Blackjack

The aim of Blackjack is to beat the house and have a card hand at the value of 21, as 21 is the winning card amount in Blackjack and anything over this means you are "bust" and the house wins. If you have a hand value of under 21, say of 16 and the house has a hand value of 18, the house wins as they are closer to 21.

In Blackjack, different cards have different values, to make things easier, we have outlined what cards are worth which:

• 10: Cards numbered between 2 and 10 have exactly the same value as the number on the card. So, a 2 is worth 2, a 3 is worth 3, a 4 is worth 4 and so on.
• Jacks, Queens and Kings are all worth 10.
• Aces are worth either 1 or 10, so are semi-wild.

A natural Blackjack hand is an ace and a 10 value card, as this adds up to 21 in just 2 cards. There are a variety of ways to make 21 though, as a 7, 3 and an ace would equal in 21 (7+3+11=21), as well as a 10, 5 and 6 value cards (10+5+6=21). Unlike Baccarat, where up to 3 cards are dealt automatically, Blackjack players can control whether they should hit or stand.

As you can see, we have a hand value of either 9/19 (because of the semi-wild Ace) and have the choice to hit or stand. Hitting means we would be dealt another card, whereas stand would mean we stick with our cards and hope we beat the house. The options on the far left and right, Double Down and Split also offer more freedom for Blackjack players and their gameplay. Double Down is when you increase the bet and then take one more card, when you Double Down, this is your final move in a game and everything depends on your next card. Split is when you literally "split" two cards to form a new hand. You can only "split" cards if they have the same rank, such as two Queen's, King's or 8's.

Blackjack is all about getting to 21 and beating the house and if you can do this, you're already a great player.