Blackjack is one of the world’s most popular casino games. Therefore, it’s no surprise that this game is widely available at online and land-based casinos.

Each setting can offer quality blackjack rules. However, online blackjack has a reputation for being slightly more favorable.

Is this reputation truly accurate, though? I’ll answer this question by discussing what makes a quality game along with whether blackjack at a real money online casino ultimately offers superior odds to it’s land-based counterpart.

When you add the need to avoid heat, it’s clear that playing long term profitable blackjack is difficult. While the rake is a constant cost for poker players, if a poker player is skilled and picks the right games it’s easy to win enough to beat the rake and turn a profit. 3 – You Pick Your Opponents. Poker can be a much easier and more profitable game for a player once they get the hang of it. 2- Poker Has More Variety If you compare the layout of poker and blackjack side by side, it wouldn’t take a rocket science to be able to determine the straightforward nature of blackjack.

All of the above blends together to make poker a much deeper, richer and more tense game than blackjack, and the lack of a house edge means that you can win (or lose) big based on your own level of skill. For us, that certainly gives it the edge, but for a certain type of player blackjack will always be their game of choice. The hi-lo system is only one of several card counting techniques you can use. Other techniques are simpler or more complicated. The easier ones are sometimes less profitable, while the harder ones are sometimes more profitable. But it works just fine, for beginners or intermediate blackjack players alike. The popularity of online gambling is more widespread in developed countries, where legislations have become even softer in regard to the industry. Countries like the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand are pioneers in the field with some of the biggest, most profitable casinos. Blackjack or Poker?

What Makes a Good Blackjack Game?

The best blackjack games feature a mixture of qualities that make them stand out. Here are the main factors to consider when searching for favorable blackjack online or in brick and mortar casinos.

Quality Rules

Back in the 1960s, blackjack games everywhere offered excellent rules. You’d regularly find single-deck tables with 3:2 natural blackjack tables when walking through Las Vegas.

Times have changed greatly, though, with regard to blackjack rules. Many land-based casinos and even some gaming sites have added more rules that benefit themselves.

This rule is printed directly on the table felt. You definitely want 3:2 payouts, because they lower the house edge by 1.39%. Meanwhile, tables with 6:5 payouts should be avoided at all costs.

The number of decks is also crucial to the odds. The house edge falls by 0.59% when moving from eight-deck to single-deck blackjack.

Here are some other rules that you should pay special attention to:

Is Poker And Blackjack More Profitable Games

• Doubling down – The house edge decreases by 0.25% when you can double down on any total (vs. just 10 and 11).
• Dealer’s action on soft 17 – The house advantage decreases by 0.2% when the dealer stands on a soft 17 (vs. hitting).
• Double down after splitting (DAS) – The house edge falls by 0.17% when you can still spit after doubling down.
• Re-splitting aces – The house advantage drops by another 0.08% when you can re-split aces.
• Late surrender – The house edge decreases by 0.07% if you can surrender hands after the dealer peeks for a blackjack.

Low House Edge

Rules are so important because they have a direct impact on the house edge. You can use perfect strategy but still face a 2% house edge if the rules are bad enough.

Therefore, you must consider how the collective rules impact the house advantage. Most blackjack games today feature somewhere between a 1% and 2% house edge.

But you can find even better games if the rules are just right. In some cases, you’ll only be facing a 0.5% house advantage (or less).

Reasonable Stakes

You stand to win more money when risking more on each hand. However, you also need to consider that blackjack is a negative-expectation game.

Unless you’re a card counter, you’ll be facing a house advantage. That said, you should make appropriate bets relative to your bankroll.

You should check the minimum bet at any perspective table. When dealing with a small bankroll, you don’t want be forced to wager any more than $5 or $10 per hand.

Online Blackjack Typically Offers More Favorable Rules

Land-based and real money online blackjack both have their strengths and weaknesses. The brick and mortar version offers a social environment and, in some cases, more excitement.

You’re better off playing at internet casinos if you want favorable rules on a consistent basis.

• First off, you rarely need to deal with 6:5 natural payouts online. Gaming sites almost usually offer 3:2 payouts.
• Secondly, you can find plenty of games with a single deck, two decks, or four decks. All of these options are better than six-deck or eight-deck blackjack.

Most online blackjack games also throw a few more player-friendly rules into the mix. They may allow you to double down on any total, split up to four hands, and/or use a surrender option.

