Blackjack is a tremendously addictive game in its simplicity. It is available to play at every casino, and at most of the online gaming sites with the exception of sites dedicated to slot play. The reason for the popularity of blackjack is that it has one of the lowest house edges out of any casino game.

The house edge is the percentage chance of the casino beating the customer given enough hands played and enough customers. It is where they derive their profits, and if they did not have a house edge they would simply not offer the game!

The house edge in blackjack depends on the number of packs of cards that they use. The more pack of cards that they use, the greater the house edge that the casino has. Although on online casinos they are not clear to how many packs they use (since they are virtual) they do indicate the payout ratio from which you can work out the house edge.

If you are playing a single deck, the house advantage is a mere 0.17%, whereas with eight decks, the house edge is 0.65%. This is a very fair comparison when you look at other slot games which have around a 5% house edge (about ten times the edge in blackjack). Even roulette with a single zero has a 1 in 37 house edge or 2.7% edge. Blackjack, played properly gives you the biggest chance to win at a casino.

Making the odds work for you in blackjack when hunting bonuses

You might not be able to make a million dollars with a single dollar bet in blackjack like in slot machines, but you can certainly grind your way to victory. Blackjack is one of the most popular games for bonus hunters in casinos, because the house edge is so slight, that if you play enough games and meet the wager requirement, you can actually stand a good chance of beating the wager requirement. For this reason, if you are playing at some online casinos, there will be a separate wager requirement for blackjack.

If you take an eight deck game, which gives the casino a 0.65% house edge and play a $1000 bonus with $1 each time, you will lose $6.50 every 1000 games you play. Most casino bonuses require you to play a deposit plus a bonus wager requirement, hence play $2000 wager for a $1000 bonus. But even with a 150 x wager requirement, you should only lose $975 and have $25 to take home from the bonus.

Of course, this takes a substantial amount of playing – and many people get fed up of playing before they finish, but there are some very successful casino gamers that use this technique.

You do not have to use a bonus to take advantage of the low house edge of blackjack. There are systems of managing money and of choosing the right cards to play to narrow the edge even further. Learning what to do might take some time, but could save you a lot of money!