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Blackjack is a game with many variations. If this format just isn’t doing it for you or if you’d like a little break from the norm, you can find fun variations to play. Over the course of this article I’ll talk about a couple of the blackjack variations that you’ll find out their in the real world and online. Without further ado let’s get started.
Double Exposure Blackjack
This is one of those blackjack variations that gets players all excited. In this variation both dealer cards are shown, so you can see why many blackjack players think they are just going to destroy the casino.
There is one major caveat to this blackjack variation. The dealer wins all ties. Now think about that for just a minute. If you’ve been playing blackjack for any period of time you know that this happens fairly frequently. In this variation of blackjack all of those ties are now losers.
My basic strategy for this variation is not to play at all. However, if you’re going to play it, just enjoy yourself. Not surprisingly, there is a strategy to playing double exposure blackjack, but it would take more space than we have for this article.
Spanish 21
Spanish 21 is very popular in some casinos because of all the options it affords players. For instance, a player’s blackjack actually beats a dealer’s blackjack and if that weren’t good enough, your blackjack will still pay 3-2.
Here’s another fun rule variation. You can double down at any time no matter how many cards you have. And if you manage to get 21 and the dealer gets 21, you win. Want to hear something really crazy? If you double down, and don’t like your double down card, you can take back your double down bet. You will just lose your original wager.
There’s also fantastic bonus payouts if you happen to get 21 with five or more cards or if you get 6-7-8 or 7-7-7. And how about this. Get 7-7-7 of the same suit and a dealer up card at seven and you’ll win the jackpot, which can be thousands of dollars.
Another rule Spanish 21 is that the dealer always hits on soft 17.
Spanish 21 is one crazy variation of blackjack. If you haven’t tried it, I’d encourage you to play a few hands and enjoy yourself.
In the next installment of our blackjack tutorial series, I’ll present you with a point-by-point analysis of what it takes to play blackjack like a pro and win consistently. Whether you’re playing online blackjack or in Las Vegas you’ll want to read this.
Tags: Bet, Blackjack, Blackjack Dealer, Blackjack Game, Blackjack Players, Double Exposure, Jackpot, Playing Blackjack, Spanish 21, Wager
Categories: Blackjack, Card Games, Strategies, Systems
Okay, we’re back with our fourth awesome installment of the Caribbean Stud Poker Overview. Last time we talked all about the payouts in this exciting game. This time we’re going to talk about what makes you get paid—hand rankings.
Since you might not know how the hands in Caribbean Stud Poker rank, I’m going to show you. If you’ve played any poker, like video poker or Texas Hold’em, then you already know, because it works the same way.
Here’s the Caribbean Stud Poker chart for your convenience. I’ve ranked the hands from the worst to the best.
Nothing – You’ve got jack. These are the hands where you want to give up and just lose your ante wager. We’ll talk about this a little more in our last installment when I cover strategy and tips.
One Pair – You have two cards of the same rank, such as two Aces.
Two Pair – You have two cards of one rank and two of another, such as two Aces and two Jacks.
Three of a Kind – You have three cards of the same rank, such as three Aces.
Straight – You have all five cards in sequential order, such as 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. The Ace can be played before the 2 or after the King. You decide.
Flush – You have all five cards in the same suit, such as Clubs.
Full House – You have basically a three of a kind and one pair in the same hand. An example of a full house would be three Jacks and two Aces.
Four of a Kind – You have four cards of the same suit. Since Caribbean Stud Poker is played with a single 52-card deck, this is hard to get. An example hand would be 4 Aces.
Straight Flush – You have all five cards of the same suit and they are all in sequential order and they are not 10, J, Q, K, A. For instance, this hand would be the 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 of Clubs.
Royal Flush – Very had to get of course. If you have the 10, J, Q, K, A of the same suit, such as Clubs, then you have a Royal Flush and the best payday possible in Caribbean Stud Poker. And hopefully you’re playing the progressive, otherwise you just lose a whole lot of cash.
Okay, that wraps up this fourth installment of our Caribbean Stud Poker Overview. For our final installment, I’ll be talking about strategy and tips. It’s going to be a great sendoff. And when you’re done with it, you’ll know everything you need to play and win at Caribbean Stud Poker.
Tags: 4 Aces, Ace, Card Deck, Cards, Caribbean Poker, Caribbean Stud Poker, Full House, Game, Poker Video, Royal Flush, Video Poker, Wager
Categories: Card Games, Poker, Strategies, Systems
Last time we spoke about Caribbean Stud Poker, we just started going over some of the basics. This time, we’ll pick up were we left off. You’ve just decided that your hand is worth staying in. Let’s see what happens next.
Should you want to stay in the hand, you now have to make a bet in the Raise (or Bet) area. The amount must be two times your Ante bet. For instance, let’s say you’ve bet $5 in the Ante area, your Raise bet would be $10. You can’t bet more. This is another reason why your Ante bet is important, as it determines you maximum bet for the hand.
Let’s assume that you’ve just put $10 in the Raise area. It’s now time (after all other players do the same) for the dealer to show his or her hand and it’s time for the final evaluation. In order for the dealer to have a “qualifying hand,” he or she must have a hand that is at least Ace-King or better. I’ll go over hand rankings in Caribbean Stud Poker in just a bit.
