Online Casino Game Strategy

How to beat the online casino with the medium-risk Sic Bo strategy which is often used by professional players. Another sic bo winning strategy is that of the medium-risk technique. This returns bigger wins on your bet as you play this method. This approach covers multiple bets and no single ones. Winning Betting Strategies when it comes to playing Online Casino Games. Winning Betting Strategies playing Online Casino Games: Understanding odds, lowering the house’s edge, tactics, best games and why tournaments work. Online casino customers always look for efficient gambling strategies to facilitate gambling experience.

So if you're ready to hit the tables online and play some blackjack for real money there's a few things I shouldwarn you about.

Because unfortunately it's not that simple.

If you've never gambled online before, ther's a lot of misinformation on the web so this article is going to go overa few topics so you know exactly what to expect and look for.

There are literally many online casinos worldwide launched on a monthly basis offering glitzy bonuses and promotions all vying for your business.

However for every new casino that's launched, another gets closed down due to being unable to sustain their business.

The nature of this competitive industry unfortunately also leads to operations falling to the dark side and going rogue bycommonly tricking customers with unethical practices such as

  • Long delayed payments or non payments altogether
  • Devious terms and conditions that catch the customer off guard
  • Unfair bonus requirements

Providing the online casino in question doesn't shuffle after each hand, you can employ this strategy in online Blackjack too. At a real casino, however, you risk being banned from playing if you are suspected of card counting. Play Free Blackjack Games Without Spending a Cent! This HTML 5 version of Free Blackjack is the real deal - minus the.

So let's look into how to go about avoiding these sticky situations and set some guidelines for finding a reputable and faironline casino.

Selecting Where to Play Blackjack Online

While we can make suggestions on where to play, it's good knowledge to know what to look for especially since casinos regularlymodify their promotions and terms and conditions.

Speaking of terms and conditions, this leads us to the very first thing to look at:

Terms and Conditions

This is the main crux in determining whether a casino is trying to be sneaky. Yes these things are boring to read but itcontains vital information that could save you throwing your hard earned cash in the bin

Things to look out for are:

  • Is it poorly written
  • Are there unreasonable wage requirements on promotions/bonuses
  • Does it take a long time to cash out
  • Is there an unreasonable withdrawal limit
  • Do they accept players from the country you reside in

Payment Options

A common issue with most casinos (even the reputable ones) is that even though they might allow you to deposit using a certainmethod, you may not be able to withdraw using that same method.

So make sure you understand the cashing out process and what's involved. Common things to find out include are there any fees involved?How long does it take to process a withdrawal?What currencies are accepted?

The best options tend to be through e-wallets such as Skrill or Neteller or cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereumbecause they are fast with no fees. Paypal is also really good however only UK based online casinos accept it.

If you've never used Bitcoin before, we highly recommend reading our guide to find out how. It is by far the safest and most effective payment method for playing at an onlinecasino for US players.

If you are unsure of any of these items, do not be afraid to ask customer support. This will also give you an opportunityto see how responsive and professional their customer support is as well.

Overall Historical Reputation

Just like anything else online, you can easily find reviews of a casino on the web. So as a last point of judgement you canresearch whether a casino has a historical record of providing a fair and professional service to their customers.

I would be wary of playing at any online casino that hasn't been active over at least 5 years regardless of how lucrativetheir promotions might be. As mentioned earlier, it is certainly not an unusual occurrence for a casino to closeup shop and refuse customers access to their funds.

You should also be wary that many websites (including us) are affiliates of casinos and get paid a commission if you chooseto play there. So you should never take a particular website's review at face value and ignore doing the due diligencein researching further into a casino's credibility.

Ok now on to looking at some actual fun stuff!

Depending on which casino you decide to play at, the software that they are powered by is going to determine what your optionsare. It's also quite common for a casino to be powered by multiple software vendors so that their customers haveplenty of options to choose from.

Real Time Gaming, Microgaming and Betsoft tend to have the most RNG blackjack variations but in my opinion playing against a live dealer is the most fun.

