The Black Prince

This highly popular card game is very simple to learn but it does not mean it is easy to master. The blackjack is a game between the player and the dealer. It is a game that requires great luck but also a great deal of restraint. It is the kind of game when you need to know when to "stand" and when to "hit", but I'm getting a head of myself, let's start at the beginning.

The Beginning

Let's say you have just entered a casino and you really want to play that Blackjack game everyone is talking about. You wonder around looking for the black jack table and find, not one but several tables, how to choose now? The table you are looking for is with a low minimum betting (you don't want to lose your shirt do you?) and also not too crowded. Once you found your king of table you can buy yourself some chips and start to play.

Game Rules

First of all you need to know the value of the cards in Blackjack:
Ace counts as 1 or 11
2 through 9 keep their value
10, Jack, Queen, and King are all valued as 10

The goal of blackjack is fairly simple, you need to have a card value of 21 or closer to 21 then your opponent (the dealer), but not over 21. If you get a card value over 21-you lose. Each player is dealt with two cards, and then he needs to decide whether he is "standing" or "hitting". "Standing" is staying with two cards only although they don't have a value of 21. "Hitting" is taking the risk of getting over 21 and ask the dealer for another card.

Other Options

During the game the players are given several moves options :
Surrender- This option is given to the players at the very beginning before any move. Once a player has started to play, he is no longer given the option to surrender, which means to fold.
Splitting Pairs - This option is given to a player whose first two cards are the same (the suits do not count Blackjack). In that case he can split them into two hands instead of one.
Doubling Down - This option is given only if the player has two cards only. In that case he can double his bet and draw another card.