Here’s the deal. If the dealer’s hand doesn’t qualify, everyone wins the Ante wager. The Raise wager is simply returned. The Ante wager is always paid even money, so a $10 wager is paid $10. The Raise wagers are paid in accordance with the hand ranking. This “qualify” thing is one reason why many pay the progressive, which is paid out regardless of whether or not the dealer qualifies.
If the dealer’s hand qualifies, it’s then evaluated against your hand. If your hand is better, you win. Your ante is paid even money and your raise wager is paid according to the pay scale. For instance, if you had two pair, you would be paid two times your raise bet (so a $10 raise bet wins $20). After the final evaluation, the hand is now over and it’s time for another hand. As you can see, the big moment in Caribbean Stud Poker is deciding whether or not to stay in a hand—just like regular poker.
So we’ve been talking a lot about qualifying. If the dealer doesn’t qualify, which sucks, you get paid just even money on your ante wager. That’s pretty boring. And it’s frustrating when you have a nice hand. But, let’s imagine that the dealer qualified and you won.
Well, that’s going to do it for part two of our Caribbean Stud Poker overview. Next time we’ll pick it up from here, by going over the payouts. There’s some great money to be won in this game.
Tags: Ace, Bet, Caribbean Poker, Caribbean Stud Poker, Money, Pay Scale, Progressive, Wager, Wagers, Wins
Categories: Card Games, Poker, Strategies, Systems
Last installment we started talking about blackjack action. We talked about placing a bet, how the cards are dealt, and some other action items. When we left off, we were talking about your different options during the hand you hand you have to decide what to do. We already talked about and standing. And it’s here where we’ll pick up the discussion.
So you’re sitting there looking at your two cards and deciding what to do. You already know that you can hit, which means take a card, or stand, which means to end your turn. But what if your two cards are the exact same? You could split them. Let’s imagine that you have two Queens. You could split them into two hands. This of course would mean that you would have to make an additional bet that’s equal to your original wager.
Let me just say right now that if you have two Queens do not split them. However, if you were to receive two 8s, for example, you may want to split them. But we’ll talk more about blackjack strategy in a little bit.
When you split a hand you need to make an additional bet, which is equal to your original wager. Splitting is not something that happens too often and some players never split their hands.
During your turn another move you may make is to double down. When you double down you are first making an additional wager that is equal to your original wager and then excepting one final card. A common hand to double down on is 11. You’ve probably heard the saying “always double down on 11″. You can also double down for less. Let’s imagine that you have a $100 bet out there and you want to double down. You could add just $50 more and double down for less. That’s your option.
Another option you have during your turn, which isn’t offered by every casino, is to surrender. A lot of people like surrender, but many casinos don’t offer it. This is why you should check the blackjack rules before playing again. Here’s how surrender works. You get your first two cards and you can surrender and lose half of your bet. An example when one might want to surrender would be when you receive a really bad hand, such as 16, and the dealer is showing a face card. Many blackjack players will surrender in this instance.
And that about does it for this installment of our blackjack series. In our next installment will be talking about card values, hand values, and how it all plays out. Also I’ll make sure to drop a couple more nuggets of wisdom for winning at blackjack. Keep reading and good luck at the blackjack tables.
Tags: Bet, Blackjack, Blackjack Action, Blackjack Rules, Blackjack Strategy, Cards, Casinos, Two Hands, Two Queens, Wager
Categories: Blackjack, Card Games, Strategies, Systems
It’s a sucker’s bet. Right? Yes, it’s true, the Field bet in Craps is a sucker’s bet, but it can be fun and dare I say, profitable. I know, because I’ve done it. As with any playing system or tactic, don’t bet the house. Nothing is foolproof and you should only gamble with money you’re prepared to lose. That said, I’d like to spend a few minutes talking about the Field in Craps and a fun little system for playing with it.
As you may know, the Field is the big area filled with the numbers: 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12. The bet pays even money unless you hit a 2 or 12. Most houses pay double for these two numbers and some houses pay triple for the 12. One important fact to know about the Field is that even though most of the numbers are in it, they are at a disadvantage. The Field has a 44.4% chance of being rolled—remember, this is a one-roll wager.
So, the probability of hitting the Field is always 44.4%, but in reality, the running probability changes—just like the odds of flipping heads on a coin X times in a row. You may hit three non-Field rolls in a row or eight, but at some point, you have to throw a Field roll again.
As non-Field numbers are thrown, the probability of someone winning a Field wager goes up. Think about this, the probability of throwing two non-Field numbers in a row is 31%. This means that the Field has a 69% chance of hitting. How about three in a row? That’s down to 17%. And the probability of hitting four non-field numbers in a row is only 9.5%. So, if three were just rolled, you could bet the Field and, in theory, have a 90.5% chance of winning.
This little system is pretty easy to do. It takes a little patience. Basically, you’re watching the rolls of the dice and counting how many non-field rolls haven taken place. When the time is right, you’re placing a wager, and hopefully winning it.
There are two ways to play this system. You could wait for three non-Field rolls to happen and then make a bet. In theory, you’d have a 90.5% chance of winning—not bad. If you want a little more insurance and you have a lot more patience, wait for four non-Field numbers to be rolled and make your bet. You’d have a 95% of winning. Of course, you’ll be sitting around for longer, but it’s all fun.
Next time you’re standing at the Craps table, give this fun little Craps system a try. I use it from time to time myself. It’s a nice break from the norm.
Tags: Bet, Dice, Field Numbers, Fun, Money, Odds, Playing Craps, Probability, Wager
Categories: Craps, Strategies, Systems
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