Blackjack Odds & Charts

Blackjack Odds

With blackjack’s house advantage hovering around 2.74%, it’s no wonder why this game is among the most popular casino games in both land and online casinos. What’s more, blackjack odds are easy to learn and understand, and their memorization provides players the best chance of affecting control over the outcome of the game.

Even though the house win percentage is 2.74%, the actual blackjack casino advantage is a mere 0.5% if you play according to basic recommended strategies.

Put simply, if you play $100 at online blackjack and employ basic suggested strategies, you’ll get back $99.50. Those are the best rates of return of any casino games in the online gambling industry.

Blackjack is a casino game that must be played with persistence, intelligence and patience. The game is based on mathematical odds that, if you know them and play your hands accordingly, can make blackjack one of the most entertaining and challenging games anywhere.

Within online casinos, online blackjack presents players with the best chances of winning.

Blackjack Rules Overview

Blackjack has universal appeal because it is a fundamentally easy game to learn to play. We all have memories of playing blackjack, or “21,” growing up and, fortunately, the rules haven’t changed over the years.

Each of the standard 52 cards has an obvious numerical value. Aces in blackjack are worth either 11 or 1, depending on their use. For example, an Ace and a six in your hand can represent a numerical value of either 17 or 7, depending on how you intend to employ these cards. In blackjack terminology, a hand containing an Ace is called a “soft” hand, and a hand with no Ace is a “hard” hand.

A soft hand can be counted in either of two ways because the Ace can have two separate and distinct numerical values. A hard hand can be counted in only one way according to the numerical value of the cards in your hand.

Probability of Busting on a Hit

Perhaps the most important blackjack odds to know are those representing the likelihood that you will bust if you hit on your starting hand. Below is a simple chart that indicates the probability of busting against specific starting totals.

Starting Hand Value	% Likelihood of Bust if You Hit
21	100%
20	92
19	85
18	77
17	69
16	62
15	58
14	56
13	39
12	31
11 or less	0

Play to Beat the Dealer

At OPA, we firmly believe that the biggest mistake blackjack players make is playing to get as close to the numerical total of 21 as possible. If you do that, your chances of going over that total are good, and you will lose the game automatically.

Instead, play to beat the dealer. Here, the object of the game shifts from hitting 21 to reaching a higher numerical score than the dealer at or below a numerical value of 21. If you are cognizant of blackjack odds and blackjack probabilities when you play, you will maximize your chances of winning if you play to defeat the dealer.

Play keeping the pointers that we’ve given you in mind and you will have an excellent chance of leaving the online blackjack table with more money than you came with!