Goal
The goal of the game of
blackjack is to get a score
that is higher than the dealer’s score
without going over the number 21. In the
game, an ace is worth 1 or 11, face cards
are worth 10 and every other card is worth
its face value.
Outcomes
If you happen to have a higher score than
the dealer without going over 21, then you
win the hand.
If you happen to have a lower score than
the dealer and the dealer has not gone over
21, then you lose the hand.
If either you or the dealer happens to go
over 21 at any point during the hand, then
that person’s hand is declared bust and they
lose the hand.
A tie value results in a push, which means
that you get your bet back and nothing
changes in your chip stack.
If either you or the dealer has blackjack
(i.e. dealt an ace plus any card with a face
value of 10), then you automatically win the
hand. If both of you have blackjack, then
the hand is a push.
Set Up
Quite simply, the game is set up with
everyone at the table being dealt two cards.
The people that are playing at the table and
challenging the dealer have both of their
cards dealt face up while the dealer has one
of their cards dealt face down and one of
their cards dealt face up. The card that is
dealt face up is referred to as the dealer’s
door card, while the card that is dealt face
down is referred to as the dealer’s hole
card.
Before any dealing is done however, each
player needs to bet on the hand. A player
must bet in order to receive a hand,
although they do have the choice of sitting
one or more hands out if they want to take a
break. The bet must be somewhere in between
the maximum and minimum allowable bets as
defined by the table you are at.
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Progressive Blackjack
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Single
Deck Blackjack
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Game Play
After you are dealt your two cards face
up, you immediately are going to have at
least three options available to you. The
first option is the hit
option, which results in you getting dealt
another card from the dealer. The second
option is the stand
option, which results in you not getting
dealt anymore cards and standing with the
hand value that you currently have. The last
option is the double down
option, which results in you doubling your
initial bet and getting dealt exactly one
more card.
However, there are other options that are
available depending on what the
circumstances are of the game and where you
are playing. In some casinos both online and
offline, you also have a
surrender option. This option
results in you forfeiting the hand outright,
but you get half of your bet back instead of
losing all of it. If both of your cards have
the same face value, then some casinos will
allow you to split
and divide those cards into two different
hands, doubling your overall bet because you
are required to put up a bet of the same
exact size on the second hand. Some casinos
will let you do this continually if you keep
on getting dealt cards with the same face
value (i.e. if you split an initial dealing
of 4-4 and end up with hands of A-4 and 4-4,
you can then split again).
Finally, the last option available to you
is to buy insurance
if the dealer’s door card is an ace. This
insurance pays you a certain bet if the
dealer has
blackjack, so in spite of you losing the
bet you put up the insurance bet can
actually help you overcome that.
Game play will continue until each player
has either busted (gone over 21) or stood,
at which point the dealer will deal their
hand according to the house rules and decide
all of the bets based on the outcome of
their hand.
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