How to Play Blackjack? Rules, Betting Options & Gameplay

Blackjack is a staple online casino game. It would be easier to list operators not offering this game in their lobbies than to mention every platform where you can find an RNG or live dealer blackjack game and all its modern iterations. One big reason for blackjack’s appeal is the ability to influence the course of the game. Remember, skill plays a role in blackjack! That’s why it’s important to master the rules before joining a table at the best blackjack casino sites. Allow us to teach you how to play blackjack.

Basic Rules and Objective

The objective in blackjack is to defeat the croupier and not the other players at the table. You are playing against the dealer’s hand!

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Your goal is to get as close to 21 points as possible. The catch is that if the combined value of all cards in your hand goes above 21, you will immediately lose. So, you want to try and get a hand as close to that number as possible, but simultaneously assess the risk and be careful not to bust and lose your bet. That’s the beauty of blackjack. At the start of a round, you receive two upside cards, while the dealer will get one hidden and one upside card. Because you can only see half of your opponent’s hand, it’s not possible to precisely assess the strength of his hand. You have to make the next move based on the information available. The option to make a decision is one reason why the house edge in blackjack is the lowest among table games. As the initiative will always be with you, it better be used correctly.

Blackjack Betting Options

When you understand your goal at the blackjack table and that you hold the initiative, it’s time to go through the betting options that will take you there. At first, the potential opportunities might feel like too much, but they are easy to remember, especially after playing a few hands and seeing the betting in action.

In the following paragraphs, we will cover all the potential betting options you will come across when playing blackjack. Be sure to review them closely so you know what each is for, and you can act when the time when you should use them on the blackjack table comes.

Hit

When the hand begins and the cards are dealt, you will immediately see your hand’s total points and the dealer’s – without their second card. That’s when you should decide whether to add another card to your hand.

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Here, it’s crucial to remember that improving your hand is always great when possible, but boosting your points over 21 will mean you lose the round. So, you better choose carefully.

Stand

After the cards are dealt, Stand is another standard option you have besides Hit. With the Stand betting option, you refuse to draw other cards and remain with your initial hand. The Stand bet makes sense when you believe the dealer will eventually bust by going over 21 or if your hand already has too many points to risk another card.

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Usually, it’s best to stand with hands over 17, but you can consider scenarios where you have fragile hands in the 12-13 range, and one of the dealer’s cards is 2, 3, or 4. When you stand with a weak hand like this, you avoid busting yourself and give the dealer that chance.

Double Down

Double-down is an exciting betting option that some blackjack games don’t have. This feature is usually available only on the blackjack table with the highest RTP. As its name suggests, you can double your bet, but you will be forced to draw another card.

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If you have a weak hand and believe that drawing is your best option, sometimes it might make sense to double the bet. For example, if your hand points are 10, drawing a high card will mean blackjack, and you will immediately win. So, you can double down on this hand and exploit the significant winning chance.

Split

Split is a betting option that only appears when you draw two cards with the same value (3,3 / 4,4 / Q, Q, etc.) You will effectively create two separate hands by splitting.

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As a beginner, a situation like this might be troublesome, so remember that the only cards you have to split are 8s and Aces. Stay away from 5s and 10s.

Surrender

No one wants to surrender in casino games, but whether you like it or not, this is a powerful betting option to consider in some unique situations. Unfortunately, not all blackjack games have this option available, but you have to take advantage of it when it is.

When you surrender your blackjack hand, you will give up half of your bet instead of continuing to lose it all. As a rule of thumb, if you think your hand has less than 50% of winning, it’s always best to surrender and take half of your stake back.

Insurance

When a particular blackjack table has it, Insurance is one of the best betting options you can take at the right time. This type of bet can protect you when the dealer’s up card has 10 points, as he has a significant chance to make a “blackjack” and win with that hand.

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If you believe this will be the case, you can act with the Insurance side bet and place up to half the stake of your bet. If, in this situation, the dealer hits blackjack, the Insurance bet paying 2 to 1 will cover the expense of your main bet, and you will break even.

