In the past, most poker players either got experience playing in home games or in public poker rooms. Before the turn of the century, there were no online poker sites allowing players to gather thousands of hands worth of experience before ever setting foot in a live casino.

Today’s online players will probably find themselves in a public card room eventually, whether to play in a tournament or just to satisfy curiosity. I don’t want to write about the strategy you should follow. Here we will focus only on what to do and what not to do, but just give you some tips for navigating the public card room

Identify the Floorman

Walking around the room will be one or more floormen — professionals whose job it is to make sure the games run smoothly. Hopefully you won’t need them for anything, but you can always ask them a question or ask the dealer to bring one over if there is a dispute at the table.

Get Your Name on the Board

Don’t try to just grab the first chair you see as you would online. You’ll have to put your name (usually just your initials) on a board that lists all the people waiting to play. When you hear your name called, it means there is a seat open for you.

Don’t Forget to Tip

Once of the most desirable features of online play is that there is no one to tip. Not so in a public card room.

It is customary to tip the dealer one or two dollars every time you win a pot. You’re not obligated to do so, but the dealers appreciate it and you may avoid some angry stares if you do.

Behave Yourself

Remember that you’re not playing in your living room anymore. Most card rooms don’t have a serious dress code, but you will be expected to be dressed appropriately for a public place and to be respectful of others at the table and in the room.

If you win a big pot, a small celebration is acceptable. However, jumping up and down and screaming is a little over the top. Similarly, if you lose a pot, cursing and making a scene is not appropriate, not even if you are playing the coolest tournament ever. Remember that most players are there to have a good time and act accordingly.

Online blackjack is fun and relatively easy. Sure it’s not as fun as the latest PlayStation game or like a good old school videogames, and some might point out that a proper sport activity might be more fun and healthy, but still, I like and I consider it fun. And I bet I’m not the only one!

As for many other fun activities, it’s nice to play just for fun for a while, but then you feel the need deep inside of you to go to the next level and that’s when you start studying. Recently I even found a site to dedicate to surf science and studies and I have to say it was quite a surprise to me!

So if someone wants to study surfing, why don’t you study a bit about an game like blackjack where u even invest money hoping to win some out of it? Moreover, playing according to a set strategy rather than based on hunches can significantly reduce the House edge, which means it can significantly improve your chances to win. Fortunately, good online blackjack strategy is simple to learn. So here comes my “homemade blackjack online diploma”. Let’s start with the basic tips:

Basic Online Blackjack Strategy

Your most important step to improving blackjack results is using basic strategy. Basic strategy is a system developed and refined over decades of research that has determined the mathematically correct play in every situation.

Find your easy-to-read online blackjack strategy chart online. Keep that chart open on your screen as you play and you’ll never make a bad decision while playing blackjack.

Online Blackjack Variations

While standard blackjack is still very common online, there are also many other blackjack variants out there, such as blackjack switch, Pontoon and Spanish 21. Be sure you know what type of blackjack you are playing before you sit down. If you are playing a variant, look for a strategy chart that applies to that specific variant, as the odds change depending on which type of blackjack you play.

Insurance in Online Blackjack

Your online blackjack strategy chart may not indicate this, but it is always a mistake to take insurance. Insurance is offered when the dealer has an ace showing. The player has the option to take insurance by putting up a bet equal to half the original wager.

If the player takes insurance, the dealer checks for blackjack. If he has it, he wins the hand, but the player gets 2-to-1 on the blackjack bet, breaking even.

If the dealer does not have it, the player loses the insurance bet and play proceeds normally. If a player who is dealt blackjack takes insurance, he gets 1-to-1 on his money rather than the normal 3-to-2, regardless of the outcome of the hand.

The dealer will have blackjack more often than we would like. However, more often than not, he will not have blackjack, so this is a bad bet whether the player has blackjack or not.