When you have a hard hand of 10 or 11, double down if your total is more than the dealer's upcard; hit otherwise.
Let’s say that you are sitting down to play a game of one-deck blackjack, in which the dealer is presumed not to have a blackjack while hitting on a soft 17, if he has a 9 and you have a 4 and 3, it would be preferable for you to hit. BJ: (abbrev). Blackjack. Whenever the dealer stands on a soft 17, and it’s within the realm of possibility that he hasn’t secured a blackjack (using a double deck), if he has a 10 and you have a 9 and 6, you should hit. Let’s assume for argument’s sake that in a game of double deck blackjack, the dealer doesn’t have a blackjack while he hits on a soft 17; if he has a 6 and you have a 10 and 9, it would be best to stand.
Blackjack is a well loved game available at the online casinos. Like poker, it requires skill, practice and strategy. The more you play blackjack the better you will get. You can play for free at the online casinos as much as you like. The aim of the game is quite simple, you are betting that your hand will total closer to 21 than the dealers hand. Closer to but not greater than 21 it should be noted if your hand becomes a larger sum than 21 you go bust and lose. Working out what your hand totals is also very simple, you just add the face values of your cards together. Picture cards (Jack, Queen & Kings) all count as ten as does a Ten an Ace can count as either 1 or 11 at the choice of the player and all other cards are there standard value a Seven being worth 7 and so on.
A player could Hit or Take which simply means to take another card; after this third card has been dealt the player can take more cards in the same manner until that player either decides to 'stand' or the hand goes to a value above 21.
A player could Double, rules on this vary from casino to casino so its best you check this with the casino you are intending to play at for finer details. But basically this is a chance to buy another card by placing a second stake next to the first. You then receive another card. Just like taking a card you then add the value of this third card to the first two to give your new total and if the total is greater than 21 the player will again go bust thus lose.
If a player receives a pair as their first two cards these may be split. By splitting a pair the player will then receive another two cards thus allowing the player to have two hands, in order to split a pair a player must place a second stake equal to that of his first and these now split cards will be treated as two separate hands.
The Dealer follows a set of rules, if the total of his hand is 16 or below he keeps taking cards. The Dealer does this until his hand becomes greater than 16; if the dealers hand goes above 21 then the Dealer is bust and pays out to all players with a hand of 21 or below. Note any players that have gone bust themselves do not get paid out to.
If a player has two cards that add up to 21 this is known as Blackjack or natural. This can be made by either having an Ace and a Ten card or by having an Ace and a face card. If the player has such a hand then the player is paid. However if the Dealer also has a natural then the bet is known as a stand off and the original stake only is returned.