Blackjack Side Bets

Most blackjack games provide optional side bets. These bets are not mandatory and are totally independent from the results in the main game results. Couple of the common side bets encountered online are explained below.

Perfect Pairs

Perfect Pairs offers you the chance to predict if your 2 initial cards will form any of the 3 pairs. The options include a Mixed Pair, cards of the same rank by different suits and colours, a Coloured Pair, cards with a different suit but the same colour, and a Perfect Pair embodies the same suit, rank, and colour.

21+3

This is a wager that the 3 upward facing cards on the table, and this includes your initial hand, and the dealer’s up card, will form a 3-card poker hand of Suited Trips, Straight Flush, Three-of-a-kind, Straight, or Flush.

Understanding The Dealer’s Fixed Types of Hands

After acknowledging blackjack’s straightforward rules, you should understand the dealing process. You always receive up cards, while the dealer gets one up card and one upside down. But the question is, what happens after you make your decision, and when is the time for the dealer to play?

The interesting thing about blackjack is that the dealer’s options are fixed. A dealer cannot act independently, they follow predefined table rules about when to hit and stand. So, to understand the game better and make the correct decisions over time, you should also know the dealer’s capabilities. Below we outline some of the rules a croupier must abide by at the table:

• If the dealer’s hand value is 16 or less, he must draw again.
• If the dealer’s hand value is 18 or over, he must stand.
• If the dealer’s hand value is a soft 17, he must hit.
• If the dealer’s hand value is a hard 17, he must stand.

Keep in mind that those actions are automatic, and neither you nor the dealer can do anything to change them. You probably wonder what “soft” and “hard” values mean. Well, soft are all the hands that have an Ace in them. That’s because an Ace’s value in blackjack can be 1 or 10, which gives more fluidity. On the contrary, a hard hand is every combination without an Ace. Therefore, it’s pretty easy to differentiate the two.

Blackjack Game Mechanics Deep Dive

As mentioned a few times, the game mechanics of blackjack are pretty straightforward, and you probably won’t have any issues playing after a few hands. However, to ensure this will be the case, we have to pay more attention to the standard rules and mechanics of the game. If you aren’t sure that you can go and play blackjack effortlessly, you better pay attention to the following lines, as they can prove the difference between winning and losing.

Card Values

First, you must understand the value calculation system of blackjack. You already know that you should aim to get a hand as closely as possible to 21. But what is the point value for each card? The general system is the following:

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• All numbered cards carry their respective point value

The cards from 2 to 10 will always carry their respective point value. For example, if you hold 3 and 5, the total points of your hand will be 8 (3+5). Following the same principle, if your hand has 10 and 4, the total points will be 14 (10+4).

• All cards over Jack bring you 10 points

The easiest cards to measure in blackjack are face cards, meaning the ones above the “Jack” (J). All of them give you 10 points, so you don’t have to worry too much. However, there is an interesting exception here. That would be the Ace card, which can act as 1 or 10 points, which is up for you to decide, depending on which option gives you a better hand in a specific game situation.

Dealing Process

The dealing process hardly needs explaining as you will probably grasp it after a few hands. First, you get two up cards you can evaluate. Then, the dealer also gets two cards, but only one of them is visible. The other one is upside-down and will be only revealed after you finish your turn.

Table Layout

The table layout of blackjack is an extensive topic we can dive into. It’s interesting because the different types of blackjack games will have slightly differing formats, depending on their available betting options, payouts, and the number of players allowed. Still, as this is something you must be aware of, we will cover the essential components of a standard blackjack table that allows seven players to participate.

• Betting Circle

This is the closest part of the table to yourself. A betting circle is reserved for each player, where it can place all its wagers before every hand.

• Insurance Line

The blackjack tables where the Insurance betting option is available will have a separate line above all the betting circles.

• Table Center

This is part of the table where the dealer shuffles the cards. Of course, this will only be possible when you play live casino blackjack online.

• Discard Rack

At the dealer’s right, he will always have a plastic rack where all the already-played cards will go.

