The most common question everyone asks when starting to play casino games is how to become a winning blackjack player.

One of the advantages to working for an online casino is the access we have to raw data. Every online casino keeps track of every detail of game played on their servers. While this data is kept primarily to ensure quality control it can also give us an interesting insight into the habit of winning and losing blackjack players.

We took a sample of our top 100 most winning players and compared their playing stats and details to the top 100 most losing players on the site. By taking a close look at the data we can begin to see where the losers are losing and most importantly: how the losers are able to become winners.

Play Blackjack: Just Blackjack

Just about every online casino offers Blackjack and Blackjack variations. These can include games like: Perfect Pairs, Super 21, Pontoon, European Blackjack and Face-Up 21. While all this variety can be appealing, you need to ask yourself why you would opt out of playing the original game, with the best odds.

Just about every other variation of Blackjack will reduce your odds, reducing the amount of money you can win in the long run.

Win vs. Loss vs. Push Rate*

* Figures taken from thousands of actual real-money hands

When comparing the game selection of winners to losers we see that losing players play these other variations of Blackjack for a bit over 20% of all games played. The percentage of winning players playing other games comes in a full 6 points lower.

The winners are sticking to the standard version of the game, so should you.

Perfect Pairs are for Suckers

A big part of becoming a winning Blackjack player is staying far away from any sucker bets, Perfect Pair type bets being the most common.

Now I’m sure my bosses won’t be too happy about this section, but I just can’t help myself. Betting on the Perfect Pair bets (or the same bet by any other name) is one of the worst bets you can take. In fact only 7% of all Perfect Pair bets collect any money.

The winning players are clearly aware of this, with only 11% of all winning players playing the perfect pair tables opting to make the bet. Contrast this to the losers, with a whopping 57% opt-in rate, and you can start to see just how much of a leak this is.

Insurance is for Suckers

According to our statistics, when the dealer is showing an ace they will have blackjack around 31% of the time. Since that means 69% of the time they will have anything else, insurance is a waste of your money.

Don’t believe me? Let’s just do some math. To make it easy we’ll say we’re betting $10 a hand and paying max insurance of $5.

So out of 100 hands 69 times the dealer doesn’t have Blackjack. We keep our bet (in play) and lose the insurance ($5 x 69 = -$345).

The other 31 hands are a wash. Each hand we lose our bet ($10) but get 2 to 1 on the Insurance, grossing $10.

We’ve lost $345 strictly on insurance when up against an ace.

Now if we never bought insurance we pay $10 every hand. On 69 of those hands we’re ok, on 31 we’re not and we lose our bet ($10 x 31 = -$310).

By not paying for insurance we’ve lost $310.

In other words: not buying insurance saved me a total of $35.

Double Down… a Lot

Blackjack is a game with nearly 50/50 odds. If you want to make money you need to get as many bets in as possible when you have the edge. The easiest way to do this is to double down every time you’re ahead in the numbers.

If you have less than 12 and the dealer is showing a 6 or less, chances are you want to double. Most people will tell you to double down every time you have 11, regardless of what the dealer is showing.

Rather have some stats instead of advice? No problem

As you can see the winners are doubling down significantly more often than the losers. You’ll also notice the winners win rate is more than a full percentage higher than losers. This implies the losing players are occasionally doubling down in a poor situation, such as doubling down A8 against a dealer showing a 9.

When we narrow down the double down range to doubling down while you hold less than 12 against a dealer showing a 6 or less the winner’s win rate climbs up to a massive 59.6%

When it comes to doubling down on 11 (regardless of what the dealer is holding) the winning players are doing this more than 71% of the time (compared to the 59% of losers). The win rate for both losers and winners on this is right around 60%.

When looking at the numbers for players who hit on 11 (instead of doubling down) with the dealer showing anything but a 10 we see the players win rate drop as low as 26%.

So double down, a lot.

You Heard me, SPLIT! (You Damn Dirty Eights)

As previously mentioned, the goal in blackjack is to get as many bets in play as possible when you have the edge. Aside from doubling down the only other way to change your bet mid-hand is to split.

To be a successful player you need to know when and how to split. Some rules to live by: Never, under any circumstance, split two 10-point cards. A 20 is nearly a guaranteed win, take it.

One of the most important splitting hands is when you’re dealt a couple of 8’s. If the dealer is showing anything less than a 9 you should be splitting. You have 16; neither hitting nor staying at this value is a particularly good idea.

You’re more likely to be dealt a 10 point card than any other card in the deck. This makes two hands worth 18 the most likely outcome from splitting. If 18 is likely good enough to push or win (dealer showing 8 or less) then you should be splitting.

What if the dealer’s showing a 6?

