Blackjack Betting Strategy: How to Maximize Your Wins

Today’s article is about the best playing strategy to maximize your chances of winning when playing blackjack. 

As I’m sure you know, Blackjack is the most popular game in Western casinos, and many players are familiar with the rules. 

What many players don’t know is the best way to play.

So today, I’m going to lay out the most popular strategies, and which one I think is the best one for you to follow.

When you have finished reading this article, you will know which strategies are the most popular and of those, which one is the most likely to help you maximize your chances to win and minimize your chances to lose.

Let’s jump in...

The Blackjack Basic Strategy

Before we get to the systems, we need to address something really important.

And that is Basic Strategy. 

If you want to be a good blackjack player, you must know Basic Strategy. 

This is not optional, and it’s not a ‘yeah, that would be nice’ thing.

It’s a really simple equation: You cannot expect to win without Basic Strategy because you won’t win without having it down cold.

It’s a ‘got to have’. 

Go here to get the details and some downloadable Basic Strategy charts. These days, casinos will even allow you to use a Basic Strategy chart on the table.

Okay – sermon over.

Blackjack Betting Systems

There are several betting systems that have been developed over the years.  Some are famous – the Martingale, for example, is perhaps the most well-known and widely used.

But there are many more – including the Paroli (also called the Reverse Martingale), Oscar’s Grind, and the Fibonacci Sequence (this guide is for roulette, but the systems function exactly the same when used on blackjack).

The Martingale

A negative progression, which means every time you lose, you double your bet. There are some serious downsides to the Martingale, including having to have a large bankroll and also possibly running into the table maximum before you hit the winner that gets all your money back.

The Paroli or Reverse Martingale

A positive progression, which means that you double your bet after every win.  What this does is ensure that you only ever have your initial stake in action.  You can choose to look for a 3-win streak, or a 5-win streak, both of which are not uncommon when playing blackjack.

With a $10 initial bet, a 3-win streak means you would be taking $80 off the table.  A 5-win streak would mean you would be taking $320 off the table.

And that’s why the Paroli is my favorite system to play.

Oscar’s Grind

A positive progression, when you win you increase the bet by one unit.  When you lose, you keep betting the same single unit bet.  Once the bet size is increased by one unit, it remains at 2 (or more) units until you win one unit.

And then reverts back to the original single unit bet. 

And that’s why it’s called ‘Oscar’s Grind’ – because you’re never going to win very much.  Or lose very much.

The Fibonacci Sequence   

The Fibonacci is a well-known negative progression gambling sequence that has been in use since the 1400s, and quite possibly centuries before that.  It is a sequence that occurs in nature, for example in the Nautilus Snail’s shell.

When betting it, you follow this sequence as you lose bets:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 and so on.

As you can see, you start with the first numbers and then add the previous two numbers together to give you your next bet.  1 + 2 = 3.  3 + 2 = 5.  5 + 3 = 8.  8 + 5 = 13. 

And so on. 

And when you win, you go back two places in the sequence and start your betting from there.

The Fibonacci protects the player’s bankroll and is simply a more elegant system and less risky system than the Martingale. As an example, if you should run into a 10-bet losing streak, with the Fibonacci you would be down $143, but with the Martingale, you would be down $1,023.

Which is the best blackjack strategy?

In my opinion, the best blackjack strategy is the Paroli, or Reverse Martingale system. 

Here’s why:

No system can guarantee a win.  No system has ever been shown to overcome the House Edge on any casino game.

So now you must rely on a ‘sometimes you’re going to win, sometimes you’re going to lose’ system.

And that brings me back to the Paroli.

Advantages of the Paroli include you only ever have your initial bet in action.

Compared to the Martingale, for example, where you may end up betting many times your initial bet.

In the Martingale, let’s say you lose 5 in a row.  If your initial bet is $10, then by the sixth bet, you have $320 bet, (32 times your original bet), and you’ve put a total of $630 in action. 

And then, if you finally win the sixth hand, you’re winning $10.  

You just bet $320 to win $10 on what is a slightly less than even money bet.

With the Paroli, any additional money to bet is supplied by the casino for a previous win – and as we know, the odds of any bet winning are the same for every hand.

Even though you may have won three or four hands in a row, the odds of winning the next hand are exactly the same.

And once you get up to the fifth hand, you can get a big win for a small outlay.

Here’s what that looks like:

• First bet = $10
• Second bet = $20 - the same $10 of your money + $10 the casino paid you
• Third bet = $40 - the same $10 of your money + $30 the casino paid you
• Fourth bet = $80 - the same $10 of your money + $70 the casino paid you
• Fifth bet = $160 - the same $10 of your money + $150 the casino paid you

If you win that bet, you just bet $10 of your own money to end up with $320.

And that’s why I like the Paroli.

Expert's Advice

Over the years, I’ve seen most of these systems employed with varying degrees of success in the casinos of Europe, the Caribbean and the United States.  And one in Canada.

And the only one I ever use is the Paroli for the reasons I’ve stated above.

That should tell you all you need to know – the Paroli is the only system I use, and using it even got me a job in a casino in New Mexico.

Conclusion

There  you have it – the best Blackjack Betting Strategy is the Paroli or Reverse Martingale.  

And it’s not close. 

It really is the only one I would ever use because I believe it’s the only one that gives me a realistic opportunity to win when playing blackjack – or any of the other casino table games.

And as always, good luck on your next visit to the casino.