Those of you who are new to the game of blackjack may have noticed that some blackjack games are played with one deck of cards while others are played with 2, 4, 6 or even 8 decks of cards. What’s the difference between single and multiple deck games and what are the advantages or disadvantages?
Single deck blackjack has often been looked at as the holy grail of the game because it offers players the best chance to win profits. In fact, the house edge is just 0.15% when players stick to blackjack games with a single deck.
The house edge against a basic strategy player zooms to over 1% in a 6-5 single-deck game, making it nearly impossible to beat even with card counting. And unfortunately, many casinos have implemented single-deck games with the 6-5 blackjack payoffs. Bottom line: Avoid any 6-5 single-deck game even if you are a card counter. To win at single-deck games, you first need to learn another method of counting at a table where the cards are dealt face down. As you will recall from previous lessons, there is a very structured approach required for counting in order to make sure you’re doing it accurately. In order to be a successful counter in single-deck blackjack, you must develop both speed and accuracy. You can start your training by shuffling two decks together and counting them down. You can test your accuracy by remove three of the cards. Thorp was a mathematician who figured out that by removing a single 2 from a deck of cards made blackjack a positive expectation for the perfect basic strategy player. From there, he devised a system, tested it in real life scenario, and wrote the bestseller “Beat the Dealer.”.
Long ago, single-deck blackjack was the standard and the only game in town. In recent years, however, casinos have moved towards multiple deck games to make it harder for players to count cards, a strategy which has gained popularity over the past few decades. Not only is it more difficult for players to count cards with multiple decks in use, but using multiple decks also increases the house edge slightly.
Many casinos have reintroduced the single-deck blackjack game, but don’t be fooled into thinking that playing a single-deck game will give you better odds. In fact, you will notice that when playing a single-deck game of blackjack many casinos only offer a 6:5 payout for blackjack, while multi-deck games offer 3:2.
If you placed a $10 bet and got blackjack on a multi-card game with 3:2 payout you’d walk away with $15, whereas you’d only get $12 for a single-deck game with a 6:5 payout. The slight increase in the house edge isn’t worth the decrease in the blackjack payout that the house gives for a single-deck game. Therefore, unless you can find a casino that offers a 3:2 payout for single-deck blackjack it is a wise decision to stick to multiple deck games.
How To Beat Single Deck Blackjack Games
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Casinos also often enforce disadvantageous rule variations on single-deck and double-deck games in order to give the house more of an edge. These variations can include requiring the dealer to hit on soft 17, not allowing players to double down after a split, not allowing the resplitting of aces and a number of other variations.
Card counter have tried to employ their strategy even when using multiple decks, even though it involves more calculations and a greater risk of losing the correct count. Casinos have developed an arsenal of tactics to disrupt counters who try to count multiple decks. Many have decided to use continuous shuffle machines which shuffle the cards back into the shoe with every hand.
With this being the case, you’d think that finding a single deck blackjack is the greatest thing ever. However, there are actually some disadvantages to the subject as well, which is covered below along with single deck blackjack advantages.
Advantages
The obvious advantage to playing single deck blackjack is just as we stated before in that you’re getting the absolute lowest house edge. Facing a 0.15% house edge puts you on nearly a level playing field with the casino, and makes your chance of profiting seem like a coin flip. Of course, to take advantage of the low casino edge, make sure that you understand good basic blackjack strategy first – otherwise, it doesn’t really matter how many decks you’re dealing with.
There is another big advantage for card counters. Usually, card counters these days are dealing with six and eight deck shoes, which means they have to wait longer for favorable counts. But with single deck blackjack, card counters don’t have to wait nearly as long to get a favorable count, thus letting them bet big much sooner.
Disadvantages
Based on the aforementioned advantages, you wouldn’t think there’d be much downside to single deck blackjack. But the problem is that casinos often advertise single deck games, yet offer unfavorable rules to increase the house edge. And what’s bad about this is that the house edge can actually end up being higher than with six or eight deck blackjack.
In the worst case scenario, casinos will only make 6:5 blackjack payouts instead of 3:2 payouts. This one rule alone will bring the house edge from 0.15% all the way up to 1.45%. Considering the fact that you can still keep the house edge at around 0.5% with both six and eight deck blackjack, it’s sometimes not even worth the effort to search for single deck games. Casinos might put other unfavorable rules in the single deck games too, so watch out for this.
