Blackjack Rules. Place your bet (Remember, if there is room at the table you can play more than 1 hand if you do this you will need to place a bet for each hand you wish to play). You will be dealt 2 cards face up so all other Players and the Dealer can view them. The Dealer normally deals 2 cards for him/her, 1 face-up, and 1 face down. The rules of blackjack are simple. You are dealt cards, which have the face value shown on them. You need to get a hand with a score of as close to 21 as possible, without going over it.

1. Blackjack Rules No Betting Rules
2. Blackjack Rules No Betting Odds
3. Blackjack Rules No Betting Poker
4. Blackjack Rules No Betting Against

It’s easy enough to find how to play blackjack articles on the internet, but a lot of them ignore the subtler aspects of the blackjack card game’s rules.

This post is my attempt to correct that and focus more on the rules of play than the basic stuff.

At the same time, this post should be more useful for the blackjack beginner because it covers rules that other pages don’t cover.

A Broad Overview of Blackjack Card Game Rules

You play real money blackjack with the same standard 52-card deck that’s used for poker or other casino card games like baccarat. The joker is never used, and there are no wild cards in blackjack. Most casinos use multiple decks of cards, usually 2, 6, or 8 decks.

The dealer uses a blank card to signify when it’s time to reshuffle the decks, and if the casino is using more than 4 decks, the cards are dealt from a box called a “shoe.” In single deck or 2-deck games, the cards are dealt by hand.

The object of the game is to get a score as close as you can to 21 without going over. You have one opponent – the dealer. How the play of the other gamblers goes has nothing to do with your own outcomes.

The cards have point values based on their rankings. In other words, the 2 of spades is worth 2 points, the 3 of hearts is worth 3 points, and so on. The suit doesn’t affect the point scores for the cards.

Face cards – the jack, queen, and king – are each worth 10 points.

Blackjack Rules No Betting Rules

And an ace counts as 1 or as 11, depending on which is better for the player.

Blackjack Betting Rules (Cash and Chips) – How to Bet on the Card Game

Before you can play, you must buy into the game. This usually means exchanging cash for chips at the blackjack table, but in many casinos, you can play cash, too. Usually you only play cash once when you first sit down at the table, though – as soon as that first hand is dealt, the dealer will want to convert your cash to chips.

It’s important that you don’t hand your cash directly to the dealer. Lay it on the table. The dealer doesn’t want to be accused of stealing your money, which is why they have such specific procedures in terms of counting your money on the table in such a way that it can be filmed by the camera above – the “eye in the sky.”

You’ll find a placard at the blackjack table which lists the betting limits. You’ll rarely find a casino offering a minimum bet of less than $5 per hand, and $500 per hand is often the maximum bet. High roller rooms often have higher betting maximums, but it’s important to know the minimum before sitting down.

You don’t want to buy in for $300 at a $100 minimum blackjack table and wind up with only 3 chips to play with.

The Rules for Dealing Blackjack – How to Deal the Card Game

The cards get shuffled periodically at most casinos, usually when the deck has been dealt down to the cut card. In some casinos, though, a continuous shuffling machine is used. In this case, you can forget all about counting cards.

The Dealer Has Specific Rules for How to Deal

She waits until everyone has placed their bets and the decks have been shuffled. Then she gives each player a card, one at a time, clockwise around the table. She also gives herself a card, face-up.

The players’ cards are dealt face-up in a game dealt from a shoe, but if the game is being dealt from the dealer’s hand, the cards are dealt face-down.

After everyone gets their first card, the dealer gives each player a 2^nd card. The players either get both cards face-up or face-down, depending on the nature of the game. But the dealer’s 2^nd card is always face-down.

That’s how the initial deal goes.

After that, it’s time to make game-play decisions.

Blackjack Rules for Naturals

The first thing that happens after the deal in this card game is the adjudication of “naturals”, AKA “blackjacks.”

A blackjack, or natural, is a 2-card hand worth 21 points. To get a blackjack, you must have an ace, but you must also have a 10-point card. It doesn’t matter if it’s a face card or a 10, it still counts as a blackjack if it’s 2 cards that make up a total of 21.

If a player gets a natural and the dealer doesn’t, the player immediately gets paid off at 3 to 2 odds. In other words, if you bet $5 on the hand, you win $7.50 immediately. That’s it for the hand.

Note:

Some versions of blackjack only pay off at 6 to 5 odds. You should avoid such games, as they give the house a much higher mathematical edge than the standard version of the card game.

If a dealer gets a natural and the player doesn’t, the player immediately loses. But you only lose the bet. You don’t pay a penalty or anything like that.

