Blackjack is Not Just a Card Game

Blackjack is a game played with cards, between one or several players and a dealer who represents the House.

Roughly speaking, the goal of each one of the players is to obtain a hand having a value greater than the value of the dealer's hand, but without exceeding 21.

Within the rules of the games, which set forth what you can or cannot do, the player has certain options.

We must assume that the dealer has a seven face up and that you, the player, have a 10 and a six. The rules of the game allow you to ask or not to ask, for one or more successive cards.

What decision should you make? In this case, the answer is very simple. If you did not keep track of the cards dealt from the deck, then you should certainly ask for one card.

Therefore, we must differentiate between the rules of the game (which tell you what you can or cannot do) and the strategy you should opt.

There are slight variations in the rules of Blackjack, depending on the Casino you play in or town you are in. Also, the game can be played with one, two or more decks.

However, the player must always keep in mind that he has certain options within the rules of the game.

For instance, assume that you have two Aces and that the dealer has a nine up. By the rules of the game, you may split or not, as you wish.

But what should you do? What is the best play in this case? If you do not keep track of the cards already dealt, then by all means, split.

However, if you do keep track of the cards, the decision might be different. If, for example, you know that the remaining cards are mostly twos, threes, fours, and fives, then you should not split.

In fact, if you split you will probably have two soft hands of value 16 or less, and there is a very good chance that the dealer will beat both of them.

Conversely, if you know that almost all the remaining cards are tens, you should split.

They also require varying the play according to the composition of the decks, that is, varying the amount of the bet you place, the drawing and standing strategy, and the doubling down and splitting strategies.

It is quite easy to see that when there is an excess of high cards in the deck or decks used in the play, then the situation is favorable to the player.

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