History
Blackjack is by far the most popular
card game in modern casinos across
Europe and North America. Like many
well-established games, its origins
are not well documented. Most scholars
consider Blackjack to have some roots
in a popular card game found at casino
tables in 17th Century France, called
Vingt-et-Un (20 and 1), hence its
other common name: "21".
There are candidates predating Vingt-et-Un,
but most are poorly documented.
The pre-revolutionary French taught
the game to English sailors, soldiers
and merchants, who christened it "Blackjack"
because of a special rule regarding
what was considered the ideal hand
in Vingt-et-Un: A player who held
the Ace of Spades (i.e. a Black spade)
and the Jack of Spades as the first
two cards of his hand would be paid
out extra. The English gambler's penchant
for easy rhymes took over (think "chuck-a-luck",
"acey-duecy"), and Black
Jack was hard to resist.
Soon, Blackjack migrated to North
America, where it gained a wide audience
in the 18th Century among the colonists
and then spread west through the 19th
Century with the migration of pioneers.
When Nevada legalized gambling in
the early 20th Century, Blackjack
was a mainstay of Las Vegas casinos.
Since then it has evolved into many
variations, as different casinos and
different geographic regions adopted
their own particular sets of rules.
As you would expect from a global
online casino, we offer a number of
Blackjack variations from all over
the world, including:
European Blackjack
Vegas Blackjack
Classic Blackjack
6-Deck Blackjack
Double-Deck Blackjack
Single-Deck Blackjack
Surrender Blackjack
Live-Aces Blackjack
Anything-Goes Blackjack
Blackjack Swap
Barcelona 21 Blackjack
Super Play 21 Blackjack (Coming Soon!)
Blackjack
Rules - Overview
In general, the object of most Blackjack
games is to beat the Dealer's hand
by getting as close to 21 without
going over ("bust"). We
offer a number of Blackjack variations
which share a common set of basic
rules with a few subtle differences.
The next few sections describe general
Blackjack rules and features. Check
the Rules Matrix to see which features
apply to which game variations.
Card values
Aces count as 1 point or 11 points,
whichever yields the highest total
score without going bust.
Kings, Queens, Jacks, and 10s each
count as 10 points.
All other cards count at their face
value (i.e. 2 through 9 points).
Hand Scoring
A player has "Blackjack"
when the first two cards dealt to
a hand are an Ace and a 10-point card
(in other words a score of 21 points
from just two cards). Blackjack hands
pay 3-to-2 immediately, unless the
Dealer also has Blackjack, in which
case it's a push (bet neither paid
nor taken).
In general, a tie hand is a push.
However, a Blackjack hand will beat
a point total of "21" from
a hand with 3 or more cards. For example,
an Ace-Jack will beat a King-5-6 hand.
Even though both hands total 21 points,
the Blackjack hand wins.
All other winning hands are paid
even money (1-to-1).
A score of 22 or higher is a bust
(i.e. a losing hand). When a player's
hand busts, the wager is immediately
paid to the house. If all player hands
bust, the Dealer wins outright and
does not draw any cards, regardless
of the Dealer's hand score.
Some of our Blackjack games offer
a 7-Card Charlie or a variation from
it with special bonus payouts. They
are all automatic winners. Please
see rules section for each individual
game for more details on the type
of Charlie offered.
Blackjack
Rules - Game Play
Betting – Players may place wagers
in the betting circle for each hand
they wish to play. Many of our Blackjack
games offer multi-hand play, where
players can choose to play from 1
to 3 hands simultaneously against
the Dealer, others are single-hand
play. When at least one qualifying
bet is placed (i.e. meets the minimum
bet requirement), the Deal button
will become active.
Dealing – When the Deal button is
clicked, the Dealer will deal two
face-up cards to each Player hand
that has a qualified bet, then one
card (in European Blackjack and Single-Deck
Blackjack) or two cards (all other
rule variations) to the Dealer's hand.
For the Dealer's hand, the first card
is face up and the second, when allowed,
is face down.
Checking for Blackjack – If the Dealer's
hand has two cards with an Ace showing,
the Dealer will offer insurance. The
Player may decline or accept insurance
for each hand in play by clicking
either Pass (decline) or Insure (accept,
which places an additional wager equal
to half the original wager for that
hand). Then the Dealer will peek at
the down card to check for Blackjack.
If the Dealer has Blackjack, insurance
wagers pay 2-to-1 and all original
hand wagers lose (unless the player
also has Blackjack, in which case
that hand's wager is a push). If the
Dealer does not have Blackjack, insurance
wagers lose and play starts with the
first player hand on the right.
In games where the Dealer starts
with only one card, there is no checking
for Blackjack and play starts with
the first player hand on the right.
