Best Real Money Blackjack Casinos

Alongside roulette, online blackjack is by far the most popular casino table game around. From the rich elite to the casual gamblers, online or at a land casino, blackjack is the card game everyone wants to play. And win.

Blackjack, also known as ‘Twenty-One’, is popular partly due to how straightforward it is to play. However, the real trick to playing online blackjack is understanding strategy. Professional gamblers might say that there’s no real strategy to it, but it’s probably because they don’t want to reveal too much. As with everything, there is indeed a good way and a bad way to apply strategy to this game. The good news is you don’t have to be a mathematical prodigy to do it.

Keep scrolling to find out how to play blackjack and where to play online blackjack.

Originating from 1760s France when it was called ‘Vingt-et-Un’, i.e. ‘Twenty-One’, blackjack has pretty much retained its popularity. Beloved all round the globe, most players tend to confuse the aim of the game when it comes to facing off with the dealer.

Contrary to the dictionary-like explanation, the point of blackjack is not to get as close to the number 21 as you can. The point is to beat the dealer, or the casino if you’re playing blackjack online. As long as you manage to best the opponent, then the money is yours any how. No need to be overly risky.

You ‘beat’ the dealer/casino in one of three main ways:

• Don’t go bust (in other words, don’t go over 21)
• Get a higher score than the dealer/casino
• Wait it out until the dealer goes bust

In reality, you should see the score of ’21’ as a sort of line in the sand. You should really really try hard not to go over it.

No matter if you’re playing online or at a physical casino, the basis of how blackjack is played remains the same. The casino will typically shuffle together several card decks, usually six, so that there’s around 312 cards in the game. The 6-deck version of blackjack tends to be the most common.

The blackjack table is semi-circular in shape at both online blackjack (played at live casinos), table blackjack, and the blackjack played at physical casinos. Once you’re seated, the process is easy.

1. Player buys into the game using account credit/chips
2. Player makes their wager
3. Dealer or computer will deal out cards to the players
4. Player plays their hand (more on that down below)
5. Dealer plays their hand
6. Cash-outs ensue for one of the parties!

Every time the dealer gives out a draw, it will be two cards at a time. The minimum and maximum bets are usually set to general limits. These limits are somewhere between $2 and $500.

How is the blackjack table organized?

Take a look down below to get bearings on how a blackjack table is organized:

The ‘rules’ of blackjack come down to two main things:

• The value of the cards themselves

You can check down below what value cards have in blackjack game. The value for most cards is set, and remains the same from game to game no matter where you play them. That goes for online and land casinos.

However, there is one particular type of card – the Ace– the value of which is decided according to the cards you draw. An Ace can be either worth 1 point or 11 points. The difference between the Ace values determines the difference between a hard hand and a soft hand.

A hard hand is either a hand that has no Ace card at all, or a hand where the Ace is worth 1 point. On the contrary, any hand that contains an Ace worth 11 points is known as a soft hand. The value of either 1 point or 11 points fluctuates according to the benefit of the player.

For example, if you draw 5-Ace-10-3, this would be a hard 19 because the Ace here is worth 1 point. Otherwise, if it were worth 11 points, the player would go bust just from the first draw.

If the player draws a combination of 6-Ace, then this is considered a soft 17 where the Ace is worth 11 points. The player can then draw another card.

It is extremely important to remember and instinctively understand the difference between the two hands. Not because

• The type of play you’ll be making

In blackjack, there aren’t really types of ‘bets’ as in craps, roulette or sic bo. This is because the latter two table games are played by placing chips on a specific bet-section of a table, and then hoping for the best odd-payout.

Instead of types of ‘bets’ there are types of hands. You can check out all of the different types of hands down below too. The game is decided based on the type of hand the player and the dealer make.

Question is – how do you know when you should play a certain type of hand over another?

When playing blackjack, there is what is known as ‘Basic Strategy’. This isn’t strategy reserved for professionals, or for rich people who want to get richer. This is the most fundamental gameplay structure that any blackjack player should know before entering a game.

Basic strategy is based off of two limits beyond the player’s control:

• The player’s hand
• The dealer’s hand

Although these dealing of these cards is indeed beyond control – players can still manipulate the situation using the above types of plays. Basic strategy is about figuring out the most mathematically sound way of turning a hand to your advantage.

Hard Hand

Soft Hand

Split Play

There are a few exceptions to this, mostly you should never take insurance and to surrender when it’s 16 versus 10.

Blackjack strategy is incredibly effective, mostly because it is based on cold hard maths and not individual theories and ideas. As stated above, you definitely should never go into a blackjack game without having studied and learned basic strategy.

Basically, if you just follow the set strategy, you’ll also take out an element of the ‘gamble’ from playing blackjack. There are books written about how effective the strategy is. One of them includes the text ‘Gambling 102: The Best Strategies for All Casino Games‘, written by the wizard of odds himself, Michael Shackleford.

You can even get the Cliffs Notes version by taking a look at Basic Blackjack Strategy charts. They’re like chemistry charts, but with blackjack combinations instead of chemical elements. They’re both scientific in nature. Follow the blackjack rules and blackjack strategy, and you’ll definitely be playing smarter and winning more often.

Playing blackjack online is much easier than playing at a land casino. For one, you don’t have to be wearing a tux or an expensive dress to sit at a table. For another, you don’t have to drive anywhere.

All you have to do is sign up to a reputable online casino, deposit some money into your account, and then choose a blackjack table. If you scroll up you’ll find our recommended list of blackjack casinos. Each of these online casinos has been hand selected by Playcasinos.ca thanks to their wide range of blackjack variations, as well as excellent customer service and banking options.

There are two types of blackjack that you can play online, depending on what you’re looking for. These are table blackjack and live blackjack.

• Table Blackjack

Table blackjack is a computerized online blackjack game between just you, the player, and a computer dealer. There are many gaming providers that have created table blackjack games, like Microgaming, Play’n GO and NetEnt. For Canadian players, Microgaming is your best bet when it comes to table blackjack gaming.

Even with table blackjack, players can access different selections like Blackjack Gold and Exclusive Blackjack.

• Live Blackjack

Live online blackjack is filmed in a live studio, with a real dealer and a real table, only the players join the session virtually. Providers like Evolution Gaming and Ezgui provide some of the highest quality and fastest connections.

With live online blackjack also comes considerable variation. For instance, Evolution not only streams live blackjack. It also streams live blackjack Paris and live blackjack party. Just choose the session with an open chair, and wait until your screen loads up!

Can I play online blackjack free?

Yes, most casinos offer the option to play games in demo mode for free. However, if you want to play at a live table, you will have to wager real money to play online blackjack.

Winning online blackjack follows the same formula as winning blackjack at a land casino. Meaning, you should make full use of the basic blackjack strategy.

Although different platforms are being used, as well as different planes of reality, the rules of online blackjack remain exactly the same. As do the types of hands and play. So make sure to study up on those charts and those player hand-dealer hand combinations. They could truly be the difference between a winning streak and a massive fail!