Online Blackjack Rules

In blackjack rules are relatively simple. The cards are valued as follows:

• An Ace can count as either 1 or 11.
• The cards from 2 through 9 are valued as indicated.
• The 10, Jack, Queen, and King are all valued at 10.

Unlike the majority of other card games, within blackjack the rules state that the suit of the cards doesn't have any meaning within the game.

The main focus within the blackjack rules is the sum of the points:

The value of a hand in blackjack is simply the sum of the point counts of each card in the hand. For example, a hand containing (5,7,9) has the value of 21. Blackjack rules state that if you have an Ace within your hand, player has the freedom to choose whether the value of the card is to be 1 or 11, whichever value results in the most favourable hand.

Within blackjack the rules state that a hand that contains an Ace is called a "soft" total if the Ace can be counted as either 1 or 11 without the total going over 21. For example (Ace, 8) is a soft 19. The description stems from the fact that within the rules the player can always draw additional cards to a soft total with no danger of "busting" by going over 21. The hand (Ace,6,10) on the other hand is a "hard" 17, since now the Ace must be counted as only 1, again because counting it as 11 would make the hand go over 21.

There are a number of different ways of playing blackjack including the shoe game and the hand held game. Each type of game has slightly different blackjack rules.

In the hand-held games, the player's cards are dealt face down, and the players pick up the cards. When handling the cards in a hand-held game of blackjack, there are a few different rules to remember.

• You are only allowed to touch the cards with one hand.
• You must keep the cards over the table.
• Any cards that the dealer subsequently deals to your hand must be left on the table, not added to the cards in your hand.

Once the cards are dealt, play proceeds around the table, starting at the first seat to the dealer's left which in blackjack is also called first base.  Each player in turn indicates to the dealer how he wishes to play the hand. After each player has finished his hand, the dealer will complete his hand, and then pay or collect the player bets.

The dealer in each game of blackjack must play his hand in a specific way, with no choices allowed. There are two popular rule variations that determine what totals the dealer must draw to. In any given casino, you can tell which rule is in effect by looking at the blackjack tabletop. It should be clearly labeled with the rules of play for the table.

The most common rules in blackjack are 'dealer stands on all 17s'. In this case the dealer must continue to take cards until the total is 17 or greater. Alternatively, some casinos use a rule variation which is 'dealer hits soft 17' which gives the house a slight advantage over the players.