How is Blackjack Played?
At a blackjack table all players sit at one half of the table, while the dealer sits at the other one. With such positioning the dealer can keep all players in sight and far enough from the deck and from the bank chips.
There is a special area in front of each seat designed to place bets. Before the game starts, the dealer makes sure that all players who want to place their bets, placed them in this area, and only then proceeds with the dealing.
The cards may be dealt either from a shoe holding a number of decks or from a single deck held in a hand or rested on the table. The latter form is more advisable because it makes cheating from the part of the dealer more difficult.
Dealing proceeds in clockwise direction starting from the first player to the dealers left. Each player, including the dealer, receives one card face-up, after which the dealing is repeated and each player receives another face-up card, while the dealer receives a face-down card, so in the end, each player has two face-up cards and the dealer has one face-up and one face-down card.
At this point, the game starts. The dealer asks the first player to his left if he wants to hit or stand. If the player chooses to hit, he receives another face-up card and is asked the same question again. If the player decides to stand, the dealer turns to the next player in the clockwise direction. If the player busts (earns more than 21 points), he automatically loses and the dealer moves to the next player, collecting his bet.
What is the Object of Blackjack?
The object of blackjack is to earn the largest number of points that does not exceed 21. A number over 21 is called a bust. According to casino rules, the busts win for the dealer, so if the player bust, he loses automatically, even if the dealer busts too.
When all players finish their turns, the dealer turns up his face-down card and plays his hand. In casino blackjack, there normally are table rules that tell the dealer when to hit and when to stand, so dealers do not make any decisions, but play their hands according to a fixed scheme, which can not be changed by the dealer regardless of the players cards. Traditionally, the dealer must hit if he has 16 points or less and must stand once he has 17 points or more. So, even if the best players hand at the table has 15 points, and the dealer has 16, which is a winning number at this certain point, he must hit and risk busting, because the table rules require that.
Casino blackjack is played against the dealer, and not against other players, so, when all player and the dealer play their hands, players hands are not compared to each other but to the dealers hand only, and all players whose hands are better than the dealers one win. In most cases, players win even money, which means that they are paid the amount equal to their bet. The only exception here is a natural or blackjack, which is a two-card hand composed of an ace and a ten-value card. If a player gets such hand, he is paid 3 to 2 the amount of his bet. If the players and the dealers hand have equal values, such situation is called a push. Push is treated differently at different tables, but commonly, the player neither wins nor loses his money in the case of push, but leaves it in the game for the next round.