On the surface, Blackjack is a very simple game. Your goal is to beat the Dealer by building a hand with a higher score—up to a maximum of 21 points. Strategy consists of following a set of guidelines established long ago by the pros. You can even learn a basic strategy for every variant you’ll encounter, be it the number of decks in the shoe, whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17, or any other standard set of rules. Despite having long-established strategies to help players along the way, it does take some time and effort to learn these strategies and avoid common Blackjack mistakes. As Alexander Pope once wrote, to err is human. There are specific hands in Blackjack that seem to cause more mistakes than others, from what to do with a hard 12 to how to approach a Dealer Ace. Here are seven of the most common ones, which should be kept in mind when you play online Blackjack for real money. Hard 12 vs. Low Dealer Upcard Most Blackjack players with a little experience are aware that it’s bad for the Dealer to have anything lower than a Seven showing. These cards have high bust probabilities because he’ll be forced to draw two cards in order to reach a score of 17 – provided you don’t go bust first. As a result, many players will simply stand with anything higher than a score of 11. It’s a decent simplified strategy, but in most online