Blackjack

How to Play Blackjack

Blackjack is a race to 21 against the dealer. Number cards count face value, jacks, queens, and kings count 10, and aces count 1 or 11 - whichever helps you more. Place a bet with the chip buttons, hit Deal, and you receive two cards face up while the dealer gets one up and one face down. From there you can Hit for another card, Stand to keep your total, Double to double your bet in exchange for exactly one more card, or Split a matching pair into two separate hands. Go over 21 and you bust immediately; otherwise the dealer reveals the hole card and must draw to 17, standing on all 17s including soft 17. An ace plus a ten-value card on the deal is a blackjack and pays 3:2. This table uses a six-deck shoe and offers no insurance bet - which is no loss, since insurance is a losing wager anyway.

You start with 1,000 chips, and your best chip stack is what lands on the leaderboard. If you go broke, a rebuy resets you to 1,000 - but your recorded high score is always the biggest stack you've ever built.

Strategy Tips

• Learn basic strategy, or lean on the hint button - every hand has one mathematically best play. The built-in hint shows the correct basic-strategy move for a six-deck, stand-on-soft-17 game.
• Always split aces and eights - a pair of aces is two chances at 21, and 16 is the worst total in the game. Splitting turns both into fresh starts.
• Never split tens or fives - 20 is nearly unbeatable as it stands, and a pair of fives is really a 10 that wants to be doubled, not two weak hands.
• Double down on 11 - you can't bust, and roughly one card in three gives you 21. Double 10 against anything except a dealer 10 or ace.
• Respect the dealer's upcard - stand on stiff totals (12-16) when the dealer shows 2-6, because the dealer is likely to bust. Keep hitting those same totals against 7 or higher.
• Bet a fixed fraction of your stack - blackjack is streaky. Wagering around 2-5% of your chips per hand keeps a cold run from wiping you out.