Blackjack Rules

Blackjack is a card game and the aim of it is to get card values as close to 21 as you can without going over. If you go over 21 you automatically lose. If you choose to "stand" meaning you don't want any more cards, the dealer will then try to beat your total without going over.

That's the basic idea of the game, not let's go over things in a little more detail. First of all, when the game starts both you and the dealer are given two cards each although you will only be able to see one of the dealer's cards.

From this point you need to play the game and make your decisions, during which time the dealer will wait for you to either stand or go bust. As a player you have the following options (as stated on the how to play blackjack page).

Hit - This means that you want another card.

Stand - This means that you don't want another card and are happy with the value of your two current cards.

Double Down - This means that you will double you original bet and take one more card only.

Split - If you get two of the same cards you can split them which would mean you would have two active bets rather than one. For example, if you had an original bet of £1 and then you got two tens and split them, you would place a £1 bet on the second ten as well and then you would draw cards for both of them.

Surrender - This is when you give up the game and you will lose half your original bet. You will normally surrender if the total of your first two cards give an unfavourable value like 16 and the dealer has an ace. Side note - not every game will have the surrender rule. If you do chose to surrender, you get half of your original bet back.

Blackjack Payout's 

The payout of a blackjack game is double what you bet. For example if you bet £1 and win, you get £2 back. The exception to this is rule is if you get a blackjack (an Ace and a 10) and the payout for this 150% of your bet. For example, if you placed a £1 bet and got a blackjack, this would result in a payout of £2.50.

Insurance bet - This is a bet you can make when the dealer is showing an Ace. When playing online, the casino will automatically ask whether or not you want to place an insurance bet.

The insurance bet is half of your original wager. So if your original bet was £2, a £1 insurance bet will be placed. The payout of an insurance bet is 2-1 so if a £1 insurance bet was placed and the dealer did in fact have a blackjack, you would get £3 back.

However this wouldn't give you a profit because you would only be winning back the total of your original bet plus the money you had to wager on the insurance. To put things in very simple terms, if your insurance bet pays off, you end up back where you started which is why it's called an insurance bet.

In general, insurance bets are regarded as sucker bets because the chances of the dealer getting a blackjack are lass than 50% so it will cost you money over time.

Push - This is when you and the dealer both get the same card totals. When this happens you simply get your original bet back, you neither win nor lose.

Dealer Rules

The dealer will never split, double down, surrender or anything like that. The dealer simply follow this rule in the biggest majority of games: hit on totals of 16 or below and stand on 17 or over. Now there are a few games where the dealer has slightly different rules but these games are fairly rare.

The Ace

It's also worth giving a quick mention to the Ace card as it can be confusing when you first start playing blackjack. It has two values, 1 and 11. Which value it uses depends on the total of the other cards you have in your hand.

This is best explained with an example. If the first card you draw is a 7 and then you get an Ace, your card value is either 18 or 8. If you choose to stand, you will keep the value of 18.

If you hit and draw a 6, you won't go bust (18+6=24) because the Ace takes the value of 1 instead meaning your new hand total will be 14 (7+1+6=14).