Blackjack is one of the world’s most popular card games: simple to learn, but requiring years of practice to master. Of course, getting to practise one’s blackjack game has got easier with the proliferation of online and mobile casino sites.
In the past, unless one had several like-minded friends, at least six decks of cards and a shoe, not to mention a few boxes of matches, learning to play a blackjack game properly for free at home was almost impossible. One would have to find a land-based casino and learn blackjack while wagering real money on the game.
Online and mobile casinos not only make it possible for players to get a blackjack game wherever and whenever the urge takes them, but there are also free blackjack options that make the learning experience much less expensive.
Free Blackjack Games at Free Casinos
Free casinos can be stand-alone operations, or they can be attached to real-money casinos to allow players to try out all the games in demo mode. Either way, the player can enjoy a blackjack game at these sites purely for the thrill of trying to judge the cards correctly. All wagering and wins are paid in credits only, so there is never any real money wagered on the blackjack game using Neteller or so on.
Naturally, these sites are popular with players who want to improve their blackjack game before they start risking real money on the turn of the cards. Blackjack is a game of verifiable odds, which change with every card dealt on the table. The number of players at the table and the number of cards each draws before standing or busting influences the odds too, so it can take a while to learn how to keep track and know when to bet big. Free play is very helpful in this regard.
Free Blackjack Games at Real-Money Casinos
At real-money casinos, the player can continue to compete against the dealer only, as they will have to in most free versions of the game. However, many operations also offer live casinos now, so players can play and interact with other players as they take on the dealer.
All the top real-money casinos also offer incentive bonuses, both as a welcome package when new members register and as frequent incentives to encourage more action. Free blackjack games will often be included in these bonus packages, so blackjack fans should check promotional pages on a daily basis, to see the free games on offer.
Learning to Count Cards
With a manually shuffled six-deck shoe, such as were common on blackjack games in land-based casinos, players who could count cards could regularly beat the house. This feature earned the blackjack game the reputation as the one casino game in which the player has an edge, not the house.
The automatic continuous shuffles of modern land-based shoes and the random number generators that determine the cards in online casino games have largely eliminated this advantage. However, a player still stands a chance of winning blackjack games more often if they learn how to assess the odds according to the cards already dealt to themselves, the dealer and other players. Knowing when to double on 9, stand on 15 and hit on a soft 17 can make all the difference, so players are advised to learn all they can in free play, before they take on a blackjack game for real money.