My favourite live dealer software is Evolution Gaming and we'll touch on that later in this article.

Mobile Online Blackjack Apps (iOS/Android)

Another sign of a good casino is can they provide a good mobile experience.

A lot of the smaller non reputable casinos use old technology and can not provide a decent mobile experience (if any at all)and rely on oldschool flash on a desktop browser for their site to function.

And when I mean mobile I mean for both Android and iOS devices. Some casinos, for example LeoVegas, go the extra mile andprovide dedicated iOS/Android apps you can install to your device and play online blackjack with real money through.

However there are certainly many reputable casinos that simply allow you to play from version within the browser that doesn'trequire a dedicated app.

The future is now!

We have an entire section on live blackjack but I'll touch on it briefly here. Here's a video of what it looks like

Live blackjack is a relatively new thing at casinos and due to technology advancements in internet speeds, we can now playon a multiplayer table against a physical dealer streamed over video.

It genuinely does simulate a real casino vibe and the social interaction between other players and the dealer really makesfor a fun experience and will make you totally forget about ever playing the RNG tables again.

The rules generally tend to be:

  • Blackjack pays 3:2
  • Dealer stands on soft 17
  • Double any card
  • Can not re-split Aces
  • No Surrender
  • Total Decks - 8

Depending on the casino, there are usually up to 8 seats per table with the option to bet behind other players as well.

Not many casinos are able to provide this yet but here are some notable ones that are leading the pack:

  • Bovada - US Only
  • Betonline - US Only
  • LeoVegas
  • William Hill
  • 888
  • Bet365

Be wary though that it takes a lot of data to stream to mobile so it's highly recommended to be connected to wifi

Online Blackjack Bonuses BEWARE!

Get 100% Sign Up Bonus for a Billion Dollars!!

Ok so I'm exaggeating slightly but EVERY online casino has a sign up bonus of some sort that sounds like they're giving away free cash.

Unfortunately the vast majority of these promotions aren't as lucrative as they sound and even worse, they don't apply verywell to blackjack. That's why it's extremely important to read over the terms and conditions to be clear of thewage requirements

Wage requirements are the amount that you have to wager before being able to cashout on any bonus received.

So let's take for example Royal Vegas has a 100% sign up bonus up to $300 and I deposited $300 to get the maximum $300 bonus.The wage requirement is 50x the bonus which means I will have to wager $15,000 in total before I can withdraw thesebonus funds.

So as you can see, the wage requirement is pretty difficult to meet but here's the worst part, blackjack only contributes2% to the wage requirement!

See https://www.royalvegascasino.com/about-us/terms-and-conditions/

Online Casino Games

This means that if I were to play blackjack only, I would have to wager a whopping $750,000!

This is because blackjack has a low house edge so the casino would prefer you to play other games (like slots which has 100%contribution to wage requirements) so that your chances of clearing the bonus is significantly less.

Most casinos structure their bonuses like this so if you do choose to play blackjack online do not claim any bonus they offer!

Contrary to what some people may say:

No! Nope! Nup!

Games Free Strategy

The rules are just not conducive to allow for card counting to be effective.

The biggest problem is that the decks are shuffled on too regular a basis so the deck penetration will always be too lowto gain any profit.

Online Blackjack Tournaments

It's quite rare but some casinos do offer online blackjack tournaments (in RNG format) and the way they usually work is eachparticipant starts with a certain amount of chips to start with and are given a time limit to play. At the endof the time limit, the player with the highest amount of chips wins.

Visit our tournament monitor to see when the next upcoming tournmanet is on.

In the United States, gambling online is in a legal gray zone so let’s address any concerns before looking into which casinosallow US players.

First of all, if you are from the US there is no federal law that prohibits you from gambling online and it is completely safe.

However:

The only online casinos that are regulated and legally operated in the United States are those that are located in the statesof New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Now due to the UIGEA, it is currently ILLEGAL for banks to process any online gambling transactions so many online casinos have moved theiroperations offshore.

