How to Play Blackjack: Rules, Strategies & Gameplay Guide
Basic Rules and Objectives
Blackjack, sometimes referred to as "twenty-one," is a card game with a simple objective: beat the dealer by either getting your total as close to 21 as possible without going over, or watching the dealer bust. Each round, you place a wager, get dealt two cards, and then decide whether to hit (take an additional card), stand (take the total on your cards), double down (double your bet and take one additional card), split pairs, or (at some tables) surrender and receive half of your stake back.
The dealer goes last and must then play their hands according to fixed rules, and hit (take cards) until their total is at least 17, and in some cases, the dealer must draw on a so-called "soft" 17 (a total of 17 with an ace facing as 11).
Generally, card values are simple: numbered cards have points equal to their face values, face cards (J, Q, K) are worth 10 points, and an ace can have 1 or 11 points in any hand. A “blackjack” is defined as an ace plus any ten-value card (10, J, Q, or K) on the first deal of the hand; the hand beats anything made by the dealer, unless the dealer also gets a blackjack.
Blackjack uses standard 52-card decks, but casinos shuffle multiple decks together/break them into piles