The Objective

The objective of Blackjack (21) is to accumulate cards with a total value of 21, or as close to 21 as possible, without busting (‘going over 21’). The value of a hand is the sum of each card in the hand. The value given to cards is as follows:

• Cards 2 through 10 are valued at face value.
• Face cards (Jacks, Queens, and Kings) are all valued at 10.
• Aces value 1 or 11. It is worth 11 unless an 11 would cause hand value to exceed 21, in which case it would be valued at 1.
• Soft total: A hand containing an Ace valued at 11 without the total going above 21. For example, Ace-7 is soft 18.
• Hard total: A hand containing an Ace valued at 1 because valuing it as 11 would cause the hand to bust . For example, Ace-8-10 is hard 19.

A tie between the player and the casino is known as a ‘push’ or a “stand off”, and nobody wins or loses. If the first two cards dealt contain an Ace and any other card valuing 10, this is known as blackjack or a natural.  A Blackjack or a Natural is an automatic player win that usually pays 1.5 to 1, unless the house ties.  Play Blackjack Now at Bodog – links with affiliate code
Game information:

• One to eight decks of 52 cards are used in most variations of Blackjack.
• Deck may or may not be shuffled after every hand.
• The dealer may hit or stand on soft 17 depending on the rule set.
• Splitting may or may not be allowed.
• Doubling may or may not be allowed..
• Surrendering may or may not be allowed.

How to Play:

• Your chips are usually stacked in denominations of $1, $5, $25 and $100 on the bottom of your screen.
• Select the amount you want to bet on a given hand by clicking on the chip of that denomination.
• Once the bet is placed, click on the ‘DEAL’ button. The dealer will deal you two cards face-up, and then he will deal himself two cards, one face-up and the other face-down.
• Depending on the value of your cards, you will need make one of six of following player options: ‘HIT’, ‘STAND’, ‘DOUBLE’, ‘SPLIT’, “SURRENDER” or “Insurance”.
• The ‘INSURANCE’ option is offered to you in case the dealer has an Ace as his first card.
• Once the player or the dealer stands or busts the results are displayed on the screen.
• To play again with the same bet amount, click ‘REBET‘ .
• To play again with a different bet amount, click on the desired chip amount.
• The balance of you casino account is always displayed on the screen.

Player Options:

Stand: By clicking on the ‘STAND’ button the player is declaring that he or she is content with the value of their hand and that they don’t want additional cards.  A player may stand at any time.

Hit: If the player is not content with the value of his or her hand the player can hit, which basically means that the player is requesting the dealer to deal an additional card.  The player can hit and continue hitting until satisfied with the value of the hand.

Double: In most variations of the rule sets if the first two cards dealt to you total nine, 10 or 11 (with the exception of blackjack), an option to ‘double’ may be offered. If this option is selected, the bet amount is automatically doubled, and the player will be dealt one more card and the hand will stand. Doubling may also be offered after splitting if the hand qualifies for doubling. If the player looses, he or she will lose the entire bet amount, the initial bet, and the additional amount wagered for the double option.

Split: If the player is dealt two cards of the same value (for example two 8’s, two Ace’s, or two face cards, etc, the player can ’SPLIT’ the cards into two separate hands. If  this option is selected, an additional bet (equal to your original bet) is automatically placed on the new hand.

Some casinos also allow for the player to re-split after splitting if one of the new hands contains two cards of the same value.

Usually, the player can hit as many times as he or she wishes on each split hand, with the exception of splitting on Aces. If you split Aces, only one card will be dealt to each split hand

The Split Option:

• If the split option is selected, the cards will split into two separate hands, and one additional card is dealt to each of the hands. The hand with an arrow pointing to it is active hand
• Click on ‘HIT’ or ’STAND’, or any of the other player options available.
• Once the first hand is finished, the arrow will move to the other hand, and the play will continue as it would for any other blackjack hand.

Insurance:

Insurance gives the player the opportunity to protect themselves from a dealer blackjack. If the dealer's first card (the face-up card) is an Ace, the player can choose to insure his or her hand against a dealer blackjack by clicking on ‘INSURANCE’. Insurance bets are half of the initial bet amount, and are in addition to the initial bet amount. Once a player elects to take insurance, the additional wager is automatically placed.
If the dealer has a blackjack, the insurance bet pays 2:1, and the player looses the initial bet. If the dealer does not have blackjack, the player looses the insurance bet and the game continues as it normally would.