There is a lot of confusion about whether blackjack cards are face up or face down. Let’s take a closer look at the rules of blackjack and see if we can figure out what the answer is.
In basic blackjack, each player is dealt two cards. The player then either doubles their bet (put another dollar into the pot) or passes. If the player doubles their bet, they discard one card and draw two new cards.
If the player passes, they keep their original two cards and no new cards are drawn. The goal of blackjack is to achieve a higher sum than the dealer by playing more than 21 (without going over).
If the player has an Ace showing, they must choose whether to hit or stand. If they hit, they add another card to their hand and stand if they have a two through ten.
If they stand, they lose the original bet but keep any other cards that were drawn. If they are dealt a Jack or Queen (not an Ace), they must hit unless they have an Ace in their hand, in which case they must stand and draw another card.
Now let’s look at what happens if one of the players’ cards is face down. In this case, the card is not shown to either player, but it still has an effect on the game.
If it’s a blackjack (a number between 1 and 21), it still counts as one point for the dealer and subtracts from the player’s score – regardless of whether it’s face up or face down.
