Basic Blackjack Rules and Strategy

Blackjack is perhaps the most fun and interesting game that a person will find in the casino. It seems that everyone who has entered a casino has partaken in a game of Blackjack at some point in their life. Some play it because it’s exciting while others choose the game because it’s easy to learn. Interestingly enough, there are a lot of people who play Blackjack live but have never taken the time to play the game online.

Anyone who takes the time to try online Blackjack will find that it’s just as easy and exciting as the land-based version. However, before you jump on the Internet and start putting online Blackjack to the test, you should definitely take some time to read Casino Effort's advice on the game; it will certainly make your first online Blackjack experience a good one.

Blackjack Rules
Even those who have never played Blackjack know that it has something to do with the number 21. Going deeper than that, the goal of the game is to get the number 21, or as close to it as possible, without going over and busting out of a hand. Everybody will be given two cards to start the hand while the dealer will give themselves one showing card. Only after all of the players have made their moves will the dealer get their second card.

Making moves involves either staying (or “standing”) with your current hand or “hitting” (asking for another card) until you have your desired hand. Players can also “split” hands (breaking two cards with the same value into two different hands) or “double down” on their original bet.

As far as what the cards are worth, all a person has to do is look at the number on the card in order to see it's value. For example, a 2 is worth 2 while a 7 is worth 7. If a card has a face on it, then it’s worth 10. An ace is the only exception as these can be worth either 11 or 1 if an eleven would otherwise bust a person out of a hand.

 Blackjack Strategy
Blackjack is a strange game compared to other ones in the casino since players with a good strategy can actually knock the House edge down to almost nothing. The main thing to remember is that you must always pay attention to what the dealer has on the table. For instance, if the dealer is holding a 4, 5, or 6, then you should only hit if your hand is worse than 12 (which doesn’t happen very often). This is because the dealer is likely to bust out with these cards since they have to hit and get a 17 before they can stand.

This being the case, you will have to hit if you’ve got a 12 to 16 and the dealer has a 2, 3, or 7 because they are likely to get to 17 or higher without busting out if they have one of these cards showing. In the unfortunate event that the dealer is holding a 10 as their first card, you’re going to need to hit until you’ve obtained at least a 17 or preferably higher. Hopefully you can get 21 right off the bat as it will pay you one and a half times your bet and help you to avoid the risky proposition of hitting altogether.