At the heart of blackjack is the counting of cards. In basic blackjack, each player receives two cards face down. The player then either hits or stands. If the player hits, the dealer must give them another card and the player keeps the original two cards.
If the player stands, the dealer must give them another card and then draw another card. The goal is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over.
In some variations of blackjack, such as Spanish 21, there are an additional two cards – a ten and an ace – that are also dealt face down. When a player gets a ten or an ace, they are said to have “busted.
” In these variants, if a player busts with an ace, they must give up their original two cards and receive three new ones. If they bust with a ten, they receive one new card and keep their original two.
In most cases, when a player busts with anything other than an ace or ten, they are given one more card – even if they don’t need it. This is called “free splitting.
” However, in some variants of blackjack, such as Hi-Lo Blackjack, free splitting does not apply when busting with any card other than an ace or ten. In that case, if a player busts with anything other than an ace or ten and does not need another card to continue playing, the dealer will give them another card without splitting.
So how does a blackjack dealer count aces? When counting aces in basic blackjack, the dealer starts by counting 1 through 10. If the dealer sees a blackjack (a five plus one of the players’ two cards), they will say “five” and continue counting from there.
However, if the dealer sees any other number except for blackjack (a four plus one of the players’ two cards), they will instead say “four,” stop counting at that number, and give the player their next card – which would be either a three or a two if it was not for the Black Jack rule mentioned earlier about giving players one more card when busting with anything other than an ace or ten.
