…Learn the game’s ruleS

Blackjack is easy to play—find an empty seat, put money on the table, get chips, and make a bet. The dealer will give every bettor two cards face up and give himself one face down and one face up. The object is get more points than the dealer without going over 21 points (busting). Picture cards are 10 points, an ace is one or 11 points, and all others are worth their face value.

Each player in turn is asked to make a decision about his hand—to take a card (hit), stay with the hand’s cards (stand), double the bet and get one card (double), split a pair and play two hands (split), or to quit the hand and lose half the bet (surrender).

When the player has 21 points in two cards (an ace and a 10-point card), he has “blackjack,” and the dealer pays him a premium, the amount of which depends on the table’s rules (for example, $3 for every $2 bet). If not, the player receives a dollar-for-dollar payoff if he beats the dealer; he loses his bet if the dealer beats him; and he gets his bet returned if there’s a tie (a push).

Under certain conditions, the dealer will ask the player if he wants “insurance” or “even money”; the beginner should answer no to both.

…Don’t make sucker bets

There are lots of tempting bets in a blackjack game, and they all seem reasonable. Most, however, are “sucker bets”—bets where the odds of winning are too low for the potential reward. The worst of these are—side bets, blackjack variants like Spanish 21, insurance, even money, and the 6:5 blackjack-premium game ($6 paid out for every $5 bet).

There are exceptions and sometimes you’re going to win big but as a rule, don’t play these if you want to walk away a winner.

…learn basic strategy or use a wallet card

Mostly, luck determines who wins or loses a blackjack session, and joyfully, luck is always fair—it doesn’t favor the casino or the player. Nor does the casino or the player have any way to control luck; they can affect the odds, but luck is random. Casinos control their odds by setting the table’s rules. Players control their odds by making the “right” decision during play to hit, stand, double, split, or surrender their hand.

The right decision—the one that gives the player the “best chance” of winning the hand—depends on: a) the table’s rules; b) aces and pairs; and c) the point value of each hand. The complete set of “best-choice decisions” given these dependencies is called basic strategy. Making the right basic strategy decision 100% of the time is fundamental to winning at blackjack.

The “easiest” and perfectly legal way to make the right basic strategy decision is to refer to a basic strategy wallet card during play. The “most widely used” and often inaccurate method to remember basic strategy decisions is to memorize them. The “best” and most effective way is to visualize the basic strategy decisions table during play.

…Have an entry and exit PLAN

Most blackjack players just wing it with respect to the size of their bankroll and when they decide to leave the game.

These have no effect in the long-term as their impact will average out over time. However, most players don’t care about long-term results, their goal is to win this particular session on this particular day. To do this more often, they need to right-size their bankroll and to have an exit plan.

A good rule of thumb is to come to the table with a bankroll that’s 33 times your average bet for each 3-hour-period. For example, if you are going to bet an average bet of $10 for three hours, you need a bankroll of $330. This applies to exiting as well—leave the game when you have won 33x your average bet or when you’ve been playing for three hours, whichever comes first.

This rule is a variation of the widely popular advice to “never bet more than 3% of your bankroll.” We’ve just turned it around, so it applies to the bankroll and exiting. Interestingly, the sophisticated statistical calculation for “a bankroll that has a 95% chance of surviving a 3-hour session” comes up with the same answer.

Of course, there are plenty of exceptions where the “rule of 33” is not applicable or practical, but as a general guideline, it’s useful to avoid going broke due to natural peaks and valleys, and to avoid playing until you lose.