The best Blackjack sites on the Web come to us from some of the finest webmasters and gaming professionals in the business. Here’s our latest look at Internet gaming’s Essential Blackjack Resources.
For the Experts
Things have changed a little, but not a lot, since we did our last round-up of top BJ sites. Top of the list then and now is the expert-level BJ21. BJ21 operates under the banner of Stanford Wong, noted gaming expert and author of the essential text “Basic Blackjack”. Noted for its message board forums but offering a healthy serving of just about everything Blackjack related, the site’s attractions include extensive no-pay player message boards, membership-only forums for the dedicated BJ player and professional, a free newsletter, an extensive catalog of Blackjack books and software endorsed by Stanford Wong and other essentials such as a BJ Glossary, a BJ Reference list and so onSbobet.
Also returning in the Experts line-up is the numbers-oriented site BJMath . Foremost here is the “Featured Articles” section offering professional and technical contributions on the mathematics of risk evaluation methods, game prediction algorithms, statistical analysis procedures and many others. In case you find yourself in the difficult position of being both curious about and intimidated by the math of the game BJMath offers its “Novice Corner”. Here the novice is introduced to the number methodologies behind Counting, Money Management and all the other favourite BJ sharper topics.
And last but not least BJMath also offers message boards organized into “Beginner”, “BJ Math”, and “Counting” forums and several others.
For the Beginner
Unique to the beginner-oriented site BlackjackInfo is their “Basic Strategy Engine”. Working from the well-stablished practice of basic strategy charts this tool prompts the player to enter their game’s criterion (number of decks, Soft 17 rule, Doubling opportunities, and so on) and then press the “Make” button to produce a chart tailored to that specific game. Or one can choose from the standardized charts such as “Vegas Strip, 6-deck”. Either way the strategy chart is the novice players most powerful tool.
Also available at BlackjackInfo is the Flash-based “Blackjack Trainer” where the player first select the games rules (Doubling, Soft 17, etc) and then begins a play-for-free game tailored accordingly. The game’s Strategy Coach remains silent until you make a move that violates the basic strategy for that game. Very smooth and a pleasure to use. Also in the top-flight rank of strategy teachers is the simple but powerful Hit-Or-Stand Flash-based trainer. Select the difficulty of your game, your screen size and rules and you’re off! This one even offers explainations when you make a move outside the basic strategy rules.
Also worth a visit by the education seeking player is the Blackjack School at Game-Master-Online. Working through the 20-step lesson offered gives the player a solid footing in basic strategy, tricks of the trade, an introduction to the mathematics of the game and a number of strategy guides. If you’re really sold on these lessons they’re also available on DVD directly from the site. Also check out the Game-Master’s “Blackjack Page” for other useful resources.
Honorable Mentions
To round out the roster here are a couple other resources that are worth checking out.
Looking for a directory of other BJ sites out there? Check out Online Blackjack’s detailed list of links in the “Strategy” section. There are good descriptions of each. Many include user comments to give you a better idea what they offer.
Also worth a visit are the Blackjack Groups at Yahoo. There are many active groups listed here and the total number of visiting contributors numbers in the thousands. Be aware though that many of these groups are not moderated so the content –and language– can vary dramatically.
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