Blackjack Rules

Blackjack rules are very simple, which is one reason why the game of blackjack is so popular among casino players in the first place. Another reason for its popularity is that the game gives the player a great chance of winning, thanks to it having the lowest house edge (around 0.5%) of all games in most establishments.

A third advantage of blackjack is that you can learn to play strategically by memorising a few basic rules of your own so that you know exactly when you should hit, stand, fold and so on. We discuss blackjack strategy in detail elsewhere, so right now let us focus on the game itself.

Blackjack is played with standard decks of 52 playing cards. One to eight decks can be used, and if four or more decks are used then the cards are dealt from a container known as a “shoe”. The fewer decks that are used the better it is for the player, especially if they are card counting (something that is considered against the rules in many casinos, but is very difficult to detect).

Playing blackjack is easy. All of the cards are given a numerical value. The cards 2 to 10 are worth their face value. Aces can count as one or eleven and picture cards count as ten. Because you have the option of playing the ace as a one or eleven, a hand containing an ace is called a soft hand, whilst a hand with no aces is called a hard hand. A hard hand can only be counted one way, since all cards other than aces have a set value.

At the beginning of each hand, each player makes a bet. The dealer then gives each player two cards, dealing each of them one at a time starting with the player at his left and continuing clockwise. In single deck and double-deck games, the cards are dealt faced down. In blackjack games that use a shoe the cards are dealt face up. The dealer also deals himself two cards, one face up and one face down. The face down card is referred to as the “hole card”.

Each player must add value of his or her cards together to determine what the hand is worth. For example, if you have a five and a seven, your hand is worth twelve. If you have a nine and a jack, your hand is worth nineteen (remember, all face cards are worth ten). If you have an ace and six, you have a total of seventeen or seven (remember, aces can be used as one or eleven). If you have a queen and an ace, you have twenty-one. A two card hand that totals 21 is called a blackjack.

The object of blackjack is to beat the dealer, so you aren’t competing against any of the other players that might be sitting at the same table. The dealer can be beat in two ways. If your cards total twenty-one or lower and that total is higher than the dealer's hand, you win. If the dealer goes over twenty-one and you don’t, then you win. Of course, if your own hand total is over twenty-one, then you have “busted” and your hand loses automatically.

A blackjack table consists of six or seven spots for players and one dealer. In front of each player there's a betting circle where you place the chips that you want to wager. Each table will have a sign indicating the minimum and maximum betting limits, and these are usually £5 or $5 minimum and £2,000 or $2,000 maximum. The casinos change the minimum/maximum sign according to how busy they might be. If they get really busy, they may raise the limits to restrict the game to the higher rollers and allow them to bet more money.

Blackjack rules dictate that the dealer must always plays his hand last. This means that his hole card remains unknown to the players until he turns it over to play his hand. It would be no challenge to the players if both the dealer's cards were turned face up at the beginning of the game. At the same time it would be unfair to the players if both the dealer's cards were face down. The players need to judge how to play their hands based on the dealer's face-up card and total of their hand.

Online Blackjack homepage.