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There are a lot of games that casinos offer and it’s hard to decide which of them you can easily understand and play. It will also be hard when you directly dive into a game without knowing the basics.
Don’t fear now. This article is put together for you to know which of the games you should start with so that learning all those other games is a breeze. Casinos offer many games that it’s already hard to keep up with all of them.
There are a lot of casino card games that you must have already heard of, on top of the traditional ones that you already play like Solitaire or Gin Rummy. The most popular of them are Blackjack and Poker because a lot of people love to play these games. There are also a lot of varieties that have branched off from these two games that it is already hard to keep up.
The many different kinds of games that branched off of the two games have still retained the basic rules that each of the players upholds. This means that when you pick up a new kind of game, there will only be a few rules that you have to learn that is unique to that card game.
Blackjack
This is the easiest to learn because there is only one objective for the whole game—to beat the dealer by getting a hand that is closest to 21 as possible without going over.
There are many misconceptions that you could have heard from other people like you having to beat everyone else’s cards to be the winner. No, the other players’ hands have nothing to do with yours like how it is in poker. The game of blackjack is played just between you and the dealer. That’s it.
How It Is Played
Blackjack is played with a conventional deck of 52 cards. The suits do not matter in this game and have no influence on how the game proceeds. The one that matters most in playing blackjack is the values of the cards.
It is easy to determine the value of your hand. Cards that are numbered from 2 until 9 are taken in face value, which means that the number you see is its worth. The 10s and the face cards of Jacks (J), Queens (Q) and Kings (K) all have the value of 10. So, getting any pair of these four cards already gives you a value of 20. Now, there is one more card that is missing, the Ace (A). Aces have two values and are used depending on which helps you the most. It is valued either as 1 or 11.
When you go to a blackjack table at a casino, you will notice that it’s semicircular and accommodates varying numbers of players. The most common you’ll see is a table that accommodates seven players. There are other casinos that only offers five and others can have up to 12 players in a table. The dealer stands behind the table and chip rack.
The most commonly offered blackjack game by casinos nowadays are dealt out of a 6-deck or 8-deck ‘shoe’. A ‘shoe’ is a plastic, card-dispensing device that helps dealers in dealing cards to each player. The rules are still the same for these games, but it’s played with a bigger deck. Here is the basic overview of how a Blackjack game flows:
- Player Buys Chips – You need chips to play with before you can sit on a table for a game.
- Player Places a Wager – The first thing you do at the start of a round is place a bet in the betting circle. The minimum and maximum bets are usually indicated in the table and differ between casinos.
- Dealer Deals Cards to Players – After you place your bets, the dealer will start to deal cards clockwise. It starts with each player having one card facing up and the dealer’s facing down. The second set of cards are all dealt facing up.
- Player Decides How to Play Hand – Each of the players will play their hands by adding the values and getting a total that is anywhere between 4 until 21. Getting any of the ten-value cards and an ace means you got a Blackjack. There are a few things you can do if you did not get a blackjack. They are:
- Stand – This is when you think your two cards are already acceptable and that the dealer should move on.
- Hit – This is if you would like to improve your hand total, the dealer will deal you with one card at a time until you stand or bust (going over 21).
- Double Down – When your card is already advantageous to you and you would want to double your initial wager. The dealer will deal you only 1 additional card.
- Split – This is when you are dealt a pair. You have the option of putting out a second wager and the dealer will split the two cards to make it the first cards of two new hands.
- Surrender – If you don’t like your initial hand, you have the option of giving it back in exchange of getting half of your original bet.
- Dealer Plays Hand – the dealer will first flip over the ‘hole’ card or the one that is facing down and add up the two cards. If your hand is higher than what the dealer has, then you won the game.
- Payouts – Ok so you’re done playing your hand and the dealer is done playing their hand according to the restrictions above. One of 2 things will happen.
- The dealer will bust, and they will pay even money (1 times the wager) to each hand that is still in play on the table. Or…
- The dealer will make a hand (17 through 21). If your hand is still in play, it’s a simple battle of who has the higher hand. If the dealer has the higher hand, they sweep your bet. If you have the higher hand, the dealer pays you one times your wager. If you and the dealer have the same hand-total, it’s considered a ‘push’ and you keep your money but are not paid on your wager.
Blackjack is a really popular game for casino enthusiasts and maybe that is why many casinos have created variants that are based on this game. You will feel like you are playing a game because of how familiar the rules are but it really is an entirely new game like Super Fun 21 and Spanish 21. So don’t get confused about this.
Some of the variations of the rules of blackjack that casinos often offer are:
- Double-After Splitting – you can double down on the hand that you just split
- Re-Splitting Aces – you can re-split your aces even if you already have split it
- CSM Blackjack – this uses a continuous shuffling machine as the cards are still being played. The dealer feeds the cards back to shuffle instead of putting it on discard. This means that there is no end to the shoe.
If you now have a bit of understanding about the way blackjack is played, then you should try to apply it by going on to and playing one of the many blackjack games offered. There many types of Blackjack games that you could choose from.
There are few games that come from different providers. Each of these games has a quality that is unique to the provider. There are a few titles that you can choose from, but each is certainly amazing games. If you want to start with the basics, you can start with Blackjack Classic from One Touch. If you want to explore and see if you can apply the basic to a more complicated game, then try your hand with Double Exposure GOLD that is from Microgaming. No matter which you choose, you surely will have a great time playing.
As you can see, Blackjack is an uncomplicated game that is easy to pick up and understand. If you were intimidated by it before, you don’t have to be ashamed. It’s always hard to learn new things and people often dread failing at it.
Blackjack is a card game that uses the standard rules even when you are playing the other variations. Another example of this is Poker, but that is a topic for another time. Go on and apply your newly acquired knowledge. Practice by playing a game or two and familiarizing yourself with it more. After a few games, you just might find yourself a master of this particular game.
This is a paid guest post.