Blackjack Variations > Free Bet Blackjack

1. A hand of Free Bet Blackjack starts with making a wager. Place the bet in the circle in front of you on the table. The minimum bet is usually $5 or $10. Once all bets are made, all players and the dealer receive two cards.
2. Blackjack is usually played with several decks of 52 cards, each of which has its own value and in case gamblers are able to count these values correctly, they could decrease live blackjack house odds to zero or even get an advantage over casino and playing casino games online, jogos de roleta gratis. This strategy is called card counting.

Your average, off-the-street blackjack player who knows nothing about the game and probably makes bad decisions at least as often as good decisions is probably working against a house edge of 5% or so. If that player bets $100 per hand and plays 50 hands per hour, the casino expects to win $250 from that player in the long run.

Free Bet Blackjack is a new blackjack game in Las Vegas. Free Bet Blackjack can only be found at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. The game is distributed by Shuffle Master which is an arm of Scientific Games and was invented by Geoff Hall.

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How to Play Free Bet

The game plays just like a standard blackjack game in most respects. The game is dealt with six standard decks. Players place a bet and are dealt two cards. The dealer also gets dealt two cards with one face down and one face up. After the player is dealt their cards, they decide whether they would like to hit, stand, double down, or split. Surrender is not allowed in Free Bet Blackjack. A natural blackjack pays 3-2.

If the player is dealt a hard 9-11, they may double down for free. A player may also double down on 9-11 after drawing to three or four cards. If the player chooses to double down on a hard 9-11, the house will place a token next to their bet. If the player wins the double down, the player is paid on their original bet and also is paid on the free token bet. For example, if a player bets $10 and received an 11, they should double down. The house would then place the free bet token next to the player’s bet. If the player wins, they will receive their $10 back plus $20 from the house. The token goes back into the chip tray. An easy way to think about it is that the payoff is 2-1 in these situations.

Players may also receive free splits in the same way on all pairs besides 4’s and ten value cards. If a player receives any other pair, the house will cover their extra bet just as they would for a double down. Players should split any time it is free with the exception of splitting 5’s as these should be doubled down. If a player receives a hard 9-11 after a split even after hitting, the house will cover their double down just as they would if it were the original hand. Even dealer tips that are wagered are matched by the house if there is an allowed split or double down.

Players may double down other hands besides 9-11. They may also split 4’s and 10’s if they wish. They will just have to pay for it out of their own pocket.

Players may split up to three times to make four hands. This means a player can have up to seven free bets on the table if all of their splits create a hard 9-11.

Basic Strategy & House Advantage

The basic strategy of Free bet blackjack is to double any hard 9-11 unless the player has a nine versus a dealer 10 or ace. Split any pair that is covered by the house except for 5’s, which should be doubled.

Too offset the free double down and splitting, there is one big rule that changes the game. The dealer pushes all hands if they have a 22 except for a natural blackjack which is paid immediately if the dealer does not also have a blackjack. If both the dealer and player are dealt blackjack, the player pushes. The house advantage is .57%. This push on 22 is also found in Blackjack Switch, which was also invented by Geoff Hall and is distributed by Shuffle Master.

The game was well received on its first night at the Golden Nugget. Players enjoyed the game and dealers dealt the game flawlessly. The special double down and split rules were handled well.

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One of the most often asked questions from players about blackjack strategy, is 'how should I bet?' You've got severaloptions and I'll discuss them in this article and offer my recommendation.

Flat Bet Blackjack Strategy

This means betting the same amount all the time. Most players don't like to bet this way because they figure if the dealer wins more hands then them they'll never win any money. Also, playersfeel it's boring betting this way. They prefer the thrill of sometimes betting more in the hopes that when they do so, they will win the hand and make a nice profit.

Here are the facts on the flat betting blackjack strategy. If you bet say $5 on every hand in a standard multiple deck game the house will have an edge of 0.5% against theskilled basic strategy player. That means you will lose on average 0.5% of every wager you make. So if you bet $10 on every hand and average 80 hands per hour you will have made a total of $800worth of bets. The casino expects to earn 0.5% of the $800 or $4.00. Of course, the more likely result is that you'll win or lose much more than $4 after an hour of play. But on average you canexpect over time to lose at the rate of $4 per hour.

Let's take an example of a player flat betting $10 on every hand. It's is a conservative betting strategy that leads to a relatively low theoretical loss rate. The fluctuation in this player'sbankroll will also be low which means the likelihood he'll have a big winning or losing session is not great.

