Casinos love to brag about the house edge they enjoy in blackjack, but what does that actually mean? In short, the house edge is the percentage of the time that a player will come out ahead in a given hand. It can be thought of as the casino’s “edge” or “profit” on blackjack.
There are a few factors that contribute to the casino’s house edge, but the most important one is how much money the casino pays out to players. The higher the payouts, the greater the house edge.
Another factor that affects the house edge is how often cards are drawn. A casino with more liberal rules will have a smaller house edge than one with tighter rules, because more cards will be drawn in hands with larger bets.
Ultimately, however, the house edge is only one factor that contributes to a player’s overall winnings – and it’s not always as large as casinos would like you to believe. For example, if you’re playing at a casino with a 2% house edge and bet $10 per hand, you would lose $100 over 100 hands – even if each hand were won outright.
This is because on average, you’ll win only 54% of the time when playing for real money. Meanwhile, if you play for free using simulated money (in which case your chances of winning are exactly 50/50), you’ll still come out ahead in 99 out of 100 hands!.
