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Blackjack Rules : The object of the game of Blackjack is to beat the dealer by holding a hand of cards whose total value is closer to 21 than his, without going Bust (exceeding 21 in total).

Card Values

The Ace carries a value of either 1 or 11, whichever makes the best hand. It is always assumed to take on the value that gives the best hand.

Unlike many other games you find in the casino, all numerical playing cards carry their face value irregardless of suit.

Picture cards, sometimes referred to as Face cards (Jack, Queen and King), all have a value of 10.

Betting 

You always bet “blind” in a game of Blackjack, which means that you must place your bet before any cards are dealt. Place your chips in the designated space in front of your position at the blackjack table. The dealer then deals two cards to you (face up) and two to himself (one of which is face down, known as the Hole Card).

Playing Your Hand

Once all cards have been dealt (to other blackjack players on your table or to your multiple hands if you’re playing Multi-hand Blackjack) you assess the total value of your cards against the dealer’s Up Card.

You now make one of the four blackjack opening decisions commonly available to you: Hit (take another card), Stand (no more cards I’m happy with my hand), Double Down (I’d like to buy one more card) or Split (I want to split this pair of kings against the dealer’s 3 and play two hands against him for twice the stake). These opening blackjack moves are explained in more detail in our Blackjack Terms section.

Once all hands have either stood or gone bust, the dealer plays his own hand. The dealer’s hole card is revealed and he must continue to hit until he has a value of 17 or greater. If the dealer has not busted then he must stand once he reaches a value greater than 16. In some casinos and blackjack variants the dealer cannot stand on a soft 17 (A,6) and must continue to hit until he has hard 17 or more.

If the dealer busts, all hands that are left in the game win. If the dealer does not bust, standing on 17 to 21, then the winning hand is the one with the higher total value. You are never competing with other blackjack players or hands around the table. Players compete against the house not each other, the only hand the player has to worry about is the one that the dealer holds.

Blackjack

This is it, the Holy Grail, the hand you are praying for. Vingt-et-un, 21, Pontoon. Your first two cards being an Ace and a 10-value card. Unbeatable but remember that the dealer can still match you if he holds Blackjack also - in this instance the hand would be a Push and you would get your initial stake back and continue with the next hand.

Payouts

The payout ratio of a winning hand is 1:1 to the player’s wager unless he holds Blackjack (his first two cards are an Ace and a 10 value card). The payout ratio of a Blackjack hand is 3:2, in other words you receive one and a half times your stake. If both the player and the dealer have equal values then the hand is a push and the player recovers his wager.

Specifics of the game such as how many decks of cards are used and how often the cards are shuffled are likely to change across blackjack variants and from casino to casino but the basics of the game are always the same.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 at 21:46 pm and is filed under Blackjack. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.