All You Need to Know About the House Edge in Blackjack

Featuring simple rules and offering ultimate fun and excitement, Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games to play online. But in order to make the most of their Blackjack gameplay, it’s critical for players to have knowledge about several aspects of the game. One of them is the house edge. In this article, we explain everything you need to know about the Blackjack house edge, from how it works and the ways to reduce it.

The basics of Blackjack house edge

You may already know that each casino title comes with a house edge if you’ve played online casino games before. While this may sound surprising to complete beginners, the house advantage is the way any casino covers its costs and generates revenues.

Simply put, the house edge is the mathematical advantage that a gambling operator has over its players. The house edge is present in both land-based and online casino offerings, though it varies based on the specific rules of the game.

The basic premise behind the casino house edge is simple and easy to understand. To calculate the casino house edge for Blackjack or any other game at the live casino, you need to take the expected negative value of a bet and divide it by the total betting amount. You can always use a Blackjack calculator if you find that intimidating. However, the result of the calculation is then multiplied by 100 to express it in the form of a percentage.

Blackjack house edge and the ‘player acts first’ rule

The house edge in classic Blackjack games stands at 0.50%, given that players are using the basic Blackjack betting strategy. The casino advantage in Blackjack depends on several things, such as the specific gameplay rules and the number of decks used. However, the casino tends to benefit from the fact that the player needs to act before the dealer.

Let’s have a look at an example to make it clearer. Assume that the player gets a 7 card and a 9 card in his initial two-card hand and the dealer receives a 10 card and a 6 card for the same. That way, both the player and the dealer have a hard 16 here.

Now, the player takes his turn first and draws a 9 card. As the total value of the hand becomes 25 (16 + 9), the player goes bust. Then the dealer also goes on to have a 9 card, making the total value of his hand 25. The final value of both the dealer’s hand and the player’s hand is the same here, but it doesn’t result in a push. Instead, the player loses his bet since he exceeded the dealer’s required total value in advance. Even though the dealer’s hand has also gone bust, he does not lose anything.

Another instance when the rule seems to favour the dealer is when all the players have gone bust prior to the completion of the dealer’s hand. This rule can give the gambling operator an initial edge of 8%, but it can be reduced by using a Blackjack playing strategy at the best mobile casino.

Decks used and the Blackjack house edge

The number of decks used in a Blackjack game can directly affect the house edge. In general, the more the number of decks used, the higher the house edge will be.

This might seem strange initially. Why would the casino advantage increase if the game uses more decks? The ratio of high cards to low cards and the available betting options such as split and double down are still the same.

Well, the answer to this can be found by understanding the probability of having a Blackjack with a different number of decks.      

If you choose to play single-deck Blackjack, your first card will be an Ace. There are now 51 cards left in the deck, excluding that Ace. 16 of them have a value of 10. That way, the chances of you having a Blackjack are 31.37% (16 divided by 51).

A similar situation with eight decks of cards would result in a 30.84% probability of having a Blackjack. With more decks, the probability of getting a Blackjack decreases slightly. Again, a smaller Blackjack means a greater casino advantage.

Summing up

Whether you want to play regular Blackjack games or take part in Blackjack tournaments, having knowledge about the Blackjack house edge is crucial. Also, knowing how the house edge works will help you make more informed decisions when placing side bets such as Blackjack Insurance. After reading through our article, you can expect to have a clearer understanding of the Blackjack house edge.