Simple Blackjack System
Blackjack is a term that means a hand consisting of 2 cards with a score equaling 21 thus the game is frequently referred to as 21. Your opponent in the game is the dealer. Some people believe that you should use different strategies depending on where you sit. This statement is not true since irrespectively of the place where you sit you still play against the dealer. You do not have to play with any of the players, it is your money against the dealer’s money. In order to play the game you have to learn how to count your points, which is a very simple thing. Irrespectively of the suits 2 is always counted as 2 points, 6 as six points etc. The cards (2-10) are simply counted as their values show. Tens and all the court cards are counted as ten points. An ace may be counted as 1 or ten, depending which suits you better. Thus if you hold 7 and 3 you have 10 points and if you hold an ace and 7 you have either 18 or 8 points. The aim of the game is to have more points than the dealer but not more than 21. If you have more than 21 points you go bust and automatically lose. The dealer deals first two cards to the players and himself. One of those two cards is always face up. Then you have to decide whether you want the next card (hit) or not (stick). You may hit as many times as you want but if you go over 21 points you lose. The dealer is the last person to decide whether to stick or hit and this is his edge over other players. When all the players go bust they lose their bets (even if the dealer goes bust, too). When your total is higher than the dealer’s but not higher than 21 you win. If you have the same number of points as the dealer then there is a push, it means that neither do you lose nor win. If you win, you are paid 1 to 1. If you have a blackjack (21 points in two cards) you are paid 3 to 2 thus if you bet 1 dollar, you get $1,50. If both, you and the dealer have a blackjack, there is a push between you and him but the rest of the players lose. You may want to use the option ‘Insurance’. You may do it If the dealer’s first card is an ace. If you decide to take ‘Insurance’ and the dealer’ next card is worth 10 points (he has blackjack) you win. If you take insurance, you may bet another 50% of your initial bet. The payment if you win is 2 to 1. When the dealer has dealt the first two cards, he asks the player at his right whether the player wants more cards. If he does, he shows it to the dealer by a gesture of scratching the table in front of him. If he doesn’t, he either puts his cards under his bet or makes a side to side hand gesture with his palm face down. These gestures are essential since they clearly signal the players’ intentions to the dealer and the dealer responds only to them. If, at this point, the player goes bust (has more than 21 points) he turns his cards over and loses his bet to the dealer. If he doesn’t go bust he stays at the game. Once the player is finished, the dealer goes around the table and the rest of the players decide whether to hit or stick. It has already been pointed out in the text that an ace can be counted as 1or 11 points. There are two terms which are related to the fact, mainly hard hand and soft hand. Hard hand is the one that does not contain an Ace. So, for instance, If a player has a pair of nines, his hand may be called a hard 18. A soft hand, on the other hand, is a hand with an ace. If you get an Ace and a seven, then you have a soft hand. If the next card you draw is 10, for instance, then you don’t go bust and have 18 points but your hand is considered hard. When all the players finish deciding on whether to hit or stick, the dealer shows his two cards. If his total is lower than 17, he must hit. When he has 17 or more he must stick, but the rule may vary in some casinos. Now, when you know the rules, let me show you a simple blackjack system, which is very useful. It is based on likelihood. If your total is less than 12, hit. Stick if you are over 16.
If you have a hard hand: If you are between 12-16 take into consideration the dealer’s cards. If the dealer has 2, 3 or 7 to Ace, hit. You should only stick if the dealer has 4, 5 or 6. If the casino allows you to double your bets after the first two cards are dealt do it always if your total is 11. If your total is 10, double if the dealer doesn’t have 10 or an ace. When you have 9 double only if the dealer has less than 7 (not including an ace).
If you have a soft hand: Hit to soft 12 always. Stick when you have 18. However, there is one exception; if the dealer’s up card has 9 or 10 points stick when you have 19 or more. If you can double, do it if you have an ace and a card worth 2-7 and the dealer has 4, 5 or 6. If the dealer has 3 you should also double if you have and ace and 6 or 7. If the dealer has 2, double with an ace and seven.
Whenever you decide whether to hit or stick you should follow the rules stated above. You can also play accordingly to statistics if you decide whether to split pair, but before I present the statistics, I will explain what splitting pairs means.
Splitting Pairs. If the first cards are a pair, the player may decide whether he wants to split it into two hands and play each separately, betting the same sums of money on each. However, if one (or two) of the hands consist of an Ace and a card worth 10 points, this is not counted as blackjack. It is counted as 21 points.
Now, here are the rules that will tell you when to split pairs: Always spilt a pair of aces. Never split fours, fives or tens. The rest of the pairs should be split only when the dealer has a card lower than 7 (not including ace).
What you have read may seem very complicated at first but when you start implementing the rules playing without money, you will soon come to the conclusion that it is very easy to learn and after a few games you will do it automatically.
