When a player is dealt a hand of blackjack, they are given the opportunity to either place (bet) a certain amount of money into the pot, or to draw (receive) a new hand. When a player bets, they are essentially wagering that they will receive a higher hand than the dealer.
The house (the casino) always wins if the player does not win, but if the player does win, the house typically takes some percentage of their bet as commission.
The premise of blackjack is simple: The player counts cards and tries to get as close to 21 as possible without going over. If they reach 21, they win the hand.
If they don’t, they lose even if their total number of cards is equal to or less than the dealer’s total number of cards. .
The goal of the house is to make sure that as many hands as possible end in a loss for the player, so it has an incentive to keep playing even when it knows that it will eventually lose. This is where betting comes in – by betting, the house can “push” (give) the player more cards in order to make it more likely that they will lose.
In short, in blackjack there is always some form of bet behind the game – no matter how you play it.
