How to play blackjack

What is blackjack?

Blackjack is a card game you play against the dealer, not against the other people at the table. The aim is to beat the dealer without taking your own hand over 21.

Every hand has a point total. If your total goes above 21 you bust, and the bet is lost at that moment. A dealer bust later in the round does not reverse that loss.

So a standing hand wins in two ways. It can finish with a higher total than the dealer, or the dealer can go over 21 while your hand is still standing.

If your total and the dealer's total are equal, and neither hand is a blackjack, the hand is a push and your bet is returned untouched.

Blackjack itself is settled separately, and the next section explains what counts as one.

Card values and what counts as blackjack

Each card is worth its own points. The suits never matter.

Card values in blackjack

Card	Point value
2 to 10	Face value, so a 7 counts 7
Jack, queen, king	Ten
Ace	Eleven, or one when eleven would take the hand past 21

Ace and 6 count 11 plus 6, which is 17 and still soft, because the ace can drop to one without busting the hand. Adding a king makes 1 plus 6 plus 10, which is a hard 17 that cannot change.

An ace is flexible. It counts as eleven unless eleven would push the hand past 21, in which case it counts as one.

A hand is soft when it holds an ace still counted as eleven, because one more card cannot bust it. A hand is hard when no ace in it counts as eleven, whether it holds no ace at all, one ace counted as one, or several.

Blackjack, also called a natural, is an ace together with any ten-value card as your first two cards. It beats every other total of 21 and is paid at a better rate than an ordinary win. When the dealer has blackjack too, the hand is a push.

Reaching 21 with three or more cards is not a blackjack. Neither is an ace and a ten-value card received after splitting a pair: that hand counts as an ordinary 21 and a win on it pays 1:1.

The rules used in this guide

Tables differ, so every example below uses one clearly stated set of rules:

• Six decks of cards.
• The dealer takes one card face up and one card face down, and checks for blackjack when the face-up card is an ace or a ten-value card.
• The dealer stands on soft 17.
• Blackjack pays 3:2. Every other winning hand pays 1:1.
• You may double on any two-card hand below 21, including on eligible hands formed by splitting.
• You may split into a maximum of four hands.
• Aces cannot be split again. Each split ace receives exactly one card, and that hand cannot be hit or doubled.
• Surrender is not offered.

How a round works

You place your bet before any card is dealt.

You then receive two cards, and the dealer receives two: one face up and one face down. The face-down card is the hole card.

If the dealer's face-up card is an ace, insurance is offered first. Every player who wants that optional side bet places it before the hole card is looked at.

The dealer then checks the hole card for blackjack whenever the face-up card is an ace or a ten-value card. A dealer blackjack ends the round there, and the main bets are settled before anyone acts. A player holding blackjack as well pushes.

Otherwise each player acts in turn, choosing more cards or stopping. If your total passes 21, your bet is collected there and then, and the hand is over for you.

When every player has finished, the dealer turns the hole card over and draws until reaching a total of at least 17, then stops. With the soft 17 rule used here, a dealer total of ace and 6 is a stopping point.

Finally the remaining hands are compared with the dealer's total and the bets are settled.

Hit, stand, double and split

Hit means take another card. You can keep hitting while your total is below 21.

Stand means stop with what you hold and pass the decision to the next player.

Double means add a second bet of the same size and take exactly one more card. After that card the hand is finished, whatever the total.

Doubling is available on a two-card hand below 21. That includes a hand formed by splitting a pair of anything other than aces.

Split applies when your first two cards have the same value. You place an equal bet on the second hand and play the two hands one after the other.

Under the rules above you can reach four hands this way. Split aces are the exception: each receives one card only, cannot be split again, and cannot be hit or doubled.

Insurance is a separate optional bet, offered only when the dealer's face-up card is an ace. It costs up to half your original bet.

It pays 2:1 if the dealer's hole card turns out to be a ten-value card, and it is settled on its own, apart from your main bet.

A worked round

Your first two cards are 10 and 6, a hard total of 16. The dealer shows a 9.

You hit and receive a 4, which takes you to 20. You stand.

The dealer turns over the hole card, a 7, making 16 with the 9. That is below 17, so the dealer must draw and takes a 3, finishing on 19.

Your 20 beats 19, so you win. This shows the order the round follows. It is not a recommendation about how to play a 16.

Wins, losses and payouts

An ordinary win pays your bet at 1:1, whether you won by holding the higher total or because the dealer busted. If you staked 10 units you keep the 10 and receive 10 more, so 20 units come back to you.

A winning natural pays 3:2. A natural on a 10-unit bet earns 15 units, and 25 units come back to you in total. A 21 made with three or more cards, or after a split, is paid at 1:1 instead.

Two equal totals push, and your bet stays where it is. A natural against the dealer's natural also pushes. A natural against a dealer 21 made in three or more cards wins, and an ordinary 21 against a dealer natural loses.

A losing hand costs the whole bet. Busting loses the wager immediately, and a dealer bust later in the round does not bring it back.

Rules to check at other tables

The rules above are common, but they are not universal, so look at the table sign before you sit down.

Some tables pay blackjack at 6:5 rather than 3:2, which reduces what the strongest hand returns.

Some tables require the dealer to draw on soft 17 rather than stand.

Doubling can be restricted to certain totals or forbidden after a split, the number of split hands allowed varies, and surrender is offered at some tables and not at others.

Practice blackjack

You can play a free blackjack practice game that follows the rules on this page. It uses practice credits with no monetary value, so no real money is wagered and no account is needed.