Blackjack is the Ultimate Player Choice Casino Game
In blackjack, your choices matter. Whether using a playing strategy or picking a suitable game, your choice will impact how you play the game and whether you’ll win more than you lose.
Strategies
A perfect strategy can be followed that provides the best-expected win value. But, the system might differ significantly based on table rules and your expectations, observations and playing style. So ensure you’re using the right strategy for the game and table rules you’re playing. Otherwise, you’ll end up losing more times than you should.
A blackjack strategy only applies to the exact combination of table rules it was designed for. Keep that in mind. For example, your strategy will be completely different if a blackjack table allows Surrender. The same goes for the Double Down After Split (DDAS) rule. Other rules don’t affect the strategy as much as they are more subtle. Surrender, and DDAS completely change the game.
Regardless of the table rules, there are several universal goals of any blackjack strategy:
- When your chance of drawing a good card is higher, go for it.
- When your chance of drawing a good card is lower, stand.
- If you think your chance to win is higher, bet more if allowed.
- If your chance to win is lower, don’t bet. Surrender if allowed.
All this brings us to an often overlooked aspect of playing blackjack – your choice of a table.
Or, in the case of live dealer games, your choice of the blackjack game you want to play.
There are different table rules and games with win multipliers and other perks, so choosing a blackjack table wisely is imperative.
Games to Avoid
I’d avoid games like Super Stake Blackjack or Unlimited games like One Blackjack and Infinite Blackjack. The former is because of the multipliers and fees you have to pay, and the latter because only one player hand is used, and an unlimited number of people play.
Stick to the Seven Seat games at Leo Vegas or Bet Victor.
Deal or No Deal Live
In Deal or No Deal Live, you’ll be forced to make difficult decisions in every game round as you weigh the Banker’s offer and must quickly decide if you want to take it or keep playing.
There are two versions of the game, one by Evolution and the other by Playtech.
Both versions use 16 briefcases and let you boost the prizes, and it’s the Playtech game that is more elaborate and more of a challenge to pick correctly.
While there is a randomness to this game, your choice and your choice alone determine how much you win or lose.
It seems that the most reasonable strategy is to be conservative and accept the offer whenever you’re in profit.
If you’re looking for a casino game that lets you make choices that aren’t Blackjack, this is the one you should go for.
Entertainment Games Where You Choose Risk / Reward
There are several entertainment games where you can choose whether to chase small wins regularly or go for a chance to win big. These games are all about building suspense and toying around with the two contrasting emotions of wanting to win more and wanting to run away with easy money.
Depending on the size of your bet and the potential winnings, things can get quite interesting!
Boom City is a Pragmatic Play game that has three bonus rounds in which you get to make choices. Crucially, the Boom or Bust bonus round is where you can choose to keep going for a high win multiplier or to take a minor win.
You can also make choices in Dice Battle and Lucky Drop bonus rounds. Overall this is an excellent game if you want to toy around with risk and reward and see how far you can go before you cash out.
Money Drop Live lets you play conservatively and have an almost guaranteed win or aim for the highest payouts. The objective is to keep as much money as possible during the bonus rounds. For a full review, follow the game link to learn how to play this game.
Gold Bar Roulette
Gold Bar Roulette closed as of April 2023, but I’ll still briefly mention the game because another similar game might come up at some point in the future.
In short, you could win Gold Bars and stack them on a straight-up number to increase the potential payout if you landed on that number in the next game.
This was a fun concept that wasn’t very well received by the players, probably because they didn’t understand they could build up towards a 176x win multiplier or more on several straight-up number bets and then have a decent chance of winning big.
Undoubtedly, we’ll see a similar concept appear in another game but refined to match the player’s expectations a bit more.
Choose your bet on Money Wheels Wisely.
While you technically don’t have any influence over a money wheel, I would argue that players make essential choices in money wheel games, but they may not be that obvious to the spectator.
On any money wheel game, such as Crazy Time and Funky Time, you can bet on a segment that brings a little win or on a segment that lets you benefit from the bonus round if it gets triggered.
Betting on the bonus round segments is where the big wins occur, so it’s sensible to bet on the bonus segments.
These games exist for the bonus rounds, which can pay big, so it’s sensible to always have a bet on at least one bonus round if not all of them.
Players who don’t play the bonus rounds and instead try to win 1 unit on a 1:1 payout are depriving themselves of a chance to win big.
Roulette Can Be Quite Configurable
Roulette is a game of chance through and through, to the point where every spin is unique to all spins that came before it, which some players have difficulty understanding.
The randomness in roulette is absolute – unlike, for example, Blackjack, where the chances are affected by which cards remain in the shoe.
However, a little-known fact known by pro gamblers is that you can configure roulette to be a highly volatile game or a game in which you can expect to win most of your spins.
You do so by covering a smaller or a larger portion of the wheel with your bets.
For example, you might cover two-thirds of the wheel with your bets – and is usually done with called bets such as Voisins du Zero, Tiers du Cylindre, Orphelins, or a combination of them would have an improved chance to win.
Orphelins is a bet that pays the most if the ball lands on one of the numbers covered. You can improve this strategy by placing several more straight-up bets on the numbers not covered by called bets. Ultimately, you increase your chances of winning but limit the chances of a big payout because you have so many numbers covered.
The alternative is to bet on a single number. This increases the payout potential but reduces the likelihood of the happening.
Your bet choice makes a real difference to your game of roulette.
Choice of a Casino Matters
I can’t stress this enough. It matters where you play.
This is why I’ve dedicated whole sections of this site to reviews about the top casinos and telling you what to look out for.
Ideally, you’ll want a UKGC-licensed casino that treats players fairly and pays your winnings without any fuss or delay, with dedicated tables and games by many providers. The better the casino, the better your experience will be.
Some General Tips
Overall, you get to make choices far more often than you think. Your bet size, selection of a bet, and choice of a game to play all matter in the end.
Also, sometimes you get to choose while playing a game, even if it’s not a game like a blackjack that firmly puts you in control of your destiny. Sometimes the choice will be more subtle.
If you like the thrill of gambling, any game will do, but I prefer games where I participate and make choices. Be it Blackjack or Casino Hold’em, where I decide whether to play or fold.
Above all, play games you enjoy, don’t expect to win but enjoy wins when they happen.
