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The Table
A typical blackjack table layout is shown below.

The Cards
Standard poker-sized playing cards are used. Finding a game played with just one deck, however, is getting more difficult these days. Some casinos offer double-deck games, and you are usually better off to play there after familiarizing yourself with the “face-down” procedures that are normally used in single- and double-deck games. Six-deck games are by far the most common nowadays, although as many as eight decks are sometimes used.
The cards are shuffled and placed in a dealing device, known as a “shoe,” from which the dealer delivers them to the players and himself as required. (No shoe is used in single- and double-deck games.) The first card out of the shoe is normally “burned,” meaning that it is placed directly into the discard tray. (The colored plastic card-sized marker with which players cut the shuffled decks, and which the dealer then places a deck or two from the end of a shoe in order to indicate when to shuffle again, is often improperly referred to as a “burn card” as well. It is more correctly called simply a “shuffle card.”)
Card Values A point value, or rank, is assigned to each card as follows: The different suits have no significance per se. 2s through 9s are counted at face value. 10s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings are worth 10 points each, and they are all called “10s” regardless of their apparent rank differences. The player may count any Ace as 1 point or 11 points, but the dealer must count an Ace as 11 in all “soft” hands totaling 17 or more. “Soft” hands are those that have at least one Ace that may be counted as 11 and still produce a total of 21 or less.

Object Of The Game
Blackjack is simply a contest between the dealer and yourself. Although up to six other players may play at your table simultaneously, each player competes individually against the dealer. The winner of each hand is determined by whose card total is higher without being over 21 points. A “blackjack,” sometimes called a “natural,” consists of an Ace and any 10-valued card, only if these are the first two cards dealt in the hand. A blackjack is considered higher than any other hand even if the other hand totals 21 as well.

Ties
If you tie the dealer with a total of 21 or less, you neither win nor lose your bet for that hand. This is called a “push,” a term originating from the time when dealers actually pushed a player’s wager back out of the betting area every time there was such a tie. Nowadays the dealer just “knocks” the table in front of a push to indicate that a payoff or loss was not merely overlooked.

Wagering
The size of your bet must conform to the table’s minimum and maximum limits. This range varies and is posted at each table. Some casinos allow “money plays,” which are simply cash wagers placed inside the betting area, but normally cash must be exchanged for “chips” before a wager may be accepted. The playing chips are made of metal, clay, and/or plastic alloys, and they come in various denominations and colors, usually with the particular casino’s logo on them. By convention, the red, green, and black chips are sold for $5, $25, and $100 respectively.
Before any cards are dealt, each player must decide upon the amount of the wager for the upcoming hand and place it in his/her designated betting area, known as the betting “box” or “spot.” If several chips are being bet, they must be neatly stacked. Different denominations of chips being wagered in the same box must be arranged from the larger-valued ones on the bottom to the lesser-valued ones on top. Chips placed beside the betting area normally indicate to the dealer that the player wishes them “colored up” or “colored down,” i.e., exchanged for chips of higher or lower value. A player may place a chip or two between the betting area and the dealer to indicate a separate bet is being made for the dealer in lieu of an outright tip: if the player’s hand wins, the dealer wins the “toke” as well.

The Deal
The shoe game begins in a clockwise direction, as the dealer gives each player at the table one card face up, thereby exposing its value. Then one card is dealt face down to the dealer, without being exposed to the players. This unseen card is known as the dealer’s “hole” card, since there was an indentation in the early blackjack tables that accommodated it, thereby completely obscuring this card from the players’ view. Each player then receives a second card face up, before the dealer places a face-up card on top of his hole card. A few casinos reverse the order in which the dealer receives his/her two cards, but most give the player as little time as possible to view the dealer’s up-card before being required to make his first playing decision. In shoe games, the player is never allowed to touch his cards. Single- and double-deck games that are dealt face down necessarily require the player to handle the cards, but only with one hand at a time.