Surrender Option – Some games offer
a "surrender" option after
the Dealer peeks and does not have
Blackjack. If surrender is allowed,
player may concede a hand before playing
it, forfeiting just half the wager
for that hand.
Player's Hand – A Player with a hand
not having Blackjack and not surrendered
may draw additional cards attempting
to total as close to 21 as possible
without exceeding 21. Player is free
to stand at any point total or to
ask for another card (a "hit")
at any point total under 21. Player
may double, split, double-after-splitting
or re-split according to the rules
variation in play. When all player
hands have played out and if at least
one player hand stands at a point
total of 21 or less, then play proceeds
to the Dealer's hand.
Dealer's Hand – The dealer reveals
the face-down card or draws a second
card and examines the point score
to determine Dealer's play. Dealer
must hit on all point totals of 16
or less. In general, the Dealer must
stand on all totals of 17 or more,
although some rules variations require
the Dealer to hit on a Soft 17.
If Dealer busts, then any player
hands still standing win and pay 1-to-1
on the wager. If Dealer stands on
a point total, then Dealer point total
is compared to each standing player
hand, starting on the right, and all
outstanding bets are resolved as either
win, lose or push.
Blackjack
Rules - Game Controls & Terms
BET
Place a number of chips in a betting
circle as a wager. Left-click in the
circle to place chips, right-click
to remove chips. Click on the chip
icons to change cursor-chip value.
RE-BET
This button clears all cards from
the table, moves all bet and payout
chip stacks to player account balance,
then repeats the same starting bet
from the previous game for each hand
in play.
DEAL
Play a hand of Blackjack for the wager
placed in each betting circle. Clicking
"DEAL" starts the game and
commits all wagers to the outcome.
HIT
Request an additional card from the
deck for the hand in play.
STAND
Take no additional cards for the hand
in play.
SPLIT
Player will match the original wager
and split the first two cards into
two separate hands, each of which
will automatically draw a second card
before hand-play returns to the player.
The two cards of the hand to be split
must be of the same point value (for
example: a pair of 8s, or a King and
a Queen, etc.)
For split hands, an Ace with a ten-point
card equals 21 points but is not Blackjack.
In other words, the hand won't pay
3-to-2, but it will beat a Dealer
hand that has 20 points or less.
Most games allow splitting an original
hand up to 3 times for a total of
4 hands, but some restrict it to 2
hands (a single split). Also, most
games do not allow the player to hit
split aces or to re-split aces.
DOUBLE
The "DOUBLE" button will
become active after the first two
cards have been dealt to each hand.
Players who feel confident that they
are going to win this hand can "Double
Down" to earn twice as much if
they do win by clicking DOUBLE. Their
original bet amount will be doubled
automatically and they will receive
exactly one additional card for the
hand in play.
Double Down wagering is not permitted
on a Blackjack hand. Some games may
allow Double after splitting a hand.
INSURE
When the dealer's up card is an Ace,
Players have an opportunity to buy
"insurance", an additional
amount equal to half of that Player's
original wager, before any further
play begins. A Player may purchase
insurance when he/she believes that
the dealer's down card is a ten value
card. If the Dealer has Blackjack,
the insurance wager pays 2-to-1. If
the dealer does not have Blackjack,
the insurance wager loses and the
game continues as usual.
INSURE ALL
Insures all hands with qualified bets.
PASS
Player does not accept the insurance
offered on this hand. If Pass is clicked
and the Dealer has Blackjack, the
player loses his original wager and
play ends for this hand (unless Player
also has Blackjack, in which case
it's a push). If Dealer does not have
Blackjack, play for this hand continues
as normal.
PASS ALL
Declines insurance on all hands.
SURRENDER
When available, this button concedes
the hand in play to the Dealer. Player
forfeits half the wager but retains
the other half.
DOUBLE DOWN RESCUE
You can give up half of your total
bet amount after you have doubled
down for the privilege of surrendering
and not playing out the hand.
SOFT 17
A hand is known as a soft 17 when
a hand that equals 17 contains an
Ace that is counted as 11. The following
hands are examples of soft 17’s:
An Ace and a 6.
An Ace, 2 and a 4.
CLEAR
Clears all bets from the Blackjack
table or Clears a finished hand.
7-CARD CHARLIE
A player hand that gets seven cards
without going over 21 is an automatic
winner, regardless of the Dealer hand
score. Some games such as Barcelona
21 Blackjack offer different variations
of the original 7-Card Charlie. Please
see rules section for each individual
game for more details on the type
of Charlie offered.
SWAP
Swap the top two cards of your two
hands. This button only applies to
the Blackjack Swap games.
CONTINUE
Pressing the Continue button tells
the dealer the player does not want
to continue swapping cards and wants
to move on the main game play. This
button is only available in the Blackjack
Swap game.
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