If you don’t reside in either of the above three states listed then your only option is to play at an offshore online casino.For further clarification, you can read more about US online gambling legislation here.

Is it Legally Safe to Play at an Offshore Casino?

ABSOLUTELY!

Even if you reside in a state that does have a ban on gambling online, law enforcement has historically shown no interestin prosecuting players. And even if they were to action, they would most likely be targeting establishments ratherthan the players themselves.

However what you certainly do need to be mindful of is the reputation of any offshore casino you choose to play at. Sincethey don’t fall under US jurisdiction, there is no telling how well regulated these operations are and if theyare running a fair and serviceable casino.

You are essentially unprotected if for example they were to just close up shop and disappear with your funds.

An example of a casino like this is Lock Poker who went rogue and closed down in 2015. Unable to pay their customers, it is said they owe over $1,000,000 to at least 400 players.

Recommended Casinos

Online Blackjack for US Residents

In our opinion Bovada is by far the best choice available for US residents at the moment (unless you reside in New Jersey,Nevada or Delaware where there are local legally licensed operators). They have the best live dealers and you havethe option to play on mobile too.

Whilst their withdrawal option via check is horrible, they do offer withdrawing via Bitcoin which is super quick and reliable.

The alternative option is Betonline however their reputation took a bit of a hit in 2017 after being accused of cheating

Online Blackjack for UK Residents

Now you guys are spoiled for choice.

My recommendation would be based off any casino that runs Evolution Gaming software because their blackjack live dealers provide the most entertaining experience andare the best at keeping things lively, energetic and interactive.

Reputable big names include - 888 Casino, William Hill, Bwin

Online Blackjack for Canadian Residents

Similar to UK options, I'd go with a casino that runs on Evolution Gaming for the live dealer experience.

The only difference with the Canadian casinos is that there are less options in payment methods. For example, Paypal is widelyaccepted in the UK but not accepted at all in Canada.

So be careful if you're from Canada and you visit a casino that says they accept Paypal, they're referring to their UK customersonly.

Reputable big names include - 888 Casino, LeoVegas, Mr. Green

If you want to discuss online blackjack strategy, you have to
start with a discussion of the differences between “tactics” and
“strategies”.

A strategy is an approach based on your longer term goals.

Tactics are the short-term decisions you make in order to
carry out that strategy.

How do these definitions apply to blackjack?

The first thing to understand Is that “basic strategy” is a
collection of tactics—how to play an individual hand is a
tactic. How to play all the possible hands you’re going to
receive in order to minimize the house edge is a strategy.

But there’s an even longer-term thought process involved, and
basic strategy can be considered a tactic of that.

And that thought process is what we’re interested in when we
discuss online blackjack strategy.

Game

A Strategic Approach to Blackjack in Casinos

The first thing you should do when mapping out your strategic
approach to the game is what your goals are. Different gamblers
have different goals, and we don’t judge which goals are
superior to which other goals. These are individual choices and
preferences.

Your goal might be to get an edge over the casino so that you
can earn a living playing blackjack. You might employ a variety
of tactics in order to achieve that goal—shuffle tracking,
counting cards, and hole carding are all techniques which might
enable you to achieve your goals.

On the other hand, your goal might be to just get as close as
possible to breaking even while enjoying your time in the
casino. Maybe you just like the sights and sounds. Maybe you’re
the guy who wants to do just enough card counting combined with
basic strategy that you eliminate the house edge and just enjoy
all the comps that your play entitles you to. (This is the Max
Rubin strategy from Comp City.)

Or you might even be a player who doesn’t really care about
improving your chances of winning or reducing the house edge.
Even blackjack players who ignore basic strategy only face a
house of between 3% and 4%. That makes blackjack a better game
than American roulette, with its house edge of 5.26%.

Online

All of these are valid goals and valid strategic approaches.

How Strategies MUST Differ for Online Blackjack

The tactics you’re able to use in a land-based casino are
different from the tactics you’re able to use in an Internet
casino.

