Rules of Blackjack Card Game
Blackjack, also known as, Natural Twenty-One, is one of the most popular card games worldwide. Blackjack follows simple yet thrilling rules of playing. So before you go on your way to winning big money, here is a refreshment on the rules of blackjack!
The objective of the Game
The objective of the game is for players to attempt to beat the dealer by getting a count equal to, or as close as possible to 21. If a player or the dealer exceeds 21 they lose. In blackjack, an ace can have a value of either a 1 or 11, while face cards are worth 10 and cards 2 to 9 are at face value. Before the game begins, the minimum and maximum bets are established – generally speaking, betting limits start at $2 and can go up to $500. After each player places their bets in front of them the dealer starts shuffling the deck before dealing one card- face up to the player at the furthest left in a clockwise rotation. Finally, the croupier deals one card face up to themselves. Following that, another round of cards is dealt face up to the players, while the croupier deals his second card face down.
Now let’s pretend that a player receives two cards, an ace and a ten. This brings their total to 21 which is a blackjack! When this happens the dealer loses and is required to pay the player one and a half times the amount of their bet. If the dealer has a blackjack, they immediately collect the bets of all players who do not have blackjack. In the case that the dealer and the player have blackjack, it is considered a “push” or a tie and the player gets to keep his/her bet.
If after the two cards are dealt no player or the dealer has a blackjack, the play goes back to the first player, always starting from the left. In this case, the player must decide whether to “stand” (not ask for another card) or “hit” (ask for another card in an attempt to get closer to a count of 21, or even better hit 21). This gives players the advantage of standing on the cards they were originally dealt with or hitting.
As we’ve mentioned earlier an ace can be worth 1 or 11. The combination of an ace with a card other than a ten-card is known as a “soft hand.” Because a player can choose to count the ace as 1 or 11 depending on what will bring their total closer to 21. Choosing to count the ace as 1 can also help avoid going over 21! For example, a hand is known as “soft 17”, is consisted of an ace plus a 6, and is considered to be a good hand. A player may wish to draw for a higher total at this point or might wish to stand.
Once the dealer has served all the players they can turn up the face-down card they dealt themselves. If the total is 17 or more, the dealer must stand, if the total is 16 or less, they must take another card. The dealer will continue taking cards until the total is 17 or more. It is worth mentioning that such constraints on the dealer give them less chance at winning since players have the option of taking one or more cards even after reaching a card-count of 17.
A few other rules to keep in mind;
Double Down
If a player feels like they have a favorable hand, they can choose to “Double Down.” Meaning that they could place a second wager equal to their first. Doubling Down allows the player to receive one extra card face up, and has to stand after that card is dealt, regardless of the total.
Split
If the player is dealt with two cards of matching rank this gives him/her the option to choose to place an additional bet equal to their original bet and split the cards into two hands. In this case, the cards are separated and an additional card is dealt for each hand to complete it. If this happens again, in the sense that the player receives a matching rank card on their split, they have the choice to split even further. The split hands are played one at a time in the order in which they were dealt, from left to right!
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