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• Blackjack Not Casino Rules Against
• Rules For Blackjack
• Blackjack Rules Chart

Blackjack is by far the most popular table game played at casinos around the world. Being able to trace its origins back to the 1600s, blackjack is also one of the longest-standing card games that has been played at casinos since it was invented.

Whether you’re sitting at any online or live casino blackjack table, both can be very intimidating, it can have you skipping this otherwise very rewarding and profitable game. I want to make sure that that has not happened to you. Now blackjack, otherwise known as 21, is a game that’s played with 1 or even up to 8 decks of cards.

The rules of the Blackjack game are relatively easy to learn. Each player makes a bet that his hand would be better than the hand of the dealer. The object is very simple: to achieve a total that is greater than that of the dealer, and which does not exceed 21. Casino rules vary on how many times a player can split his cards. For example, if you draw a pair of eights, split them, and are dealt another eight, most casinos will allow to you split again and start a third hand. Ask the dealer what the split rules are if you do not know them. So that’s how blackjack is played.

There are a number of different variations which have each originated from different parts of the world. Blackjack is a particularly unique game because it puts every player at a single table against one dealer, as opposed to other table games which require players to face off against each other.

We have composed a number of extensive articles and resources dedicated specifically to the game of blackjack. Each of our articles are written by industry experts, game strategists and gambling enthusiasts. You can take a look at the following links to learn more about different blackjack variations, basic strategy, to find tips and more.

Blackjack Strategy Articles

Basic Blackjack Card Counting
Playing 3-2 vs 6-5 Blackjack
Playing Blackjack Online
Playing Live Dealer Blackjack

Types of Blackjack

Blackjack is not the name of one game, but rather an “umbrella” term used to cover several different types of the game. While the end goal of every blackjack variation is to reach (or come as close to reaching) 21 without going over, different versions of the game have slightly different rules which we’ll go over below.

Single-Deck Blackjack – This game is played with only one 52 card deck. If you are able to understand and play classic blackjack, chances are you will be able to master any of its variants.

European Blackjack – This game is played with two 52 card decks and is sometimes referred to as “double-deck” blackjack. This version of blackjack carries a house edge of .39% and most often requires the dealer to hit on soft 17’s. Like some other blackjack variants, European Blackjack only allows you to double with a 9 or 11.

Free Bet Blackjack – The most popular new variation in Las Vegas. This game allows players to double down on 9-11 for free. All splits may also be made for free, except on face cards. Resplits and double down after splitting are also on the house. In exchange for all of these great player friendly rules, the house pushes all hands that did not bust or get dealt a blackjack when a 22 is made by the dealer.

Change It 21 – Available at Fremont in downtown Las Vegas. This game allows players to pay 50% of the original bet in exchange for the ability to discard one of the first two dealt cards. Players may double down or split after receiving the new card. Double down after splitting is not permitted. This game pays 6-5 on blackjack.

Spanish 21 – Another commonly found variant of blackjack is known as Spanish 21. This game is played with 6-8 48 card “Spanish” decks. A Spanish deck is the same as a normal 52 card deck minus the four numerical 10 cards. The dealer is allowed to hit on a 17, but is not forced to do so like in European and classic blackjack. The house edge of Spanish 21 ranges between .40% and .76%.

Vegas Strip Blackjack – This variant is played with 4 standard decks of 52 cards. In this game the dealer is forced to stand on a soft 17 and is able to peek at his or her face-down card to see if they hit blackjack. The house edge on Vegas Strip or 4 deck blackjack is about .34%.

Atlantic City Blackjack – This form is similar to Vegas Strip, but it is played with 8 decks of 52 cards and has a marginally higher house edge of about .35%. Another difference between Atlantic City and Vegas Strip blackjack is that you are given the late surrender option, which allows you to quit the hand and recoup 50% of your original bet.

Blackjack Switch – This is an interesting variation of the game because each player is dealt two hands and are able to interchange cards between the two dealt hands. The game is played with 6-8 decks of 52 cards and allows players to place two separate bets of equal size. You are able to double on any two cards and the dealer is forced to hit on soft 17.

Double Exposure Blackjack – This variation has one of the highest house edges at .69%, making it one of the toughest types of blackjack to win. Double Exposure is played with 8 decks of 52 cards. Both of the dealer’s cards are dealt face up and the dealer is forced to hit on soft 17. Players are only able to double on 9 and 11; even if they have already split.

War Blackjack – More of a side bet than a game. Unlike most blackjack side bets, a winning War Blackjack wager may be parlayed into the original bet. The War bet is similar to the standard home card game. The dealer gives the player one card, as well as himself. The highest card wins. In the blackjack version, an ace is low and the house wins all ties. The player has the option to take any winning bet out of action or use it to parlay the original bet. The two bets must be equal. Once the War bet is graded, the other card is dealt to the player and dealer.

