Double Down in Blackjack for More Winnings

To double down in blackjack means increasing one's original bet twofold. This can only be done after being given the first two cards. The player then receives one more card at his option. As one can realize below, this is in most cases, to the advantage of the player. When double downs are allowed in blackjack, the house advantage is further reduced to 0.5%. This is why not all casinos allow doubling down.

Some casinos would implement more rules to further reduce or increase the player's advantage on double downs. There are some casinos that allow only double downs when the player's hand sums up to ten or eleven only. This option increases the house advantage to 0.76%

A more advantageous rule for the player that some casinos implement for blackjack is when doubling down is allowed after splitting. A double down after splitting further reduces the house advantage to only 0.13%. It would be best for the players to check on the casinos' ruling on double downs to help them decide on their choice of casino.

The main reason why a double down increases the player's profit is because a player is allowed to double his bet when the odds are turned against the dealer and that the player has actually more chances of winning. Blackjack is all about mathematics. Knowing the dealer's face up card and the players own two cards, a player can make an intelligent decision on whether to hit, stand, double down or split based on a mathematically-derived strategy.

Players should double down when they know that the dealer is at its weakest and that chances are high that the dealer will go bust. Thru mathematics, experts have determined the odds of a dealer going bust just by knowing the first card or the face up card.

So when is a blackjack dealer at its weakest? Mathematics shows that a dealer has the highest probability of going bust when their face up card is any card from two to six. If the dealer's card is two or three, its probability of going bust is from 35% to 36%. If the dealer's card is four, five or six, the probability of going bust is from 40% to 42%. Therefore, when this is the face up card of the dealer, go ahead and double down.

If the dealer's card is at least seven, the chance of going bust is at most 26%. The probability even goes lower as the value of the face card goes higher. The more experienced players can actually double down if their card is higher than the dealer's. Although this strategy is not as successful as when the dealer has lower cards, this can still work.

Most blackjack players are afraid of doubling down because they risk double losses on bets. But in the long run, doubling down when advantageous will bring in more winnings.