Blackjack is a popular American casino game, now found throughout the world. It is a banking game in which the aim of the player is to achieve a higher card total than the dealer, but without going over 21 which is called busting or too many. Blackjack is played with an international 52-card deck without jokers. Face cards (Jacks, Queens and Kings) are worth 10 points. Aces are worth 1 or 11, whichever is preferable. Other cards are represented by their number. Casinos normally use several decks mixed together (called a shoe), both in order to speed up the game and to make card counting more difficult.
In casinos, blackjack is played on a specially designed table. There is a permanent dealer employed by the casino, and room for up to eight simultaneous players, playing against the dealer. Each player plays his hand independently against the dealer. Each player has a designated playing area in front of her where cards are placed and bets are made.
Before receiving any cards players must place a wager. Then the players are dealt two cards face up. The dealer gets one face up, one face down. Each player in turn either stays or takes more cards to try and get closer to 21 without busting. If he busts, he loses. Players who do not bust wait for the dealer's turn. When all the players are done, the dealer turns up the down card. If the dealer busts, she loses to all remaining players. If neither busts, the higher hand total wins. In case of a tie, no one wins - the hand is a push. It is possible for the dealer to lose to some players but still beat other players in the same round. A player may stand at any time. By rule if the dealer has less than 17, she must hit. If the dealer has 17 or more, she must stand (take no more cards), unless it is a soft 17 (a hand that includes an ace valued as 11 for example a hand consisting of Ace+6, or Ace+2+4). With a soft 17, the dealer follows the casino rules printed on the blackjack table, either to hit soft 17 or to stand on all 17's.
If the player make a total of 21 with the first two cards (a 10 or a face and an Ace), he wins automatically. This is called 'Blackjack'. If the player has Blackjack, he will wins one and one-half times of his bet unless the dealer also has Blackjack, in which case it is a Push or a Tie (or a Stand-off) and the player get his bet back.
The remaining players with a higher count than the dealer win an amount equal to their bet. Players with a lower count than the dealer lose their bet. If the dealer busts, all the remaining players win. There are other betting options namely Insurance (When the dealer up card is an ace, the player is allowed to make a side bet called insurance, supposedly to guard against the risk that the dealer has a blackjack (i.e., a ten-value card as her hole card). The insurance bet pays 2-to-1 if the dealer has a blackjack.), Surrender, Double Down, Even Money and Split.
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