Blackjack vs Poker: Comparing Skills, Strategy, and Luck

Should I play Poker vs. Blackjack? What a great question! Today, we’re going to explore the differences (and similarities) of these two iconic casino games, and perhaps decide which you should pursue.

Both games require some skill to play them well, but which is the one to spend some time learning to play – not just play for fun, but to get really good?

Once you have read this article, you will know the differences between the two games, why one is easier to learn than the other, that one game requires you to learn a set pattern of strategies and the other is a lot more nebulous, requiring perception, the ability to calculate probabilities and the ability to read people that the other simply does not.

This is going to be fun...

Similarities between Poker and Blackjack

Essentially, the only similarity between these two games is that they both use playing cards.  Poker always uses a single deck, whereas Blackjack can use any number of decks from a single deck up to eight decks of cards.

Both games offer the opportunity to use skill to win long-term.  Most casino games such as roulette, craps and baccarat have a House Edge that works against the players.  There is no skill involved – it’s pure luck, and over time, the House Edge cannot be overcome by luck. 

Even though players may win in the short term, it’s impossible to win long-term on those games.

Blackjack and Poker, however, are different.

Before we go any further, let’s talk about a couple of parameters for this article.

Poker and Blackjack both have many variants, differing rules and a wide variety of procedures and ways of administering the game.

In this article, the poker game we will be talking about will be Texas Hold ‘Em, and the Blackjack game will be a 6-deck shoe with a standardized set of rules, called ‘Strip Rules’, which refers to the Las Vegas strip.

Rules and How to Play the Games

First, let’s look at how you play both games. 

Some Things About Blackjack

Blackjack, also called 21, is a house-banked card game, where the object is to get closer to 21 than the dealer, without going over 21.

What does ‘house-banked’ mean?  House-banked means all the players are playing against the house – i.e. the casino.

The object is to beat the dealer, not the other players. All the players are playing against the dealer and want to beat the dealer.

Blackjack has a very low House Edge, often as low as 0.50% - yes, that’s ½ of 1%, and sometimes even lower.  It is a fast game, there are a variety of rules that change the House Edge, but generally, the casino has a small advantage over knowledgeable players, and a larger advantage over less experienced players.

There is some skill involved in playing blackjack well and playing well functions on two levels.  The first is knowing, and using, Basic Strategy.  Basic Strategy is a well-researched way to play that gives you the best way to play given the cards that you and the dealer have.

It’s not an opinion – Basic Strategy is a proven way to play, with billions of simulated hands to back up the numbers.

The second level is knowing how to count cards. Counting cards is not illegal, but the casinos don’t like people doing it because if they’re good at counting, it can change the House Edge enough to where the player has a slight advantage.

Which is not good for the casino.

Some Things About Poker

Poker is a game that is often found in casinos around the world, but the players don’t play against the casino – they play against each other.

How does the casino make money from poker? The casino takes a few chips from the pot of every hand (called the rake), and it pays for the cards, the carpets, the light bill and the dealers’ wages etc.

The game is played by each of the players receiving two cards face down, there is a round of betting, and then the dealer deals three cards face up in the center of the table.  This is called the flop, and those three cards are community cards, and all players use them to advance their hands.

There is another round of betting, then a fourth community card is dealt, called the turn, another round of betting takes place, and then a fifth community card is dealt, called the river.

There is a final round of betting and the holder of the best 5-card poker hand using the five community cards and the two cards they were dealt wins the pot.

The Differences Between Blackjack and Poker

Perhaps one of the main differences between blackjack and poker is that the very best players in poker are celebrated by the casinos. 

Every year, there is the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, with the champion taking home millions, he (or she) is on TV and often on the cover of magazines. Some become household names – Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth and several more.

The top card counters in blackjack are reviled by the casinos. They are often barred and refused entry into the property.

Strategies and skills

Blackjack Basic Strategy consists of a series of choices that the player makes, based upon the cards in his hand, and the dealer’s up card.  There is no guess work in the decision-making.  The player follows a set group of actions based upon his cards and the dealer’s up card.  Once the player has learned the correct way to play, it is merely a formality to make the play.  Then the odds take over, the course of action is followed and the outcome is displayed XXXXXXXX. 

How do you know that for sure? 

Because the casinos will allow their players to keep a Basic Strategy card with them on the blackjack table, referring to it openly if they need to.

A player who is counting cards has a different set of actions to follow.  It is a more difficult way to play, requiring some refined knowledge and some significant discipline to effectively turn the slight House Edge away from the casino’s side to the player’s side.

Casinos are not happy about people counting cards. It is not illegal, but by changing the odds so they are in the player’s favor, the casinos know that the players can put a dent in their revenues. Against really good counters, that dent can be significant.

The good news from the casino’s side is that most would-be card counters aren’t very good at it, and don’t pose much of a threat to the casino.

The poker player, too, doesn’t pose a threat to the casino’s revenue.  But a good poker player can win a lot of money – but all of it comes from the other players, not from the casino.

On the other hand, and unlike the blackjack player, the poker player has a lot of unknown variables to deal with.  The best way to play the game changes based upon where the player is seated relative to the dealer.  Players can bluff, they can give off signals that they have a bad hand when in fact they have a very strong hand, they can do the exact opposite, seemingly having a great hand, when they actually have a very weak hand. 

The ability to read people is a key skill, the ability to evaluate how a player bets can give insight into what cards the player may be holding – in short, it’s a fascinating mish mash of skills and abilities that go way beyond what the blackjack player needs.  

