The Basics of Blackjack

 Anyone bopping to the beat of a different drum is probably that brawler found in the halls of the online casino blackjack rooms. These early blackjack tables known as twenty-one or Pontoon have become so popular that even children know how to play it. Blackjack superseded the French game known as vingt-et-un (meaning twenty-one in French) seen in casino halls as early as the 1700s, which even in its early years had bonus rounds.

It was the bonus payouts that made blackjack ever so popular in the US. Gambling halls had to hoard its contenders into its houses and offered 10 to one payout rates. Someone had a blackjack when the ace of spades a “black” jack appeared and the name stuck even though blackjack has a different meaning today.
The goal in blackjack is to get as close to twenty-one as you possibly can without going over. If you have seventeen or above you would then have to stand – frankly it’s the most logical thing to do because if you hit again (asking the dealer for another card) you’re more than likely going to bust – go over twenty-one and be far from any blackjack.

All cards are valued at what their stated number says. Face cards of Jacks, Queens and Kings count as ten whereas the ace a player can use it as a one or eleven. Obviously if you have a face card you’ll want to use it as an eleven to value it as a blackjack.

The general goal of the game of blackjack is to beat the dealer by having a higher card than him that is not busted. When you’re playing house games there may be multiple players, but vying away at blackjack online is a whole other experience that may be worth your while.

It’s fairly simple to get started. You begin by placing a bet at the table, the minimum is generally $5, but much higher in gambling kingdoms like Las Vegas. The dealer will deal with one of two decks of cards, giving you one card faced down and one card faced up. This is when you will have chance to hit or stand unless of course you have blackjack and you will automatically win. If the dealer has a blackjack then of course the player automatically loses. It’s a push round if both win a blackjack meaning that you have neither lost nor won.

If you are interesting in taking this game to a new level then there are some other terms that may be worth your knowing. A split is when you’ll want to place a double wager on your card, but you are only allowed to do this when you have two faced cards and you’re willing to wager the same amount on the new hand. A surrender is when you give up your hand and lose out on half of the bet, it was used one many years ago, but hardly found today in blackjack.