Peeking
If the dealer’s up-card is a 10-valued card or an Ace, in order to save time playing out all of the hands perhaps for naught, most casinos require the dealer to “peek,” i.e., to carefully check the hole card immediately, being careful to allow no player to see its value. If the hole card provides the dealer with a blackjack and therefore an unbeatable total, the dealer exposes it at once and quickly collects all of the losing bets around the table in a counterclockwise direction. Of course, if you also have a blackjack, it is considered a push and you neither win nor lose the hand.

Playing Decisions
After placing your bet and receiving your first two cards, you must then decide how to play your hand. This is where skill enters the game, since whether you win or lose depends largely upon what choices you make at this point. Considering the value of the dealer’s up-card and your own starting pair, you must decide whether to take “insurance” if offered, “surrender,” “split,” “double,” “hit” (and perhaps “bust” as a result), or “stand.” These choices must be made for every hand you receive, in the order listed above. The playing decisions are explained below.

Insurance
Whenever the dealer’s up-card is an Ace, he will ask whether you wish to buy “insurance.” The dealer asks this before peeking at the hole card. What he actually wants to know is, “Would you like to bet that I have a 10-valued card in the hole, thereby giving me a blackjack?”
Insurance is a completely separate side bet, which has nothing whatsoever to do with your hand. You only have to decide whether or not to wager that the hole card is, indeed, a 10-valued card. (A “true 10″ is a 10 only, while a “10-valued card” is any face card or true 10 and is designated hereafter as “T.”) Many beginning players feel that there is some relationship between the value of their first two cards and the advisability of the insurance option, i.e., that they should take insurance when holding a good hand but not necessarily when holding a poor starting total. Nothing could be further from the truth; in fact, in chapter 4 you will see that exactly the opposite is true. Unless you are a counter of cards, the insurance wager is completely unrelated to the cards you hold and is only concerned with whether or not the dealer’s hole card is a T.
You make the insurance bet, if you wish, by placing an amount equal to one-half your current wager beside your original bet, in the area on the table layout designated “Insurance Pays 2 to 1.” Many casinos allow you to insure for less than half your original wager, but never more, and usually exacdy half is required. The dealer then peeks at the hole card. If it is a T, she has a blackjack and immediately takes your original losing bet (unless you also have a blackjack) or pays off your winning insurance bet 2 to 1. Therefore, if you take the insurance bet and win, you break even on the hand overall. If the dealer does not have a T in the hole, you lose your insurance bet, because you were betting that the dealer would get a blackjack, and this was not the case. You then continue normal play with your original hand versus the dealer’s Ace up-card, even though you lost the insurance wager. When you do not wish to make the insurance wager, simply do not push out any chips into the insurance area of the layout.
If you are holding a blackjack when the dealer asks, “Insurance, anyone?” you may decide to insure it by taking what is known as “even money,” i.e., an amount exactly equal to your wager, instead of chancing the 3 to 2 payout for your blackjack, if the dealer’s hole card happens not to be a T. If the dealer does have a blackjack, then you would get nothing without the insurance bet, since the result would be a push. An even-money payoff before the dealer checks to see if he also has a blackjack is a sure-win situation, but you are giving up the potential 3-to-2 payoff that a blackjack would normally provide.
Taking even money for a blackjack is exactly equivalent to taking insurance. If you insure your blackjack and the dealer does have a 10-valued card in the hole (i.e., a 10, J, Q, K), then you gain the same amount as your original bet, since you win twice the half-bet wagered on the insurance and push with your blackjack. If the dealer does not get the blackjack, then you are still up an amount equal to your original bet, since you get paid 3 to 2 for your blackjack, while losing the half-bet you wagered on the insurance. Either way, you are always up “even money” when insuring a blackjack.

