How to play blackjack
The objective in blackjack is to beat the dealer. There are three ways of doing this: get 21 with your first two cards without the dealer also hitting 21, get a hand higher than the dealer without exceeding 21, or let the dealer go over 21, called going ‘bust’.
In blackjack, the player is dealt 2 cards and the dealer is dealt 1 card. The player then has to decide whether to take another card (hit) or stick with the existing hand (stand). You can keep taking cards until you choose to stop or go over 21.
All cards count as their face value except Jack, Queen and King which all count as 10, and the Ace which counts as 1 or 11.
After the player has finished taking cards or has gone bust, the dealer reveals his hand. The dealer has to play by the blackjack rules. This means he to keep taking cards until he either hits 17 or more, or goes bust.
After the dealer has finished acting, the hands are compared. If the player hand is higher than the dealer’s hand, the player wins. If the dealer goes bust the player wins. But remember the player always acts first, so if the player busts their own hand first, they lose.
Read about different Blackjack versions.
There are a couple of other options when playing blackjack. You can ‘double down’ and ‘split’. Doubling down means you double your initial bet and in exchange get one more card. If your first two cards have the same value, you can ‘split’ them into two separate hands. Always remember that a Blackjack after a split is counted as a regular 21, not a blackjack.
Another option is the insurance bet. If the dealer’s exposed card is an ace, you can get ‘insurance’ against the dealer getting a blackjack. This is a side bet that pays 2:1 if the dealer gets blackjack. If the dealer doesn’t get blackjack you lose the insurance bet.
