1. Ask And Ye Shall Receive. When playing blackjack, if you’re not sure how to play your hand you can always ask the dealer. About 90 percent of the time, they will help you. Usually they’ll do so with a suggestion: “the book (basic strategy) says to __,” or “most players will ___ with that hand.” They are prohibited from telling you how to play any hand, but they can tell you how “others” might play. Also, there might be experienced players at the table who can tell you what the mathematically correct play is. Don’t be afraid to ask. 2. To Split Or Not To Split? In blackjack, you should always split aces and 8’s and never split 4’s, 5’s, or 10’s. With the aces, you’re hoping to catch two tens and wind up with two 21’s. Splitting 8’s is also a good move, since 16 is considered the worst hand in blackjack. Your best course of action is to split them and hope for two 10’s, for two 18’s. You won’t always be a winner when you split 8’s, but you will end up losing less when you make it a habit to split under the right circumstances. On the other hand, don’t split 4’s. If you just hit your hand, you might catch a 10—making your hand an 18. Splitting them could leave you with two 14’s, which is bad. Don’t spit 5’s; you want to double down if the dealer has a 2 through 9 showing. Otherwise, just hit. Two 10’s make a 20, which is the second best hand in blackjack. Don’t fool around with it by splitting; just take the win. There are other pairs you can split, depending on the card the dealer is showing. Does the dealer have a small card (2-6)? If so, you can do a lot more splitting. For example, 9’s against dealers’ 5 or 6 is a good split. If the dealer is showing a high card, 7 through ace, than you should only split aces and eights. 3. Insure Your Car, Not Your Cards Don’t take insurance or even money for your blackjack. The odds favor the house big-time when you accept either of these options. Remember, the house wouldn’t offer these options if it wasn’t in their favor. The bottom line is, do not take insurance with any hand or even money. 4. Reel Decisions When playing slots, it’s a good idea to stick to three-reel machines. The four and five-reel machines push the odds against you to the extreme. In the long run, you’ll lose money faster in by playing any extra reels beside three. 5. Max Bet, Max Payout Always play the maximum coins in a slot or video poker machine. To get the most from a machine you need to put the maximum coins in. If the price is too high with the maximum bet, simply play at a lower domination machine. If you can’t afford three $1 coins, switch to three quarters or even three nickels. But always play the maximum, which is the only way to get the big wins.
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