Blackjack Poker Hand Odds

Blackjack Poker Online
Soft Hand Blackjack
Best Blackjack Hands

Looking back over the years of casino table games, particularly poker and blackjack, you might think they are just games but both require a certain amount of skill and strategy.

Without any deeper understanding of odds in blackjack, it’s easy to believe that hitting on a hand value of 12 would always be the right decision. This is because 12 is a very low value and the fact that more than two-thirds of the cards in the deck (s) would improve the value of it. The chart below depicts this, and the odds of receiving a hand are the same for the player as they are for the dealer. Hand Total -% of the Time the Total will Occur Natural 21 - 4.8% Hard Standing (17-20) - 30.0% Decision Hands (1-16) - 38.7% No Bust - 26.5% TOTAL - 100.0%.

Taking the time to get to know these two favourites a little better, will definitely shed some light as to which one will be the best for you.

So we are weighing up the odds and looking at the strategies of each including some features that make the games so likeable.

POKER

Poker started out in the seventeenth century with a slightly different game called ‘poque’. It originated in France and they were known to play it with three cards and were popular for bluffing.

When the trend moved to America by French settlers, Louisiana and Mississippi were the first two states to start playing this game.

As it evolved in the 19^th century, they started introducing a 5 card variant that was called ‘poker’ as we know it today.

The most established game of poker was started in 1970; known as the all famous Texas hold’em.

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Odds

If you are looking for a game of chance, poker will be the one. Your game is mostly focused on winning against the players around the table than winning the casino house. However, if you look at the odds in poker the favour will definitely be for the house.

Your chances of winning in a poker game are about a percentage of up to 3% with about an average of 7-8% to break even. That leaves the house in charge with about 90% of winning. Players that have a bit of experience and knows what to look for in each possible hand might change the odds slightly. But do not get too comfortable, as you will be hoping that the odds will change to your advantage.

Strategy

Your skills around the poker table will be the one to keep you going. There are people playing professionally on a level that you might not think is at all possible. Should you be in the position to possess the extraordinary skills, you will not be banned, as it is perfectly legal. How to start winning in poker starts with the following categories:

Learn the basics – To win the game you will need to do some groundwork. Poker is one of the games with the most variations to learn. Know the basic rules and which hand beats what. Take the time to have a look at how each hand will affect your strategy. Also knowing how to read the table and your position around the table.
Advanced options – Some of the more advanced concepts are tight-aggressive, loose-aggressive and they loose-passive. You will need to know the difference and what each one means. Reading each component type will definitely make you the best player in the game.
Apply your skills – Now that you have mastered your new skills, it is time to start practising it for real and apply them to the games you play.
Continue learning – The last leg of being a successful poker player is to keep on learning. You will always find someone that has more skills than you. Keep on reading and improving your knowledge; you will certainly reap the rewards when it comes to high stake games.

BLACKJACK

Strangely enough, blackjack also originated in the 17^th century in France, renowned as ‘Vingt et un’ or more easily as ‘21’.

The game was brought to Nevada in America, where casino owners decided to add an extra twist to the game.

If someone had a hand involving the ace of spaces and either the jack of spades or clubs, they will receive a massive 10:1 payout on their bet.

That was when the name changed to blackjack.

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Odds in blackjack

Comparing all the odds of the table games, blackjack has the best odds of all of them. It has a house edge of as little as 0.20% up to 0.63%, this can be determined by the number of card decks in the game. Your chances of winning can be increased by keeping an eye on the cards knowing when to choose which move.

Keep in mind that if you play for a very long time the house is sure to win. Not only does it acquire a vast amount of concentration and luck, but there is a built-in edge to protect the house as well. In order to beat the edge, you need to have a lot of skills

Strategy

The strategy to playing blackjack is very mathematical. You are constantly working out what your next move is going to be by standing, hitting, doubling or splitting. There are also some advanced ways of winning by watching the cards very closely. This is not seen as illegal, but some might find it very intimidating and you might be asked to leave the table.

So start your strategy by learning the extremely important basics and the different types of games and variations you find in blackjack will definitely give you the upper hand when you are dealt your next hand. There is a vast amount of learning material available to get up to par, but the best way of learning is practising. Blackjack is very tiring and draining over a long period of time and takes quite a lot of effort to get to the top.

BLACKJACK VS POKER

So when you finally have a look at the difference between the two games you will find both of them require a lot of skill and of cause luck, however, if you have the necessary skills and training, you are sure to be a successful player.

It is said by poker players that they need a lot more skill in poker than the blackjack players as there are so many possibilities, but when you have a look at what is the world’s favourite game, blackjack tops the list by far. Poker players will play blackjack and blackjack players will play poker, but ultimately it boils down to individual choice and preference. So, it is up to you to decide.