Some internet blackjack variations even feature less than a 0.5% house advantage.

Here are some of the best online blackjack games available:

1. Microgaming single-deck blackjack – 0.31% house edge
2. Betsoft single-deck blackjack – 0.35% house edge
3. Playtech single-deck blackjack – 0.35% house edge

Play for Lower Stakes Online

You don’t need to bet much to play online blackjack. In fact, most gaming sites only require that you place a $1 minimum wager.

If you’re somebody who’s dealing with a small bankroll, you’ll appreciate the low minimum wagers. Your gambling funds will last much longer if you stick around the dollar minimum.

Here’s an example on how long your bankroll could last:

• You have a $100 bankroll.
• You average 500 hands per hour.
• You play an online blackjack game with a 0.5% house advantage.
• You bet $1 per hand.
• 500 x 1 x 0.005 = $2.50 in hourly losses
• 100 / 2.5 = 40
• Your bankroll will theoretically last for 40 hours.

You Can Find Great Blackjack Games in Land-Based Casinos

My point with this post isn’t to make land-based blackjack sound absolutely terrible. In fact, you can still find good games in some brick and mortar casinos. Everything depends on exactly where you’re playing. You can spot plenty of worthwhile games in Downtown Las Vegas, for example.

Some downtown casinos, like El Cortez, feature single-deck blackjack with 3:2 natural payouts. You also don’t have to bet much to play these games either.

This special administrative area of China features several casinos that offer some of the world’s best blackjack games. You can benefit from house edges as low as 0.16% in Macau. I’ve yet to find any better games than this in online casinos!

The drawback is that you need to bet a $25 minimum in many of these cases. But if you like playing for larger stakes anyways, though, you’ll truly appreciate the 0.16% house advantage.

Card Counting Is Possible in Brick and Mortar Casinos

As mentioned before, you can actually gain the upper hand in blackjack through card counting.

This advantage play method sees your track cards in an effort to determine when the shoe is rich in aces and 10s.

At this point, you have a stronger chance of getting natural blackjacks.

You want to raise your bets during positive counts to take advantage of the situation. Meanwhile, you should bet the table minimum during negative counts so that you don’t lose too much money.

The best thing is that you don’t even need to spend much time learning card counting. In fact, you can learn the Hi-Lo system in just minutes.

Online casinos don’t give you an opportunity to count cards.

You can only count in brick and mortar casinos. Therefore, you’ll need to play at a land-based establishment when hoping to gain an advantage.

You’re Probably Going to Fare Better Online

Again, card counting doesn’t require much time to learn. You can master the basics in less than 15 minutes.

However, you also have to practice so that you can keep an accurate count. You should deal cards to yourself, use online training programs, and/or count off to the side of live games.

If you’re like most gamblers, you won’t go through these efforts to become a master counter. Even if you do, you’ll need to have a large bankroll to survive the volatility.

Assuming you fall into the large class of average blackjack players, you’ll have better luck at safe online casinos than land-based establishments. The online casino route typically features more favorable rules and lower house edges.

Online blackjack also gives you a chance to play for low stakes. You only need to wager $1 per hand in many cases.

Conclusion

Land-based blackjack can be more profitable than online games in rare cases. Certain Downtown Vegas and Macau casinos offer incredible rules and odds.

Chances are, though, you don’t live in one of these destinations or visit them very often.

Some variations even offer between a 0.3% and 0.5% house edge.

Even if you don’t play one of these games, you’ll still find many online variations with house advantages ranging from 0.5% to 1%. By comparison, most land-based tables offer a house edge running from 1% to 2%.

Poker and blackjack are a couple of popular games that you can find at almost every casino across the globe. You don’t even have to have ever gone to a casino to have heard of poker and blackjack. They both have a popular presence online for those that like to play online casino games.

It’s definitely a debate that could take us down several rabbit holes, but many players, including myself, would say that poker is a much better game to play than blackjack, especially when it comes to the winning potential that poker has over blackjack.

The truth is that while blackjack is popular (probably because it’s fairly simple and less intimidating to new players or players who are more introverted and don’t really like all the banter and talking that happens at a poker table), poker is hands down more profitable for anyone playing card games in a casino.

The reason for this is simple—when playing blackjack, it’s you against the casino, meaning it’s you against the house edge that the casino has over every single player that sits down to play at the slots, blackjack, and many other games that are designed by default to have the casino win.