Free Casino Games Online

Example

In many land-based casinos, you can get an edge (or at least
minimize the house edge) by counting cards. That being said,
some casinos use continuous shuffling machines, which eliminate
that possibility entirely. Counting cards gets you and edge
because you’re tracking the changes in the deck’s composition.
If the cards get re-shuffled after every hand, the deck’s
composition never changes.

This is how ALL online casinos work. You can’t count cards at
an online casino because they shuffle the deck after every hand.
They accomplish this via a computer program called a random
number generator at most casinos. But even at live dealer
casinos, where real dealers use real cards to play the game,
you’re going to face a continuous shuffling machine.

What does this mean for your strategy?

It means that if your goal is to get an edge over the casino,
you can probably forget it. There used to be ways to get an edge
over an online casino. This usually involved taking advantage of
the casino’s signup bonus and playing the minimum amount of
wagers in order to maximize your chances of making a profit.

For the sake of discussion, let’s look at how that would
work, back when it was still possible. Then we’ll discuss the
changes that casinos have made to make that impossible.

Bonus Hunting

Online casinos offer free money to potential customers in
order to motivate them to sign up and make their first deposit.
These free funds take the form of a matching amount when
compared to a player’s first deposit.

An early example of this was a $200 bonus on a $100 deposit.
You deposit $100 at the casino, and they give you $200 extra to
play with. So you’d start with a bankroll of $300.

They might have a restriction where you are required to wager
that entire amount at least twice in order to withdraw any
winnings. In other words, you’d have to place $600 in wagers
before cashing out.

Now let’s assume you’re an advantage gambler. You’ve
identified a blackjack game with a 1% edge and a minimum bet of
$1 per hand. (This isn’t as unusual at an online casino as it is
at a brick and mortar casino.) Let’s look at how you can use
this bonus to make an expected profit.

  • To achieve $600 in wagers, you’d have to play 600 hands.
  • But if the house edge is only 1%, you only expect to
    lose $6 on that much wagering.
  • You deposit $100. You get $200 in bonus money. You
    expect to lose $6.
  • That’s $100 + $200 -$6 = $294.
  • That’s a projected profit of $194.

The casinos caught on to this kind of thinking pretty fast,
though. So they put together policies which eliminated this
possibility.

One of those policies was to invalidate wagers on certain
games (including blackjack) from their wagering requirements. In
other words, if you had to wager $600 before cashing out, wagers
on blackjack either didn’t count toward achieving that
requirement, or they invalidated your entire bonus amount
entirely.

Another approach to this is to only allow a percentage of the
wagers you make at blackjack to count toward achieving your
wagering requirement. For example, some casinos only count
blackjack wagers at 1% for purposes of achieving your wagering
requirement. So a $1 bet on blackjack only counts as a penny bet
for purposes of getting enough wagers in to cash out.

Another policy was to make a bonus “non-cashable”. So after
all that wagering, you’d only be able to cash out your
winnings—which wouldn’t include that $200 bonus. The bonus money
can be used to wager, but it can never be cashed out or go into
your pocket.

Finally, a lot of casinos have big wagering requirements.
It’s not unusual to see a casino require 30x or 45X your deposit
plus bonus in wagers before cashing out. They almost always
combine that requirement with a blackjack restriction.

Online casinos aren’t in the business of allowing their
customers opportunities to get an edge.

What Is an Appropriate Strategy for Online Blackjack?

Several strategies are appropriate for online blackjack
players.

The first is the easiest. You’re there to play and have fun,
so you don’t have to worry about strategy at all. You just like
blackjack, and you accept whatever the house edge is. You only
play with money you can afford to lose, and you have as much fun
as possible.

To a lot of blackjack players, this might sound like a
bone-headed strategy. After all, the temperament that’s usually
attracted to blackjack in the first place is the kind that wants
to make a difference using their brains.

But slot machine players are gamblers, too, and they don’t
worry about strategy—not if they’re smart players, anyway.

Another approach is to find the casinos which offer the best
bonuses with the most reasonable wagering requirements. You
combine that with the casinos which offer the best rules options
in order to maximize the amount of time you get to spend
playing. With a house edge close to 0%, you stand a better
chance of walking away a winner, although if you play long
enough, the house edge will almost certainly whittle your
bankroll down to nothing.

