No doubt there are hundreds of different games available at online casinos but only some of them we love the most. And here Blackjack is a leader of popularity undoubtedly. All what you need to win in is to beat the dealer without busting. You bust when your cards total to more than 21 and you lose automatically. The winner is whoever has closest to a total of 21. You reach 21 by adding up the values of the cards. That’s all. But not exactly of course.
Blackjack Side Rules
Above, the basic rules of blackjack are described. In addition, numerous side rules allow for more intricate betting strategies. These side rules can only be used immediately after the deal, before you take any more cards. You cannot, for example, take a third card and then decide to double down.
The most widely practiced options are explained below:
Insurance
When the dealer’s face-up card is an ace, each player gets the chance to bet on whether the dealer has a blackjack or not. This is done before any other player actions.
The insurance wager equals your original bet and is used to cancel out the likely loss of this bet. A winning insurance bet will be paid at odds of 2:1, and since you lose your original bet, you’ll break even on the hand. Strategy guides tend to advice against taking insurance.
Surrender
If you have a bad hand compared to the dealer’s hand (judging from what you can see of it,) you can give up the hand and reclaim half your bet. The casino keeps the other half uncontested. You need a really bad hand match-up for a surrender to be profitable, such as 16 vs the dealer showing a 10.
At some casinos, surrenders will not be allowed if the dealer has a blackjack (which he then checks for immediately after the deal). If the dealer has a blackjack, no surrenders will be granted and you’ll lose the entire bet – unless you also have a blackjack, in which case it’s a push. This side rule variation is called late surrender.
Splitting
When you get two starting cards of the same face value, you have the option to split the hand in two. You place another bet of the same size as the original bet and play on with two hands. (Note that it is legal to split 10-point cards even if they do not form a pair – for example you could split a jack and a king.)
When you’ve decided to split a hand, the dealer immediately deals a second card to each hand. Now, if you’re dealt yet another pair, some casinos allow you to split the hand again, while others don’t.
When you’re done splitting, each of your hands will be treated separately, meaning that you will take cards to your first hand until you stand or bust, and then carry on with the next hand.
If you split aces, you are dealt a second card to each hand as usual, but you are not allowed to take any further cards (unless you are dealt another ace and split again). All hands resulting from splitting aces remain as two-card hands.
If the second card dealt to a split ace is a 10-point card you do not receive the blackjack bonus for this hand. It does however win against an ordinary 21 made of more than two cards. If the dealer also has a blackjack the result for this hand is a push as usual. In many places the same rule (no blackjack bonus) is played if an ace is dealt as the second card to a 10-point card after splitting.
Doubling Down
If you’re fairly sure that your hand will beat the dealer’s, you can double your original bet. You’re sometimes allowed to double down for any amount up to the original bet amount. In most casinos you may double down on any hand, but some casinos require an opening hand worth 11, 10 or 9.
When you’ve chosen to double down, you’ll only get one more card from the dealer.