If the dealer has a 6 (or a 5) and you have anything you can split (other than two 10’s) you should be splitting. When the dealer is showing a 6 you want to get as much money onto the table as possible. If you can, split and then double down on any hand worth less than 12.

The twist in this game is that there are different rules for the dealer, which is a different idea from all other versions of blackjack. In a round of Double Attack Blackjack, players place their wagers as they would in a normal blackjack game and when the cards are dealt the dealer’s up card is dealt first. This is a nice hit to the dealer’s odds and it allows players to choose how they will play their hands even though they have not seen their cards yet, as they know the chances of the dealer busting or not.

After the dealer’s up card is dealt there is a second round of wagers. These bets cannot exceed the amount of the original wager, so if you bet $30 in the first round, your secondary bet should be somewhere between $0 and $30.

After the secondary wager round has been completed, the dealer will deal a starting hand of two cards to each player and then the game proceeds just like a regular blackjack game would. Some rules are a little different, for example players can double on any number of cards and even double on splits. There is also the chance for a late surrender and the dealer is required to stand on all 17s.

Those are all great advantages for players and the trade-off is that in this versino a natural blackjack only has a 1-1 payout and you play with a Spanish deck (which means the 10 spot cards have been removed, so you only have the face cards to be worth 10).

The house edge for this version of blackjack is 0.62%, considering some modifications of blackjack strategy. In order to read how you should modify your blackjack strategy for this variation, keep checking the blog throughout this week as I will make a detailed post about it.

I think Blackjack is mostly a game of skill. The reason I make such a claim is, that when a player learns the strategy to play Blackjack, the casino has a very small (to non existent) edge on the player. If you dedicate yourself to learn Blackjack strategy, the casino you are playing at only has a 0.5% edge over you, which is much less than most other casino games.

The Blackjack strategy is based on mathematics and it takes a lot of skill from the player to be able to master it. This means that regardless of luck and the cards that may be dealt during the game, the final result could be completely controlled by the player if a strategic approach to the game is used.

Some players prefer Blackjack to be a game of luck because they play it just for fun and find more excitement in not knowing what the results will be. However, I am sure that many players would like to turn their favorite hobby into something profitable, and they should be aware that this is possible and as simple as learning a few rules to the game.

Others argue that any card game is a game of luck because you cannot predict the cards that will be dealt, nor what the next card will be, and I will say that I completely disagree because odds are a wonderful thing that allow gamblers to make predictions on what the next card will be. Thanks to odds and strategy, most online casino games can be enjoyed by players at the same time as they bring a few extra bucks in.

We’ve all played it, we all know the rules, but we all can’t get enough of it. I’m talking about the easiest game to play in any online casino. A game that continues to be the most popular, and more fun each time you play it.

Classic online Blackjack. You beat the dealer, you win. You go over, you bust. As simple as that.

As the most popular game week in and week out at Silver Oak Online Casino, we invite you to revisit this classic game of 21. With countless online Blackjack strategy guides at your disposal, joining a table and cashing in has never been easier.

And with $777 FREE when you deposit at Silver Oak, you’ll be well on your way to cashing out big. You can bet anywhere from $2 to $250 per hand on this online Blackjack game, and even play 2 hands at one time, there aren’t a lot of casino’s that will let you do that!

So what are you waiting for? Get your cards, beat the dealer, and take home the dough!

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and a friend in Vegas

If you’re here, chances are pretty good you love to gamble. So if you happen to be someone who also likes NASCAR, you better book your trip to Las Vegas ASAP. It was just announced that NASCAR will be racing down the Las Vegas Strip. Okay, maybe it won’t be an official “race”…but the ten top drivers on the circuit will be doing a nice fast cruise down the boulevard as part of the festivities around their annual dinner and awards ceremony.

The event will be happening on December 5th. I’m telling you about it now to give you lots of advance notice so you can book your trip early…or so you can be absolutely sure you don’t go anywhere near the place on that weekend. Hey, not everybody loves the stink and speed of cars driving really fast. Some people would prefer their visit to Vegas to be heavy on the cocktails and slot machines, and easy on the auto racing.

Oh and speaking of both racing and slots, did you know that we have an online slot machine that features both fast cars AND one of the coolest bonus features around? It’s called Green Light and you can play it right now in our online casino. That is, you can play it if you’re already a member at Silver Oak. If you’re not, it only takes a second to download our free software and get started. Just hit the blue button and that Green Light will only be moments away.

For sale: Sequined glove. Not sure where the other one is. Cost: $48,000.