Watch 'Why You Should Never Make the Blackjack Insurance Bet with Blackjack Expert Henry Tamburin' (March 2016)

In this video blackjack expert Henry Tamburin explains why a basic strategy player should never make an insurance bet. He gives details on three different situations that a player may encounterand why he considers blackjack insurance to always be a sucker bet.

Progressive Betting Blackjack Strategy

This is where things get interesting. The Progressive betting blackjack strategy is when players vary their bets in some way from one hand to the next rather than alwaysbetting the same amount on every hand. There are all different types of betting progressions but they all have one common denominator. You either decrease or increase your next bet dependingupon whether the hand you just played won or lose.

Win progressions encourage you to increase your bet size after a winning hand. For example, you make a minimum bet of $10 and if you win, you raise your next stakes on the hand to $20.

There are all different kinds of win progressions. The most common is a 1-2-3-5 progression. This means you increase your bet by the above multiples after each winning hand butas soon as you experience a loss, you start the progression over with a 1 unit bet.

Proponents of win progressions will tell you that you'll win more money if you win 5 consecutive hands compared to the amount you lose if you lose 5 consecutive hands. Of course, what theydon't tell you is that you never know when that 5 consecutive winning hand streak will occur.

There are also betting progressions in which you increase your bet following a loss. These Martingale type betting progressions are dangerous and you should never consider using them.

There are also hybrid betting progressions, which have you increase your bets following a win, but after two or three success wins you lock up some profit and gradually regress your bets. Thecreativity of progressive bettors is never-ending.

First of all, the blackjack strategy for betting progressions does not change the 0.5% house edge one iota. There has never been a correlation between the hand just won (orlost) and your chance of winning the next hand. In other words, using the criteria of the result of one hand (W/L) to base how you bet on the next hand has no scientific validity. So bettingprogressions, in the long run, don't work in the sense that they won't improve your long-term chances of winning.

But here's what betting progressions will do. First off they increase the fluctuation in your session bankroll compared to flat betting. This means you can win more using abetting progression compared to flat betting but you can also lose more. Secondly, betting progressions will increase the amount of money you wager per hour compared to flat betting. If a $10bettor uses a 1-2-3-5 betting progression, his average bet will $20. Over an hour he will average $20 times 80 hands or $1600 worth of bets. The casino's expected win is 0.5% of $1600 or $8. Inother words, a $10 progressive bettor stands to lose twice as much per hour as a $10 flat bettor.

Free Bet Blackjack Online

Here's a tip to save you some money in the long run if you insist on using a betting progression. Instead of starting your progression at $10, start at a lower amount (ie. $5). This will reduceyour average bet to $10 per hour and cut your hourly theoretical loss rate in half.

But in the long run flat betting and betting progressions don't work in the sense they won't change the house edge against you and you will lose in the long run. So what betting system works?That, my friends, is card counting.

Betting When You Have The Edge (Card Counting)

With card counting, you know when you have the edge based on the change in the composition of the decks and therefore you'll know when it's the right time to bet more. Sounlike betting progressions that are based on whether you win or lose the previous hands, card counting is based on the mix of cards that were played on previous hands. If more small valuecards were played in previous rounds, there are more big value cards left in the unplayed cards, and the edge shifts from dealer to the player. This would be the best time to bet more.

Bet Online Blackjack

But I'm a realist. Not a whole lot of average blackjack players have the time or mental concentration during play that is required to master one of the popular point count cardcounting systems. These are readily available in blackjack books. But even though millions of blackjack books have been sold since Ed Thorp's classic book, Beat The Dealer (circa 1962) firstrevealed card counting to the masses, the number of players who can successfully win money in the long run at blackjack number in the hundreds and thousands.

So what's the answer to betting at blackjack for the average player? I asked Don Pronovost that same question about four years ago. Don is a software developer that markets blackjack trainingsoftware. He spent the better part of two years and a trillion computer simulated hands looking for the solution to this dilemma. What he developed is Speed Count.

Online Blackjack Gambling Bet

Speed Count is unlike any conventional card counting system. It's much simpler to master and requires much less concentration when you play. And unlike progressive betting systems, Speed Countwill give you a verifiable advantage over the casino You can read about Speed Count in Frank Scoblete’s book, Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution.

Now that you know the scoop on betting at blackjack, I wish you many aces and faces the next time you play.

Henry Tamburin has been a respected casino gambling writer for the past 50 years. He is the author of theUltimate Blackjack Strategy Guide and was editor of theBlackjack Insider newsletter. You can read his latest articles on blackjack, video poker, and his personal playing experiences at https://www.888casino.com/blog/writers/henry-tamburin

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