Blackjack Gambling

If you have been going down the links alphabetically, you've finally reached a game that is not merely a pure gamble. Blackjack is a game of skill, regardless of whether you play skillfully or not. If you hit 18 when the dealer is showing a six, you are a non-skillful player, to be charitable about it. There is a basic strategy to blackjack that does not allow players to beat the house, but it allows players to get very close to breakeven. "Advantage gambling" is a term often applied to card counting, where the application of that skill allows a player to go from a slight underdog to a slight favorite against the house.

Unfortunately, unlike poker where edges can often be large, in blackjack edges are very small, even when you are skillfully able to get an edge. This means to making any significant amount of money you must make relatively big bets, where you have a small edge, which means you need a large bankroll and that you will also tend to draw attention to yourself. This wouldn't matter if casinos ignored advantage gamblers, but they don't. Skilled blackjack players are very often barred and sometimes even roughed up and threatened by casinos. This is not a nice thing to have happen just so you can get a 51/49 payoff on a coin flip.

Card-counting is useless online or anywhere a deck is shuffled after every hand, but blackjack can be beaten online by manipulating signup bonuses. Like in the brick & mortar world, casinos won't like this, and often will treat you accordingly. Still, if you have a deep bankroll, skill will win out in blackjack, if you are careful.

How much gamble is there in blackjack?