Guide Of Blackjack Rules and Strategies
Blackjack also known as 21 is a direct game between the dealer and the player. You can easily find blackjack at Indian online casinos or land-based casinos. Blackjack has a winning formula i.e. to practice and repeat. The rules are quite easier to understand. With the right table and right strategy, you can master this game.
In Blackjack, it’s very important to keep track of the time, as counting cards won’t help if you lost your turn. Unlike other casino games like Andar Bahar, Teen Patti this game focuses on just one thing i.e. to win over the dealer. It just involves 4 steps:
- Place a bet.
- Take Action (to hit or to stand).
- See, did you beat the dealer?
- If No, place a new bet
Blackjack’s objective
The main objective of blackjack is simple i.e. to beat the dealer. It doesn’t matter how many players are participating and what are they up to. Blackjack is a direct game between the Player and the dealer.
As a beginner, you can display your cards on the table and even ask for help. The basic purpose of the cards dealt by the dealer is to have a hand value closer to 21 not over 21. In case if any of the player or dealer exceeds 21. He is given the title Blackjack.
How to value cards in Blackjack?
To know how to play blackjack, it’s a must to learn the card values. Blackjack is played with 6 to 8 decks with 52 cards in a single deck.
- All cards are used except the Joker.
- An Ace is valued as 1 or 11 depending on the situation.
- All face cards (king, queen, jack) and 10 are valued as 10.
- Cards between 2 to 9 are counted on their digit/pip value.
- A face card with an ace is a clear blackjack or 21.
Blackjack Terminology
Hit –you can ask for another card
Stand – this status is shown when you don’t need any card.
Bust – If the dealer’s or the player’s total hand value exceeds 21, their status is displayed as a bust.
Tie – If the hand card values of both dealer and player are the same, the bet is a tie and your whole bet value will be credited back to you.
Natural Blackjack – It means if the total hand value of the first two dealt cards by the dealer is 21 automatically.
Blackjack – The title can be given to either dealer or player at any point in-game; the only condition is hand value must be 21 or exceed 21.
Perfect Pairs – If the first two cards dealt by the dealer have the same rank or suit, you’ll get a payout of 30:1.
Split & Re-Split – Two hands are created by separating two similar cards or the same value cards. You’ll be given a new card for each hand.
Double Down – Once you have chosen this option you can’t opt for a hit in the next round. This means you can double your stake while getting one more card.
Surrender – This is quite a rare situation. When winning seems to be almost impossible. It means, if you want to get back half of your stack you’ll fold your cards on the table
Side bets/ Extra bets
Insurance –Your half of the initial stake is used to place this bet, but the payout is quite high. If the dealer’s total hand value exceeds 21, he is declared as Blackjack. And you’ll win.
Bet Behind – This is an extra bet which can be placed to participate in the game while waiting for a vacant seat on the Blackjack table. Bet behind means to bet on another player’s hand value.
21+3 –This is another side bet where 3 indicate two initial cards and the dealer’s face-up card. Your payout is based on these 3 cards.
Blackjack Rules for the Dealer & Player
There are several online casinos available on the internet. Each casino doesn’t need to conduct the same set of rules. So, some of the casinos have their own exclusive rules for the game depending on the blackjack table. The player has no specific rules to play blackjack. It all depends on the player’s own action if he wants to place a bet or not. Let’s know some of the common rules for the dealer:
- If the dealer’s total hand value is 16 or less, he/she have to hit.
- If the total hand value is 17, the dealer has to stand.
- A dealer can’t opt for bets such as Split, Surrender or Double down.
Blackjack Table Rules
Most of the casinos have 7 spots available at the blackjack table (semicircle in shape). It is not mandatory that all the spots need to be filled. As it doesn’t matter how many players are participating as the blackjack game is all about player versus the dealer. The center of the table shows standard rules.
- In case there is no vacant seat, you’ll have to wait or you can make side bets.
- You can place side bets on a particular area of the table.
- If you have opted to play the house that means you plays against the casino.
- The dealer starts card dealing with the player to his left with the last card to the house’s hand.
- The Player has to take any of the action as to hit or stand until someone goes bust.
- After the final hand, all the players will compare their score except the players who go bust.
- The player with a hand value closer to 21 wins and rest all others lose.
- Players, who didn’t take any action, get all their money refunded. This situation is known as ‘Push’.
Winning Strategies for Blackjack
Blackjack seems to be a simple card game but one can win real money with this game. It’s always better to know the basic blackjack strategy to enhance your odds of winning.
Card counting is one of the techniques to increase your chances of winning. once you know how to keep track of the cards you can play like a pro. But make sure to not take much time as the time slot is fixed for each player which is usually short.
Another popular strategy is Martingale, used in almost all of the casino games.
We recommend you to try playing this game for free if you are a beginner. Many casino sites offer huge welcome bonuses for first-time users. You can use this bonus to play free blackjack games without spending your real money.