Blackjack Prerequisites

When talking about casino gambling, people always think about the different card and dice games such as Texas Hold'em Poker and Craps respectively. However, playing in a Casino would be not complete if we failed to try Blackjack.

Blackjack is said to be one of the easiest game to play. All we have to do is to beat the dealer. How? We have to get a total card value of 21 or almost. If it is over then we bust or lose right away our bets. The most basic skill in blackjack is to know the worth of our hand. In gambling terms, a hand refers to the cards being dealt to us.

How to determine the value of our blackjack hand?

The number printed on the cards is used in finding out the worth of our hand. So for example, we have a 3 of clubs and a 4 of diamonds; our hand is worth 7. We add the numeric values; that is why we get a 7. However, there is an exception with regards to aces. In blackjack, an ace could either have the value of 1 or 11. If we have an ace and a ten then we automatically win that blackjack round. Our hand is said to be soft. Otherwise, if the value of an ace is 1 then it is called a hard hand. Finally, Jacks, Queens and Kings are all worth ten.

Once we finally decided to sit down and play blackjack, we must know the minimum and maximum bet. Then we must if we had to buy chips, play with cash or pawn our valuables.

The dealer then will shuffle the cards. Don't get surprised if you see the croupier uses two or more decks. In casinos, the use of multiple deck is called a shoe. This was implemented decades ago in order to avoid house disadvantage. The house is another term for casinos. Then, disadvantage in gambling lingo means profit loss.

Now, remember our blackjack objective, which is to beat the dealer. It is good if in our first two cards we already have a total of 21 or as they refer it as natural. However, this is not always the case. So what are our options?

We could take another card, which is called a hit until we get a 21. We could also surrender meaning we give up half of our bet. Then we could split two cards of identical numeric or face value and play it as two separate hands.

But before going to big casinos, try playing blackjack with your friends or loved ones.