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Playing blackjack is easy

Playing blackjack is easy. The hardest part is being able to count to 21, which most gamblers can handle (even if they have to use all their fingers and toes). Try playing blackjack in our recommended casinos.

Despite what most beginners think, your goal isn’t to get as close as you can to 21. Your goal is simply to have a higher total than the dealer without “busting,” or going over 21.

Blackjack is played with a standard 52-card deck (no jokers), but all face cards count as 10. So if you have a Ten card and a Jack and the dealer has a King and a Queen, both of your hands equal exactly 20. An Ace counts as either 1 or 11, whichever is better for your hand. So if you have two Fives and an Ace, they add up to 21 instead of 11. But if you have a Five and a Six and then draw an Ace, you’ll have 12 instead of a busting 22. An Ace that gives you two nonbusting totals is “soft” - for example, a Seven with an Ace is a soft 18, because the hand could total either 8 or 18; a face card with an Eight would make a hard 18.

SOFT HAND - 7 spades A hearts

HARD HAND - 8 spades Q diamonds

BLACKJACK - A spades

In the most popular form of the game, the dealer gives you two cards face up and also gives himself two cards - one face up, the other face down (the hidden card is called the dealer’s hole card).