Most of your decisions will involve finding the best house
edge at an online casino. Since almost all Internet casinos
offer blackjack games from leased software, it’s not too hard to
find the information you’re looking for. Any game where the
house edge on blackjack is less than 1% is good, but if you can
get it even lower than that (under 0.5%, for example), you’re
doing great.

Real money blackjack players from the United States have
fewer choices, though.

Some of the most popular online casino software providers
don’t allow their licenses to offer real money gambling to
players in the United States.

Microgaming, for example, offers one of the best blackjack
games online. Their single deck version of Vegas blackjack, when
played using perfect basic strategy, has a house edge of only
0.31%. But they don’t accept United States players, so if you’re
a USA player, their game is irrelevant.

Playtech is another example. Their version of “Blackjack
Switch” has a house edge of only 0.14%, making it one of the
mathematically best gambling games on the Internet. But no
players from the United States are allowed.

Realtime Gaming is one of the better known software providers
that accept players from the United States. But even some
casinos using their software are skittish about U.S. players. If
you can find an RTG casino which allows real money play from the
United States, you have a potentially good—but not great—game to
play.

Here’s one of the tricky things about RTG, though. They offer
“configurable” games. So a blackjack game at one RTG casino
might simulate a six deck game, while another might simulate an
eight deck game. And they don’t label these games with such
information, so your best guess about the house edge is probably
as good as ours.

If you’re more mathematically inclined than we are, you could
try to estimate the number of decks in use. You’d start by
keeping a log of the total hands you’ve played and how often you
see suited pairs. You’d then compare your results to
this table on the Wizard of Odds’ site. Even then, you’re
looking at 250 hands before you have any kind of statistical
reliability.

Another approach would be to just ask the customer service
department at the casino. At some of the larger and more
reputable brands using RTG software, you’ll probably get an
accurate answer. The customer service team at Bovada, for
example, seems to be on top of their game. On the other hand,
some of the less well known casinos using RTG software might
have customer service reps who are a little less well-educated
regarding the nuances of the games there.

At any rate, this strategy involves 3 steps:

  1. Finding the best blackjack games—the ones with the lowest
    house edge.
  2. Learning the appropriate basic strategy for that variation.
  3. Comparing the bonuses and wagering requirements with the
    house edge to determine if you can get an even better deal at a
    casino even if the house edge is a little higher.

A third approach might be to try hard by using basic strategy
to minimize the house edge, but not stressing out too much about
finding the absolute best game mathematically. In fact, this
approach might be the most valid one. After all, if the house
has any edge at all, you’ll eventually lose all your money. It’s
just a question of how long it will take.

Real Casino Games Online

Wouldn’t it be better to focus on finding a reputable casino
with great customer service and a software interface that you
enjoy?

We’re not willing to trade good graphics and fast payouts for
1/10 of 1% on the house edge for a game. You probably shouldn’t
be, either.

In fact, when it comes to complaints about casinos online,
the most common ones have to do with customer service issues
like how long it takes to cash out winnings. Casinos don’t have
to “rig” their games, because they already have a mathematical
edge. But they do have cash flow issues to think about, and many
Internet gambling sites would like nothing better than to see
you reverse your deposit during your waiting period and gamble
away your winnings.

Summary

There’s a big difference between strategies and tactics. It’s
impossible to discuss online blackjack strategy without
addressing that difference right up front.

An example of a tactical decision is whether or not to hit a
hard 16 if the dealer has a 3 showing as her upcard.

An example of a strategic decision is whether to play at a
Playtech casino versus a Microgaming casino.

With blackjack online, you can forget about almost all
advantage play techniques. The companies involved in the
Internet gambling niche have figured out all the angles and
eliminated your ability to take advantage of them.

Your best bet is to find a quality casino, use basic strategy
to minimize the house edge, and only play with money you can
afford to lose.

The rest are just details.