These are the things that you should never do at a blackjack table

When it comes to taking your seat at a blackjack table, you’re going to need to know a little bit more than the general rules. These rules are simple and make it easy for anyone to get started with this casino classic. However, there is more to the game than this.  Read on so you learn to avoid these Blackjack not to do´s.

While you need to master basic strategy, and we’d advise card counting too, there are certain behaviors and choices to be aware of when you’re playing. That’s why playing at a land-based casino can be a little intimidating to those who have only ever played online before.

We’re here to make your playing experience that bit more enjoyable and easy. If you want to know what you need to be doing to boost your experience and increase your chances of a win, then keep reading.

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Blackjack not to do´s

The five big no-nos when playing blackjack 

If you have the time, you can take a look at some amazing blackjack books that can give you a whole host of information, hints and tips around black. In fact, one of our recent articles covered the best blackjack books and what you can gain from them. However, here we’re not going into every single detail. We’re going to keep things simple and look at the top five things that you shouldn’t be doing at a blackjack table:

  • Never break table etiquette
  • Never voice your actions 
  • Avoid playing at 6:5 tables
  • Avoid games that use continuous shuffling machines
  • Never randomly guess your next action

If you carry on reading, we’ll get into the detail of each of these points and explain just what you should, and shouldn’t, be doing.

Never break table etiquette – Blackjack not to do´s

Once you’ve found a land-based casino that you like, you need to make sure that you do all that you can so that you’re allowed to return. When it comes to playing blackjack, it’s about making sure that you know not only blackjack rules, but the rules that are in place for how you should behave at the table. Some of the things that you’ll be expected to follow include:

  • Never hand your money directly to the dealer. Instead, you should place your money at the table so that the dealer can then count it and exchange it for tokens
  • Don’t touch your cards. Casinos get worried that you might be up to something if you’re touching these
  • Never touch your bet. There’s a worry that players may change their bet after they’ve seen their cards

By following these rules, you can be sure that your chosen casinos will welcome you for a long time to come.

Never voice your actions – Blackjack not to do´s

This is something else that’s in place to protect the casino, but it protects you too. Whenever you decide to hit, stand, double down or anything else, you should never use the words themselves. By speaking, there’s always the potential for disagreements later on with claims of being misheard.

Instead of speaking, you need to be sure what the blackjack hand signals are. They should always be used to show what you want to do. If there are any disagreements later, the blackjack table camera will be able to settle just what happened. There really can be no way of claiming that you asked for one thing but the dealer did another – the use of hand signals protects all parties. 

Avoid playing at 6:5 tables – Blackjack not to do´s

This one is getting a little hard to stick to in truth. When you look around blackjack tables, you should be able to see that they have different payouts for blackjack. The ones that you want to be playing at are those that offer 3:2. There are times when newer players assume 6:5 is a better payout but this isn’t the case.

If you were to wager $10 and get blackjack on a 3:2 table, you’d win $15. Now, if you made the same wager at a 6:5 table and got a blackjack your winnings would only be $12. There are more and more 6:5 tables appearing and this is one of our big frustrations. Avoid them as much as you can and always opt to play at a 3:2 payout table when possible. 

Avoid games that use continuous shuffling machines (CSM) – Blackjack not to do´s

If you’ve spent any time reading our other articles, you’ll know that we’re fans of card counting. You’ll also have seen how some of the biggest winners in blackjack history used this strategy to amass their fortunes. If you play at a table with a standard shuffling machine, the deck is dealt once all of the cards have been played and so you get to see every unique card being dealt.

A CSM, as the name implies, is shuffling all of the time. This makes it possible to see cards that you’ve already seen. The issue with this is that it makes card counting practically impossible. 

Never randomly guess your next action – Blackjack not to do´s

With games such as slots and roulette, everything is based on luck. Blackjack is a little different. Yes, you still need luck on your side but every action you take has the ability to influence where the direction of the game. The reality is that blackjack is a game based on maths and that means that you can figure out which moves are more likely to lead to a win than not.

The reason that basic blackjack strategy works is because blackjack is a game of probability, Based on what you have you can figure out what the next optimal move should be. Surely, this makes more sense than just randomly hitting or standing?

Final thoughts

Playing at a land-based casino brings different considerations when compared to playing at online casinos. By taking on board what we’ve discussed, you can make sure that you’re positioned to make the very most of the time that you have at the table. Not only will you be set to increase our chances of winning but you can also be sure that you won’t be getting thrown out. 

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Avoid 6:5 blackjack