Doubling down is an exciting move to make in blackjack – and profitable if you get it right. This is when you double your bet in the middle of a hand, after which you only receive one more card. After each winning hand you have increased your bet by $5, or one unit. On the first hand you lock in a $5 profit. On the second hand you lock in $10. On the third hand you lock in $15, and so on. Raising your bets by one unit at a time is one of the keys to making a blackjack betting progression work. Increase your bet by 1 unit only after you win; Go back to the original bet after you lose. The 1-3-2-6 blackjack betting strategy is not as exciting as the Martingale strategy, and that's a. Optimal bet sizing is advantage. bankroll.7. So, for example, if your advantage at TC 3 is 1% under a given rule set (advantage per true count can be determined through simulation or cite the rules you are playing for and I will find that information for you) and your bankroll is $10,000 your optimal bet is $10,000. 1%.7 or $70.

1. When To Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Games
2. When Do You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack
3. When To Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Real Money

For centuries, the strategic potential of blackjack has defied the chances and reduced the house edge to the point of complete elimination. The advanced card counting strategies were fought off by the casino operators through a gradual increase of the card decks inside the shoe.

Nowadays, it is next to impossible to find a live blackjack variant played with 1, 2, or even 4 decks; instead, 6 and 8-deck blackjack games are dominating the market, thwarting the beginner-level card counters. This, along with the RNG (Random Number Generator) blackjack, has created the need for alternative solutions, and a number of players resorted to blackjack betting strategies that exploit the winning and losing streaks, focusing on money management rather than trying to predict the next card. At the same time, these are much easier to master than some of the advanced blackjack techniques, such as Shuffle Tracking, Zen, or Omega 2.

Where to Start – The Most Popular Blackjack Betting Strategies

The complexity and dedication are not the only reasons people shy away from card counting techniques. Casino operators frown upon any skill that will give you an unfair advantage over other players (and the house), which is why advanced budget management methods are your safest resorts. They can also be arranged according to the difficulty level, starting with the simplest form of betting (flat) and gradually advancing to the complex patterns used by experienced players (Labouchere):

• Flat Betting
• Martingale
• 1-3-2-6 System
• Paroli
• D’ Alembert
• Oscar’s Grind
• Labouchere

Apart from the complexity level, each of the systems can also be classified according to the risk degree and the type of progression it entails – negative or positive.

Flat betting

Flat betting is somewhat of an exception, and many do not even consider it a strategy at all. The only requirement of this “system” is to remain in the game by constantly submitting the same size bet. Ideally, the player needs to establish a budget and divide it into equal portions of up to 5% of the total balance. Clearly, flat betting will not make you rich, but the strategy is deemed successful if you manage to generate around 10-20% profit.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Flat Betting

Apart from the extreme simplicity, the strongest suit of flat betting is the damage control it delivers. The fixed stakes will prevent you from suffering a sudden, substantial loss that some of the other methods are prone to.

On the other hand, the results that flat betting can produce are modest and rest on the assumption that you will win more than 50% of the time. This is why most players outgrow this strategy fairly quickly. The monotony makes it quite easy to abandon this process and move onto potentially more profitable (and riskier) blackjack betting strategies described below.

Risk Rate: Low

Positive Progressive Betting Systems – Definition and Popular Variants

Positive progressive betting systems are designed to get the most of the players’ winning streak, commanding a bet increase every time you score a winning blackjack hand. The stakes are raised systematically and lowered after the first losing hand. The most popular representatives of positive progressive strategies are Paroli and Oscar’s Grind.

200% up to $1,000

Paroli

Paroli is often defined as a reversed Martingale system, prompting the players to top the stake after every winning hand. Every next bet should be doubled and re-set after three consecutive winning rounds. For example, if we are to start our betting session with a $1 stake, the next two stakes should be increased by 2:

$1 > $2 > $4

For the sake of illustration, let us assume that you have placed a $10 bet and your hand trumped the dealer’s, resulting in an even money payout. Your next bet should, therefore, be $20, which is your base bet + $10 that you have won in the previous round. If you manage to win that hand as well, the follow-up stake should amount to $40 – again, the $10 base stake, plus the winnings from the previous rounds. The third win will result in an $80 bet, after which you will need to go back to the initial $10 bet, regardless of the outcome. Looking at the starting point, we can easily deduce that a $10 starting bet generated a total of $160.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Introducing Paroli Betting System to Your Gameplay

As you can see, the Reversed Martingale is very easy to use, as it requires the player to press the bet only 3 times and revert to the original wager in two cases – after a loss or when a series of three winning hands in a row is completed.

