Playing 21 the Easy Way

ORIGIN

Blackjack is a game of skill and luck known all over the globe both in traditional casinos as well as online gambling sites. It is also widely known as twenty one or pontoon.

It was first believed to be introduced in France in 1700s where is was first named as vingt-et-un which simply means in French 'twenty one'. Over the years and as it was also introduces in the United States, players developed variations of the game and eventually gain popularity in gaming sites. When it was introduced in the United States, vingt-et-un was not a popular game so gambling establishments had to think of a strategy to promote this game.

They first offered bonuses to attract players; one of which was a 10-to-1 payout if the player's card consisted of two particular cards, one was the ace of spades and the other was either Jack of clubs or Jack of spades (Note that both jacks are black). These cards were called "blackjack" and the name became attached to the game ever since.

As the game developed over the years and has become so popular to most gaming houses, the word "blackjack" stayed the name of the game though many do not necessarily give the 10-1 bonus for that pairing and rather 'blackjack' has come to mean any 2 card 21 combination..

THE PLAYERS

The players consist of two individuals, the challenger and the dealer. Though many players may be present in the game table, only the dealer is the only opponent considered in this game.

CARD VALUES

A deck contains 4 suits of 13 cards with the card numbers 2 to 10 matching their face values while face cards (the jack, queen, and king) bear the value of 10.

The Ace in this game plays an important role. It is considered the most powerful among all cards. Its value is either 1 or 11 depending on the discretion of the card holder. If for instance, the player holds an 8 card and an Ace, he may consider Ace's value as 11 added to the 8 card, totaling a card of 19.

However, if the player has a 6 and a 9 and is then dealt an Ace, that card may be counted as 1 thus giving the player a total of 16.

If in the event that he has a Jack and an Ace, he may consider the Ace as 11 thus holding a card with a value of 21, thus creating a "Blackjack".

THE GAME

The primary goal of Blackjack is to achieve a card count that has a total that is greater than that of the dealer, and of course cards which does not exceed 21. If the player's card total does in fact exceed 21, they are busted and lose that round of blackjack.

Each player is independent from one another. So it is quite possible that the dealer loses to Player A but wins the game against Player B though both players were at the game table playing simultaneously with the dealer.

After the initial bet, each player is first dealt two cards. The dealing is done either with the cards facing up or facing down depending on the house rules of the casino or sometimes depending on the amount of the bet.

Upon seeing the cards, the players must be witty enough to decide whether to draw a card by taking a hit or to stand with the 2 cards. A player is said to take a hit if they take an additional card with the hopes that they still have a chance to get a blackjack or a higher total (under 21 of course) than the dealer.

A player is said to take a stand if he waves his hand and proceeds with the game holding only two cards (this is usually done if the player holds cards with a high value and have only a slim chance of getting an Ace as a filler.)

After all the players are completed with their hands, the dealer proceeds to draw cards to complete his hand. In the case of both the player and the dealer bearing the same card value, the game is said to be a push in which neither of them wins the hand. If the player is dealt with two cards of the same value, he has the option to split, in which case he places the same amount of his original bet to the game table and then plays two hands independently against the dealer. It is possible to win one and lose one or win/lose both hands.

INSURANCE

The dealer can call for an insurance option if he has an Ace as a up card. The player can gamble by placing another amount which is equivalent to the half of his original bet. If the dealer's hole card has a value of ten, thus creating a blackjack, the player loses. If the dealer does not have blackjack but does win the game, the player only loses his insurance bet.