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Online Blackjack
is part of a mini-series concerning
Online Gambling.
Mini-Series Articles:
Related Topics
Gambling addicts and experts will tell you there is no faster way to have your wallet removed than the game of Blackjack. Despite knowing this fact, they will still allow themselves to sit down in front of a personal computer, and have their financial world crushed in a manner so rapid and so soul demolishing, they hardly have time to blink their watering eyes. Blackjack, online or offline, is often described as "a game of chance where the gambler plays against the dealer (who is a representative of the “house”) and tries to achieve a “21” without going over," but in reality, it is just like giving your PIN number and debit card to a junky.
The Game
There are a few differences between IRL blackjack and online blackjack. Below is a list of how online blackjack differs from IRL:
- The House can use any number of decks to deal from. IRL blackjack tables use from 6 to 8 decks, online they can use any number of decks and shuffle them on every hand.
- Card counters have to use super computers and sophisticated programs called “blackjack calculators” to keep track of those decks. If the House shuffles on every hand, you might as well throw that counting computer out the window…it just isn’t going to work.
- No matter how skilled you are and how lucky you are with cards, blackjack statistically will eventually lead you to zero.
- Online blackjack is more painless than IRL blackjack. You can actually SEE dollars disappearing when you are at a table.
- No IRL tits when you play online. Dealers are algorithms, not hot chicks.
The Rules
There are virtually no differences between IRL blackjack and online blackjack when it comes to rules. The game is set up so that the dealer, over time, will overcome any strategy or angle to effectively eliminate any money you might have in your PayPal account E-Wallet. Despite this well known reality, players will insist that the rules of the game be posted here. So be it. The object of the game is to get a higher card total than the dealer. To do this, the player adds up the face value of his cards against the total face values of the dealers cards. Even though the game’s title suggests that there is a significance to what the card’s suit is, there really is no importance given to whether the card is a Club, Spade, Diamond, or Heart…unless you are OCD about such things and want a “real blackjack (a Jack of Clubs or Spades and an Ace of Spades).” The card’s face value are as follows:
- 2 through 9 are worth their respective face value. For example a Six of Clubs is worth “6.”
- Tens, Jacks, Queens, and Kings are all worth ten. For example, a Jack of Hearts is worth “10.”
- All Aces in the deck are worth one or eleven depending on the other cards you have. You can choose which it will be, but generally speaking, if you have a Queen and an Ace, you don’t want your Ace to be worth one.
Going over 21 is quite common in blackjack due to player ineptitude, House cheating, and bad luck. When a player goes over 21, it is called a “Bust" or “Busting out.” When a player goes over 21 and then begins to start dancing, it is called “Busting a move.” When a player busts, the round is over for him or her and they must play again to receive new cards. Since a player has already put his or her credit card number into the online blackjack site, they can receive credit to play again, or leave the table. Because the game moves so quickly, it is a rare thing to see somebody leave.
At the beginning of a round of blackjack, cards are dealt alternately to the player and the dealer. Once the two initial cards are received by the player (one face down, one face up), he or she then has a decision to make. He has to decide whether he wants to “Hit” or to “Stay.” Staying means that they don’t want any more cards. Hitting means that they want more cards from the dealer. If a person’s original face value total was 12, they would probably want a Hit from the dealer. If a person’s original face value total was 21, they should not want a Hit from the Dealer, but should prefer to Stay. If a person’s original face value total was 457, they probably have been sharing Hits off a doobie with the dealer and should discontinue game play.
The dealer has two rules that it must follow. When the dealer displays its cards, both are face up so that the player can see what it has. If the dealer has 16 or lower, the dealer must Hit itself. If the dealer has 17 or higher, it must stay and take no further cards. The dealer will keep hitting as long as all of its card’s total face value is under 17.