An added value of Paroli is that you do not need to have a substantial budget to implement this strategy, which is the main drawback of some other progressive betting patterns.

On the downside, three linked winning hands are not that easy to land, and the players may find themselves operating at a loss before long.

Risk Rate: Medium

Oscars Grind

A medium complexity system with a low-risk rate, Oscars Grind (aka Hoyle’s Press) starts off with a single unit bet and aims at generating an equivalent profit amount. The losing hands will follow the flat betting pattern whereas the winning hands will be followed by the bet increase – but only if it will result in the desired profit of one unit. Otherwise, the bet size is decreased to assure that the accurate amount is acquired, as shown in the table below:

The desired result is a single unit win on every session as well as the increased damage control during the losing streaks.

Pros and Cons of Oscars Grind

The method is not aggressive which means that you will be able to sustain longer losing streaks without suffering irreparable damage to your finances. The proceeds, although modest, will gradually accumulate, recuperating the losses incurred across ten rounds in no more than 4 wins.

At the same time, you may find the system frustrating as it requires a lot of self-discipline and restraint.

Risk Rate: Low

What Are Negative Progressive Betting Systems?

As opposed to the progressive betting methods, the negative strategies demand that the bets are increased during the losing streaks; the idea is to recover all that you have previously lost and to gain a profit. By default, negative progressions are more aggressive than their counterparts and they carry a somewhat higher risk rate. The representatives of this methodology are Martingale, D’Alembert, and Laboucher systems.

200% up to $1,000

Martingale Betting System

When you first come across to Martingale, it may seem like a heaven-sent system that simply cannot fail. You will soon discover that not all share your initial enthusiasm; there will be those who might urge you to avoid this strategy, especially if your gambling budget is limited.

As a negative progression system, Martingale mandates that you double the stake after every losing hand and go back to flat betting after a win. In the perfect world, this should generate a series of cumulative winnings and recuperate the losses in a course of a single losing streak.

But what happens if the streak prolongs and you budget dries out? Even if you start wagering with the betting minimum, you are running a risk of leaving the table empty-handed. To illustrate, let us assume that you begin the session with a $5 wager and start losing. To get back on the track, you will now need to double every next wager, which means that it will take no more than 8 consecutive losses to find yourself short of $1,275:

If the trend keeps up, you can soon end up with a considerable debt, which is probably not what you have signed up for when joining the blackjack table and introducing a betting structure to your game. High rollers will, of course, be able to disregard the elevated risk rate of the Martingale system, but average online or land-based casino visitors will probably need to adjust their strategy to the amount of money they can afford to lose. For most of them, this means that Martingale is off the limits.

The benefit of using Martingale is that it can produce excellent results in a relatively short time span.

Pros:

• Can be effective in short-term sessions
• Simple to use

Cons:

• Uncomfortably risky
• More suitable for high rollers
• Possibility of the stake amount exceeding the payout rate
• Table limits can easily stop the progression

As you can see, the cons, in this case, outweigh the pros, which means that you may want to leave the strategy to those with more money to waste.

Risk Rate: Extremely High

D’Alembert

D’Alembert is a great alternative to Martingale, since it offers a reduced risk rate but has the same complexity level, which makes it suitable for beginners. The system has an alternating pattern, urging the players to increase the stakes by a single unit after a loss or deduct one unit from the follow-up wager after a win. So, if you should happen to lose $5 bet, the next amount that you need to wager is $10 and the one after that $15 (as $5 is considered a single unit). Should the $15 result in a win, the subsequent bet should be re-set to $10. Example:

Pros of D’Alembert Betting System

The entire scheme is very easy to follow through – all you need to do is remember your previous bet and act accordingly. Also, since the increase is moderate, you will not risk losing a large portion of your budget. Last but not least, thanks to the controlled variations in bet size, you are less likely to hit the table limits.

Cons of D’Alembert

The main defect of this system is that it’ll take forever to recover the lost bets, not to mention the perils of the long losing streaks that are likely to severely affect your balance.

Risk Rate: Medium High

Labouchere Betting System

In Laboucher, the players start with any sequence of numbers, where the first and the last number in the chain determine the bet total. Let’s say that you select the following string:

2 – 3 – 4 – 6 – 9

When you add up the first and the last number, you will get a total of 11, which should be the initial bet. If you happen to win, the relevant numbers should be eliminated from the sequence, leaving you with 3 – 4 – 6.

