The house edge in blackjack is around 1.5%.
This means that for every 100 hands played, the house will win about 15 hands and lose about 85. So, if you play blackjack for fun and want to minimize your losses, it’s important to stick to games with a house edge of less than 2%.
One reason the house edge is so high in blackjack is that the cards are stacked in favor of the house. In most casinos, the dealer gets a royal flush (a five of a kind) about once every 16,000 hands, while an average player gets one about once every 250 hands.
So even if you never get lucky and hit a royal flush, the dealer still has an incentive to push you around and make you lose money.
In theory, playing against the house could be profitable if you’re good enough at card counting. But in practice, this is almost impossible to do reliably.
And even if you can get good at card counting, there’s always the chance that the casino will catch on and change the rules so that your advantage over the dealer disappears.
So, overall, it’s probably not a great idea to try to beat the house at blackjack. In fact, most people would probably be better off just playing for fun and enjoying their losses without worrying about them too much.
