The Five Most Powerful Starting Hand Types in Blackjack

When playing poker, most people know that there are certain hands that give you a huge advantage. A royal flush is the best hand you can have, almost unbeatable, and one that doesn’t come aroundThere are occasions when we here at ReadyBetGo want to bring you interesting facts about the gambling industry  When something catches our eye, we will publish it for your enjoyment. 
Blackjack Hand  that many times. Straight flushes, four of a kind, full houses, these are all great hands where you can bet pretty confidently and hope to win the pot.

However, this kind of well known list of great hands is not available in the casino’s other most popular card game – blackjack. Perhaps the main reason for this is the sheer number of variables. The number of decks being played, the face card of the dealer and the casino rules all determine how good the cards you’ve been dealt are going to be. You can find the top blackjack games at Casinopedia.org and get a better insight of playing online casino blackjack.

Popular variants of the game include Classic Blackjack, Spanish 21, and Blackjack Switch, each offering unique rules and exciting twists. According to this Ignition casino review, online casinos also provide players with the chance to enjoy live dealer blackjack, where they can interact with real dealers through high-definition video streams. This immersive experience adds a touch of authenticity to the virtual gambling environment.

There are certain cards and certain hands that most players would agree increase your odds of winning. Being dealt a 10 and an ace is the very best you can hope for when the dealer lays down the cards. But this is the kind of hand you can only hope to get once every 21 deals, regardless of the number of decks being played.

If there’s a single deck in play, the chances of getting dealt the above hand is just under 5% at 4.827%. When eight decks are in play this drops to just 4.75%.

Of course, being dealt a 21 straight off the bat is by far the best hand to start with in blackjack, so that would be the first of our five great starting hands. But what other hands are considered strong when playing?

Ace/Ace

If you’re dealt two aces then it’s not a rule that these have to be split. You could play the hand as two or twelve and carry on playing. An ace/ace hand is successful around 40% of the time but the chances of being dealt it are very small.

The chances of next hitting a card with a value of ten are around 30% so doing this to hit two hands of 21 is very unlikely but splitting the aces is still probably the right thing to do.

20

If you get dealt 20, the chances of winning are around 77% regardless of what the dealer is holding. However, if they’ve got a card between a six and a nine, your chances of winning are increased. This is because their odds of reaching a lesser hand go up, the chances of busting are increased and the odds they get a five-card trick will go down. If the dealer gets an eight, your chances of winning go up to 86%, which is very good news indeed.

11

The odds of being dealt an 11 are far higher than either of the above two hands. That’s because of the larger number of card combinations that can make 11.

There are four cards in the deck with a value of 10, so you are most likely to draw that from the pack, which makes 11 a good starting hand. However, the chances of winning are just over 30% so they are much lower than with an ace/ace or 20. But because the chances of being dealt an 11 are greater, over time it makes this hand a good way to win.

19

Seeing as only two totals can beat 19 you would think that this is a great hand to be dealt. But it’s not quite as good as it seems. In fact, your odds of winning are a fairly slim 27.6% – not great, especially if the dealer is showing a 10.

You should always stick on 19 as the chances of busting are big. You’ll only win about one in four times. However, when the dealer is holding a seven, your chances of winning are increased hugely, so keep this in mind.

Playing blackjack is all about understanding the odds. If you can work out how likely it is that what you have in your hand can beat what the dealer is holding then you stand a better chance of having a successful run at the table. But remember, that unless you get a 21 from the start, the odds can always be overturned. Even an 86% chance of winning means that more than one in ten times you’re still going to lose. It all depends on whether your luck’s in, or out. But that’s all part of the fun.