Assuming that you win again, the remaining number (4) should be doubled.

If, on the other hand, you lose the initial bet, the total must be added to the chain:

2 – 3 – 4 – 6 – 9 – 11

The bet will now amount to $13 (2 + 11), adding the number $13 to the string if the player loses again, or removing both 2 and 11 if the outcome is favorable.

The sequence total will depend on the target amount, which means that the players whose objective is to make a profit of $20 will create any sequence that can add up to that sum.

Pros of Laboucher

The increased control of both the budget and the progression of your bets is the main perk of Laboucher, but the players should make sure to use it at high limit tables.

Cons of Laboucher

Just like Martingale, this system threatens to hit the table limits, although, not as fast.

Risk Rate: Medium

The “In-Between” Split System: 1-3-2-6 Blackjack Betting System

Seemingly complicated, the 1-3-2-6 blackjack betting strategy is actually much simpler than it looks at first glance. After deciding on the betting unit, the players will just need to make sure that the system is executed correctly, in accordance with the 1-3-2-6 sequence. On a $5 unit bet, the process would look like this:

• Step 1: bet the single $5 unit. If you lose, repeat. If you win, proceed to Step 2.
• Step 2: bet 3 units ($15). If you lose, start over. If you win, proceed to Step 3
• Step 3: bet 2 units ($10). If you lose, start over. If you win, proceed to Step 4
• Step 4: bet 6 units ($30)

Pros of 1-3-2-6 System

The upside of this betting pattern is that you will have no difficulties mastering it – the formula is in the name itself, so it does not get any easier than that. The losses will not be severe, and you will be quite happy with the results this system provides in the short-run.

Cons of 1-3-2-6 System

You might not need a huge bankroll to execute the 1-3-2-6 betting scheme but bear in mind that the system’s “expiration date” is just around the corner. While the maneuver is efficient enough to be included in the list of the best blackjack betting strategies, it will not eliminate the house edge and provide lasting results.

Risk Rate: Low to Medium

Conclusion on the most successful Blackjack betting strategies

Adding some structure and limitation to your gambling routine might be just what you need to handle your money more efficiently. Still, you will need to remember that these systems are flawed, especially in the long run. As they have zero effect on the house edge, the end results they produce will be modest, but some of the low-risk systems mentioned above will prove quite handy in cutting down the unwanted losses.

200% up to $1,000

Latest Post

Top 5 Casinos

200% up to $1,000

300% up to $3,000

500% up to $3,000
(CODE: ASGBSC)

100% up to $1,000

300% up to $2,000

Claim $215 in exclusive No Deposit Free chips

Sign up with AllStar Gambling for FREE to take advantage of this one-time offer! PLUS many more promotions for players from the USA based on your location and gambling preferences!

Table Of Contents

Are you looking for the best blackjack strategy to maximise your winning odds when you play online? You'll love these tips.

Finding a way to get higher chances to win at blackjack shouldn't be so hard.

The basic strategy is the best way to play blackjack — and when you combine it with some strategy tips on bankroll management and what to do after you win, you have really reached the maximum you can.

In other words, if you are looking for the best blackjack betting strategy to increase your chances to win, you'll love this guide.

In the parts that follow you will find:

• And lots more

We also put together a collection of the best bonuses to play online. This way, you can use those freebies to test the blackjack basic strategy and all the tips in this article.

Register a FREE account and claim your bonus to play online blackjack!

What this guide is NOT

• A collection of tips to win at blackjack
• A list of systems that promise to make blackjack profitable
• The illusion that you can beat the game

Blackjack is a gambling game where the casino has an advantage. It doesn't matter what approach you take or what blackjack strategy you follow. In the long run, the casino always wins.

Why Follow a Blackjack Betting Strategy?

Let's face it - we have all been there. We have all looked for the best and the most effective strategy to win at blackjack after we lost our first hands online.

With the right blackjack strategy it's possible to increase your winning chances, and that's because blackjack isn't a gambling game like roulette, video poker, or slots.

If you follow the basic betting strategy and you learn how to use the information you have at your disposal, you can reach optimal play giving yourself the best chances to win include in the game.

Professional players have worked hard to 'solve' the game of blackjack and find how to play each hand to get the best winning odds.