Single and double deck games are generally dealt with the cards face down. This is another tactic that casinos use to thwart counters. Players who stand before your turn will place their cards face down on the table. Since no one has no idea what they are holding, counters not value those cards in the count.
Another disadvantage to single deck blackjack is that you’re very unlikely to earn many comps with this version of the game. After all, if it’s true single deck blackjack you’re playing, the casino won’t make much money off you in the long-term. That said, they aren’t going to be generous with comps either.
Casinos usually offer a few lower limit single deck games to entice players to visit their casino. It is the old bait and switch technique that often works. They know that if the table is full or the betting limits are severely restricted, players will move to higher earning tables.
Learn about the other tricks by reading “How Casinos Cheat.”
How To Beat Single Deck Blackjack Clash Royale
Single Deck Blackjack has a 0.15% house edge that puts you almost on a even playing field with the casino.
Blackjack is a popular casino game of luck and skill combined and it is frequently played in land based, online and mobile casinos. The biggest reason for the popularity of the game is that it has one of the lowest house edges of all casino games and with basic or optimal blackjack strategy players can increase their advantage over the casino. Even though luck also plays a role, with appropriate skills they can indeed make a profit. Nowadays blackjack has many different variants suitable for different types of blackjack players. One of it is Single Deck Blackjack and, as the name implies, it is played with one deck of playing cards. The variant offers the best house edge for players and if they are familiar with a basic blackjack strategy, they are ready to play.
How to Play Single Deck Blackjack
The main objective of Single Deck Blackjack is to get a hand value of 21 or as close as possible to 21 before the dealer without busting or going over. An alternative is to stand and have the dealer bust. Before the game starts, you place a bet. Then you and the dealer are dealt cards. The dealer is dealt one face up card and one face down. You are dealt two face up cards. Based on the cards in front of you and the face up card of the dealer you decide whether to stand or stop drawing cards, hit or draw more cards, double down or place another bet or split cards.
The Rules
The following are the rules for playing Single Deck Blackjack:
- Only one deck of cards is used. It is shuffled before the beginning of each gaming session.
- The dealer hits on soft 17.
- The player can split a hand up to three times.
- Aces can be split and the player gets only one card to each Ace. They cannot be re-split.
- A hand comprised of a split Ace and a card with a value of 10 is not blackjack.
- Blackjack pays 3 to 2.
- Wining insurance bets pay 2 to 1.
- Other winning hands pay 1 to 1.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Single Deck Blackjack
Many blackjack fans consider Single Deck Blackjack as the holy grail of standard Blackjack mainly because it gives played the best chance to increase their bankroll. As a rule of a thumb, blackjack games that are played only with one or a few decks have lower house edge than Multi Deck Blackjack games. In Single Deck Blackjack, the house edge is just 0.15%. This may seem quite tempting, but the game also has a few disadvantages.
Advantages
As already mentioned, the biggest advantage of Single Deck Blackjack is that it has the lowest house edge. However, to take advantage of the low house edge, players should understand the game and its rules as well as use good blackjack strategy. Otherwise, the house edge will increase no matter how many decks the game has.
Single Deck Blackjack is also a favorable variant for card counters. When playing blackjack with six or eight decks players wait longer till they get favorable counts. With Single Deck Blackjack, they can get a favorable count fast. However, it should be noted that card counting works when playing the game in brick and mortar casinos, because on the Internet card are shuffled after each hand.
Disadvantages
Single Deck Blackjack also has a few disadvantages. Even though it has low house edge, some casinos modify its rules so the house edge of the variant may end up being higher than that of eight deck blackjack. For example, some casinos pay 6 to 5 for blackjack instead of 3 to 2 increasing the house edge from 0.15% to 1.45%. Having in mind that you can maintain a house edge of around 0.5% with both single and multi deck blackjack games, it might not be worth the effort to search for Single Deck Blackjack games.
Another disadvantage is that casinos usually don’t give many comp points for playing the game because in the long run, due to the low house edge, they won’t win much money from it. Therefore, they aren’t very generous with comp points.