The overall goal of this blackjack series is designed to help you understand the game of blackjack and to win over the long run. Previously, we talked about this marvelous game and why most popular casino game on the floor. Today, we will expand the series by looking at the blackjack table and how the game is played. Perhaps we’ll even sneak in a few nuggets of strategy.
Let’s set the scene for great blackjack action. As you probably know by now you can play blackjack online or in the real world. Regardless, blackjack is played at a blackjack table that consists of eight spots. First, you have the dealer spot. Next, you have seven player spots. At the point of reference the spot to the dealer’s left is called first base and the spot to the dealer’s right is called third base. You want to remember these.
On the table you’ll see some writing usually something such as “insurance pays to 2-1″ or “blackjack pays 3-2″ or “dealer must draw on saw 17″. What does this all mean? That’s what you’re about to find out.
You’ll notice that a blackjack table is a semi circle and the action progress is from the dealer’s left in a clockwise manner to the dealer’s right. The dealer is always last to go and that’s why the House has an advantage. I want to bring up one thing that I’m sure to say many times during the series. A common myth is that the common goal and blackjack is to get as close to 21 as possible. This isn’t correct at all. When playing blackjack, your goal is to beat the dealer. Read that again. It doesn’t matter if you have 12 or 21, your job is to simply beat the dealer.
If you’re playing in the real world, you’re likely to encounter two different types of blackjack games. The first type is called handheld. This is where the dealer deals you the cards and you can pick them up in your hands. The other type of game we will just call a look at game. In this type of blackjack, the dealer deals the cards but you aren’t allowed to touch them. Instead you just tell the dealer if you want to hit, stay, or whatever. This type of blackjack game is most common in games dealt from the shoe.
What’s a shoe you ask? Blackjack games can be dealt from one deck or from many decks. Games that are dealt with more than two decks are dealt from eight canister holder called a shoe. The shoe will hold four decks of cards. These days you’re most likely to see them in low limit games. Online blackjack tends to use a single deck, but an important note is that the deck is shuffled after every hand. This renders card counting useless.
And that’s part two of our series. Next, we will start breaking down the action of blackjack. We’ll look at what happens when you sit down to play hand. And I’ll be sure to mention at least a couple more great tips to know for winning at blackjack.