Once all of the hitting and staying have been resolved, the card’s face values will be compared. The player with the highest total face value wins. If the dealer wins, your bet, or what is called an “Ante” is taken. If, in the rare case that the player wins, the dealer pays back 1 to 1. That means that if a player anted two dollars, their payout for beating the dealer will be two dollars. There are only two odds to ever remember when playing online blackjack; the first is that if a player receives an Ace and a card worth Ten on the initial deal, they have what is called a “Natural” and will be paid 3 to 2. That means three dollars are won for every two dollars bet. The second set of odds that a player must remember is that more than any other game, blackjack is weighed towards the house. It is a zero sum game that will eventually lead you to selling your plasma so that you can pay for another game.
Winning and Ties
Winning in blackjack gives the player a short term sense of euphoria that only beating a machine can give. This sense of euphoria is fleeting and has been compared to the effects of crack cocaine, only lasting a shorter term and being more expensive. To achieve this sense of euphoria, the player must have a higher face value total than the dealer without going over twenty one.
For the dealer to win, usually all it has to do is sit and wait for the player to commence hitting until he or she busts. However, sometimes the dealer will automatically have a 21 and all player games are lost…or at best, a “Push.”
In the odd occurrence where both the dealer and the player tie, this situation is called a “Push.” If a Push occurs, the money remains on the table and a new game is dealt. Since online blackjack is dealt from any number of decks, the incidence of a push happening should go up, but since online blackjack is a scam, they don’t.
Strategy
It only takes common sense to realize that playing a game that eventually will lead you to zero dollars is a non-strategic way to play any online game of chance, yet there are some holdouts who insist that you can win at internet blackjack. Logic dictates that if you have a 16 or lower and the dealer has a 17 or higher, you must hit to win. Illogic dictates that you will always get a ten card and bust, but hardcore players always insist that they have “good chances” at getting that magical five card and get a 21. By just taking a look at the way the deck is set up and the number of cards that actually go against your favor, you can see that your chances of seeing a card that is five or less are massively stacked against you. Nevertheless, some players swear by gimmicks and tricks that they have learned IRL and attempt to apply them in an online blackjack setting. These include card counting (see below), using tips books, and adhering to strategy guides. What they don’t realize is that once blackjack went online, all of those things became obsolete.
Card Counting
Gone are the good old days when you could go to a casino and get your legs broken for you if you were caught counting cards. Now, in the fast paced world of online blackjack, internet casinos actually factor in the amount of card counting that can be done and prepare for it. By using multiple decks, shuffling every time, and controlling how the cards are dealt, internet blackjack gives the player who uses a blackjack card counting computer a sense of confidence and skill that will only lead them to lose more money in the long run. Counting players use the term “penetration” to describe how many cards are dealt out of a deck before the deck is again shuffled. Once a deck is shuffled, penetration goes back to zero. Since online gaming sites are all about making money, they will fish in a player who counts cards by letting them win a few hands and upping the penetration into the deck, then slowly turn the tables on them and finally put them out of their misery by repeatedly re-shuffling the deck on every hand and screwing up card counting software. Counting cards while playing online blackjack is like playing Russian roulette with a Howitzer.
Scandal, Legality, Boogie Men
Since the game is a scandal in itself, there is very little information concerning any online betting scandals to have rocked the internet blackjack community. Most scandals that actually do involve the blackjack community do not involve the game itself, but rather the parasites that like to feed on players who have a glimmer of hope. Strategy books, counting software, “Tips sites,” and “Idiot’s Guides” are all a bunch of trash that cost blackjack players millions per year. None of them mention the fact that you will eventually be totally broke and none of them mention that blackjack is the fastest way to do this.
