Online Casino Blackjack
Blackjack is one of the most popular games in the world of US gambling. The holds true in the world of online casinos as well. This could be because online blackjack is one of the easiest casino card games to play.
Blackjack is played the same in an online casino as it is in a land based casino, such as Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Every single online casino available to US players includes blackjack. In most cases, online casinos also offer a handful of variations to be tried as well.
Players in the US can play the standard form of blackjack in any online casino that accepts US players. The objective to blackjack is to beat the dealer’s hand without your card total going over 21; going over 21 is called busting and you will automatically lose. Each card is worth its face value. Jacks, Queens and Kings are worth 10. And Aces are worth either a 1 or an 11 depending on which value is more advantageous to you; if you are dealt an Ace you may initially count it as an 11, but after hitting reducing its value to a 1 to keep your card total from going over 21. Any hand that has an Ace is considered a soft hand because its total can change depending on what the best way to value an Ace is for a hand. How to play blackjack in an online casino is the same as playing in a land based casino:
First you click on the chips until you have the amount you wish to bet entered. This will appear in the form of a stack of chips with the total dollar amount on top.
Once you are satisfied with the amount you are betting, click the ‘Deal’ button. You will be dealt two cards face up, and the dealer will be dealt one card face up and one card face down. At this point you can choose to hit or stand. To hit is to receive another card in hopes of raising your card total closer to 21. If you feel that your card total is high enough you would select to stand, which means to not receive any more cards.
Two other options that you may or may not be allowed to play are to double down or to split. The ability to play with either of these options depends on the house rules—some online casinos will allow them and other may not. To double down is to double the amount of your bet and to receive one more card. When doubling down in blackjack you will only receive one more card before you have to stand. To split is to break a pair into two separate hands. A pair consists of two cards with the same value. Your original bet is doubled as well when you split a pair. After selecting to split, each hand is then played out.
Once you have finished playing your cards it is the dealer’s turn to play his hand. There are rules of play that the dealer must follow when playing. Some online house rules say that the dealer must stand on all 17s, while other house rules say that the dealer will only stand on hard 17 which allows for the dealer to hit on soft seventeen. Hitting on soft 17 gives the dealer another chance to beat you. For US blackjack players, a dealer who stands on all 17s gives better odds for the player than a dealer hitting soft 17 does.
After the dealer’s hand is played out, any payouts that you have won will be credited to you. Otherwise you can either rebet your original amount again, change the amount of your bet or quit playing.