The house advantage attached to the game of blackjack is highly determined by the table rules used. Various different factors including the number of decks used, whether the dealer is allowed to hit on a soft 17, and other aspects of the game can greatly influence the house advantage you are playing against.
If the dealer is not allowed to hit on a soft 17, the house advantage is decreased by 0.2%. Although this might seem to be a small reduction at first, this table rule can actually influence the basic blackjack strategy you need to use to stay ahead of the game.
The number of decks used to play the game also influences the house advantage. Single-deck blackjack games have a starting house advantage of 0.17%. If the table uses two decks, then the house advantage is increased to a staggering 0.46%. Four-deck, six-deck, and eight-deck blackjack tables have a house advantage of 0.60%, 0.64%, and 0.66% respectively.
Check if resplitting is allowed. If you can resplit pair of Aces, you can actually make a huge return from three strong starting hands. Late or early surrender rule also greatly influence the house advantage, quite greatly nonetheless. Make sure late surrender is allowed so that you can limit your risks greatly.
Most blackjack games don’t allow players to double down after splitting. This particular table rule increases the house advantage by as much as 0.12%. If your primary objective is to make as much profit as possible, find blackjack tables that allow doubling down after splitting.