Ease of learning

Blackjack Basic Strategy is relatively easy to learn. 

In only a few days, it’s possible for you to learn solid Basic, to the point where you’ll be completely comfortable with the course of action to take based on your cards and the dealer’s up card.

Card counting takes a lot longer. To be good at it requires discipline and some work.  But it’s well worth it if you spend the time getting good.

Learning how to play poker is a different animal completely.  It’s not just the nuts and bolts of the hierarchy of the hands or how the game is played, which can be quite complex, but it includes many soft skills, like how to spot players’ tells, this player is very aggressive but this one is quite passive and what does that mean, what is his body language telling me about his hand now, what do I do about a player who checks, when should I raise, how much should I raise, should I fold this hand or stay in to see the flop, what are pot odds and it’s important that I know how to calculate them,  and so on.

It can take years to get a handle on these things.  And even longer to get good at them.

And btw – we have some excellent Poker articles written by a legitimate poker expert in the Academy. They’re all free and will take you from beginner to expert pretty quickly. 

Skill vs Luck

Poker is a skill game.  You need to know how to calculate the probabilities of ‘I need a Jack to fill this inside straight, what are the odds I get one?’ and ‘how much is in the pot, so does it make financial sense for me to call this bet here’ and so on.  Being able to read people is an important skill.  And different people will react differently to the same situation.  So one guy will be anxious and look nervous while the guy sitting next to him will be totally calm – with essentially the same hand.

And even though the good poker player will have the skills necessary to do well, she still needs to get the cards to be sure of the win.  Having your opponent make their straight on the river is frustrating, particularly if they have no business still being in the hand – so luck is still a factor in playing winning poker.

Blackjack, on the other hand, doesn’t require so much skill. Once you have learned how to play Basic Strategy perfectly and how to count cards, disguising your card counting is perhaps the most difficult skill when in an environment where the casino personnel know what they’re looking at.

Overall, blackjack is a simpler game to play. For the skilled card counters, you can make some money if you’re careful about not exposing yourself to casino management or surveillance.  

The other players don’t care if you’re counting because your play doesn’t generally affect them (and unless you do something to clue them in, like splitting tens, they won’t even know you’re counting), and in most of the less-developed markets, many of the casino supervisory staff have minimal experience and training, so don’t know what to look for.

Having said that, it takes a lot of practice and discipline to count well enough to be a threat to a casino.  I can’t think of the number of want-to-be card counters who we allowed to continue playing simply because they weren’t very good, and didn’t represent a threat to us.

When the movie ‘21’ came out, I thought it would make our casino lives more difficult.  In fact, our revenues went up because the would-be counters simply didn’t do the work to get good enough to be a threat.

House Edge

What is House Edge? It’s the advantage that is built-in to all casino table games such as roulette, blackjack, craps and so on by adjusting the rules to give the advantage to the casino.

The House Edge in blackjack can be as low as 0.26%, or even lower depending on the rules the casino has put in place. 

A good card counter can take that down and into negative territory, so he is playing with a small advantage.  And over time, that small advantage can turn him into a long-term winning player.

In poker, there is no House Edge.  The reason is because all the players are playing against each other and not the casino,  so the only casino rule that allows them to make money is the rake.  The rake refers to when the casino takes a few dollars out of every pot;  it’s not a rule that changes the odds of the game, it’s just like a tax on the game that pays for the lights, the cards and the carpets etc.

Expert's Advice

Poker has always seemed to me to be a more social game.  The players spend more time chatting with each other, even though they’re all in competition with each other. 

Being a successful poker player requires strategic decision-making and a more abstract view of the game.  Learning about the other players on the fly, who you may have never seen before, is critical to being able to outsmart them – because that is essentially what the game is all about.

And the tactics change as the hand develops, with each betting opportunity comes new information and new challenges.

Becoming a strong blackjack player requires learning a set series of ‘do this when this, do that if this’ responses to the cards you and the dealer are dealt.

It can be quite social, but you may also find that some players get snippy when things aren’t going their way.  

Both games can be a lot of fun, especially when the cards are running your way.   

Which One to Choose?

So there you have it – blackjack is an easier game to learn and play than poker, but poker is more of a mental challenge, it requires a lot more thought and strategic decision-making and has a much steeper learning curve than blackjack.

Choosing which game to pursue comes down to how hard do you want to work, and do you get more enjoyment out of the mental challenge of poker, or the (somewhat) rigid structure of a set of blackjack Basic Strategy rules, and the challenge of counting cards successfully.  

Conclusion

If I was to start again, knowing what I know now, I would spend more time learning how to play poker well – not just as the recreational player I am, but really learn how to play. 

When I first started in the casino business, I wasn’t that focused on poker.  I was a craps dealer, fascinated by roulette.  Oh, we had poker rooms in all the casinos I worked in, but it was always a separate entity, not attached to the Table Games area that I was always a part of.

Years later, when I was given a poker room to oversee as part of the entire gaming area (slots, table games and poker), I was thrilled by the opportunity.

And I was lucky to hire a poker room manager from Nevada who had 25 years of experience.  She was fabulous and taught me a lot.  And looked like a schoolteacher, complete with glasses and her hair in a bun!

One of my first conversations with her was about two weeks after she came on board, and it was her weekend. So I called her to discuss the issue, and I could hear a casino in the background. I asked her where she was, and she said, ‘I’m cleaning out a bunch of guys on a juicy 4/8 game at the Wynn in Las Vegas’. 

I laughed out loud, and so did she.