• The Shoe

When you play live casino blackjack, you can see that the dealer has a large plastic device from where it gets all the cards. There are a few different types of plastic devices like these, but the most popular is the lucent one, mainly because of its transparency.

Payout Odds

We overviewed the fundamentals and some advanced aspects of playing blackjack. Now it’s time to see how the winnings are calculated. Each bet comes with appropriate payout odds.

• Regular wins pays 1:1
• Blackjack wins pays 3:2
• Insurance pays 2:1
• Mixed Pair side bet pays 6:1
• Coloured Pair side bet pays 12:1
• Perfect Pairs side bet pays 25:1
• Flush side bet pays 5:1
• Straight side bet pays 10:1
• Three-of-a-kind side bet pays 30:1
• Straight Flush side bet pays 40:1
• Suited Trips side bet pays 100:1

How to Find the Best Blackjack Games in an Online Casino?

Aside from exploring various blackjack strategies and gaining more experience on the tables to understand the game better, there is only one way to ensure you will have fun while playing. And that’s by choosing the correct blackjack tables based on your skills, knowledge, risk tolerance, and winning goals.

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Although the game of blackjack is pretty straightforward, there are hundreds of different versions in an online casino. Therefore, there are various factors you must consider before choosing a blackjack game to play. We will go through the most crucial ones in the following lines.

Variations

If you dive into one of the best online casinos, you will come across dozens, if not hundreds, of different blackjack games you can play. They all come with different names, features, and betting specifics that are too challenging to understand if you don’t have experience.

We recommend trying out only the classic types of this exciting game. This means playing only the blackjack variations with a simple title like Classic or European blackjack. We will list out a few of the more complicated blackjack variations online. 

• Face Up 21
• Perfect Pair blackjack
• Atlantic City blackjack
• Multi-Hand blackjack
• blackjack Switch

Table Rules

Aside from their variations, each blackjack table has a unique set of rules that must be followed for a smooth gaming experience. Depending on the type of table you are in, there might be some differences in the game mechanics themselves.

The betting limit is the one vital rule to pay attention to as a new player. You have to understand what betting options are available to you and what betting limits exist for those types of bets.

House Edge

Aside from all the factors we mentioned, the house edge is one of the most crucial. Each blackjack table has a different set of rules and betting opportunities and has a distinct house edge. Of course, the blackjack games with the most exciting features and betting options you can exploit usually have the highest house edge among all the blackjack tables.

Theoretically, you will lose more from these games than playing traditional blackjack. Generally speaking, we recommend playing only standard blackjack variations, especially as a beginner, as they come with the best winning odds.

Final Words

Even though the blackjack game is very straightforward at its core, you can see how many things beyond the surface can turn it into a complicated and money-sucking machine, especially for beginner players like yourself. That’s why learning the core principles and rules of traditional blackjack is always the way to go when you begin your journey.

But once you feel like you have mastered the game’s essentials and the comfort begins to kick in, it’s time for you to dive deeper into exploring this entertaining card game and uncover the opportunities that will allow you to win and make money over time. Playing in a top-notch online casino like 22bet gives you access to hundreds of thrilling blackjack tables that provide you with virtually limitless winning opportunities and a guaranteed exciting gaming experience.

FAQ

What Is the Best Blackjack I Can Play as a Beginner? 

As mentioned, the best blackjack games to play as a beginner are the ones with the lowest house edge and simple rules. Undoubtedly, one of those is the so-called European blackjack.

What Are the Betting Limits on a Standard Blackjack Table? 

The betting limits on a blackjack table vary significantly. However, regarding a standard blackjack table, you can expect to be able to wager between $1 and $1,000 per hand.

Can I Play Blackjack For Free so That I Can Gain Experience? 

Yes, but that depends on the online casino. Playing blackjack for free is a powerful tool to learn the game without risking your funds. Some of the leading online casinos we recommend provide free blackjack you can try out.

Can I Win at Blackjack All of the Time? 

Unfortunately, no. You can’t win 100% of the time, even using a perfect strategy. For more extended periods, you can be profitable, but even this is not a guarantee.