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casino winner :: blackjack rules

Tree tables rule. The first table tells you whether you should split when your two cards are of the same rank. The second table tells you what to do if you have a soft hand, meaning that one of your cards is an ace and can be counted as either 1 or 11. The final table tells you what to do in all other cases -- if you are not splitting, and your hand is not soft. To win you need to beat the dealer without busting. You bust when your cards total to more than 21 and you lose automatically. The winner is whoever has closest to a total of 21. You reach 21 by adding up the values of the cards.

The blackjack table seats about 6 players. Either six or eight decks of cards are used and are shuffled together by the dealer and placed in a card dispensing box called 'Shoe'. Before receiving any cards players must place a wager. Then the players are dealt two cards face up. The dealer gets one face up, one face down. Each player in turn either stays or takes more cards to try and get closer to 21 without busting. Players who do not bust wait for the dealer's turn. When all the players are done, the dealer turns up the down card. By rule, on counts of 17 or higher the dealer must stay; on counts of 16 or lower the dealer must draw.

If you make a total of 21 with the first two cards (a 10 or a face and an Ace), you win automatically. This is called 'Blackjack'. If you have Blackjack, you will win one and one-half times your bet unless the dealer also has Blackjack, in which case it is a Push or a Tie (or a Stand-off) and you get your bet back. The remaining players with a higher count than the dealer win an amount equal to their bet. Players with a lower count than the dealer lose their bet. If the dealer busts, all the remaining players win. There are other betting options namely Insurance, Surrender, Double Down, Even Money and Split.

So, when playing blackjack, you would first look to see whether your hand can be split. If it can, and table 1 tells you that it's appropriate to do so, you split. Otherwise, you check the other tables. If you have a soft hand, you look at the second table and do what it tells you. If your hand is hard, you play according to the last table. The key to learning basic strategy is to memorize these tables and to apply their rules during the game. You will further find about the history of blackjack in brief in our homepage.

  1. The player may request as many hits as they like until the total value of their cards reaches 21 or they bust.
  2. If the player busts, the casino (house) wins.
  3. If the player stops at a total card value that is less than 21, then the dealer will reveal the value of dealer’s second card.
  4. If the dealer's has Blackjack (total value of 21), then the casino (house) will win.
  5. The dealer must keep drawing cards until the total value of dealer's cards is 17 or more. If the dealer card-count exceeds 21, the dealer busts and the player win.
  6. The player places a wager on the table layout.
  7. The dealer deals two cards facing upwards to the player and one card to the dealer face up.
  8. The dealer draws a second card and places it face down.
  9. The player is asked if they would like another card (also known as a hit) or if they wish to stand.