Next time you’re in Las Vegas, you can take a break from the video poker machines and Blackjack in the casino and take a peek at the only $48,000 glove you’re likely to ever see. People say the best career move a celebrity can ever make is to die prematurely. And that certainly seems to be the case for Michael Jackson. Beset by a massive and growing debt for the last 10+ years of his life, the King of Pop’s estate is now a money making machine. And even people who aren’t associated with him are able to cash in.

Michael Jackson was long known for his eccentric fashion, best symbolized by the single white glove he frequently wore in concert. A number of the gloves have been auctioned off over the years, but none have ever made the kind of money this most recent sale did.

In 1996, MJ tossed one sequined glove to a lucky fan. It was the same one he wore when he got married to Debbie Rowe earlier in the day, which no doubt added to its collectibility. And now, thirteen years later, Michael Jackson’s glove has just sold at auction for that hefty $48,000 price tag. Not bad, considering it doesn’t even have a partner.

It was bought by a representative of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The chain of hotels and casinos has been a long time collector or rock n’ roll memorabilia, with a collection that includes things like Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, Elton John’s sunglasses and Mick Jagger’s dentures. The glove will be put on display where it’s hoped it will attract lots of the musician’s fans, who will then eat, drink and gamble enough to justify the hefty price tag.

If you’re looking for some casino fun without having to be in the same room as MJ’s glove, look no further. Take a second to download our free software and start playing now!

The questions tend to revolve around tigers, chickens and Mike Tyson, while the popular sightseeing spots are the suite used in the movie, which is a real room at Caesars, and the spot where an absolutely hilarious scene takes place at a blackjack table. And speaking of Blackjack, if you want to play a few hands, you can do it right here:

“The Hangover” has made almost $200 million bucks already and is still going strong, on the strength of a hilarious script, and some classic cameos by, among others, *SPOILER ALERT – SPOILER ALERT* Carrot Top. And, judging by all the conversations I’ve had about it in the last week, this movie has sparked a lot of interest in road-tripping to Vegas for a lost weekend of drinkin’ and gamblin’.

Need a few bucks to make that road-trip happen? Well, try your hand at Blackjack in our online casino, and maybe you’ll get lucky!

The amazing, and amazingly flexible, Brandon (Fox image)

Who says Las Vegas is just about the Blackjack, Roulette and Slots? It’s also home to So You Think You Can Dance, for one week anyway. And last night’s episode lived up the glitz and glamour of Sin City. Sure there were no eliminations, and it was a look back at earlier performances from our 20 finalists. But there were some fantastic performances, a Botox joke or two and a crazy mini-solo by Brandon, highlighted by his lifting himself out of the splits using just his legs.

For a bunch of the finalists, it was the first time they’ve really got to strut their stuff. While about half the remaining twenty got significant face time during the auditions, ten of the dancers were virtually ignored. But that all changes now that the field’s been whittled down to twenty. Of course, all that attention from being a finalist does come with a down side – the possibility of elimination. And one of those’ll be happening tonight. Personally I’ll be watching tonight’s show while also enjoying a little Vegas-style action of my own, in our online casino.

Tila Tequila and Meghan McCain: You can’t get much stranger of a match than the daughter of John McCain and the most annoying woman on reality TV (which is saying something). But it all makes sense because, according to Tila, “People may think we’re so different, but she is a Scorpio and I’m a Scorpio”.

Tyra Banks and Clay Aiken: Sure, they’ve both benefited form the fame offered by reality TV, but can you really see these two actually hanging out and going out for beer and hot-wings together?

Sean Penn & Natalie Portman: Okay, so we’ll put this slightly creepy romance in the alleged column, but with the divorce of Sean and his wife Robin Wright-Penn being confirmed, it seems like the gossip mags may have got this one right.

Paris Hilton and Kathy Griffin: Actually, this one makes perfect sense. Both of them have so annoyed the crap out of every other person in Hollywood, that without each other they’d have to pay people to be their friends.

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And before you next sit down to play, be sure to check out some Blackjack strategy help here.

Master this strategy in less time than it takes to turn this into lunch

Tri Card Poker actually consists of two different games that you play using one hand – Ante and Pairplus. Ante is the poker game, while Pairplus is like a sidebet that you win if you get at least a pair, and lose if you don’t. The “strategy” for the Pairplus bet is pretty straight-forward. You should play it. Depending on what hand you’re delat, you can win up to 40x your original bet (if you hit a three card straight flush).

For the Ante part of the game, all you need to know is this one thing – raise if your poker hand is Queen, Six, Four or better. If it isn’t, then fold your hand. That’s it. That’s perfect Tri Card Poker strategy. If you can remember that one thing, then you’ll be able to play as well as any wizened, old, casino veteran who’s been playing Tri Card for years. Want to try it out? Play Tri Card Poker now.