If both the player and the dealer get a natural, the result is a push. The player gets to keep his bet, but he doesn’t get any winnings. A push is basically the same thing as a tie.

A natural only happens about once out of every 20 of your hands, so it’s common enough that you’ll see it often.

But most of the time, you’ll still have to play your hand.

Blackjack Gameplay Rules – How to Play the Card Game

So far there hasn’t been much gameplay to discuss – just betting, shuffling, dealing, and checking for naturals.

Once all that’s done, the gameplay begins, and that’s where the rules for this card game get interesting.

The player to the dealer’s left acts first, and play proceeds around the table. The dealer acts last.

The 2 basic moves in the game are to stand or to hit. To stand means to decline any additional cards and take the total you have to the showdown. To hit means to accept another card from the dealer to increase your total score.

You have no limit to the number of additional cards you can take, but you can also decide to stand at any time.

But, if at any time, you hit and get an additional card that makes your total 22 or higher, you immediately lose and the dealer collects your bet.

This is, in fact, where the house gets its edge. Even if the dealer also busts, you’re already out of the game if you’ve busted. What should be a tie in a “fair” game is a loss for the player.

But, if you play with basic blackjack strategy, the house edge for blackjack is one of the lowest in the casino. It’s less than 1% depending on the conditions of the game.

Also, this is a good time to point out the importance of an ace. Since it can count as 1 or 11, you have more flexibility in how aggressively you play your hand. That’s why your total number of points when you have an ace in your hand is called a “soft” total. It’s impossible to bust a soft total because you can always decide to count the ace as 1 instead of 11.

The Card Game Rules for Other Player Options

Hitting and standing aren’t your only options. You can also do the following with your hand:

• Double Down – This means to double the size of your bet and take one – and only one – additional card.
• Take Insurance – This option is only available when the dealer has an ace. Insurance is a side bet that the dealer has a 10 for her face-down card, giving her a blackjack. The size of the insurance bet is half that of your initial bet, and it pays off at 2 to 1. Of course, if you win the insurance bet, you lose your main bet, breaking even for the hand. That’s why it’s called “insurance.” You’re insuring your hand against the possibility that the dealer has a blackjack.
• Split – When you have 2 cards of the same rank, like aces or 8s, for example, you can put up an extra bet and play 2 hands. The starting card for each of the 2 hands comes from your hand, and you get a new card on top of each of them. You play each hand independently from that point forward.

Blackjack Rules No Betting Odds

Rules for How the Dealer Plays Her Hand

Once all the players have busted (gotten a total of 22+) or stood, the dealer plays her hand. The dealer doesn’t get to exercise judgment when playing her hand; she must play according to the house rules for the dealer.

This means the dealer must hit any total of 16 or lower. It also means the dealer must stand on a total of 17.

There’s one wrinkle, though – a soft total of 17 might force the dealer to stand, or it might force the dealer to hit. If the dealer must stand on a soft 17, that’s an advantage for the player. If the dealer hits a soft 17, the casino has a higher edge than in the other version of the game.

Once the dealer stands, the bets are paid off. If the dealer has a higher total than the player, the dealer wins the player’s bet. If the player has a higher total than the dealer, the dealer pays the bet off at even money.

If the dealer and the player stand on the same total, the bet is considered a push. The player gets his bet back, but he gets no winnings on top of it.

Conclusion

That’s my best, most complete, and simplest explanation for blackjack card game rules.

If I left anything out, let me know in the comments.

Blackjack Rules No Betting Poker

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.

One of the most often asked questions from players about blackjack strategy, is 'how should I bet?' You've got severaloptions and I'll discuss them in this article and offer my recommendation.

Flat Bet Blackjack Strategy

This means betting the same amount all the time. Most players don't like to bet this way because they figure if the dealer wins more hands then them they'll never win any money. Also, playersfeel it's boring betting this way. They prefer the thrill of sometimes betting more in the hopes that when they do so, they will win the hand and make a nice profit.

Blackjack Rules No Betting Against

Here are the facts on the flat betting blackjack strategy. If you bet say $5 on every hand in a standard multiple deck game the house will have an edge of 0.5% against theskilled basic strategy player. That means you will lose on average 0.5% of every wager you make. So if you bet $10 on every hand and average 80 hands per hour you will have made a total of $800worth of bets. The casino expects to earn 0.5% of the $800 or $4.00. Of course, the more likely result is that you'll win or lose much more than $4 after an hour of play. But on average you canexpect over time to lose at the rate of $4 per hour.

Let's take an example of a player flat betting $10 on every hand. It's is a conservative betting strategy that leads to a relatively low theoretical loss rate. The fluctuation in this player'sbankroll will also be low which means the likelihood he'll have a big winning or losing session is not great.

