How Blackjack Works

Blackjack is sometimes referred to simply as 21, as the aim of the game is to have a hand value that is closer to 21 than that of the dealer, without going over. Notice that you are only playing against the hand of the dealer, NOT against any of the other players at your table. The dealer has certain rules of play that they must abide by.

The basic idea of getting close to 21, or reaching it, and beating the dealer, is the same worldwide. However, from there on, there are a number of variations, especially between UK and US play, as shown in the table below.

Action	British Version	American Version
Splitting	Cannot split pairs of 4, 5 or 10	Can split any pair
Splitting	Can split any number of times	Number of splits allowed varies
Doubling	Can double on totals of 9, 10, 11	Can double on any two cards
Doubling	Can double on hard totals only	Can double on hard or soft totals

Another variation is the numbers of decks of cards used to make up the pack. In the UK, six decks is most common, eight decks are used in some places, and less frequently, four. If you're playing at a game where six or eight decks are being used, all players cards will be dealt face up, the dealer's first card will not. Games with fewer decks are usually dealt face down.

Hard and Soft Totals

An Ace can be counted as 1 or 11, and its combination with another card leads to what is called a soft total. For example an Ace and an 8 is a soft total, as it could mean a total number of points of 9 OR 19. This is in comparison to a 2 and an 8, which is a hard total - it could be nothing else but 10.

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