Playing the odds in Blackjack poker can be a tricky proposition. Unlike roulette, which is a game totally dependant on chance, a good understanding of the game of Blackjack can increase your odds tremendously. To start with, the House Blackjack dealer is working from a less than one percent edge for the house as opposed to roulette with its rather steep five and a quarter percent house advantage. Since the dealer must hit on any point count below seventeen, you can stay on a lower point and try to determine if enough high point cards are still in play to increase the odds of the dealer busting.

There are several methods of which card counting is the most common form. In this, the player tries to keep up with the number of cards played and their value so they can estimate how likely the next card up will be within their range. This form of determining the odds of winning at blackjack requires one who has a very good short term memory. There are odds charts made that list the approximate odds on any of a huge number of variable conditions from how many decks are in use at one time and how often the house reshuffles the cards in the deck to thwart the card counters. They incorporate such data as the fact that on average the dealer's hand will be eighteen and a quarter. So the odds are increased if you can stand pat on nineteen and increase exponentially at twenty and twenty one over the dealer's chance of topping it with a soft (i.e. low card) hit.

Another variable in figuring the odds of winning at Blackjack online is rather than count cards, since your are playing against a full virtual deck every hand, is the attempt to determine the system of the random number generator being used by the casino or online site you are playing.

If you are playing at an actual casino or in a multi player online game, a good strategy for increasing the odds of winning your game of Blackjack is to find a table with a large number of players so you have more time to decide what to do. It slows down the speed at which you are gambling. Being the only player at a table can run through your assets very quickly. Also, whether online or at the casino, wear a watch and keep track of how long you have played so that fatigue will not dull your calculating edge.