Visitor Questions: Good Tips For Live Blackjack?

We are starting a new series of articles. where we'll be answering various questions about live casino games seen around the internet or sent to us directly.

The following one was posted on Reddit:

What are some good tips you would give for a beginner looking to play live blackjack?

If you are new to Blackjack and are interested in trying it out at a LIVE dealer online casino, it is understandable that you will first want to glean as much advice and guidance before taking your seat and risking some of your money. For that reason, we have put together five tips that we feel you should definitely be taking heed of before you get started at a live Blackjack table.

Choosing a Legitimate Online Casino That is Licensed and Regulated

The first tip that we always advise new players to take heed of when they are looking to enjoy live Blackjack for the first time is to make a good choice of online casino. Specifically, you want to find one that is legitimate and has a good reputation.

First and foremost you will want to ensure that any potential choice of online casino is licensed and regulated. A legitimate online casino will have been given a license for them to legally offer their services to players in certain regions. These regulatory authorities will have rules and regulations in place that require online casinos under them to be open to testing and audits on their games and software,

Numerous regions in the world will have a regulatory authority if they are serious about protecting players in their jurisdictions when it comes to online gambling. Examples would be the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority, the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

There are many more, however, so it is more than worth reading up about each and every one of them but more importantly, the one that is responsible for your own particular jurisdiction. Take a look through each of them as some are renowned for being more effective than others when it comes to ensuring that online casinos that they have licensed will give you a fair, safe and secure online gambling experience.

Always make sure that any online casino you play at has been licensed at the very least because if they haven't, they can literally make up their own rules. You want to be sure that your funds are safe, the games that you play are regulated and fair and that you can trust the casino to pay out when you request it.

Master Some Basic Blackjack Strategy at a Minimum

Most of the games that you will play at the online casinos will have a fixed house edge which means that no matter how you play or the choices you make, you will always have the same chance of winning. Blackjack is completely different as this house edge will change depending on the decisions you make when playing.

To ensure that you are getting the optimum house edge of between just 0.5% and 0.75% depending on the provider you have chosen, you need to be playing an optimal strategy. If you do not play and stick to a basic Blackjack strategy at a minimum, you will potentially be increasing the house edge to as high as 5% in some cases depending on the mistakes you make.

Below you'll find a perfect basic strategy chart provided by Unibet Live Casino.

Always Take Advantage of Live Casino Bonuses and Promotions

While many of the welcome bonuses you will find at the online casinos are usually aimed specifically at online slots players, if you take a look around you will also find some that include LIVE dealer games as well. These will normally have higher wagering requirements and each bet will not contribute 100% to those requirements but they are still worth getting if you can find them.

When using a bonus, there are positives and negatives attached. While you will be playing with some free money on top of your original deposit which will reduce the overall house edge against you, you will not be able to withdraw any winnings for some time. This is because you will first have to complete the wagering requirements that can take as many as thousands of hands.

Be sure to read the terms of any bonus to establish the wagering requirements before deciding whether to use a bonus.

As for promotions, these are where you might find some excellent value for your money. These are usually free of any wagering requirements and you can enjoy promotions such as races that will give you a share of a prize pool if you played enough hands of blackjack in a set time period. Other promotions might be to play a set amount of hands to be entered into a raffle for random prizes. Leo Vegas Live Casino is our favourite place for both bonuses and live casino promotions.

Use Bankroll Management and Bet Smartly

Bankroll management is the process of looking after the budget that you have set aside for Blackjack and ensuring that the bet sizing is as effective as it can be for it. There is no point depositing £20 at an online casino and then placing it all on a single hand. You are not going to last long when risking 100% of your bankroll each time.

What we suggest as a good place to start with your bankroll management is to make sure that whatever you use for a particular session at the Blackjack tables, should be broken down into at least 20 bets. This means that should you deposit £10 to use at the tables, bet £0.50 per hand and stick to it. This gives you some leeway and the ability to come back after a few bad hands.

You also want to account for potential splits and double downs. In case of Portomaso Gaming Live Blackjack, you could end up splitting up to 4 hands and doubling on all of them, meaning a total spend of 8 betting units.

Stay Away from Placing Side Bets

As we mentioned earlier, as long as you stick to a basic strategy when playing live Blackjack, you will be facing a house edge of between 0.50% and 0.71% depending on the live provider you are using. That low house edge goes right out of the window as soon as you start placing side bets, however.

If you were to place a side bet such as perfect pairs or 21+3 bet, you will be looking at a house edge of 4.1% and 3.7% respectively – far more than the less than 1% when playing standard bets. Stay away from these bets if you want to stand a better chance against the house.

Blackjack Tips Overview

• The most legitimate casino licenses are issued by Malta Gaming Authority, UK Gambling Commission, Isle Of Man and Gibraltar. Others such as Curacao and Kahnawake are quite useless when it comes to helping players in case of insolvency issues at a casino.
• Side bets in blackjack have a house edge that is between 5 to 10 times higher than that of the main bet - avoid at all costs.
• Always account for the possibility of having to double or split - sometimes both! Keep around 20 betting units available in your immediate bankroll.
• Live casino promotions are an amazing way to reduce the house edge and sometimes actually have a positive expected value. Bonuses are good too, but make sure you read the terms of these. Usually live casino games are excluded or limited to a minimum making them not worth the effort.