Blackjack - How To Play
The fundamental concept of blackjack is simple. You want to get a higher total than the dealer without going over 21. Face cards count as 10, and an ace can be counted as 1 or 11. A blackjack (also known as a "natural") is an ace and any 10 on your first two cards. It wins automatically (unless the dealer also has a blackjack, in which case it's a tie), and pays 11/2 times your bet. The game got its name because in its early days a player was paid extra if one of his first two cards was a black jack. (If more than two black jacks showed up in the deck, the player probably got hit over the head with a blackjack.)
Back in those days blackjack wasn't as popular as it is today. Everything changed when professor of mathematics Edward Thorp wrote a book called Beat the Dealer, which introduced an exciting technique known as card counting. By calculating the ratio of big cards to small cards left in the deck, a good counter found himself in the enviable position of being able to beat the casino at its own game.
Suddenly everybody wanted to be a black-jack expert. The game (and the book) soared in popularity. The potential of Thorp's system scared the casino owners to death. Thinking that they would all go bankrupt, the casinos began ejecting any player they suspected of counting cards and instituting such changes as dealing the cards from multiple-deck boxes (known as "shoes") and shuffling the cards more often. Truth is, that book on card counting was the best thing that ever happened to the game. Blackjack is now the most popular table game in the casinos, yet surveys continue to show that almost no one plays it correctly. ( I prefer roulette myself!)
If you intend to gamble with your hard-earned money, you should at least play the percentages and get the house edge down to something you can live with. At blackjack, that house edge (or advantage) against most players usually falls in the range of 1%-3%, depending on your skill level.
The main reason the house has the edge at blackjack is the fact that you must make your decisions before the dealer makes his. If you go over 21 and "bust," that's the end of the hand for you. If the dealer also busts, later in the same hand, it's too late. You've already lost your money. That's why it's important to learn when to take another card and when not to. By learning what's known as blackjack's "basic strategy," you can lower the house edge to less than 1%, making it one of the best games in the casino. Click for blackjack strategy.
