Blackjack

Hit or stand to beat the dealer to 21 without busting. Build your bankroll one hand at a time.

Blackjack is the casino game where the player's decisions genuinely matter. Basic strategy — the mathematically optimal action for every hand against every dealer upcard — was published by Baldwin and colleagues in 1956 and reduces the house edge to roughly half a percent, which is among the best odds on any casino floor.

Almost all of the remaining edge comes from one asymmetry: the player acts first, so a player who busts loses immediately even if the dealer would have busted too. That single rule is worth several percent to the house, and it is why standing on a bad hand against a weak dealer upcard is correct despite feeling passive.