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How To Play Black Jack

General Rules For Black Jack

Each player competes against the dealer (i.e. the bank/casino), not against other players. Your goal as the player is to draw cards until your hand adds up to 21, or comes as close as possible without exceeding 21. If your first two cards total 21, you have blackjack. If the dealer gets closer to 21 than you without going over themselves, they win.

Blackjack - If the player's first two cards are an ace and a 10 or face card, she wins. However, if the dealer also has a blackjack, it is a push or a tie, and you receive your bet back. According to the most common blackjack rules, a winning blackjack usually pays the player 3 to 2.

Hit or Stand - Hit means to draw another card (which the player signifies by scraping the table with her cards or a similar hand motion). Stand means no more cards (which the player signals by placing the corner of her cards under her wager or moving her hand in a horizontal direction. If the player hits and busts (goes over 21), she immediately turns her cards over and her wager is lost.

Double Down - The player is allowed to double the bet on her first two cards and draw one additional card only to improve her hand. This is usually done if you are dealt an 11 or a 10, so your next card will most likely bring you to a 21 or 20. Always take into account the dealers up-card, if they are showing busting cards it is a good idea to double down even if your total is as little as 9.

Splitting Pairs - If the first two cards a player is dealt are a pair, she may split them into two separate hands, bet the same amount on each and then play them as separate hands. Aces receive only one additional card. After splitting, A-10 sometimes counts as 21 and not as blackjack, so you may not get paid 3 to 2.

Insurance - If the dealer's up card is an ace, the player may take insurance, a bet not exceeding one-half his original bet. If the dealer's down card is a 10 or any face card, the player wins 2 to 1. Any other card means a win for the dealer. Simple rule: never take insurance. It may be taken as a gesture of bad faith by the rest of the table, and statistically it is rarely an intelligent move.

Surrender - Where permitted, a player may give up his first two cards and lose only one-half his original bet.
 

Good Strategies

Experts have devised scientific strategies for winning at blackjack.  Depending on what hand you're dealt, and what the dealer is showing, the player can make calculated decisions based on the "Basic Strategy" that can give them the best possible odds for the game in play. The following table shows what will give you the best odds in a given situation:

Remember, strategies have to adapt to the game. The table above is based on the following rules: 4, 6 or 8 decks; Dealer stands on 17; No early surrender; Doubling down after pair splitting allowed.

Bad Strategies

Three popular bad strategies encountered at the blackjack table are never bust, mimic the dealer, and always assume the dealer has a ten in the hole. All three of these are very bad strategies. Following are my specific comments on each of them, including the house edge under Atlantic City rules (dealer stands on soft 17, split up to 4 hands, double after split, double any two cards) of 0.43%.

Never bust: For my analysis of this strategy I assumed the player would never hit a hard 12 or more and based all other decisions on maximizing expected value under this assumption. This results in a house edge of 3.91%.

Mimic the dealer: For my analysis of this strategy I assumed the player would always hit 16 or less and stand on 17 or more. The player as well as dealer stood on soft 17. The player never doubled or split, since the dealer is not allowed to do so. This results in a house edge of 5.48%.

Assume ten in the hole: For this strategy I first figured out the optimal basic strategy under this assumption. If the dealer had an ace up I reverted to the proper basic strategy assumption of assuming the dealer did not have a ten. Then I went back and used this strategy under regular playing conditions. This results in a house edge of 10.03%.