Blackjack is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as “twenty-one“. This family of card games also includes the European games vingt-et-un and pontoon, and the Russian game. The game is a comparing card game where players compete against the dealer, rather than each other.

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BLACKJACK CASINO’

Number cards count as their number, the jack, queen, and king (“face cards” or “pictures”) count as 10, and aces count as either 1 or 11 according to the player’s choice. If the total exceeds 21 points, it busts, and all bets on it immediately lose.

Player decisions

• Hit: Take another card.

Signal: Scrape cards against the table (in handheld games); tap the table with a finger or wave a hand toward the body (in games dealt face-up).

• Stand: Take no more cards; also known as “stand pat”, “sit”, “stick”, or “stay”.

Signal: Slide cards under chips (in handheld games); wave hand horizontally (in games dealt face-up).

• Double down: Increase the initial bet by 100% and take exactly one more card. The additional bet is placed next to the original bet. Some games permit the player to increase the bet by amounts smaller than 100%, which is known as “double for less”.^[12] Non-controlling players may or may not double their wager, but they still only take one card.

Signal: Place additional chips beside the original bet outside the betting box and point with one finger.

• Split: Create two hands from a starting hand where both cards are the same value. Each new hand gets a second card resulting in two starting hands. This requires an additional bet on the second hand. The two hands are played out independently, and the wager on each hand is won or lost independently. In the case of cards worth 10 points, some casinos only allow splitting when the cards rank the same. For example, 10-10 could be split, but K-10 could not. Doubling and re-splitting after splitting are often restricted. A 10-valued card and an ace resulting from a split usually isn’t considered a blackjack. Hitting split aces is often not allowed. Non-controlling players can opt to put up a second bet or not. If they do not, they only get paid or lose on one of the two post-split hands.

Signal: Place additional chips next to the original bet outside the betting box and point with two fingers spread into a V formation.

• Surrender: Forfeit half the bet and end the hand immediately. This option is only available at some tables in some casinos, and the option is only available as the first decision.

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Number of decks	House advantage
Single deck	0.17%
Double deck	0.46%
Four decks	0.60%
Six decks	0.64%
Eight decks	0.66%

Basic strategy

An example of a basic strategy is shown in the table below, which applies to a game with the following specifications:

Four to eight decks
The dealer hits on a soft 17
A double is allowed after a split
Only original bets are lost on dealer

Player hand	Dealer’s face-up card
	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
Hard totals (excluding pairs)
18–21	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	Us
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	Uh	Uh	Uh
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	Uh	Uh
13–14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
11	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh
10	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	H	H
9	H	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	H	H	H	H	H
5–8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
Soft totals
	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
A,9	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,8	S	S	S	S	Ds	S	S	S	S	S
A,7	Ds	Ds	Ds	Ds	Ds	S	S	H	H	H
A,6	H	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	H	H	H	H	H
A,4–A,5	H	H	Dh	Dh	Dh	H	H	H	H	H
A,2–A,3	H	H	H	Dh	Dh	H	H	H	H	H
A,A[a]	H	H	H	H	Dh	H	H	H	H	H
Pairs
	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
A, A	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
10,10	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
9,9	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	S	SP	SP	S	S
8,8	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	Usp
7,7	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H
6,6	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H	H
5,5	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	Dh	H	H
4,4	H	H	H	SP	SP	H	H	H	H	H
2,2–3,3	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H

Key:S = StandH = HitDh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)SP = SplitUh = Surrender (if not allowed, then hit)Us = Surrender (if not allowed, then stand)Usp = Surrender (if not allowed, then split)

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