Because of blackjack’s popularity, many people have seen someone play the game at least once, whether in a film or elsewhere. As depicted on television, it may not appear to be a big deal – just a card game with some simple rules. This is why so many players arrive with unwarranted confidence in their knowledge and often lose a considerable amount of money when they visit a casino.
Moreover, professional gamblers can always spot the novices in the casino before they have even started playing properly, as their choices and behaviour give them away. It is worth mentioning that in order to become winners, they need to be well-prepared and know the rules by heart.
Blackjack Basic Rules
As already mentioned, the basic rules of the game are not that hard to understand, which is why so many people believe they have a good chance of winning. To succeed, players need to reach a final score of twenty-one without surpassing it.
They compete against the house, so their hand total must be higher than the dealer’s. The player can also win if the dealer’s total exceeds 21 or if the player receives a blackjack against any other dealer hand.
If the dealer’s hand is closer to twenty-one, or if the player goes over this number, the result is a ‘bust’ – in other words, the player loses the round. However, many casinos offer additional options that keep the game going and make it more exciting.
For instance, when players are dealt a blackjack, they receive a bonus payout, which can vary from casino to casino. The majority of gambling venues offer payouts of 3 to 2 for blackjacks, which corresponds to one-and-a-half times the player’s original bet. A blackjack consists of two cards – an ace and any card worth ten points.
Card Values
At this point, the question of how the cards are valued usually arises. The system is not complicated; in fact, it is rather simple. The ace is the most powerful card in the deck as it can be counted as one or eleven, and it is entirely up to the player’s discretion to decide. The Queen, King and Jack are worth ten points, and the remaining cards carry the numeric value printed on them.
Accordingly, when players are dealt a face card and an ace, they should count the ace as eleven to reach exactly twenty-one, which is blackjack. Normally, they are paid even money for a winning hand, except when they have a blackjack, which pays 3/2. It is worth mentioning that the payout can vary depending on the casino and the variation of the game, which is why it is always best to double-check in advance. The payout is printed in large font on the table’s felt.
The Difference between Soft and Hard Hands
To arrive at their hand total, the player simply adds up the values of their cards. Suppose for a moment you receive a K-5-6. Congratulations! You have a total of 21 that wins on every occasion except when the dealer has a blackjack or ties by drawing to 21 themselves.
In this vein, a push is a tie in blackjack, in which case no one wins or loses. The player receives their entire wager back. They can let it ride, remove it, or resize it for the next round. Regarding types of hands, there are two in blackjack. A hard hand is one that either contains no aces, or contains aces that are counted as 1.
Hard totals of 12 through 17 are particularly detrimental for players because they stand a greater chance of losing than winning against the dealer. Soft hands contain aces that can be valued at 1 or 11. These are favourable for both the player and the dealer because they cannot bust by taking one more card.
A hand remains soft until you draw a card that would cause it to exceed 21 if the ace were counted as 11. In that case, the ace automatically reverts to a value of 1 to prevent busting, and the hand transitions from soft to hard.
American vs. European Style of Card Dealing in Blackjack
There are two distinct styles of card dealing when it comes to blackjack, depending on where you play. It is essential to specify that most online and land-based casinos in the United States do not refer to their tables as “American Blackjack”. The US varieties of the game use different names, such as Vegas Strip Blackjack, Vegas Downtown Blackjack, and Atlantic City Blackjack.
One key difference between American and European varieties of the game is how the dealer’s cards are dealt. Casinos across the USA largely offer hole-card games where the dealer receives two cards during the initial deal. One card is exposed while the other is dealt face-down. The latter is the dealer’s hole card. When hole cards are in play, the dealer will check the face-down card whenever their exposed card is an Ace, 10, King, Queen, or Jack.
This procedure is called “peeking” for a blackjack. If the dealer has a blackjack, they turn their hole card over and all players lose unless they also have blackjacks. Generally speaking, hole-card games offer better playing conditions and odds.
The second style of card dealing prevails in European and Australian casinos. When a round of play starts, the dealer gets only one exposed card and receives their second card only after the players have completed their hands. This might seem like a negligible difference, but it further tilts the odds in favour of the casino.
Number of Players and Card Dealing
The number of players a blackjack table can accommodate depends on where you play. Most land-based casinos offer blackjack tables that can seat up to seven players, although one can also come across tables that allow five or even twelve patrons to join the game simultaneously. Most multi-hand online variations enable you to play on a maximum of five betting positions (betting spots).
Brick-and-mortar gaming houses will also allow up to three patrons to post chips in a single betting box, especially at full tables. This practice is called “betting behind” but we shall tackle it later on in this blackjack guide.
For the time being, it suffices to mention that the term refers to a situation in which one posts a wager on the hand of another seated player. This option is also available online at live-dealer blackjack tables. The difference is that usually an unlimited number of patrons can bet behind the same seated player.
Another thing that bears consideration, at least when one plays at a land-based venue, has to do with the number of decks. If a blackjack game is dealt from one or two decks, the players receive their cards face-down and can touch them to check their values, without removing them from the table. The dealer holds the deck or decks in their hand in this case.