Most Liberal 21 – Often referred to as the World’s Most Liberal 21, is only available at two downtown Las Vegas casinos. The game is owned by the parent company of Plaza and Las Vegas Club. The game offers several player friendly rules. These include the ability to hit and resplit aces. Players may also double down on any number of cards. Surrender is available. A player that makes a hand of 6 cards without busting automatically wins. In exchange for these rules, blackjack only pays even money, except on suited blackjacks, which pays 2-1.

Basic Blackjack Rules

When playing blackjack, the player begins by placing a wager and is subsequently dealt two cards. The sum of those two cards will range anywhere from 4-21. If the initial two cards you are dealt consist of an ace and any face card (including a numerical 10), you will automatically be paid because you just hit blackjack.

If you get blackjack will either be paid 6:5 or 3:2 of your initial bet, which we’ll go over more in the next section. If the cards you are dealt do not constitute blackjack, then you will be forced to choose between hitting and standing.

If you stand, you are hoping that your initially dealt two cards will be greater than the dealer’s final total, or you are hoping that the dealer will bust (have his or her cards total over 21). If you hit, you will receive another card in addition to your first two dealt cards. If you hit and the sum of your cards exceeds 21, you lose. You may hit as many times as you would like so long as the sum of your cards does not exceed 21.

Blackjack Payouts

Blackjack has a few different payout ratios depending on the cards you end up with. If your first two cards do not constitute blackjack and you are able to outlast a dealer who busts, or have a higher total than the dealer, your payout will be 1:1. This means you will win an amount equal to your bet. So for example: if you beat the dealer and had a $10 bet out on the table, you will win $10.

When the first two cards you’re dealt DO constitute blackjack, there is a slightly better payout structure than the even money offered to players who simply outlast the dealer. Blackjack typically pays out at 3:2 odds, meaning if you hit blackjack you will receive 1.5x your original bet. For example, if you wagered $20 and hit blackjack, you will win $30. Some tables only pay 6:5, which you should try to avoid for obvious reasons. This also means you should thoroughly inspect the rules before sitting down and playing at any blackjack table.

Buying Insurance

Apart from the two payouts we went over above, the only other one you need to be familiar with is called an insurance payout. Insurance is simply a side bet wagered by a player who thinks the dealer has blackjack. This option is only available when the dealer is showing an ace. If the player is correct and the dealer does in fact have blackjack, the payout will be 2:1. For example, if you make a $10 insurance bet and the dealer has blackjack, you will win $20.

It is important to keep in mind that there are some variations to the payouts made for hitting blackjack at casinos. For example, some Las Vegas casinos only offer a 6:5 blackjack payout at certain tables. The 6:5 payout is usually only associated with single-deck games and is employed as a way of mitigating any advantage a player may derive from counting cards.

It must also be noted that when playing Double Exposure blackjack, all wins pay out 1:1, including blackjack.

Basic Blackjack Strategy

Blackjack is not a game heavily reliant on skill like Texas Hold’em or most other forms of poker, though there is still some basic strategy every player will do well to learn. Blackjack strategy consists of taking into consideration your hand relative to the dealer’s single face-up card. In games where both of the dealer’s cards are dealt face-up, your moves will depend much more on the cards you hold.

“Soft” vs “Hard” Hands

Before discussing actual strategy, players must know the difference between a soft and a hard hand. A soft hand is any hand that contains at least one ace, while a hard hand is a hand that contains no aces or contains an ace that is forced to count as 1. The softness or hardness of your hand will help you decide how to wager and what moves to make.

To keep things simple, we will discuss strategy in terms of soft hands first and then hard hands. If you are dealt a hard hand in the range of 4-8, it goes without saying that you should hit every time. If you are dealt a hard nine, however, you will either double or hit depending on the dealer’s one face-up card. If the dealer’s face-up card is between 2 and 6, it is advised that you double down, whereas if the dealer has anything superior to a 7, you should hit. With a hard 10 or 11, it is almost always advised that you double down on your bet if you are able to.

A player dealt a hard hand ranging from 12-16 you should stand so long as the dealer’s one face-up card is no greater than 6. If, however, the dealer is working with a face-up card of 7 or more, you should hit, even though you risk busting. Finally, if you are dealt hard hands in the range of 17-21 you should stay every time.

The strategy behind soft hands says that if your hand is between 13-15, you should hit every time regardless of what the dealer’s face-up card is. If you have a soft 16-18 and the dealer’s face-up card is less than 7, you should double down. If you have the same soft 16-18 and the dealer’s card is 7 or greater, you should hit. Finally, any soft hand 19 or greater is a sign that you should stand.

