Blackjack is a great casino game because it involves an element of skill as well as luck, and this means that the better you play, the more chance you will have of walking away from the Blackjack table with the profit. In Blackjack the player’s only opponent is the dealer, so the skill of other players that may be present (at a multi-player Blackjack table, for example) is irrelevant.

The game of Blackjack begins with the player deciding how much they want to stake on a hand. Two cards are then dealt to the player and the dealer, with one of the dealer’s cards being dealt face up. The aim of the game is for the player to try and get his hand to total as close to 21 as possible without going over that figure (referred to as busting). Picture cards count as a 10 value, an Ace counts as 1 or 11, and number cards count at face value. If the player gets a higher total than the dealer without busting, they win the hand and are paid out at odds of even money, unless they get a Blackjack (a 10 card and an Ace) in which case odds of 3/2 are normally given.

If the dealer’s up-card is an Ace then the player is often given the option of taking out Insurance against the dealer having Blackjack. This is essentially a side bet costing half of your original stake. If the dealer does have Blackjack, the Insurance bet is paid out at odds of 2/1. If the dealer does not have Blackjack, the Insurance bet is lost.

The player can choose to play their hand in a number of ways:

• If the player is happy with their current total they can STAND with that total and play is passed to the dealer.
• If the player wants another card to increase their total they can HIT. If the additional card takes their total over 21 they bust and lose the game.
• If the player’s first two cards is a pair then many casinos will allow you to SPLIT. This splits the pair into two hands and therefore incurs another bet equal to the amount of the original bet. Some casinos allow players to split more than once and others don’t, so always check the rules before you begin to play.
• Depending on the rules of the casino, you can also DOUBLE DOWN on any original hand or on an original hand that totals 10 or 11. This involves making an additional bet equal to your original bet in return for one more card, at which point you must always STAND.

The dealer plays in much the same way, but must STAND as soon as his hand totals 17. Some casinos force the dealer to stand on any 17, whilst others only force the dealer to stand on a hard 17 (a hand that does not include an Ace) so, once again, you should check the rules of the game beforehand.

Should both the player and the dealer have the same total at the end of play, a PUSH is declared and the player gets his bets refunded (though not any Insurance bet). Otherwise the player or dealer (whoever has the hand total closest to 21) wins.

The house edge in Blackjack is generally quite small, but the exact figure depends on the number of decks used in the game. The more decks that are used, the greater the house edge is, so it makes sense to play single deck Blackjack wherever possible. Of course, you should also make the most of the skill element involved in the game by learning to play strategically. Blackjack strategy is well worth studying in detail, but to begin with you would benefit from adhering to the guidelines which follow...

Playing Blackjack Strategically

First, make sure that you are playing at a casino with rules that are most beneficial to you as the Blackjack player. Look for as many of the following points as you can – the more you can tick, the better your chances will be over the long term:

• The game uses a single deck.
• Doubling down is allowed on any two cards.
• Doubling down is allowed after splitting a pair.
• Re-splitting is allowed.
  
• Re-splitting Aces is allowed.
  
• Dealer must stand on all hands totalling 17 or higher.

If you can find a casino where all of the above rules are in place then that would be perfect, but if you can’t then just select the casino that has the greatest number of them, bearing in mind that the fewer decks there are in play, the better.

You can now adopt a basic Blackjack strategy by studying (and preferably memorising) the charts presented below. These tell you what you should do in every possible situation – just look where your hand intersects with the dealer’s hand to identify the best play. The key to the charts is as follows:
S = STAND
H = HIT
D = DOUBLE DOWN
Y = SPLIT
N = DON’T SPLIT