Online Blackjack
The Basics of Blackjack
We made this guide especially for rookies without any real experience or proper Blackjack skills.
Blackjack might not be the easiest way to spend your free time, but it is a good choice when you play Casino games and can potentially be very rewarding. Personally, I think it’s the best card game on the Casino floor.
You can play Blackjack in that shiny new brick-and-mortar casino just around the corner or join millions of thrill-seekers who’ve replaced traditional tables for exciting online lobbies.
However, whatever your choice, you’ll need a solid knowledge the basics of Blackjack, of the blackjack rules, and of the best blackjack strategy to play and to increase your winning odds.
How to Play Blackjack
Like you cannot learn a language before you study its alphabet, you need to start with basic blackjack rules and basic blackjack strategy if you really want to learn how to play Blackjack.
Let’s start with a classic deck of French cards because that’s what you need to play Blackjack. In total, the deck features 52 cards divided into four different suits:
- Clubs (♧)
- Diamonds (♢)
- Hearts (♥)
- Spades (♤)
Spades and clubs are colored black, while diamonds and hearts are colored red. A traditional deck has 13 ranks, and each suit has one card per rank.
The first card is the Ace (A), but it’s not exactly the equivalent of a 1. In fact, this card can also be the highest-ranking card of the deck in Blackjack worth 11.
The following ten cards form a string from Two (2) to Ten (10/T), while the last three are the Jack (J), Queen (Q), and King (K). These last three cards are called the face cards.
Learn the Blackjack Hands and Odds
But “I just want to learn how to play Blackjack“, you say?
No problem, let’s jump in and look at what the different Blackjack hands and odds are worth.
Firstly, it is important to note suits are of value only in some variants of this game.
Since there are four suits, and each suit has one card of each rank, the math says that there are only four cards of each rank in the deck, right?
Scoring in Blackjack depends on the ranks a player holds in his or her hand and his or her ability as a card counter (according to the rules):
- Each ace is worth either 1 or 11 points.
- For all cards that belong to the two-to-ten string, the rule is the same – their rank equals their point value. If you hold a 5, for example, you hold exactly 5 points.
- Every face card, be it a Jack, a Queen, or a King, is worth 10 points.
Practice by picking up any two cards.
Translate the ranks of cards you hold to their point value and add it all up. It’s really as easy as that. Your score in Blackjack is the sum of the value of your cards – not one point less than that.
Winning a Blackjack Hand
When you play a game of Blackjack, you always play against the dealer.
Don’t think about the other players at the table. Regardless of how many of you sit to play at the same time, there are always only two hands in play – the player’s hand versus the dealer’s hand.
And the winning hand in Blackjack is, you guessed it, the higher hand. Which, if you are lucky enough to get it, is also the one that gives its name to the game: a Blackjack.
A Blackjack is a hand 2-card hand that totals 21 points.
This is not an easy one to get; be sure of that. But it is also the one you’ll be always hoping to receive. Every. Single. Time. You play.
Losing a Blackjack Hand
The losing hand, the dead hand, or the bust is every hand with a total sum of 22 or higher.
That’s because as soon as you go over the 21-point limit, you are out of the game. Regardless of the dealer’s score.
Unfortunately, that’s not the only losing hand on the Blackjack tables. Because each hand that is one point short compared to the dealer’s score…it’s a losing one.
Blackjack - Should I Hit or Should I Stand?
Blackjack begins after all players have exchanged their money for chips and placed them on the designated spot on the table as their bets.
The dealer then deals the cards – two of them for each player, including himself.
The cards can be dealt either face down or face up, apart from the dealer’s own two cards, of which one is always dealt face up and another face down.
The dealer then peeks to check if he’s been dealt a Blackjack.
If not, the players are invited to hit or stand, though there are three more options to choose from – splitting, doubling down, or surrendering.
How you play your hand depends on the cards both you and the dealer have.
- When you go for hitting, you’re dealt one additional card.
- If you choose to stand instead, you’re keeping the cards you have.
- To qualify for splitting, you need to have two cards of the same rank.
You’ll receive two cards more, one for each of the cards you’ve originally been dealt, pay a side bet, and then start playing with two independent hands. Both the stakes and their payoffs are independent, too.
When you double down, you need to place an additional bet, after which you’ll receive one more card to add to your original hand.
Blackjack rules for surrendering vary from one online casino to another, in the sense that some offer an early surrender option – to drop out of the hand before the dealer checks his cards for a Blackjack – and others a later surrender option, in which you must wait until after he’s done that.
Either way, you agree to half your bet and are free to walk away with the rest.
Disclaimer
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