Blackjack

Bet chips, take two cards, then hit or stand. Face cards count 10. Aces count 1 or 11. After you finish, the dealer reveals the hole card and hits until reaching 17 or more.

• Goal: beat the dealer without busting past 21.
• Natural blackjack (Ace + 10-value) pays 3:2.
• Regular wins pay 1:1. Pushes return the bet.
• This table: dealer stands on all 17s; hit, stand, and double available.

Leave with more chips than you sat down with. Each hand is won, lost, or pushed on its own.

1. Start with 500 chips. Minimum bet is 10.
2. You and the dealer each receive two cards. Dealer shows one and hides one.
3. If either side has a natural blackjack, the hand settles immediately.

1. Hit to take another card. Stand to keep your total.
2. Double on your first two cards: double the bet, take exactly one card, then stand.
3. Bust (over 21) loses right away.
4. Dealer hits soft and hard totals under 17, then stands.

Higher total without busting wins. Dealer busts and you still stand: you win. Matching totals push. A natural beats a non-natural 21.

• Multi-deck shoes, hit soft 17, and 6:5 blackjack payouts change the house edge.
• Split pairs and surrender appear on many casino tables (not in this first version).
• Pontoon and Spanish 21 are close cousins with their own decks and bonuses.

• Stand on hard 17 or higher. Hit hard totals of 11 or lower.
• Doubling 11 is usually strong against a weak dealer upcard.
• Skip insurance side bets when you are not counting cards.

Soft hand

A hand with an Ace still counted as 11.

Hole card

The dealer's face-down card.

Push

A tie; your bet comes back.

Blackjack grew out of French and Spanish twenty-one games and became a casino staple in twentieth-century America. Basic strategy charts later made the math public; the house still keeps a small edge when you play them.