategy does not ensure which card you will draw next, as you can’t see the hands of the other players or predict their actions. It would be best if you also remembered that the composition-dependent strategy works best on single-deck blackjack as there are fewer cards than in multi-deck blackjack.

Advantage Play

Advantage Play is any play or action a player commits to gain an advantage over the casino, be it through cheating, card counting and other methods. While in physical blackjack, there are various ways to win (some more legal than others), most of these methods are not allowed in online blackjack due to how the game works.

Please note that cheating to gain an advantage in casino games is considered illegal and may result in consequences such as the banning of your account, forfeiture of any winnings earned, and in some cases, may lead to legal action such as sues or fees.

How To Win At Online Blackjack

There’s no sure way to win in online blackjack because no matter how many strategies you employ, you won’t be able to win the luck factor all the time. With that being said, if you take our advice and play smart, you should be able to increase your overall chances of winning.

Five Tips To Help You Win Blackjack games

Here are some tips you can employ to win blackjack games:

1. Memorize the basic terms of the game
2. Learn blackjack basic strategy and composition-dependent strategy
3. Always double down if you have 11 in your hand
4. Always split eights or aces
5. Stand only when you have a hand that can defeat the dealer

How To Count Cards In Blackjack

Card counting is a technique used in blackjack to know when it’s the ideal moment to raise your bet and is often considered an “Advantage Play” technique that can allow players to overcome the house edge.

The principle behind card counting states that high-value cards such as aces, 10s and 9s favour the player while lower-value cards such as 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, and 7s favour the dealer more. The objective of card counting will be to determine the odds that the next card will be a good one using a system to assign a positive, negative, or zero value to the cards.

To start counting cards, you must use one of the available systems, such as the “Hi-Lo” system. In this system, you will classify the 2,3,4,5 and 6 with “+1”, the 7, 8, 9 with “0” and 10, J, Q, K and Aces with “-1”. Each number of the system will then refer to the reduction effect in the deck.

For example, if you draw “+1” cards, it means that there is a higher chance that the next draw will be a card with a high number, however if you draw “-1” cards, there will be less chances that the next card will have a high number. The cards with a “0” value don’t increase or decrease the chances of getting a good card in the next draw.

Side bets

Side bets are additional bets that predict which cards the player or the dealer will draw; winning on these bets is commonly considered a matter of luck since the players or spectators must make the bets before the cards are dealt.

The most common side bets in blackjack are the following:

Insurance

Insurance is a side bet available for the player if the dealer draws an Ace. This bet consists of using half of your bet to guess if the dealer will draw a 10 and get a blackjack, keep in mind that the chances are very low, so you will most likely lose money with this bet.

Perfect Pairs

The perfect pair bet is a bet in which you try to predict if you will draw a pair of matching cards. This bet has a total of three variations available, each with different payout amounts:

21+3

In this side bet, you will bet for the two cards that the player will draw and the up-turn card of the dealer. This bet pays differently depending on the combination

Blackjack Tournaments

Some online casinos host blackjack tournaments from time to time. In these tournaments, you must play various blackjack games to climb up and reach the top places of the ranking. If you reach first place, you’ll be awarded cash prizes.

Video Blackjack

Video blackjack is the most common type of online blackjack in online casinos. In this game, the deck is shuffled by the game software instead of a real blackjack dealer, and you play alone against the computer. This type of blackjack usually includes a demo mode available, so you will be able to test its features before playing.

Variants And Related Games

You can find various other types of blackjack available in online casinos, such as 247 Blackjack or Lightning Blackjack, which prizes your blackjacks with multipliers that can make you win huge quantities of money. There’s also the live dealer blackjack, where you can play by streaming with a real-life dealer and other players, making it the closest to real-life blackjack.

Blackjack Key Facts

1. Due to the low house edge, blackjack is one of the most popular casino games worldwide.
2. In blackjack the goal is to beat the dealer’s hand by having cards with a higher point total, without going over the number 21.
3. When playing blackjack, cards two through 10 are worth their face value. Aces can be one or 11 points, and face cards are all worth 10 points.
4. The game of blackjack starts with the dealer giving the player two cards face up. The player can choose to hit (draw another card), stand (keep their hand the same), double down (double their bet and receive one more card), or split (if they have two cards of the same value, they can split their hand into two separate hands).
5. Once a player’s hand goes over 21 points, they bust and lose their bet.
6. During gameplay the dealer must always hit on numbers 16 or below and stand on numbers 17 or above.
7. When the player and dealer end up with the same point total, it’s called a push. Nobody wins or loses and you keep the money you initially wagered.
8. Getting the blackjack pays 3:2, meaning if a player bets NZ$10 and wins, they’ll receive NZ$15 on top of receiving their initial wager back. This ratio goes down to 1:1 if you merely beat the dealer without a blackjack.
9. The probability of getting a blackjack on any given hand stands around 4.83%.
10. In blackjack, the house is around 0.5%.
11. In blackjack, the probability of winning a hand is about 42.4%.
12. In blackjack, the probability of losing a hand is about 49.1%.
13. In blackjack, the probability of pushing (neither winning nor losing) a hand is about 8.5%.

References

Blackjack

Blackjack Rules

New Zealand Gambling Commission

NZ Department of Internal Affairs

Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand

Safer Gambling Aotearoa

GambleAware