Blackjack Guide

History
Blackjack’s early origins have been traced back to a French parlor game played from the late 1700s called vingt-et-un, which translates as 21. The game started off using unrealistic odds, but its popularity was boosted when casinos decided to introduce a winning bonus of 10 to 1 for any player showing a jack and ace of spades. This produced the game’s current familiar name of blackjack. However, 10 to 1 odds were clearly pitched too high, and casinos abolished the star prize, but the name stuck, and so did the popularity of the game. Nowadays, blackjack is called on any hand total of 21 points.

How to play
Each game of blackjack is played one-to-one against the dealer, although several players can sit around the blackjack table at any one time.

After each player has placed their ante bet on the table, the dealer plays two cards to himself and two to each player, the first two face down, the last two face up. The player turns over his top card and decides whether to call one of several plays. These are hit, if the player wants the dealer to give him another card, and stand, if the player wants to receive no further cards.

The object of the game is to reach as close as possible to 21 card points. After the player has called stand, the dealer turns his cards over, and plays until he either beats the player’s total, or exceeds the 21 mark and goes bust. The closest player to 21 wins the round.

Game variations
Most casinos offer a number of game variations. The most common of these is a card split, where a player holds two cards of the same value. The player is permitted to separate the two cards and make two new hands that the player plays as described above.

A second variation involves buying insurance against the dealer scoring exactly 21 points. A third variation is called doubling down, where a player can double his initial bet if he feels certain he is going to beat the dealer’s current hand.