A Beginner’s Guide to Blackjack

Blackjack is an extremely popular game. The aim of the game is to have cards as close to, but not over, twenty-one. To get more than twenty-one is to go bust. The deck is a standard fifty-two card deck, but some casinos will use up to six decks at once.

The game starts with the dealer taking everyone’s bets. Each player and the dealer then receives one card face up. The dealer then gives each player another card face up and one card to themselves face down. Aces are either one or eleven and Jacks, Queens and Kings, known as face cards, all value ten. The rest of the cards are their numeric values.

The dealer then offers another card and depending on the total value of the player’s two cards the player either says ‘hit’ if they want another or ‘stand’ if they don’t. The dealer then takes a turn. They must hit another card if the total of their cards is under seventeen and must stand if the total is above seventeen.

If the dealer goes bust then each player who stood is paid. If the dealer stands at less than twenty-one then any player who has more than the dealer, but less than twenty-one, is paid.

There are a few terminologies that are useful to know. A Natural is to be dealt an ace and a ten or a face card so that the cards originally dealt total twenty-one. Splitting Pairs is when a player can turn a pair of number cards into two separate hands. The player has to place a bet equal to the original bet on the second hand. Double Down is when a player can double their bet when the original two cards dealt equal to nine, ten or eleven. Insurance is when a player can bet half their original bet on the chance that the dealer’s face down card is a ten when the face up card is an ace.

These rules can vary between different casinos, so check what the house rules are. When starting it’s best to find a table with a low bet limit. It’s usually okay to join a table mid-game, but keep an eye out for signs saying otherwise. When wanting to hit or stand hand signals are common, but a beginner should probably stick to being as clear as possible.