Blackjack- The Most Widely Played Casino Banking Game

black-jackIt is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one. In games like craps and roulette, the casino has a statistical advantage and there is nothing you can do about it; the house always wins. Blackjack is the one and only exception to this one-sided system. The game of casino blackjack or 21 is by far the most popular table game offered in gambling establishments.

The rules of play for the dealer are strictly dictated, leaving no decisions up to the dealer. Therefore, there is not a problem with the dealer or any of the other players at the table seeing the cards in your hand. Indeed, if you’re playing at a shoe game, the player cards are all dealt face up. The value of a hand is simply the sum of the point counts of each card in the hand. A blackjack, or natural, is a total of 21 in your first two cards. A blackjack is therefore an Ace and any ten-valued card, with the additional requirement that these be your first two cards. If you split a pair of Aces for example, and then draw a ten-valued card on one of the Aces, this is not a blackjack, but rather a total of 21. The distinction is important, because a winning blackjack pays the player odds of 3 to 2.

There are 4 players options. Hit means take another card from the dealer. Stand means Take no more cards; also known as “stand pat”, “stick”, or “stay”. Double down means the player is allowed to increase the initial bet by up to 100% in exchange for committing to stand after receiving exactly one more card. The additional bet is placed in the betting box next to the original bet. Some games do not permit the player to increase the bet by amounts other than 100%.Split means if the first two cards have the same value, the player can split them into two hands, by moving a second bet equal to the first into an area outside the betting box of the original bet. The dealer separates the two cards and draws a further card on each, placing one bet with each hand. The player then plays out the two separate hands in turn, with some restrictions.