The game of blackjack includes one dealer and from one to seven players.

In the beginning Blackjack was dealt from one 52-card deck. Today from one to eight 52-card decks are used. When more than two decks are used, a device called a shoe is used to hold the playing cards. To start the game the dealer deals each player two cards in sequence, one card at a time in a clockwise direction. The dealer also receives two cards, one face up and one face down. The dealer's exposed card is known as the up card and the face down card is the dealer's hole card. The up card is the card which will be responsible for determining what your playing decision will be. Poor players usually react to their hands without taking into consideration what the dealers up card is.

Each card has the same value as its index except for the ace and the picture cards. All 10's and picture cards (10,J,Q,K) are counted as 10. The ace can be valued as either 1 or 11, at the player's option..

The object of the game is for the player to get a total value for his hand equal to or closer to the numeric sum of 21 than the dealer without going over, busting.

The dealer must play by strict rules which require her to draw until she receives a total of 17 or greater. Some house rules allow the dealer to draw on soft 17. A soft total is a total using an ace counted as 11. When the player gets closer to the sum of 21 than the dealer, the player wins the bet and collects an amount equal to his bet. If the dealer gets closer to 21 without going over, the player loses. If hitting brings the player to a value greater than 21 then he busts and his cards are picked up and put into the discard pile and his money taken immediately. Therefore the player who busts loses even if the dealer eventually busts too. After all the players have completed their playing decisions it is the dealers turn. If the dealer goes over 21 (busts) all the players who have not busted are winners and are paid accordingly. If the player ends up with the same value (less than 21) as the dealer without busting, that constitutes a push and no money is won or lost. Pushes or ties occur about 10% of the time. The house advantage at blackjack comes from the fact that the player has the first chance to bust. What would otherwise have been a push (a player and a dealer bust) is a win for the house.

When a player is dealt an ace and a ten-valued card as his first two cards he has a blackjack or natural and is paid 3:2. If the player and the dealer both have blackjacks it is a push and no money is won or lost. This occurs about one out of every 400 hands. A blackjack beats an ordinary 21 of three or more cards.

When the up card is an ace the dealer must notify the players in a loud voice "calculated to be heard by the players" that insurance is being offered, at the same time running his hand over the insurance line. The players are allowed to make an insurance bet up to one-half of the amount of the initial bet. Before acting on any of the players hands the dealer must make certain that all players have had the opportunity to take insurance and then announce that insurance is now closed. In some casinos the dealer will look to see if her hole card is a ten immediately after announcing insurance closed, some other casinos have peeking devices which allow the dealer to slide the hole card over the peeking device which then indicates if the dealer has blackjack by displaying a colored light. If the dealer has a blackjack, the players who have taken insurance will be paid at 2-to-1 on their insurance bet. The player will lose the hand unless it too is a natural, but will get paid two times the insurance bet. The end result is that what the player lost on the original wager, he has won as insurance for a net result of no change in his bankroll. That is why the bet is called "insurance": you?re insuring against a loss in the event the dealer has a blackjack.

Some casinos allow the player to surrender his first two cards. When a player surrenders his hand, he immediately gives up half his bet without playing his hand out. If the dealer has a blackjack, surrender is not allowed and the player loses his entire bet unless he too has a blackjack. The correct time to surrender is when you?re hand is so poor that if you played it out you would expect to lose more than 50% of the bet on average.

If the player wants another card, he can tell the dealer to hit him. The player can do this by scratching the felt with his finger(s). The player may take as many hits as he wants, so long as he doesn't bust.

If the player does not want any more cards he should tell the dealer that he wishes to stand. He can do this by waving his hand, palm down, from side to side.

Any first two cards allow a player to place an amount up to the size of the original bet next to his original bet. This is referred to as doubling down and once this is done the player receives one additional card only. He cannot then request any more hits. He informs the dealer that he wishes to double down by placing an additional bet equal to his initial bet in the betting circle. The dealer then deals one card to the player and then moves on to the next hand. If the dealer has a blackjack after a player doubles down, the player only loses the original wager.

If a player's initial two cards are of the same denomination, he has the option of splitting them to create two hands by placing an amount equal to his original bet on the second card. The player then receives additional cards on each of the split pairs as if they were completely separate hands. If the player receives another card of the same denomination as the split cards, many casinos allow the player to resplit. Most casinos place a limit on the number of times a hand may be split, usually from one to three. In most casinos when aces are split, a player is permitted to draw only one additional card on each ace. If a split ace receives a ten valued card as its second card, it is not considered a blackjack and is not paid 3:2. If the dealer has a blackjack after the player splits, the player loses only the original wager.

Once all the players have acted on their hands the dealer flips her unexposed (hole) card over and draws cards until she has a total of 17 or above.

Be in charge of the game, not at the mercy of it!
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