The objective of blackjack is to draw as close to 21 as possible without going over. (Drawing a hand over 21 is referred to as going bust, and is an automatic loss.) To win, the player must make a higher hand than the dealer. If the dealer busts, the player wins. If the player busts, or the dealer shows a higher hand, the player forfeits his bet.

To play a game of blackjack, the player places a bet on the table in the designated spot. Each player at the table is dealt two cards, face up. The dealer also deals two cards for himself; one facing up, the other facing down.

Cards have the following values in Blackjack. Simply add the card values together to determine your hand. Disregard suits, only the card values matter:

• Ace = 1 or 11
• King, Queen, Jack = 10
• 2-10 = Face value

Any hand where an Ace is counted as 11 is called a soft total. All other hands, including those where an ace counts as 1, is called a hard total. For example, an Ace-7 can be either a soft 18 or a hard 8.

The player then proceeds to indicate to the dealer whether they want to hit, stand, double down, or, if dealt a pair, split.

• To hit, the player indicates that they want another card. Players can keep hitting until they decide to stand, or until they bust.
• To stand, the player indicates they want no more cards, and will play the hand at it's current value.
• To double down, the player places another bet, up to double the value of their initial bet. The player is then dealt just one more card. No further action can be taken on the hand.
• If dealt a pair (two cards with the same value), the player can choose to split the hand into two separate hands by placing an additional bet equal to their initial bet. The dealer then splits the pair into two hands and deals a second card for each hand. Split hands play just like regular hands, and can (usually) be doubled down or even re-split.
• Players cannot double down or split after they've decided to hit for a third card.

Once all of the players have decided to stand (or have gone bust), the dealer plays his hand. The dealer's second card is turned over. If the dealer's hand is less than 17, he hits until he gets 17 or higher, or goes bust. Some tables have a rule where the dealer hits on soft 17. This rule increases the house advantage slightly.

If the dealer doesn't bust, any players with better hands on the table win 1:1 on their bet. If the dealer busts, any players with hands still in the game win 1:1. If a player has the same hand as the dealer, the player receives his initial bet back. This is called a push.

When a player (or dealer) is dealt an Ace-10 (soft 21) as their first two cards, this hand is called a blackjack. A player that is dealt a blackjack wins 3:2 on their initial bet. A blackjack beats all hands, even a hard 21. For example, if the player holds 21 and the dealer holds a blackjack, the player loses. If both the player and dealer hold a blackjack, the hand is a push. Note that a split hand with Ace-10 counts as 21 instead of blackjack.

If the dealer's face up card is an ace, the house may offer insurance against a dealer blackjack. Do not take the insurance bet – it has a high house advantage and is rarely in the player's favor. (The exception would be when the player is counting cards, and can determine whether there are enough aces in the deck to make the bet profitable.) Another variation on this is even money, where the house offers a 1:1 payout on a blackjack if the dealer is showing an ace. Again, do not take this bet.

Some tables may offer the player the option to surrender after the first two cards are dealt. By surrendering, the player gets half of their initial bet back. In late surrender, the most common variation of the rule, the dealer checks to see if he's holding a blackjack before accepting surrender. Surrender offers a slight player advantage and should be taken in the proper situations. See the basic strategy chart below.

Below is a basic strategy chart for a standard 6 deck blackjack game (dealer stands on all 17s, double any two cards, double after split, late surrender.) The left column is the total of your hand. These are sorted by hard totals, soft totals, and pairs.

The numbers along the top row represent the dealer's face up card. Your action will depend on the total of your hand compared to the dealer's face up card. For example, if the dealer's face up card is 8, and you hold a 15, the proper action would be to hit.

To play blackjack optimally, it is necessary to always play the basic strategy. Even card counters rely on basic strategy to make their playing decisions. By playing optimal basic strategy, the house edge can be reduced to less than 0.50%

The optimal strategy for any given blackjack game depends on the rules and the number of decks for that particular game. Blackjack Info has a basic strategy engine that will generate a custom strategy chart for any combination of rules and decks.

While the basic strategy will take a lot of practice to memorize, there are a few rules to remember that apply for just about all situations and strategies:

• Stand on a hard total of 17 or higher, or a soft total of 19 or higher.
• Hit on a hard total of 8 or lower.
• Hit on a hard total of 12-16, or a soft total of 13-17, if the dealer's up card is 7 or higher. Generally, stand if it's 6 or lower. (See strategy chart)
• Double down on 11 and 10, unless dealer is showing an Ace or 10. (See strategy chart)
• Split pairs of Aces and 8s. Never split 5s and 10s.
• If offered, surrender on 15 if the dealer shows a 10, or 16 if the dealer shows a 9, 10 or Ace.

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Card counting allows the player to turn the house advantage into an maximum player advantage of approximately 1%. The basic principle behind card counting is that a deck rich in high cards (tens and aces) benefits the player, while a deck rich in small cards benefits the dealer.

The card counter assigns a value to each card that is dealt out of the shoe and maintains a running count. A negative value is assigned to high cards, a positive value to small cards, and a neutral value to medium cards, depending on the counting system. When the count is high, indicating a deck that is rich in high cards, the card counter steps up his betting aggressively. When the count is negative, the card counter bets small, or leaves the table altogether.

Hi/Lo is a simple, popular and relatively effective counting system. The card count values for each card dealt is shown in the chart to the right. Start at 0, and for each card dealt from the shoe, add or subtract 1 from the count depending on the card. You should learn to ignore the 0 value cards. This count is called the running count. Divide the running count by the number of decks remaining in the shoe (you'll have to determine this through practice) to determine the true count. When the true count is +2 or above, the deck is rich in high cards, and thus the odds are favorable to the player.

Card counting is not only difficult to master, but the casinos don't like it. As told in books like Bringing Down the House and TV shows like Breaking Vegas, professional card counters have been banned, harassed and investigated by the casinos they profit from. Although card counting is not technically illegal, casinos are private entities who can ban anyone they want from the premises.

Savvy card counters must engage in elaborate ruses to avoid arousing suspicion from the pit bosses (e.g. a tourist from Duluth "just visiting" for the weekend). If the casino suspects a player of card counting, more than likely the pit boss will politely ask the player to play any game other than blackjack. In the worst case scenario, they can ban the player from the casino permanently and place their photo in a widely-used database of known card counters.

It is possible to win at blackjack with card counting, but it's risky and requires discipline, practice and determination. Only experienced players who know what they are doing should attempt card counting in a casino.

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Numerous variations on blackjack have sprung up in recent years, such as Spanish 21, Super Fun 21, Blackjack Switch, Double Exposure and others. Most of these games, while novel, have a higher house advantage and require a different strategy than regular blackjack. Spanish 21 can offer a comparable or lower house advantage than regular blackjack when played with the optimal strategy, but all other blackjack variants should be avoided by serious players.

A popular rule variant that is proliferating in today's casinos is 6:5 single-deck blackjack. Instead of a 3:2 payout on a blackjack, the lower 6:5 payout actually increases the house advantage by a substantial margin, making the game unprofitable for serious players. Despite this, the popularity of 6:5 blackjack grows, based on novice players' assumptions that a single-deck game has better odds. Avoid 6:5 single-deck blackjack games, and stick with 3:2 blackjack games with fair rules.