Games where four to eight decks are utilised are dealt from a shoe, with the dealer taking the cards out one at a time. The players’ cards are dealt exposed and touching them is strictly prohibited. So is touching your chips once you have placed a wager in your betting spot. All of these rules are important for preserving the game’s integrity and preventing cardsharps from cheating.
Buying In and Playing Order
To join the game, the player must first purchase some chips from the dealer at the table. The banknotes should be placed on the felt and not handed directly to the dealer. The house representative is strictly prohibited from taking money directly from the players’ hands.
The dealer will spread the banknotes on the table so that surveillance can clearly see how much the player buys in for. The pit boss, i.e. a casino employee placed in charge of the blackjack tables, will confirm the transaction as well.
The dealer will then give the player the corresponding amount in chips. The player is now ready to make their first bet. The chips are placed within the betting box without touching its borders. Players must remember they cannot resize their wagers or even touch their chips once the dealing of the cards has started.
The minimum and maximum bet limits are displayed on a tiny plaque at the side of the table. These differ depending on regulations as well as on where you play. The dealing of the cards then starts from the dealer’s left and continues clockwise.
The dealer gives one exposed card to each seated patron and then one hidden card to themselves. They make a second pass around the table, repeating this procedure, only this time they will receive their second card with its face upwards.
Now everyone at the table has two cards and can make their playing decisions. Decision-making starts from the player seated to the dealer’s left and continues clockwise, in the same order as that of the card dealing.
Each player must add up the values of their first two cards to determine the strength of their hand and decide how to play it out. The dealer is the last person to play their hand. They reveal their hole card and complete their hand based on fixed rules outlined by the house.
No Decision-Making for the Blackjack Dealer
Dealing blackjack can be a tedious job since no decision-making is involved in the process. Instead, blackjack dealers follow house rules when playing out their hand. There are two common variations of the dealer’s standing rules, the first one being “The dealer must draw to 16 and stand on all 17s”. Once the dealer reaches or exceeds 17, they must stand pat and cannot draw any more cards to their hand.
The second rule requires the dealer to draw to 16 and hit soft 17. This rule slightly tilts the winning odds in favour of the house. Contrary to popular belief, a total of 17 is not considered strong enough in blackjack. Therefore, a dealer hitting soft 17 gets the opportunity to increase their hand’s value and outdraw the players.
Glossary of Blackjack Moves
Apart from the rules of the game itself, there are also some behavioural ones which indicate how players should act during the game. For instance, it is not recommended to talk at the table and, in order to indicate their next move, they need to use particular gestures. Before explaining them thoroughly, however, there are some terms used in the game with which every gambler should become familiar.
In Blackjack, players ‘hit’ when they would like to take an extra card and ‘stand’ when they would like to end their turn. ‘Split’ is available when two cards have an equal value; they are then separated to create two independent hands.
The player must make a second wager equal to the original bet before they can split a pair. The dealer automatically draws one card to each split to complete it. The two hands are played one after the other.
‘Doubling’, as the name hints, is a move where the player places a wager equal to their original bet, receives one additional card, and ends their turn. This move is recommended only in certain situations and against specific dealer cards. The same goes for splitting.
Players who realise at some point during the game that they are bound to lose can ‘surrender’, which means they forfeit half of their bet to fold a bad hand. It is worth noting that some casinos do not allow this move as it can be very beneficial in particular situations.
If available at all, the late surrender rule is more common. This allows the player to fold a hand only after the dealer has determined whether they have a blackjack when their exposed card is an ace or a ten.
By contrast, early surrender is when the player can withdraw from the round before the dealer checks their exposed card for a blackjack. Early surrender has been driven to extinction by the massive edge it gives to players. The rule is still available online in a select few blackjack variations.
Hand Signals for Blackjack Playing Decisions
As this is only the theoretical side of the game’s rules, our next step is to clarify how they are actually applied in the game. In order to hit, players should tap the table with their fingers, and to stand they should wave their hand over the cards.
They can split by placing additional chips next to their initial bet and spreading their index and middle fingers in a V-shape. To double down, players must again post extra chips up to the size of their first wager. The chips are placed next to those for the initial bet but never on top.
As for surrendering, the player must draw an imaginary vertical line behind their betting spot, using their index finger. It is worth noting that tenderfoot dealers would sometimes mistake the hand signal for surrendering for that of hitting. To avoid such mistakes, players are recommended always to verbalise their decisions while making the corresponding hand signals.
Also, it is essential to know that when you have already placed your bet but are still waiting to be paid out, the chips should not be touched under any circumstances. Another very important point is that players should refrain from increasing their bet if they are losing as this will only lead to even greater losses in the long term.
What Is a Dead Hand in Blackjack?
If you enjoy playing or watching poker, you have probably heard commentators speak about “dead” hands. The term is used for hands that are removed from play due to an infringement of the table rules. The hand is “dead” because it is invalid owing to the violation. The term “dead” hand is also used in blackjack but is something of a misnomer in this instance.
