Chasing 21 in blackjack is what we all strive to do to hit the magic number that should give us a winning hand.

However, a lot of people lose sight of the aim of the game, which is to beat the dealer’s total.

As long as you do not bust your score past 21, you are in with a chance. Once you declare a hand, the dealer has to beat it. They can only do so if they reach 17 or better so the room for error is not actually that big for your opponent.

Like most casino games listed on TheTop10BestOnlineCasinos.com, it often comes down to how much risk you are willing to take. For example, if you are on 16 after two cards, some people would happily gamble and take another from the pack, despite their chances of busting being higher than 50%. Their process of thinking is that if they don’t twist, they are likely to lose anyway, so they might as well give themselves a chance and hope for a favourable card.

There is nothing you can do in blackjack to influence the values of your cards. However, by monitoring the dealer’s up card, you can estimate the strength of their hand. If the card is high, like a 8 or above, they are only a 10 or face card from securing a strong total from the start. This means that you should push yourself until you hit one of the top scores yourself. On the other hand, play more conservatively if the dealer’s up card is low. They are likely to have a lot more work to do, which means their chances of busting increase. You should be happy to stand on anything that is 15 or better.