When watching people playing at the best rated online casinos, often times you'll notice that they're just guessing at what decision to make next. This is most obvious when watching people who play blackjack. They are totally unaware of how much of an effect they have on the total outcome if they were familiar with some of the basics of blackjack. Unlike many other conventional casino games, blackjack is actually a positive expectation game and can work to your full advantage, if the right decisions are made while you play.

One of the first strategies that blackjack players use when trying to beat the game is what is known as the Effective Blackjack Strategy.

HIT AND STAND

The most basic thing to remember is, because the dealer always has to take a hit on any hand 16 or lower, you won't win as much money when you're holding less than 17, unless the dealer busts.

Like these one: If your hand is below 17 and the dealer is flaunting an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, or 8, you need to take a hit. Remember, Whenever the dealer holds one of these cards his chances of busting are very meager, so unless you clear 16 your chances of winning are also meager.

When to stand?

Let's say your hand is beyond 12 and the dealer shows a 4, 5, or 6, your best play is to stand. When the dealer is showing any of these 3 cards, the dealer's chances of busting are on a high. In fact, it's more than 40% of the time. Think of how silly you'd feel if you took a hit with 15, caught a 10 and busted, only to see that the dealer had 14 and would have been forced to take a hit and draw the 10 instead of you. Every time you bust yourself instead of busting the dealer, you're not winning as much money as you could be winning.

DOUBLE

The best and the fastest way to make it when playing Blackjack is by successfully doubling down at every chance. Doubling down can make you double your bet or end up costing you double if you do it in a bad spot. The first and most important rule of doubling down is, always double down any hand summing up 11.

No matter what the dealer's showing, if you hit a 10 when you've got 11 he won't beat you.

So when else should you double down? When your hand is 10 and the dealer is showing a 9 or lower, double it up. When your hand is a 9 or you have a "soft" hand like an Ace counted as 11 between 13 and 17 against a dealer's 4, 5 or 6, double it up. That's it though. Those hands give you the best shot at cashing in when you double down.

SPLIT

Splitting can be highly profitable if you do it with the right cards, or you could end up costing you by splitting a winning hand into a pair of losers.

The first thing to remember when splitting is, never split 10's or 5's. The 10's refers to any card valued 10, whether it be the actual 10 or any face card. Conversely, always split aces and eights, no matter what the dealer is showing. The reason behind splitting aces should be obvious, but you might be perplexed about 8's.

A pair of 8's is equals 16, which is really a middle-of-the-road hand in Blackjack. With 16 your only chance of winning is if the dealer busts. By splitting into a pair of eights, your chances of hitting 2 hands higher than 16 are actually quite good.

Other than Aces and 8's, your best bets when it comes to splitting is to split 2's and 3's against a dealer's 4, 5, or 6. When it comes to the rest of the cards in the deck like 4, 6, 7, 9, the easiest rule is to only split these cards when the dealer's hand is showing a card of lesser value. There are variations on this rule however, so you may want to stick with aces, 8's, 2's and 3's for now.

SOFT HAND

Soft hands have their own special rules when it comes to hitting, standing and doubling down. As a quick reminder, Soft hands are any hand with an Ace, where the player can choose between 2 totals, ie A and 5 could be 6 or 16.

Let's say you want a soft 13 through 17 whenever the dealer is showing 7 or higher. Remember, with any soft hand no matter what card you receive you cannot bust. Now here comes the tricky part, doubling soft hands. If you've got a soft 13 through 17, only double down when the dealer shows a 5 or 6.

If you've got a soft 15 through 17, you can also double up if the dealer's showing a 4. Most of the time you'll want to stand on a soft 18, but if the dealer's sporting a 9, 10 or an ace, you'll probably be better off taking a hit. No matter what the dealer is showing, always stand on a soft 19 or higher.

Remember,in the final soft hands, if the dealer holds a 2 and you've got a soft hand, do not double down.

SURRENDER

Don't be afraid to surrender if the option is given to you. However, if after the cards are dealt, the dealer is way ahead and the chances of you pulling out a win are meager, surrender and get the 50% of your bet back and live to play another hand.

If you're stuck on when to surrender and when to play on, remember this: always surrender with a hard 15 when the dealer has a 10, and always surrender with a hard 16 when the dealer has a 9, 10 or Ace.

Blackjack has been taken apart piece by piece by professional gamblers with one thing in common, how to beat the game and find a strategy that will win big.