Blackjack is a casino game that pits a player against the dealer. In blackjack, the goal is to score as many points as possible by drawing cards and making certain choices (such as sticking with a certain number of cards).
The game is played with a standard 52-card deck. The values of the cards are as follows: Ace = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; 10, Jack = 11, 12; King = 13, 14; Queen = 15; 20 = 16; 10 = 17; 9 = 18. The player begins by selecting two cards from the deck and placing them face down in front of them.
The dealer then flips over the first card of the player’s two cards and sets it aside. The second card is then placed on top of the first card and turned over to show that it is now the player’s turn to deal. .
The objective of blackjack is to score as many points as possible by drawing cards and making certain choices (such as sticking with a certain number of cards). When playing blackjack, it is important to keep in mind that unlike other casino games such as roulette or craps where the house edge (the percentage that the casino makes on every bet) is fixed, in blackjack there can be a large range in how much each hand pays out. For example, while the house edge for a hand of blackjack with two face down cards is only 0.5%, hands that are high-card (two 10s or better) pay out almost twice as much at 2.
75%. This means that it pays off more for a player to stick with lower-valued hands in blackjack than in other casino games where the house edge is fixed.
Though there can be large swings in how much each hand pays out, in general it is statistically more favourable for a player to play low-ball than high-ball when playing blackjack. This is because hands that are high-card (two 10s or better) are more likely than low-card hands to result in an automatic loss for the player (since they will almost always lose if they hit).
As such, most players will opt to play lower-valued hands when they have the chance instead of risking an automatic loss by playing high-card hands.
Though statistics vary from casino to casino and from hand to hand, it has been found that on average Blackjack pays out 97% for all hands above Ace up through Two Copies Of A Card (2C), with 53% wagered on average per hand at a US casino according to Global Gaming Factory’s 2018 Blackjack Report.