Now that doesn’t mean that the casino wins every time. Rather, it means that the casino is going to win a percentage of your money back over the long run. This percentage can be as high as 20% at a game like keno, or it can be as small as a quarter of a percentage point, like you can find in some bets on the craps table.

Why would you want to spend all of your time playing against a system designed to make you lose when you can play against other people who might not be the smartest players? If you are a decent poker player, than you have much more of a chance walking away victorious than someone who spends all their time playing games against the house (which is the case for blackjack).

There is an exception when it comes to blackjack and the house edge, and that is if a player is a skilled card counter. If you can count cards, then that really is your only chance of going on a winning streak playing blackjack.

Unless of course the universe is just working in your favor and you happen to get that lucky. This scenario is very unlikely, but it does happen.

The problem with counting cards is that the casinos typically despise the players who do it. They keep an eye out via the security cameras for players who are winning at the blackjack table. If a player is in fact counting cards, then they run the risk of having to deal with the consequences.

The players who can get away with counting cards are usually very clever and know not to spend too much time sitting at the same table. They often will bounce from table to table, making it more difficult for the casino security to be able to keep track of their actions.

With all of that being said, most people don’t sit around all day practicing card counting. All that being said, there are several reasons why poker is just a better game to play than blackjack.

Is Poker And Blackjack More Profitable Slots

There are many reasons why this is, so I will touch on a couple basic reasons why you should just stick to poker and not waste your time with blackjack.

1- Poker is Easier to Learn and Play

Poker is an easier game to play and learn over blackjack, and to be honest, most people have a pretty basic understanding of poker from movies and TV shows even if they’ve never actually played.

The rules are quite simple to learn. Heck, I learned how to play around 8 years old, and I remember it being just as easy, if not easier, than any other card game I had learned at that age.

So if an 8 year old can learn how to play, I am pretty sure anyone can. For an adult who is learning how to play poker, everything that they would need to know in order to be a decent poker player can be broken down into basic math.

People end up throwing money away by just throwing chips in the pot and pretty much just hoping for the best.

A seasoned poker player knows that poker is a game of strategy and that certain plays are going to be more or less profitable. Essentially, they know when to hold ‘em, and they know when to fold ‘em.

If a skilled player is playing against opponents who have that luck-inspired mentality, then it’s a definite possibility that the skilled player will completely destroy the rest of the players.

In poker, you have to understand that every situation presents an opportunity that would be the most profitable for you. The key is to be able to make more decisions that are profitable versus making decisions that are going to cause you to lose money.

Every decision you make while playing poker is either going to be for profit or not. You can end up making hundreds of decisions while at the poker table, and a good player will be able to make as many of those decisions as they can correctly.

Once you learn the simple rules and format of the game and can go out and practice, you will notice over time that more and more of your decisions are going to turn out correct. I know that might sound confusing considering you never really know the cards that your opponents are holding, but over time you can simply learn from their actions and behaviors and let them be an indicator of what ranked hand they might be holding.

Poker can be a much easier and more profitable game for a player once they get the hang of it.

2- Poker Has More Variety

If you compare the layout of poker and blackjack side by side, it wouldn’t take a rocket science to be able to determine the straightforward nature of blackjack. You get two cards, the dealer shows you one of theirs, and then you make the decision of what to do with your hand from there.

There is a little more to it, but no matter what blackjack table you decide to play at, it’s gonna be the same thing from table to table. Poker has a much larger array of options that are available across the poker tables at the casino. You could play 5 card draw, Texas Hold ’Em, or 7 card stud, just to name a few.

These games can have a limit or no limit. A player could play games for cash, single or multi-table tournaments, and a wide array of other playing options. There is also a wide array of buy-in levels found at each poker table in casinos nationwide.

Good poker players can play well in all different types of poker games.

Most styles of poker are available online for free, so you can practice that way and not have to worry about losing any money. A downfall of playing online is not getting to see the other player’s facial expressions and behavior. Learning how to read people can be a very beneficial skill for a poker player.

Once you master one style of poker, then you can move on to the next. If you learn how to play 5 card draw and feel like you are ready to move on, learning Texas Hold ’Em would be an easy transition from 5 card draw.

There are so many other formats of poker that are available to learn compared to the simple and basic game of blackjack. This is a huge reason why I think poker is still just a better game all around.

Do you have other reasons why poker is better than blackjack? Feel free to let me know in the comment section below.