Besides the general rules of blackjack, the game has various things to keep in mind when you play it in an actual casino. These include things like special etiquette and various small tips that will help you play a better game. Let us look at some of the things you should never do at a blackjack table in order to both increase your chances of winning and provide you with a more pleasant experience.
Top 5 Things You Should Never Do at A Blackjack Table
- Do Not Break Table Etiquette
- Do Not Voice Your Actions
- Do Not Play at a 6:5 Blackjack Table
- Do Not Play at a Continuous Shuffling Machine Table
- Do Not Randomly Guess Your Next Actions
Do Not Break Table Etiquette
The primary element of playing blackjack at a live casino establishment is following the rules of the casino. Casinos can get pretty paranoid about people cheating so there are some rules for you to follow while you play the game.
The first of these is that you should not hand your money directly to the dealer. Casinos frown at this physical exchange and the move is to generally put your money at the table instead. The dealer will then count and exchange your money accordingly for tokens in front of the top-down camera.
Secondly, you should not touch your cards or your bet. Casinos generally enforce this rule as they want to avoid any funny business between the player and the dealer. The card part is so that someone does not pull them over the edge of the table and maybe switch them. The bet part is so people would not change and adjust their bets when they see their cards. Simply follow the appropriate exchange procedure along with your dealer and everything will go smoothly.
Do Not Voice Your Actions
This is another don’t that has to deal with casino security and your own security for that manner. Do not tell the dealer what you want to do in blackjack whether it is hit, stand, double down and so on. Use the blackjack hand signals to show your next move to the dealer. This way the casino records your hand and what you wanted to do, preventing things like you saying one thing and the dealer doing another.
Hand signals are the safest way to tell the dealer what your next action is. This way if any misunderstanding comes up, you can always rely on the blackjack table camera footage.
Do Not Play at a 6:5 Blackjack Table
While you browse the different blackjack tables around a casino you might encounter different payouts for blackjack. The most popular one is 3:2. Sometimes 6:5 blackjack tables are present as well and new players might see the bigger numbers and think the payout is higher.
This is not the case. The 6:5 payout is calculated to be 1.2x your original bet while the original 3:2 payout is 1.5x your bet. Mathematically speaking you can clearly see how 3:2 tables are superior choices. For example, if you wager $10 and you get a blackjack, you will win $15 on a 3:2 and 12$ on a 6:5 table.
Do Not Play at a Continuous Shuffling Machine Table
Standard shuffling machines operate by shuffling cards once all of the cards have been played and all the decks exhausted. This means that if you sit around an entire blackjack game, you will see every deck with its unique cards once per deck.
However, tables with continuous shuffling machines operate by having the dealer return all cards from the current round to the machine only for them to be potentially dealt again. The machine keeps shuffling throughout the entire game so it is spitting out cards that you might have already seen. This prevents crucial blackjack strategies like card-counting as players can never be sure which card is coming next. You will spot these machines by their bulky size and note that they reduce your chances of winning if you are a card counter.
Do Not Randomly Guess Your Next Actions
While a lot of games in the casino are purely based on luck, Blackjack has a certain skill element to it. Players have the luxury of choice over their actions and they can decide what to do next. However, blackjack is still a mathematical card game so there are sometimes options that are more likely to succeed based on the current situation.
This is why there are things like basic blackjack strategy guides. These charts analyze the most optimal move in any given situation. This is why new players should generally follow these charts and not guess their next action themselves. They are designed to offer maximum win potential to the players and should be eschewed only by advance card counting players.
In Summary
There are a lot of things to keep in mind while playing blackjack. Some are related to table etiquette and some to the gameplay aspect. Following these beginner guides will bring you a much smoother and more efficient blackjack experience. Always be sure to check the general table manners at every casino you frequent so that you can enjoy your evening without any disturbances.