Are poker and blackjack playing skills interchangeable?

Poker Playing Skills

Of course, some of the top blackjack games and tournaments include poker players among their top players and many people can be quite accomplished at playing play both blackjack and poker, but the two games are very different. But just because you’re good at one of the two games it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll excel at the other.

Well-known blackjack players who have successfully made the switch to playing poker at the top level include Erica Schoenberg, otherwise known as the Blackjack Babe and the Poker Babe. The former model and ex-professional basketball player was trained up to play blackjack by an MIT Blackjack Team member and went on to compete in the World Series of Blackjack. She then went on to come third in the 2007 third in World Series of Poker $1,500 No limit hold’em and also played in the Ultimate Poker Tour, a ten week televised CBS series.

Andy Bloch is another blackjack player who has also successfully turned his hand to poker. He was part of the MIT Blackjack Team that featured in the book Bringing Down The House and claims to have won $100,000 in one session of blackjack. He first played poker in 1992 and at the end of that year had won a World Poker Final tournament, playing Texas hold’em for the very first time.

For the mere mortals amongst us who simply enjoy a game of blackjack or poker as a hobby or pastime there is room to switch between the two games, but there are some differences you should be aware of.

A crucial difference between poker and blackjack is that there’s a house edge in blackjack and if you play the game for long enough, it’s inevitable that the house will win. When you’re playing a game of poker, there isn’t a house edge, as you’re playing against other players rather than the house, whether in a face to face game or online. Although there’s a certain amount of luck involved in the way the cards are dealt, it’s still possible to rely on playing skill to better your opponents. The way a casino makes its money in poker is through the rake that the casino takes from each pot. Whether you play online or in a land-based casino, you’ll need to be more skilled than your opponents to overcome the rake element.

You can adopt strategies for playing blackjack, including card counting, but really whether you win or lose is mainly down to luck. Either you get the combination of cards that is 21 or closest to it, beating the dealer’s hand, or you don’t. The longer you play, the more likely it is that the house will win. So if you prefer a game where strategy can make a difference, then poker is probably always going to be your first love, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a little blackjack every now and then.