Legalized Slot Blackjack
While most players of online blackjack clutch at the tiny scintilla of expectation that they will eventually get the “big win” and leave a game rich, most law making agencies are more rational (how’s that for crazy?). Several states are embroiled in drawn out legal battles concerning the legalization of bar top blackjack machines that are basically online blackjack in an arcade game format. These games can even be networked to sites hosted where gambling is legal. Whenever politicians, gambling, and the internet are involved, the odds of a scandal increase at an insane rate. In the case of online blackjack this sort of scandal involves disappearing money that was supposed to be used for funding state education. If that is the case and what is supposed to happen with the money, why do I get asked for a new school levy every time a new ballot comes up?
Should You Wish to Participate
The following states do not allow any form of gambling aside from state run games of chance, blackjack slots or sites in particular:
- Michigan
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Oregon
- Washington
- Wisconsin
- Indiana
- Nevada
- South Dakota
- New Jersey
- New York
To avoid legal complications owing to the Safe Ports Act and the Wire Act, most internet gaming sites will not allow gamers from the United States to play their online games. However, there are ways around this. Proxies can be used to hide the country of origin of a player. Or, you could be lucky enough to be from a state that is not listed above. Even still, here is a list of sites that will allow players from the United States. Please note, any site that will allow this sort of thing is NOT reputable and you are taking your life into your own hands by going to one of these places and spending your money there. Still, in the spirit of LULZ, they are listed below on the off chance that some EDiot or visitor will actually go there and lose their shirt.
- 1st Web Online Casino
- 777 Dragon Casino
- 7 Sultans Casino
- All Poker Casino
- All Slots Casino
- Arthurian Casino
- Blackjack Ballroom
- Captain Cooks
- Caribbean Gold
- Casino Kingdom
- Cinema Casino
- Crazy Vegas Casino
- Desert Dollar
- English Harbour
- Fortune Room
- Gaming Club
- Golden Tiger
- Jackpot City Casino
- King Neptune's
- Lucky Emperor
- Lucky Nugget
- Maple Online Casino
- Millionaire Casino
- Platinum Play
- River Belle Online Casino
- Royal Vegas Casino
- Silver Dollar Casino
- Slotland
- Strike It Lucky (Flash)
- Sun Vegas Casino
- Super Slots Casino
- Trident Lounge Online Casino
- Vegas Palms Casino
- Vegas Towers Casino
- Vegas Villa Online Casino
- Virtual City Casino
- Yukon Gold Casino
- Vegas USA Casino
- Wild Jack Casino
- Zodiac Casino
Should you wish to attempt to beat the system, and you are from one of the states listed above, get yourself a proxy and Google for those terms.
Voodoo
Voodoo is a term used by online blackjack players to describe a strategy, be it real or be it imagined, that will allow a player to win at 21. By using programs that utilize a form of card counting, or an algorithm that determines the odds of the next card, they feel that they can beat the house. This gives some of these guys a “techish,” nerdy, or perhaps “educated” appearance, but what it boils down to is a belief in a failed system because the house has already factored counting into the grand scheme of the game. Here is a good example of Voodoo programming.
Psychics
Yes, in this day and age where most forms of organized religion are frowned upon and often openly ridiculed, blackjack gamblers get away with believing in ghosts, boogie men, and….psychics. I don’t think they deserve a free pass. Here is a small sample from this superstitious pack of degenerates that give the word "desperation" full meaning.
—Forum user Brock Windsor | ||
—Same thread, user named shadroch. | ||
—Still same thread, it just keeps getting better. | ||
—Yes, better luck next time. | ||
It must be noted that this thread goes on for another full eleven pages of gambling addicts discussing how they win through the power of their minds. In fact, the whole message board is full of sad losers trying to figure out ways to beat a machine.
Free Online Blackjack
What’s the point?
Quotes
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Video
Not to be confused with Blackjack…White, Jack
Some guy bitching about the youth today.
Wait until the very end for a special message…and get the hell off my lawn.
See Also
External Links
- This guy deserved to lose 10k. The computer beat you by a point even though you had a 21???
| Featured article June 24, 2009 | ||
| Preceded by Trent Reznor |
Online Blackjack | Succeeded by Michael Jackson |