1. INTRODUCTION

iFreeBet recommends playing online blackjack with multiple decks, as these offer the lowest minimum bets.

First you will be dealt two cards, then you will have the option to hit or stand, i.e. hit means get another card and stand means you stick with what you have and the dealer will reveal their cards.

• The numbers on the cards count as face value, as you would expect, from 2 through to 10.
• Jack, Queen and King count as 10.
• Ace counts as either 1 or 11.

The rules are if you go over 21 with a combination of two or more cards you automatically loose (go bust) and if you get a total less than the dealer you automatically loose.

E.G. If you have a Queen and an eight (10+8=18) and the dealer has 3,9,5 (17) you win. But if you had queen, five and eight (23) you would have gone bust.

A hand in which you're are dealt 21 (an ace and a 10 (jack, queen, king)) is called blackjack and you win instantly and get a better payout than normal winning (normally by 50%).

2. FULL EXAMPLE:

1. You are dealt two cards facing up, whilst the dealer is dealt one card facing up and one facing down.

2. From the two cards you have facing up and the one dealers card you have to decide whether to hit or stand. (I will explain more about what to do later)

3. If you hit you will be given another card and if your total is still under 21 you can take the option to hit again. As soon as you go over 21 you are bust and you lose.

4. When you choose to stand the dealer will reveal their other card. If the total of his cards is 17 or over he will stand (hold), if it is under 17 he will hit stand until the total of his cards is over 17. If that end total is more than 21 or lower than yours, you win, if not the house wins.

The dealers' rules never vary if the cards add up to 16 or less he will always hit or always stand on 17 and above. If you follow the same rules as the dealer you will have a very good house edge. There is a method which I will outline later which can slightly improve your house edge further.

The best way to see if this strategy works is to put it into practise. If you don't want to do it for real money just yet, click on this link and use the practise game (not real money) along with this strategy.

3. DOUBLE DOWN, INSURANCE AND SURRENDER.

You will notice on the example game that as well as hit and stand, you have buttons called double down, Insurance and Surrender. Although you will do just fine not using these at all, you can further reduce the house edge by understanding them and using them to your advantage, let me explain.

i) Double Down - After you have received your first two cards, you can hit 'double down'. This means that you have the option to double the amount you can bet on the condition that you receive one more card only, no more after that.

e.g. If you had a 4 and a 7, your total would be 11 it would be a good idea to 'double down', depending on the dealers card. If you received another card it would definitely be under 21 and the odds of that card equalling 10 are higher than any other card, more likely bringing you total to 21.

ii) Split – If the first two cards dealt to you are the same you may split. You will then play to hands at once, with each hand having the same as your initial bet.

e.g. You bet £1 and receive to 8's. You split your two hand's and receive a King (18) and a 7 (15). You then play your two hands off against his one. The dealer for this example has 17 so you win one hand and lose the other.

N.B. Some Casinos will allow you to carry on hitting once you have split, others will automatically make you stand after receiving your second hand. It is important to not which Casinos allow you to keep hitting as this can really effect you decision whether to split or not.

iii) Insurance - The insurance option appears if the facing up card of the dealers is an ace. Insurance essentially means that you are betting that the dealer has Blackjack. If you want insurance, you place half the size of your bet in the insurance spot on the table. If the dealer does have Blackjack, you receive 2-1 on your insurance bet. In effect, winning your initial bet back when the dealer has Blackjack. If the dealer does not have Blackjack, you lose your insurance bet and continue on with the hand.

NEVER TAKE INSURANCE. THE ODDS ARE STACKED AGAINST YOU.

iv) Surrender – On games that offer surrender, after the dealer has dealt you first two cards, if the dealer doesn't have blackjack, you have the option to surrender, giving up half your initial stake.

e.g. you are dealt an queen and a 3 so you have 13, the dealer is displaying a King. It would be good idea to surrender, as the odds that the dealer has a higher card than you under his hidden card is highly likely, and if you hit, the odds are the you will go bust. Count your losses and surrender so you only loose half of what you most likely would have lost.

4. THE STRATEGY

When playing blackjack for bonus bagging purposes, you should always try to keep the house edge as low as possible, and the proven way of doing this is to follow this strategy. There is no point in taking unnecessary risks as over time these risks will catch up with you, remember you have a lot of hands to play to take advantage of all these free bonus bets. Remember be disciplined and it will pay off.

The below table best expresses the best strategy to play when playing blackjack for bonus bagging purposes. The strategy is a strategy for multideckblackjack and is based upon the casibot playing strategy, it is not the perfect strategy to play on all casinos as types of blackjack games will vary the best playing strategy:

KEY
H = Hit,
S = Stand,
L = Split
D = Double if possible otherwise hit

The top row is the dealers face up card and the left hand column is your hand. It is a good idea to download this table and print it out so you can have it on hand when playing blackjack.

Make some money

All you have to do now is put into practise the strategy you have just learnt and the bonus can be converted into your own spending money.