House Advantage Single Deck Blackjack

Single deck blackjack is a classic type of blackjack that has been around for hundreds of years. This variety has many advantages: The single deck blackjack odds are absolutely the best. Facing a 0.15% house edge puts you on nearly a level playing field with the casino if you play a perfect game. For instance, a 6 deck game that is cutting off 1 deck of cards could be expressed as “1 deck of pen” or “83% Pen” because 83% of the cards will be dealt out before the shuffle. Below is a comparison chart of a standard 6 deck game of blackjack using a 1 to 12 spread and a $15,000 bankroll.

Single deck blackjack has often been looked at as the holy grail of the game because it offers players the best chance to win profits. In fact, the house edge is just 0.15% when players stick to blackjack games with a single deck. With this being the case, you’d think that single deck blackjack is the greatest thing ever. However, there are actually some disadvantages to the subject as well, which is covered below along with single deck blackjack advantages.

Advantages

The obvious advantage to playing single deck blackjack is just as we stated before in that you’re getting the absolute lowest house edge. Facing a 0.15% house edge puts you on nearly a level playing field with the casino, and makes your chance of profiting seem like a coin flip. Of course, to take advantage of the low casino edge, make sure that you understand good basic blackjack strategy first – otherwise, it doesn’t really matter how many decks you’re dealing with.

Single Deck Blackjack Game

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One more big advantage of single deck blackjack comes for card counters. Usually, card counters these days are dealing with six and eight deck shoes, which means they have to wait longer for favorable counts. But with single deck blackjack, card counters don’t have to wait nearly as long to get a favorable count, thus letting them bet big much sooner.

Deck

Disadvantages

Based on the aforementioned advantages, you wouldn’t think there’d be much downside to single deck blackjack. But the problem is that casinos often advertise single deck games, yet offer unfavorable rules to increase the house edge. And what’s bad about this is that the house edge can actually end up being higher than with six or eight deck blackjack.

In the worst case scenario, casinos will only make 6:5 blackjack payouts instead of 3:2 payouts. This one rule alone will bring the house edge from 0.15% all the way up to 1.45%. Considering the fact that you can still keep the house edge at around 0.5% with both six and eight deck blackjack, it’s sometimes not even worth the effort to search for single deck games. Casinos might put other unfavorable rules in the single deck games too, so watch out for this.

Another disadvantage to single deck blackjack is that you’re very unlikely to earn many comps with this version of the game. After all, if it’s true single deck blackjack you’re playing, the casino won’t make much money off you in the long-term. That said, they aren’t going to be generous with comps either.

There is no denying that anyone can find a suitable blackjack. One of them is single deck blackjack. As the name implies, it is played with only one deck of cards.

In single deck blackjack, the main task of the player is the same as in other types of the game. The goal is to take cards that are worth more points than the dealer’s hand. The ideal total is 21 points. But this number of points should not be more than 21. If this happens, the player loses automatically. It’s as simple as that.

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Let’s get into some more details of how the game plays out and the pros & cons of playing with only one deck. Also, make sure to check out this Single Deck session from SlotLady to see how it works:

How to Play Single Deck Blackjack

You’ll notice throughout this guide that single deck blackjack in online casinos is very similar to other types. But there are some things that make it unique. For example, you are much less likely be dealt cards of the same rank (for example, Queen-Queen), as in, for example, six-deck blackjack.

Casinos With Single Deck Blackjack

Also, depending on how the deck is shuffled, you will have different levels of success with card counting. If you learn how to count single deck blackjack, you will find some advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand,card counters don’t have to wait nearly as long to get a favorable count. On the other hand, the deck might be shuffled after each round.

Online gambling sites allow you to play up to five hands at the same time. Thus, the speed of the game increases significantly, and players can receive more money (of course, if they manage to get consistent wins). For beginners, however, we recommend playing only one hand. Otherwise, you may get overwhelmed.

House Advantage Single Deck Blackjack Poker

The Basic Rules

We’ve already established that you need to achieve a hand value that is higher than the dealer’s without busting. For clarification, a hand’s value is the sum of the card values. Here is what you should know about the card values:

  • Cards 2 through 10 are worth the same as their pip value.
  • Face cards’ value (Jack, Queen, and King)is 10 points.
  • Ace is either 1 or 11.
  • The best possible hand is an Ace plus a face card or a 10, which gives you a two-card blackjack for a total of 21 points.
  • If you get dealt a blackjack, you instantly win one and a half times of your bet.

Here is what you should know about the course of a game:

  1. Before each move, the players place their bets.
  2. The dealer deals one card face up to each player and one face down card to themselves. Then, they deal a second card that is visible to everybody.
  3. They ask each of the gamblers at the table, starting with the one to his left, whether they want additional cards. Players can request as many cards as they want.
  4. Once all the players are served their cards, the dealer draws cards as long as the total is less than 17. If the dealer gets a point total greater than 21, all players who haven’t busted win. If the score is between 17 and 21, all players who have a higher total win.
  5. If a player is tied with the dealer, they get their bet back.

Depending on whether the dealer stands or hits on soft 17, you’ll need to make slight adjustments to your single deck blackjack strategy. To understand these tactics better, you can look up special tables that instruct you on every single move during the course of the game.

Blackjack

Advantages and Disadvantages of Single Deck Blackjack

Single deck blackjack is a classic type of blackjack that has been around for hundreds of years. This variety has many advantages:

  • The single deck blackjack odds are absolutely the best. Facing a 0.15% house edge puts you on nearly a level playing field with the casino if you play a perfect game.
  • The game is dynamic and thrilling.
  • The single deck blackjack counting strategy is easier to follow.

Based on these advantages, you wouldn’t think there’d be many downsides to single deck blackjack. However, there are some drawbacks that you should be aware of:

  • There might be unfavorable rules that increase the house edge.
  • You’re very unlikely to earn many comps with this version of the game.
  • The deck might be reshuffled too often, which could prevent effective card counting.

In Summary

House Edge Single Deck Blackjack

House Advantage Single Deck Blackjack

If you’ve never played single deck online blackjack, it’s always a good idea to give it a shot. You can take advantage of the low house edge of the casino as well as practice an effective card counting strategy. At the end of the day, each variant of blackjack is worth trying because you can discover many great titles.

Single Deck Blackjack Strategy

At CasinoChan, you have to perfect the opportunity to play single deck blackjack online and maximize your bankroll using a variety of strategies. After you have mastered the ability to play single deck blackjack, you can switch other exciting online casino games. Our catalog is full of classics as well as new gems that you’ve yet to see.

Single Deck Blackjack Trainer

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