Winning: The object of Blackjack is to make a better hand than the dealer. The best hand is 21. Over 21 is a "Bust" and loses.
Cardvalues: Facecards are valued 10 points, Aces are 1 or 11 points whichever makes a better hand.
Blackjack: A 'blackjack' is any Ace/10 or Ace/Facecard combination and pays 3 to 2.
Insurance: If the dealer has an Ace upcard you are given the option to insure against a dealer 'blackjack'. This costs half a bet unit and pays 1.5 bet units.
Splitting: A pair may be split into 2 hands, which requires an additional bet unit to be invested. In the case of Aces only one more card is dealt for each hand.
Betting: The bet is placed at the beginning, before the hand is dealt.
Doubling: When you have two cards you can double up your bet size, and then only one more card is dealt.
Odds: If the dealer has a low upcard, the odds of a dealer bust are almost twice as high (35-42%) as with a high upcard (17-23%).
Strategy: One way to increase your odds is by following the Basic Strategy. Click here to see the graphs.
Cardcounting: Keeping track of the cards that are dealt can significantly increase your odds. The High-Low system keeps a running count of low cards (2-6) - high cards (10-A). Dividing the count by the remaining decks, is referred to as the True Count. The higher the True Count, the higher your advantage against the dealer.
Shuffling: Approximately 70% of cards are played out and then the deck gets reshuffled.
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