Encore Blackjack is a variant of blackjack that uses a standard 52 card deck. The game has no jokers, and the player bets on either the first or second hand. The game is played with one or two decks, and the dealer deals five cards to each player, face down. The player then flips over one card at a time, and if it matches any of the five cards that were just dealt, the player can either keep the card or “push” it to the dealer, who then replaces it with another card from the deck.
If none of the cards match, then the player can either keep all five cards or “double down” on their initial bet by putting another $2 into the pot. The game is over once either player has lost all their money or two players have both lost all their money. In Encore Blackjack, there are no re-shuffles or redeals, so players must be careful not to leave any valuable cards on the table in case they lose later in the game. .
In regular blackjack, each player is dealt two cards face down, and then they are free to draw additional cards until they have a total of 21. In Encore Blackjack, however, each player is only dealt one card face down initially – this card becomes their “base” or starting point for counting up points.
After players have drawn their initial cards and placed them in front of them in numerical order (1-5), the dealer then deals two more face down cards to each player (6-9), setting these off to one side as “off-cards”. Finally, any face up community cards that have not been used yet are added to each player’s hand (10-A).
In regular blackjack, if a player has an Ace showing and another Ace is flipped over during the draw phase (e.g., after they have drawn 2nd and 3rd cards), they would automatically win since they would now have a total of 22 points – even if their original base card was not an Ace! In Encore Blackjack however, if a player has an Ace showing and another Ace is flipped over during the draw phase (e.g.
, after they have drawn 2nd and 3rd cards), then their original base card would still count as 1 point towards their total score – even if their original base card was not an Ace! This rule is known as “point counting” and it differs from casino to casino – some casinos might allow for both Aces to count as 1 point towards your total score while others might not allow for any Aces whatsoever to contribute towards your final score.
So in summary: In Encore Blackjack, each player only gets one initial card which becomes their base for counting up points – after that players draw additional cards until they have 21 points. If an ace is revealed during this process (either through drawing or being flipped over by another player), then that ace still counts as 1 point towards your total score – even if your original base card was not an ace! This rule is known as “point counting” which differs from casino to casino.
