Many people will have heard that the house edge in casino blackjack is only 0.5%….this is both true and also misleading. This does not mean that whatever you do on the blackjack table that the casino would only take 0.5% of your action every time that you bet. To prove that this is not the case then we only have to look at a silly example of a player who deliberately tries to bust every single hand that they get dealt. The only times that they could not bust was if they were dealt a natural or they made 21 as you cannot take a card on 21.
It is clear then that this player would be conceding a huge edge to the house and they would be taking far more than 0.5% of their action. This then proves that there is skill attached to how you play individual hands as the house edge is reflected in how well you play your hands. But whatever you do then you cannot overcome the house edge unless you are doing one of several things. These are either card counting, shuffle tracking, cheating or maybe taking advantage of huge in house promotions (rare).
The house edge is created by the dealer acting after the player. If the dealer busts their hand then they still win your money if you have already busted as you get to act first. It is this fact that is often overlooked by many people who think that casinos cheat.