It refers to situations in which all players at the table exceed the maximum total of 21, automatically losing the round. When this happens, the dealer will simply turn over their face-down card for the benefit of surveillance, place players’ cards in the discard tray, and collect the losing wagers off the felt.
They would not take any hits even if their hand’s total is under 17. It makes no sense for the dealer to complete their total and waste extra cards since they have already won the round against the busted players. This is one of the main reasons why the house has an edge over blackjack players, albeit a small one. We shall cover this subject later on in this guide.
The Insurance Bet
Apart from hitting, standing, doubling, surrendering, and splitting, blackjack players have one additional playing option. They can purchase insurance against a prospective blackjack on behalf of the dealer. This becomes a viable move only if the dealer starts their hand with an exposed ace.
Players can buy or decline insurance at the very start of the round before the dealer looks under their hole card for a blackjack. When accepting insurance, the player must make a new bet that amounts to half of their main wager.
This extra wager pays 2 to 1 and wins if the dealer turns out to have a blackjack after checking their hole card. The main bet loses unless the player’s hand is a blackjack as well. If the dealer does not have a blackjack, the insurance wager loses. The player is then free to make playing decisions on their hand, choosing from the five moves we described above.
Blackjack Strategies
Now that the basic rules and moves of the game have been clarified, let’s have a look at the possible options players have to achieve the desired win. Blackjack is a card game and, as such, it follows a particular pattern that can be predicted to some extent. Therefore, the outcome of every hand can be influenced by using the right strategy and skills. This is why, throughout the years, many professional players have developed a number of methods that increase their chances of gaining an advantage over the casino.
Blackjack Rules
Blackjack Variations
Blackjack House Edge
Blackjack Odds and Probabilities
Blackjack Soft & Hard Hands
Basic Strategy
The most famous strategy in blackjack is the basic strategy, which has been greatly perfected and improved over the years. Nowadays, players can find many variations of it that suggest different moves in specific situations. This huge diversity of the available basic strategy charts is partly due to the fact that a number of blackjack variations have appeared in many casinos as well.
Strategy moves are influenced by playing conditions such as the number of decks, the rules for the dealer, the availability or absence of surrender, and so on. This strategy has proven to be extremely efficient as it significantly reduces players’ monetary losses if applied correctly.
The basic strategy chart is specially designed to help players make the best possible decisions in any given situation. Its suggested moves are based on the players’ hand total and the dealer’s up-card. It is a necessary guide that blackjack enthusiasts should always keep in mind if they want to reduce their money losses to a minimum.
There is also a more advanced and therefore more accurate approach known as composition-dependent strategy, in which case the number and the values of the cards in the player’s hand are also taken into consideration.
The basic strategy is dependent on the rules of the game and even the smallest changes can lower its effectiveness. This is why players should always have a look at the casino rules beforehand in order to ensure they apply it correctly.
Card Counting
Card counting is another very popular strategy in blackjack that is considered more advanced. Thus, it is predominantly used by more experienced players who have already mastered the basic strategy. As a matter of fact, even card counters rely on basic strategy; however, they often deviate from it when the remaining deck or shoe composition justifies it. In order to derive valuable information from the cards using this method, they also need to be able to apply the basic strategy correctly.
When both methods are incorporated, players can significantly increase their chances of winning. The reason is that the basic strategy’s suggested moves are based on the assumption that the upcoming cards in the game are unknown. However, the card-counting method gives players the chance to determine the ratio of the high-value cards to the low-value ones and therefore fill the missing information.
Even though the card-counting method is viewed as more difficult to conduct due to the calculation process itself, it provides very accurate information on the cards, provided players manage to apply it correctly. Nowadays a number of card-counting systems can be found, most of which use the universal principle of assigning point values to the ranks of the cards to ease the calculation process. Card counting significantly increases players’ chances of winning in the long term and provides them with precious information about the cards, which makes it well worth trying.
Useful Tips
There are some unwritten rules that professional players follow when they go to the casino to play blackjack. For instance, it is best to find a full table or one where there are as many fellow patrons as possible. This piece of advice is frequently given to basic-strategy players and here is why. Basic strategy is essential because it makes a considerable dent in the casino’s advantage.
However, it cannot eliminate it, which is to say that those who use it are still playing at a disadvantage, albeit a very small one. The more hands a basic-strategy player plays per hour, the quicker the house edge will grind down their bankroll. Logically, one such player will go through fewer rounds per hour when at a full table.
This slows down the rate at which one is losing money, which is always a good thing. Conversely, when one consistently plays at empty tables or tables with one to two seated players, the house edge will catch up to them more quickly due to the higher number of hands they will play per hour at a disadvantage.
Another useful tip is before choosing a table, to have a look at the minimum stake it offers. It needs to correspond to the player’s bankroll; otherwise, they risk not only losing their money but also finding themselves in an awkward situation. Speaking about money, it is highly recommended not to take any credit cards to the casino.
The reason behind this warning is obvious – gambling is a two-edged sword. As such, it can be very entertaining but also addictive. Using a credit card allows players to spend money that they might be unable to repay and it is extremely easy to use up virtual funds. Avoid many potential threats and nuisances by simply using only cash when going to the casino.