Splitting Your Hand

Splitting is another strategic move in blackjack, and should only be done with certain card hands. If you have pocket 2s, 3s, 6s, 7s, or 9s, it is advised that you split so long as the dealers’ one face-up card is below 7. If you have pocket 8s or aces, you should double no matter what the dealer’s face-up card is. Finally, with 4s, 5s, and 10s it is highly suggested that you never split. For those who are unaware, splitting involves turning your one hand with two cards into two separate hands totaling 4 cards. If you split, you are able to place a wager on both of your new hands and have the chance to win twice.

Learning Basic Strategy to Lower House Edge

In summation, blackjack is the world’s most popular table game and can be found at casinos all over the globe. Though there are a number of variations available, having knowledge of and understanding how to properly play the classic version of blackjack will help you immensely when trying to play any of its derivatives. Despite the fact that blackjack is a game based much more on luck than skill, there is still a good bit of strategy involved. If you take the time to understand blackjack strategy, even in its most basic form, you will be doing yourself a service that can take you a long way.

• Appendices
• Miscellaneous
• External Links

Rules

I overhear a lot of bad gambling advice in the casinos. Perhaps the most frequent is this one, 'The object of blackjack is to get as close to 21 as possible, without going over.' No! The object of blackjack is to beat the dealer. To beat the dealer the player must first not bust (go over 21) and second either outscore the dealer or have the dealer bust. Here are the full rules of the game.

1. Blackjack may be played with one to eight decks of 52-card decks.
2. Aces may be counted as 1 or 11 points, 2 to 9 according to pip value, and tens and face cards count as ten points.
3. The value of a hand is the sum of the point values of the individual cards. Except, a 'blackjack' is the highest hand, consisting of an ace and any 10-point card, and it outranks all other 21-point hands.
4. After the players have bet, the dealer will give two cards to each player and two cards to himself. One of the dealer cards is dealt face up. The facedown card is called the 'hole card.'
5. If the dealer has an ace showing, he will offer a side bet called 'insurance.' This side wager pays 2 to 1 if the dealer's hole card is any 10-point card. Insurance wagers are optional and may not exceed half the original wager.
6. If the dealer has a ten or an ace showing (after offering insurance with an ace showing), then he will peek at his facedown card to see if he has a blackjack. If he does, then he will turn it over immediately.
7. If the dealer does have a blackjack, then all wagers (except insurance) will lose, unless the player also has a blackjack, which will result in a push. The dealer will resolve insurance wagers at this time.
8. Play begins with the player to the dealer's left. The following are the choices available to the player:
   • Stand: Player stands pat with his cards.
   • Hit: Player draws another card (and more if he wishes). If this card causes the player's total points to exceed 21 (known as 'breaking' or 'busting') then he loses.
   • Double: Player doubles his bet and gets one, and only one, more card.
   • Split: If the player has a pair, or any two 10-point cards, then he may double his bet and separate his cards into two individual hands. The dealer will automatically give each card a second card. Then, the player may hit, stand, or double normally. However, when splitting aces, each ace gets only one card. Sometimes doubling after splitting is not allowed. If the player gets a ten and ace after splitting, then it counts as 21 points, not a blackjack. Usually the player may keep re-splitting up to a total of four hands. Sometimes re-splitting aces is not allowed.
   • Surrender: The player forfeits half his wager, keeping the other half, and does not play out his hand. This option is only available on the initial two cards, and depending on casino rules, sometimes it is not allowed at all.
9. After each player has had his turn, the dealer will turn over his hole card. If the dealer has 16 or less, then he will draw another card. A special situation is when the dealer has an ace and any number of cards totaling six points (known as a 'soft 17'). At some tables, the dealer will also hit a soft 17.
10. If the dealer goes over 21 points, then any player who didn't already bust will win.
11. If the dealer does not bust, then the higher point total between the player and dealer will win.
12. Winning wagers pay even money, except a winning player blackjack usually pays 3 to 2. Some casinos have been short-paying blackjacks, which is a rule strongly in the casino's favor.

Wizard's Simple Strategy

I've been preaching for years that to play blackjack properly requires memorizing the basic strategy. However, after pitching the basic strategy for 20 years, I've learned that few people have the will to memorize it. In my book, Gambling 102, I presented a 'Simple Strategy,' which is seven simple rules to playing blackjack. The cost due to incorrect plays with the Simple Strategy is 0.53%, under liberal Vegas Strip rules.

Ever since my book was published it has bothered me that the cost in errors to my Simple Strategy was too high. So in September 2009 I developed the following 'Wizard's Strategy.' The cost due to imperfect plays is 0.14% only, relative to liberal Vegas Strip rules. That is the cost of one hand for about every 12 hours of play. Compared to the 250 cells in the Basic Strategy, the Wizard's Strategy has only 21, as follows.

