In Blackjack, everyone’s goal at the table is to beat the dealer’s hand - by
getting as close to ‘21’ as possible. Everyone who does wins! If you go over,
or “bust” – you lose the hand. Highest winning hand possible is ‘BLACKJACK’,
which is a ten-value card and an ace as the first two cards you’re dealt.
After bets are placed, the dealer will deal each player two cards – both facing up.
Here’s something you’ll need to know: Cards two through ten are taken at face value.
Face cards – Jacks, Queens and Kings – are each worth ten. And aces are worth one OR eleven,
depending on how you want to use them. Now to playing Blackjack...Blackjack is
a game of strategy, and by applying it you can improve your odds of winning.
It can help you with decisions on whether to hit, stay, split or double down –we’ll
explain these actions in a moment. Remember, you can always ask your dealer
as you play or go to playsmart.ca to learn more Blackjack strategy.
If you have an eight and a king. That’s eighteen. Pretty close to
21. The odds suggest that you ‘stay’. Let’s get back to aces and explain how
they work…let’s say you have sixteen in your hand and, using basic strategy, you decide to
hit to get another card, and you get an ace. Knowing that the ace has two values, counting
it as 11 would put you over 21, or “bust” your hand, which means you lose the round. Instead,
by assigning a value of one, you’ll have seventeen and still have a pretty good chance of winning!
Now if the dealer gets “Blackjack” right off the bat then everybody automatically loses,
unless of course, the other players have Blackjack. If this happens,
they keep their bets. Actually, any time a player ties the dealer, they get to keep their bets.
Now let’s talk about ‘hitting’. After the initial deal, players can ask for
an extra card, say, if they have a ten or less. To “hit” you would do this.
Let’s say you have 17 or over and you are satisfied with your total, you would want to
‘stay’. To ‘stay’ you would go like ‘this’. That means no more cards.
If you have a pair, like eights, you may want to split them. You
indicate you want to split by doing this. ‘Splitting’ your hand gives you a better
chance to win as you are now playing two hands, but keep in mind it forces you to double your bet.
Finally, there’s another play called ‘doubling down’. After you’ve been dealt your first two
cards, you have an option of doubling your initial bet — but you only get one additional card.
The best time to double down is when the dealer is showing a ‘bust card’,
typically a five or a six. This is because there’s a pretty good chance the dealer’s
other card is a ten or face card, increasing the odds that the dealer will bust on their next draw.
Blackjack is super fun and, unlike a lot of other games, it requires decision making that
can impact the outcome. But at the end of the day, it’s all up to the cards.
Now that you’re up to speed on the basics it’s time to have fun and Play Smart!