Blackjack is a highly-preferred casino card game played worldwide. While its variations exist, most forms utilize multiple decks of cards; though the number may not necessarily impact players directly, its effect can have significant ramifications on house edge and should therefore not be overlooked as a potential factor.
This article will examine how many decks casinos use when playing blackjack and their effects on the house edge. Furthermore, this piece provides some tips and strategies for playing and reducing house edge.
Traditional blackjack was played with a standard 52-card pack consisting of hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades as well as face cards jack, queen, king and ace. More recently however, modern casinos have introduced numerous interesting blackjack variants which increase the number of cards in play while simultaneously decreasing house edge, thus making the game of blackjack more competitive for players.
Casinos typically employ multiple decks of cards in blackjack games and mix and shuffle them between each deal, as well as following every deal. The number of decks used will usually be indicated on the table; using more decks increases the house edge while decreasing it.
Noting that while counting cards in blackjack is legal, most casinos frown upon it as it requires assigning values to different cards and tallying them up to find out the true count in any given shoe. Although this practice can increase odds significantly for some players, it requires much mental energy and might not suit everyone.
Online casinos rarely place any significance on the number of decks used when it comes to blackjack; most blackjack tables use virtual dealers who shuffle using random number generators after every hand of play. An exception would be when playing at live dealer tables where each deck played is usually displayed and will shuffled after every hand by their virtual dealers.
The best online casinos for blackjack games provide a range of options, from single deck versions to multiple deck options with various game variations such as Black Switch (allowing players to swap top cards). It is essential that each variation’s impact on house edge can be understood; generally speaking, using fewer decks will reduce this figure, as will tightening other rules such as disallowing doubling on soft hands after splitting or after doubling after soft hands have been split, or offering less than 3:2 payout for winning blackjack hands.