Let me be perfectly clear that this strategy is not right 100% of the time. I continue to get Emails saying that when this strategy was used with my practice game, the player was corrected for following it. For example, my simple strategy says to stand on 12 against a 2, when it is mathematically better to hit. If you want to learn a strategy that is correct all the time you should use the appropriate basic strategy for the set of rules you are playing.

Here are some comments of clarification.

• A 'hard' hand is one that either has no aces, or has aces that are forced to count as point, lest the hand bust. A 'soft' hand is one with at least one ace, which may still count as one or eleven points.
• With a hard 10 or 11, double if you have more points than the dealer, treating a dealer ace as 11 points. Specifically, double with 10 against a 2 to 9, and with 11 against 2 to 10.
• If the strategy says to double, but you have three or more cards, or table rules don't allow soft doubling, then hit, except stand with a soft 18.
• If the strategy says to surrender (16 vs. 10), but you can't for whatever reason, then hit.
• If the strategy says to 'not split,' then treat the hand has a hard total of 8, 10, or 20, according to the pair in question.

A reader named Jeff provided another table of my simple strategy, with exceptions in small print. Details about the Wizard's Simple Strategy can be found in my Blackjack appendix 21.

Basic Strategy

For the appropriate basic strategy for just about any set of rules, please visit my basic strategy calculator. I still have my traditional charts too:

House Edge

See my Blackjack House Edge Calculator to determine the house edge under 6,912 possible rule combinations.

Rule Surveys

Las Vegas: I'm proud to feature up date blackjack rules for every casino in Las Vegas. The list is updated monthly, based on Stanford Wong's Current Blackjack Newsletter. Effective November 2009 the survey has been moved to my companion site, WizardOfVegas.com.

Rule Variations

Following is a list of some common rule variations and the effect on the player's expected return compared to standard U.S. rules (8 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split allowed).

Rule Variations

Rule	Effect
Single deck	0.48%
Early surrender against ten	0.24%
Player may double on any number of cards	0.23%
Double deck	0.19%
Player may draw to split aces	0.19%
Six-card Charlie	0.16%
Player may resplit aces	0.08%
Late surrender	0.08%
Four decks	0.06%
Five decks	0.03%
Six decks	0.02%
Split to only 3 hands	-0.01%
Player may double on 9-11 only	-0.09%
Split to only 2 hands	-0.10%
European no hole card	-0.11%
Player may not double after splitting	-0.14%
Player may double on 10,11 only	-0.18%
Dealer hits on soft 17	-0.22%
Blackjack pays 7-5	-0.45%
Blackjack pays 6-5	-1.39%
Blackjacks pay 1 to 1	-2.27%

I also have a longer list of rule variations.

Beware Short Pays on a Blackjack

More and more tables are showing up that pay less than the full 3 to 2 on a blackjack. Most of these tables pay 6 to 5, but some even money and 7 to 5 tables are known to exist. I would estimate that 10% of '21' tables in Las Vegas now pay less than 3 to 2. In my opinion, only games that pay 3 to 2 deserve to be called 'blackjack,' the rest fall under '21' games, including Super Fun 21 and Spanish 21. Regardless of the other rules, you should demand nothing less than 3 to 2 blackjack. You should always check the felt to be sure, and if the felt doesn't say, look for a sign. If nothing says the win on a blackjack, then ask.

Articles about 6-5 Blackjack:

Blackjack Not Casino Rules Against

• Taking a hit: New blackjack odds further tilt advantage toward the house, Las Vegas Sun, Nov. 13, 2003.
• Tighter blackjack rules would hurt players' bankroll, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Feb. 4, 2011.

Bad Strategies

Three popular bad strategies encountered at the blackjack table are: never bust, mimic the dealer, and always assume the dealer has a ten in the hole. All three are very bad strategies. Following are my specific comments on each of them, including the house edge under Atlantic City rules (dealer stands on soft 17, split up to 4 hands, double after split, double any two cards) of 0.43%.

Never bust: For my analysis of this strategy I assumed the player would never hit a hard 12 or more. All other decisions were according to correct basic strategy. This 'never bust' strategy results in a house edge of 3.91%.

Mimic the dealer: For my analysis of this strategy I assumed the player would always hit 16 or less and stand on17 or more, including a soft 17. The player never doubled or split, since the dealer is not allowed to do so. This 'mimic the dealer' strategy results in a house edge of 5.48%.

Assume a ten in the hole: For this strategy I first figured out the optimal basic strategy under this assumption. If the dealer had an ace up, then I reverted to proper basic strategy, because the dealer would have peeked for blackjack, making a 10 impossible. This 'assume a ten' strategy results in a house edge of 10.03%.

Play Blackjack

Practice your blackjack game using my two training tools.

Practice Basis Strategy

Practice Card Counting

Rules For Blackjack

Blackjack Rules Chart

Written by: Michael Shackleford