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Blackjack

Get closer to twenty-one than the dealer without going past it. The ace does all the interesting work.

Blackjack Jaiho: 21free Blackjack game for Android · in review

The Blackjack card game in one paragraph

Blackjack, also called the 21 card game, is a banking card game: every player competes against the dealer rather than against each other. You aim to finish closer to 21 than the dealer without going over, and the dealer plays to a fixed rule with no choices at all.

Card values

Suits are irrelevant. Only the total matters.

Soft and hard hands

An ace counts as eleven until that would push you over 21, at which point it silently becomes one. A hand where the ace is still counting as eleven is called soft.

Soft hands cannot bust on a single card, which is why they behave so differently. A soft 17 — ace plus six — can take another card with no risk at all: draw a ten and the ace simply drops to one, leaving you on 17 again. A hard 17 that takes a card busts more often than not.

Your four options

• Hit — take another card. Repeat as often as you like until you stand or bust.
• Stand — take no more cards and keep your total.
• Double — double your commitment and take exactly one more card, then stop automatically.
• Split — if your first two cards are the same rank, separate them into two hands and play each one independently.

How to play Blackjack, step by step

1. Take two cards. The dealer also takes two, one of them face down.
2. Add up your total, counting an ace as eleven unless that puts you over 21.
3. Choose your action — hit, stand, double or split — and repeat until you stand or bust.
4. The dealer reveals their face-down card and draws until reaching 17.
5. Compare totals. Closer to 21 without exceeding it wins.

Step three is the only place anyone has a choice. The dealer has none at step four, which is the whole structure of the game.

What a blackjack is

An ace with any ten-value card, as your opening two cards — exactly 21 on the deal. It is the strongest hand in the game and beats any 21 built from three or more cards. If both you and the dealer have one, the hand is a push and nothing changes hands.

The dealer has no choices

This is the structural point that makes Blackjack different from every other game in this reference. Once your turn ends, the dealer follows a fixed procedure with no judgement in it:

1. Draw a card if the total is 16 or less.
2. Stand once the total reaches 17 or more.
3. Under most house rules, stand on a soft 17 as well.

The dealer cannot react to your hand, cannot bluff, and cannot decline to draw when the rule says draw. Your entire advantage, such as it is, comes from having choices while the dealer has none.

Common questions