By Yancy Howard

Anyone knowledgeable of casino games knows that the two games that can be beaten consistently are blackjack and poker. The reason being, that if you play other games that have a negative expectation, you will go broke in the long run. This is not to say you can’t have a short run of luck and make a profit at any game where the house has an edge. Notice the key word here is luck, and luck is what you’ll need to make a score no matter how large or small, if the house has an edge.

Blackjack Poker Online

Although these two games theoretically can show long term profits, careful game selection techniques must be adhered to in either case. Just because you are good card counter, doesn’t mean you are going to have that 1% to 1.5% advantage in all blackjack games. Neither does it mean you will come out ahead in any poker game just because you are a good poker player. There are many factors that come into play that control winning and losing and the most control you have is choosing the proper game to put your money at risk! No matter what you gain from this article, that last sentence is the most important.

There are many factors that come into play
that control winning and losing and the most
control you have is choosing the proper
game to put your money at risk!

Aside from having to put on a good act while playing blackjack for high stakes, if you are good enough to win, you have to play the game like a machine. You are essentially a robot while keeping the count, making the proper strategy decisions, sizing your bets correctly and ensuring the payoff is correct.

Poker, on the other hand, is not played like a machine. Yes, you have to be able to keep track of the cards that have been folded and the ones that are still out, so you know what your hand is worth. In blackjack you know at all times what your hand is worth. All you have to do is look in the betting circle. It’s worth either 1/2, even money, 1 1/2 times, double, or nothing if you lose, and you still have what is in the circle if you push. With a poker hand, you either lose what you have invested in the pot, possibly split some percentage of it or win it all.

Now, winning the entire pot is much different because the contents of the pot is going to be worth what you are able to sell your hand for. You are collecting money from all of the players that are in the pot after all the cards are turned over. In blackjack you are playing against the dealer, thus, you take no money from the other players. It makes no difference how good or bad the other players are.

Soft Hand Blackjack

Both (games) take a lot of time to master,
and one of the problems is that you
can waste much of your time by studying
the wrong material, and lose a lot of money
before you get your hands on the right material.

Unlike blackjack, one of the problems in poker is that it takes so long to become proficient at any one game because many of them are so complex, and if you are playing in a dealers choice home game, you have to be proficient in more than one game. Once you know the game of blackjack, your decisions are cut and dry for the type of counting system you use. Poker requires much more thought. In many cases, deep thought! You may know your counting system well enough to joke with the other players at the table, chat with the dealer, and still make the proper decisions at the blackjack table. In a poker hand, figuring pot odds, effective odds, implied odds, whether to check, call, bet, fold, check raise, raise or re-raise isn’t found on some chart in any book for all situations.

Discipline is one of the keys in both games. Knowing when, and how much, or how little to bet is a drastic decision. By little, I sometimes mean, no bet at all. For instance, say you are in a poker game with a few weak players and you have a poor hand. Would you try to steal the pot by raising? Of course not, no more than you would make a big bet at the blackjack table in a high negative count. Now, the blackjack example is concrete. (Barring the possibility that you were an excellent shuffle tracker and were coming up on a large clump of 10-value cards.)

Poker requires much more thought.
In many cases, deep thought!

The poker example, however, is not concrete. If you were in a very tight game with good solid players, certainly there would be times that you would attempt to steal the pot. Everyone knows that you just don’t try to bluff poor players in a poker game, as some of them will surely call you. As you can see, poker lends itself to a lot more maneuvering by the solid player. The blackjack dealer is nothing more than a mechanized dealing device, as he is bound by a given set of rules, so it’s robot vs robot.

In selecting a blackjack game you look for the best rules, the deepest cut, the fastest dealer that makes mistakes, and the largest bet spread you can get away with. In poker you look for a game with lots of weak, loose players that play like maniacs and call lots of bets. There are many other things that you look for in both games, that we will get into in another article.

Best Blackjack Hands

I thoroughly enjoy both games, and have found each to be very rewarding. Both take a lot of time to master, and one of the problems is that you can waste much of your time by studying the wrong material, and lose a lot of money before you get your hands on the right material.

Any text or article written by the following authors in their respective fields was the best information you could purchase in the 1990s. Today, there are many more new rising stars which I will leave you to discover.

POKER

Sklansky
Malmuth
Caro
Brunson
Zee

BLACKJACK

Wong
Thorp
Griffin
Snyder
Uston
Malmuth
Roginski
Revere
Dalton
Braun
Schlesinger
Sklansky
Chambliss
Wilson