Watch 'Why You Should Never Make the Blackjack Insurance Bet with Blackjack Expert Henry Tamburin' (March 2016)

In this video blackjack expert Henry Tamburin explains why a basic strategy player should never make an insurance bet. He gives details on three different situations that a player may encounterand why he considers blackjack insurance to always be a sucker bet.

Progressive Betting Blackjack Strategy

This is where things get interesting. The Progressive betting blackjack strategy is when players vary their bets in some way from one hand to the next rather than alwaysbetting the same amount on every hand. There are all different types of betting progressions but they all have one common denominator. You either decrease or increase your next bet dependingupon whether the hand you just played won or lose.

Win progressions encourage you to increase your bet size after a winning hand. For example, you make a minimum bet of $10 and if you win, you raise your next stakes on the hand to $20.

There are all different kinds of win progressions. The most common is a 1-2-3-5 progression. This means you increase your bet by the above multiples after each winning hand butas soon as you experience a loss, you start the progression over with a 1 unit bet.

Proponents of win progressions will tell you that you'll win more money if you win 5 consecutive hands compared to the amount you lose if you lose 5 consecutive hands. Of course, what theydon't tell you is that you never know when that 5 consecutive winning hand streak will occur.

There are also betting progressions in which you increase your bet following a loss. These Martingale type betting progressions are dangerous and you should never consider using them.

There are also hybrid betting progressions, which have you increase your bets following a win, but after two or three success wins you lock up some profit and gradually regress your bets. Thecreativity of progressive bettors is never-ending.

First of all, the blackjack strategy for betting progressions does not change the 0.5% house edge one iota. There has never been a correlation between the hand just won (orlost) and your chance of winning the next hand. In other words, using the criteria of the result of one hand (W/L) to base how you bet on the next hand has no scientific validity. So bettingprogressions, in the long run, don't work in the sense that they won't improve your long-term chances of winning.

But here's what betting progressions will do. First off they increase the fluctuation in your session bankroll compared to flat betting. This means you can win more using abetting progression compared to flat betting but you can also lose more. Secondly, betting progressions will increase the amount of money you wager per hour compared to flat betting. If a $10bettor uses a 1-2-3-5 betting progression, his average bet will $20. Over an hour he will average $20 times 80 hands or $1600 worth of bets. The casino's expected win is 0.5% of $1600 or $8. Inother words, a $10 progressive bettor stands to lose twice as much per hour as a $10 flat bettor.

Here's a tip to save you some money in the long run if you insist on using a betting progression. Instead of starting your progression at $10, start at a lower amount (ie. $5). This will reduceyour average bet to $10 per hour and cut your hourly theoretical loss rate in half.

But in the long run flat betting and betting progressions don't work in the sense they won't change the house edge against you and you will lose in the long run. So what betting system works?That, my friends, is card counting.

Betting When You Have The Edge (Card Counting)

With card counting, you know when you have the edge based on the change in the composition of the decks and therefore you'll know when it's the right time to bet more. Sounlike betting progressions that are based on whether you win or lose the previous hands, card counting is based on the mix of cards that were played on previous hands. If more small valuecards were played in previous rounds, there are more big value cards left in the unplayed cards, and the edge shifts from dealer to the player. This would be the best time to bet more.

But I'm a realist. Not a whole lot of average blackjack players have the time or mental concentration during play that is required to master one of the popular point count cardcounting systems. These are readily available in blackjack books. But even though millions of blackjack books have been sold since Ed Thorp's classic book, Beat The Dealer (circa 1962) firstrevealed card counting to the masses, the number of players who can successfully win money in the long run at blackjack number in the hundreds and thousands.

So what's the answer to betting at blackjack for the average player? I asked Don Pronovost that same question about four years ago. Don is a software developer that markets blackjack trainingsoftware. He spent the better part of two years and a trillion computer simulated hands looking for the solution to this dilemma. What he developed is Speed Count.

Speed Count is unlike any conventional card counting system. It's much simpler to master and requires much less concentration when you play. And unlike progressive betting systems, Speed Countwill give you a verifiable advantage over the casino You can read about Speed Count in Frank Scoblete’s book, Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution.

Now that you know the scoop on betting at blackjack, I wish you many aces and faces the next time you play.

Henry Tamburin has been a respected casino gambling writer for the past 50 years. He is the author of theUltimate Blackjack Strategy Guide and was editor of theBlackjack Insider newsletter. You can read his latest articles on blackjack, video poker, and his personal playing experiences at https://www.888casino.com/blog/writers/henry-tamburin

Try an online casino for FREE. We have over 15 No Deposit Bonus Codes. No credit card needed, just sign up andstart playing!