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The object of the game of Blackjack -- in which you are
first dealt two cards and subsequently permitted to draw more -- is to
put together a hand whose card values, when added together, will total
21, or as close as possible to 21 without going over. At the same time,
of course, the object is to win, and to do this the value of your cards
must be higher than those retained by the dealer. There are many
different ways of dealing Blackjack and many rules particular to the
casino you are in that determine which game is best.
In Blackjack all cards are counted at their face value, with the
exception of the Ace. Simply put, cards whose printed numerical value is
2 through 10 are counted as having precisely that value. Therefore, if
you are dealt one 2-value card, one 8-value card and one 9-value card,
your total is 19. Face cards -- Jacks, Queens and Kings -- are counted
as having a value of 10. Therefore if you are dealt one Queen and one
8-value card, the total value of your hand is 18. The Ace card is
different. This card can have, at your discretion, either a value of 1,
or a value of 11.
The best possible hand in Blackjack is a combination of an Ace with a
10-value or Face card. This is an automatic 21, when counting the Ace as
an 11, and is called Blackjack, or a "Natural". It cannot be beaten,
unless the dealer also has the same combination, in which case the hand
is a "push", a tie.
When you first approach a table you have the choice of sitting in any
available seat. If the game is already in progress with other players
present, sit at any open seat of your liking. When the hand they are
currently playing is over, you can ask the dealer for "change" and push
your money in the bet spot in front of you. If you do this, chances are
the dealer will assume you are making a cash bet, known as "money
plays", and will deal you cards before you have a chance to ask for
change. If this happens, you are stuck, and all the money you placed on
the table will play on the hand you are dealt.
After asking for change, the dealer will then give you an assortment of
gaming chips with which to play. Depending on the amount of currency you
are changing, dealers will mostly anticipate the kind of bets you will
make and give you gaming chips accordingly. But you can ask the dealer
for any combination of gaming chips you like.
After you are given change, you select the amount you wish to bet on the
next hand. This has to be at least the minimum bet amount for that table
and can be up to the maximum bet amount for that table.
The maximum and minimum betting limits are displayed on a sign, usually
at the dealer's left, player's right, and normally it will say something
like: "Minimum $5 Maximum $500". These limits vary from table to table,
and from casino to casino. Simply put, this tells you what level of game
this table is set up to play. If all you want to play are small bets,
say, $1 to $5 per hand, don't sit at a table whose sign indicates limits
higher than that. You could get caught in a game whose stakes are higher
than you can afford.
After you have received your gaming chips in exchange for currency,
place the chips you wish to bet on the next hand in the spot in front of
you, and the dealer will deal the next hand. All cards are dealt
left-to-right of the dealer, player's right-to-left. You will receive
your cards in turn with the other players on the table, depending on
which position at the table you are sitting in.
The first position at the Blackjack table is called "First Base", and it
is the seat immediately to the dealer's left. It is so called because
the player sitting in that position will always get the first card out.
The opposite side of the table, at the far end and dealer's right, is
called "Third Base"; this is so called because the player sitting in
this position will always get the last card dealt to players in the
round of dealing, and the one just before the card that the dealer deals
to himself. The Third Base position at the Blackjack table is important
because the player in that position controls, to some degree, which
cards the dealer will receive in the event that the dealer must draw
more cards. The Third Base player's decisions in how he plays his hand
can, therefore, determine if the rest of the players at the table,
including himself, will win or lose.
If you approach a table where there are no players, you can sit at any
seat. Don't be afraid of sitting at a table where there are no players.
Many players make this mistake and often try to crowd into a Blackjack
game already in progress. Safety in numbers may be good for other games,
such as Craps, but not for Blackjack.
If you can get a one-on-one game with the dealer, these are the best
odds you can hope for in this game. Casual players are often intimidated
by the prospect of sitting at an empty Blackjack table. Don't be. When
you approach a new game, as an empty table is called, the first thing
you will probably hear the dealer say is: "Shuffle". Dealers say this to
let the Pit Boss know that a player has sat down at this game and that a
new shuffle is about to begin. After the cards are shuffled, the dealer
will ask you to cut the cards.
For this you will be offered a colored piece of plastic the same size as
the playing cards. These "cut cards" are just plain pieces of plastic
cut in the same shape as the rest of the cards so they fit in the deck.
Mostly they are red in color, but they can be yellow, or any other
color. They are used only for three purposes: one, to cut the deck; two,
to place within the freshly cut deck to indicate the next shuffle point;
and three, to place at the bottom of the deck so there is no possibility
of dealing cards from the bottom. To "cut" the deck means to place this
colored cut card somewhere in the deck, after which the dealer moves the
stack of cards above the cut card to the bottom of the deck.
He then "burns" [sets aside] the top card, places the colored cut card
into the deck about one-third of the way from the bottom, places an
extra colored cut card at the bottom of the deck, and begins the game.
During the course of the game the dealer will eventually reach the cut
card he had placed in the deck. At this point the cards now dealt will
be the last hand before the next shuffle.
The point of "burning" the top card is to avoid so-called "funny
shuffles", or cheating, and to take that card out of play in case some
players have caught a glimpse of it. Some casinos in fact burn several
cards, all dealt face down in front of the dealer for that reason, and
then placed into the discard tray, where all exposed cards are placed
after each hand. When Blackjack games were still being dealt
first-card-to-the-last, card counters took advantage of knowing which
cards were left, so this rule, and others like it, were introduced to
combat this player advantage. But in the current way of dealing
Blackjack this burn card, or cards, have little effect, especially so to
the casual player.
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