They analysed how the number of decks in play affects your chances to win and how you can make the best decision based on the cards you see on the table.

• That's what they call the 'blackjack basic strategy. A list of dos and don'ts where you find exactly how you are supposed to play each and every hand you are dealt.

This is the best strategy for blackjack.

The goal of the blackjack basic strategy isn't to help you win at blackjack every time you play. That's impossible. Instead, it is to help you maximize your winning chances and to minimize your losses.

That's also the goal of this guide. We don't list all the strategies for blackjack out there. Instead, we focus only on the best blackjack strategies that are known to work and should help you get better results when you play.

Starting from the tips and tricks included in our cheat-sheet.

READ ALSO: How to play online blackjack with friends.

What Is the Blackjack Basic Strategy?

Knowing how to manage your money is as important in blackjack as it is in all gambling games. A correct 'bankroll management' is essential when you play — regardless of the blackjack strategies you apply to your games.

Knowing how to bet (and how much) and how to select the right game when you play online blackjack for real money is extremely important.

Once you have those basics covered, you can move into the basic blackjack strategy and learn how you are supposed to invest your money once the dealer gives you the initial two cards.

As soon as the cards reach you and the dealer opens one of their cards, you have to make your first choice. In a game of blackjack, that means you need to pick one of these options:

• Stand
• Hit
• Double
• Split
• Surrender

Do you know why the basic blackjack strategy is also considered to be the best way to discover how to win at blackjack? Because it uses basic logic.

Would you hit if your first two cards gave you 20 points? Of course not.

Would you stand if your starting hand was worth five points? Not a chance.

While these choices are very simple on hands like the ones I use in my example, things get (a lot) more complicated with different cards on the table.

Let me give you a few examples.

• How do you play soft 17 in blackjack?
• When do you hit on a 16?
• What to do with 15 in blackjack?

This is where the basic blackjack strategy comes in to help you get the best chances to win.

This collection of tips shows you the optimal play for every blackjack hands, calculating your winning odds in combination with the dealer's open card.

The basic strategy to win at blackjack has nothing to do with concepts like card counting or any of those tricks some 'clever' players adopt to beat the house.

This is a simple-to-use guideline that shows you exactly how you are supposed to play every possible hand of blackjack. Use it to know when it is recommended to hit, to stand, or to do something else.

Key:
S = Stand
H = Hit
Dh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)
Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)
SP = Split
SU = Surrender (if not allowed, then hit)

A Blackjack Cheat Sheet

To make things even easier for you and help you follow the best betting strategy whenever you play blackjack, we created a quick cheat-sheet with the basic strategy explained in full.

Download the blackjack cheat-sheet (it's free) and print it or save it on your mobile phone to keep it always with you when you play.

The blackjack basic strategy cheat-sheet is 100% legal and you can use it both when you play online and at a brick-and-mortar casino.

A Conservative Blackjack Strategy

Don't play high-stakes games unless you feel ready for them and you have enough money to spend on online games.

If you are reading this blackjack strategy guide and you are a beginner, you should be afraid of high-stakes games.

When you spend too much money on your games, you risk getting the opposite of what you want. You play to have fun and to find out how to get more chances to win at blackjack - and you end broke and frustrated.

The best way to play blackjack is to start with what I call a conservative approach. Because finding the right way top handle betting in blackjack is key to long-term fun.

Like many blackjack strategies suggest, you should increase the stakes only when things go well and any potential losses are compensated by the money you have already won, not the one you might win if you get lucky.

In other words, raise your bet every time you win.

Many players believe wins and losses come in streaks. They think you might lose five or six times in a row — but when you win…you are not going to do it just once.

Obviously, that's not true.

Blackjack is a gambling game and there are no patterns for you to exploit or streaks that you can use to win more money every time you play.

There are, however, smart betting strategies like the basic blackjack strategy that can help you increase the chances of a victory.

When To Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Games

With that in mind, a conservative blackjack strategy works like this:

• Start from the lowest bet (e.g. $1)
• Increase your bet by 1 unit only after you win
• Go back to the original bet after you lose

When you use this blackjack strategy, you need to go back to the original bet as soon as you lose one hand. This is the best way to be in control of your money and end a gaming session in the black.

All you need to do is to make the right choices (use the basic strategy) and raise your stakes little by little - but only when you win.

READ ALSO: Bets sites to play live dealer blackjack online.

