Online Casino games are growing rapidly in popularity all around the world. Spin the wheel, roll the dice or flip the cards - whatever your favorite game is you will be able to find it in cyberspace. But make sure you know what you are doing. With a solid playing and betting strategy you will make your money last longer and the casino visit more enjoyable. Blackjack is still one of the most popular casino games. The reasons are two fold: the game is very easy to learn, and by using the correct blackjack strategy a player can reduce the casino's edge and sometimes get an advantage.

Basic strategy is at the heart of winning blackjack. The player's ability to use a strategy and alter the plays made and the stakes for each hand over the dealer's set rules, make Blackjack a game where the casino's odds against the player can be altered to favour the player in some circumstances.

The rules for collecting casino bonuses are always changing. Some bonuses are cashable some are not. Some casinos allow blackjack play to qualify for receiving bonuses and many don't. Then you have wagering requirements: this is the number of times you must bet your deposit and bonus before you can collect any winnings or cashable bonus money.

How to play blackjack
In casino blackjack, the dealer faces one to seven players from behind a kidney-shaped table. Each player plays his hand independently against the dealer. At the beginning of each round, the player places a bet in the "betting box" and receives an initial hand of two cards. The object of the game is to get a higher card total than the dealer, but without going over 21 which is called "busting" or "too many." (The spot cards count 2 to 9, the king, queen, jack, and 10 count as ten, while an ace can be either 1 or 11.) The player goes first and plays his hand by taking additional cards if he desires. If he busts, he loses. Then the dealer plays her hand. If the dealer busts, she loses to all remaining players. If neither busts, the higher hand total wins. In case of a tie, no one wins -- the hand is a "push." It is possible for the dealer to lose to some players but still beat other players in the same round.

Cards are dealt in two ways, either from one or two hand-held decks, or from a box containing four to eight decks called a "shoe." When dealt by hand, the player's two initial cards are face-down, while the dealer has one face-up card called the "upcard" and one face-down card called the "hole card." (In European blackjack, the hole card is not actually dealt until the players all play their hands.) When dealt from a shoe, all player cards are normally dealt face-up, with minor exceptions. It shouldn't matter to the player whether his cards are dealt face-down or face-up since the dealer must play according to predetermined rules. If the dealer has less than 17, she must hit. If she has 17 or more, she must stand (take no more cards), unless it is a "soft 17." With a soft 17, the dealer follows the casino rules printed on the blackjack table, either to "hit soft 17" or to "stand on all 17's." (A soft 17 is a hand that includes an ace valued as "11," for example a hand consisting of an ace and a 6.)

The highest possible hand is a "blackjack" or "natural," meaning an initial two-card total of 21 (an ace and a ten-value card). A player blackjack is an automatic winner unless the dealer also has blackjack, in which case the hand is a "push" (a tie). When the dealer upcard is an ace, the player is allowed to make a side bet called "insurance," supposedly to guard against the risk that the dealer has a blackjack (i.e., a ten-value card as a hole card). The insurance bet pays 2 to 1 if the dealer has a blackjack. Whenever the dealer has a blackjack, she wins against all player hands except those that also have a blackjack (which are a "push").

The minimum and maximum bets are posted on the table. The payoff on most bets is 1:1, meaning that the player wins the same amount as he bets. The payoff for a player blackjack is 3:2, meaning that the casino pays $3 for each $2 originally bet. (There are some single-deck games which pay only 6:5 for a blackjack.)