Blackjack Odds

Many people believe that mastering the blackjack odds is a difficult task due to the number of different card combinations that exist within the game. Obviously each different card value will give you different odds and this applies to the dealer as well.

Firstly let's look at the odds of you (the player) busting in the following situation. The game has started and you've been given your two cards. These are the chances of you going bust: 

As you can see, the lower your card value, the less chance you have of busting. If you take a look at the blackjack strategy page and look at the cards, you will see that it is always recommended to stand on values of 17 or higher.

The house edge is in part created by the fact that the player has to make a decision before the dealer has to do anything.

For example, if you had a total of 15 and decided to hit and got a 10, you would go bust and lose the game before the dealer has had to do anything.

Another thing that you may want to consider is the dealer's odds of going bust which you can find in this table:

As you can see, the higher the value, the less chance the dealer has of going bust.

Different blackjack games have different rules, but usually the dealer will have to hit on values of up to 16 and then stand from over 17.

Seen as how there are more cards with a value of 10 in a shoe, the dealer is less likely to bust if they already have a 9 or a 10 to begin with.

This is because they are more likely to pull out another card that will push them over 17, at which point they will stand.

On the other end of the scale, if the dealer has a 5 or a 6, there is a good chance that their next card will push them up to 14, 15 or 16, at which point they will have to draw another card and stand more chance of going bust.