An Aggressive Approach to Blackjack: the Martingale Strategy

The Martingale betting strategy sits at the opposite side of the spectrum. This is the perfect blackjack strategy for those players who:

• Play blackjack to win a lot of money
• Can afford to lose a lot of money
• Don't fear the swing of big losses

In other words, this is the perfect blackjack strategy for big spenders but isn't one that you should try if you are still a beginner who is looking for ways to learn how to play blackjack.

The Martingale blackjack strategy is expensive. This is a blackjack system that will help you win often - but only when I have a lot of money to invest on your games.

If you can't spend at least $500 on your games - the Martingale is not the best blackjack strategy for you.

But if you do — continue reading to discover how to use this betting strategy to increase your chances to win.

When Do You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack

In short:

The Martingale strategy is the exact opposite of the conservative approach to betting in blackjack we have just seen.

When you follow this strategy, you need to double your bet every time you lose. Which, in case of a losing streak, can become very expensive very quickly.

The rationale of this audacious blackjack betting strategy is that you will need only one win to go back to square one and recoup all your losses in one hand.

The caveat is: your bankroll needs to be deep enough for you to play and play until that one win comes.

Again, this isn't a betting strategy for beginners. If you decide to try it, make sure your bankroll covers at least 10 consecutive losses from the hand #1.

1-3-2-6 Blackjack Betting System

The 1-3-2-6 blackjack betting strategy is not as exciting as the Martingale strategy, and that's a good thing. This betting strategy doesn't require a huge bankroll and is a lot more suitable for players looking for a way to have better chances to win at blackjack without investing a fortune in the game.

The numbers in the strategy's name indicate the way you should bet after you win a hand of blackjack.

You first winning is the trigger that starts the sequence while your first losing hand is the one that ends everything.

When To Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Real Money

This blackjack betting strategy is built to get the most value out of winning streaks. If you are lucky enough to use it at the beginning of a four-hand winning streak, you are in for a treat.

READ ALSO: How to play blackjack for beginners.

How to Win More Often at Blackjack: A Few Important Tips

We all want to win at blackjack every time we play, but we also know that's impossible.

What is possible, however, is to maximise your chances to win and get better winning odds when you play blackjack online. All it takes a few simple tips.

Follow them carefully, as these blackjack tips are as important as the best blackjack betting strategy.

• Don't spend money on the 'insurance'. The insurance bet is a money-draining option created to confuse beginners. All the best blackjack strategies fail to mention is for one simple reason: no real blackjack player will ever spend their money on it.

• Think about the house edge. Like we said when we went through some of the game's best betting strategies, you can't expect to win at blackjack every time you play.

  Like all other casino games, the house edge is what makes sure that the casino has an advantage over the players in the long run. With that in mind, the next of our blackjack tips is one that can make a great difference for you.

• Set a budget and abide to that. Experienced blackjack players know that you need to set a losing and a winning limit before the first hand is dealt.

  Stop playing as soon as you hit one of them. If you lose and hit your lower limit, take a break and end your session.

  If you win and you hit your highest limit, collects your winnings and leave the table. You can continue to play if you want, but you'll need to set a new bankroll and establish new limits first.

• Don't miss the rules sheet. Trust me, there are more blackjack variations that you will ever play. All of them are based on the same core gameplay — but adopt rules that could break you if you aren't ready for them

  One of the best parts of playing online is that the rules are always available at the table. If you are not sure you know everything about the game you want to play, click on the 'info' icon and read the rules.

• Choose 3:2 over 6:5 payout. Different casinos have different payout policies - and not all of them are great for you.

  Make sure you read the payout table before you begin to play a hand of real money blackjack and always choose the games with the 'regular' 3:2 payout. These are a much smarter choice compared to the 6:5 payout blackjack games you find at some online casino sites.

Use Bonuses to Find Your Favourite Blackjack Strategy

Now that you know what are the best blackjack strategies, there is only one thing left: play a few games online to find out which one works best for you.

Here's what you should fo to get the best results:

1. Base all your decisions on the basic blackjack strategy
2. Pick the betting strategy that suits your bankroll
3. Follow all the blackjack strategy tips above to maximise your chances to win

To help you find the right games and the right betting strategy, we created a list of the best blackjack bonuses on the market.

All the sites you find in the list are licensed, pay winnings fast, and offer lots of blackjack games. Pick the ones with the best offers, register an account (it's always free), and sit at the blackjack table to start an epic battle with the dealer!