Blackjack (21)

Commonly known as "Twenty One."

The most widely played casino banking game in the world. Almost every major Nevada casino with featured "live gaming" offers Blackjack as a standard table game. The formula for Blackjack is a game between a player and dealer, meaning that players compete against the dealer but not against any other players. Minimum bets are often the cheapest in the casino, averaging $2-3 per bet (depending on the casino), making it an affordable and relatively loss-free game that is advantageous to the player. Blackjack is played with one or more decks of 52 cards and the object is simple: to beat the dealer, which can be done in the following ways ...

How To Play
Blackjack is a comfortable game in which the player has a fair chance of beating the house, thus, making it extremely popular, fun, and easy to learn. The object is simple: whoever has a higher score at the end of any given round, (the player or dealer) without going over 21, wins.

The player (or players) are dealt an initial two-card hand and add together the value of their cards.


 * Face cards (kings, queens, and jacks) equal a value of 10 points.
 * Aces equal 1 or 11 points, depending on the choice of a player or dealer. (Depending on the hand, dealers are required to value an Ace at 11.)
 * All other cards equal the numerical value shown on the card (2 = 2, 3 = 3 etc.)

After receiving their initial two cards, players have two options -- a "hit," taking an additional card, or a "stand," staying on their hands. Scoring higher than 21 (called "busting" or "going bust") results in a loss. A player may win by having any final score equal to or less than 21 if the dealer busts. If a player holds an Ace valued as 11, the hand is called "soft," meaning that the player cannot go bust by taking an additional card; 11 plus the value of any other card will always be less than or equal to 21. Players who obtain a face card with an Ace get "Blackjack," and wins instantly.

Strategy
Strategy can be applied to Blackjack as well. For example, the dealer must take hits until his or her cards total 17 or more points. (In some casinos the dealer also hits on a "soft" 17, e.g. an initial ace and six.) An instant advantage is obtained for the player because players have the option of hitting or standing whenever they want. Players win if they do not bust and have a total that is higher than the dealer's. The dealer loses if he or she busts or has a lesser hand than the player who has not busted. If the player and dealer have the same total, this is called a "push" and the player typically does not win or lose money on that hand.

Other rules and advantages in Blackjack include "splitting" hands (playing two hands at once), "double downs," (doubling your bet) "insurance," (guaranteed "push" if the dealer has a "Blackjack") "folding," (quitting the hand) and so forth, options that are offered to players at any time in the round.

Every casino in Nevada with featured live table games has at least one Blackjack table. In Las Vegas, there were an estimated 50,000 blackjack tables. Here, minimums bets can be as high as $50, but generally Twenty One is considered a "low ball" game and doesn't typically attract "High Rollers".