Blackjack -- How Do You Practice Strategy? Part 2

The last time we talked about practicing your Basic Strategy for blackjack, we covered the importance of being able to sit down, recognize situations, and deal hands to yourself in more of a manual setting. There is great value to that, as you get to vary the pace at which you play, and hopefully get to the point we are playing so fast, and so perfectly, that you are making the correct Basic Strategy decisions over and over again without even thinking. If you have gotten to the point where you have reached a high level of proficiency doing that, it is then time to take it to its next phase.

You are now going to practice your Basic Strategy on the computer itself. The reasons you would do something like this are obvious. Ultimately this is the way that you are going to be competing against the game anyway. In the visual is quite a bit different. While your manual approach may be more applicable to playing in the brick and mortar environment of the physical casino, playing through your computer screen may be the best way for you to prepare to play online.

There are a couple of different ways to do this. One of them involves software, on a CD, that is available for training purposes. Generally, these programs are equipped to let you know when you are doing something wrong, according to the correct Basic Strategy that has been laid out for the settings and the game conditions. This kind of approach, however, is not going to give you a completely accurate simulation of the way you are going to play against an online casino.

What you may prefer to do is take advantage of the "Play For Fun" option that is available when you download the suite of software that is offered by an online casino. The reason they give you the "fun" option is usually to test out the casino software in case you want to open a real money account. And that is indeed a viable rationale. But there is a good reason for you to do it as an aspiring Basic Strategy player. You want to get the same look and feel of the online casino against which you will be playing. There should be player options available that will control the speed of your play. And there are icons on the screen detailing all of the different moves you can make on a hand. Of course, there is only one, and that is what you are trying to work out. We like this better than a piece of instructional software because of the fact that sooner or later, you will want to play without a "safety net." And this offers the best way for you to do it.