Surrender
The concept of “surrender” was introduced in 1958 by the Continental Casino in Manila. After the dealer determined that he did not have a blackjack, a player could throw in his hand after any number of cards, as long as he hadn’t busted, and he would lose only half of his original wager.
In 1978, Resorts International in Atlantic City offered players the surrender option on any first two cards, before the dealer checked for blackjack. This became known as “early” surrender, and the 1958 variation as “late” surrender. Although very popular and profitable for all knowledgeable players, early surrender was discontinued after only a short trial period and has not been offered anywhere since. Late surrender, which is now common in Las Vegas, Adantic City, and other centers around the world, now consists of giving up your hand and half of your bet upon viewing your first two cards. As in the original rule, surrendering is permitted only if the dealer has no blackjack.
Another rare variation of surrender that still exists in a few foreign casinos is called “five-card surrender.” If the player succeeds in drawing five cards without busting, he may relinquish his hand and receive back his original wager plus one-half of it. In this case the player is guaranteed a “half-win” while giving up the possibility of a “full win.”
After viewing your first two cards and the dealer’s up-card, you may figure that you have little chance of winning your hand. At this point many casinos now offer the late surrender option, which allows you to give up your hand, while losing only half of your bet, after the dealer peeks and determines that he has no blackjack. In a shoe game, you indicate your intention to surrender by simply saying aloud, “I surrender.” This is the only instruction that must be given verbally to a dealer. In single- or double-deck games that are dealt face down, tossing your two cards face up onto the table toward the dealer is normally all that is required to tell the dealer that you wish to surrender.

Splitting
If your first two cards happen to have the same point value, you may decide to split them up, thereby creating two separate hands. You indicate your desire to split by sliding equal-value chips up beside the current wager in your betting area. The dealer will then automatically move the cards apart and deal you another card on each split hand. If one of these “second” cards happens to have the same point value as the first two, you can usually resplit, creating a maximum of up to four distinct hands, each one necessarily being matched with an equivalent initial wager. The number of times that you may resplit varies with individual casinos. You are normally allowed to split Aces only once, however, and resultant blackjacks are then deemed to be only 21s. If these hands are eventual winners, they are paid off with only even money instead of the 3-to-2 ratio that true blackjacks would warrant.

Doubling
Considering your initial two-card point total, you may figure that you have a good chance of beating the dealer’s final total, even if you draw only one more card. In this case you may double the wager of the hand by sliding equal-value chips up behind the original bet in your box. When you double your bet in this way you must take just one additional card to complete your hand. This is called “doubling-down,” or simply “doubling,” since you are actually doubling your wager on that particular hand. The dealer usually acknowledges the double by placing your final card sideways.

Hitting
When your first two cards add up to 8 or less, or if you receive a “stiff” hand, i.e., one that totals 12 to 16 points, you may desire another card to try to improve your total. Indicate this to the dealer by scratching a finger on the table behind your cards or by distinctly pointing to them. The dealer will then give you the next card out of the shoe. This process is called “hitting.” You may keep on taking hits until you are satisfied with your total or until you “bust.”

Busting
You “bust” or “break” when your card total goes over 21 points, in which case the dealer immediately picks up your wager, and then your cards. The dealer busts when his total exceeds 21 as well, but by that time your bet is already lost. In this case a tie is not considered a push, even though you may have broken the 21-point limit with exactly the same total as the dealer.

Standing
If your first two cards give you a “pat” hand, i.e., one that totals 17 or more and contains no Aces being counted as 11, you may be content with it, and decide to draw no more cards. This is called “standing.” You indicate this choice by waving a hand horizontally over your cards. Hand signals are very important, because in a noisy casino (or if the dealer speaks a foreign language) verbal instructions are too easily misunderstood. In fact, they are usually not accepted. Hand signals are de rigueur in most casinos, since they can be verified if necessary by the overhead video cameras that are normally concealed in the ceilings, in case any dispute arises that cannot be settled satisfactorily by the pit boss.

Back-playing
When the tables are very crowded, some casinos allow players standing behind the seated players to place bets in the same boxes, just behind the original wagers. The seated player must always consent to this arrangement, and the “outside” player is forced to abide by any playing decisions made by the seated player. However, if the seated player proceeds to split or double-down, the outside player may match his original bet accordingly, or simply abide by the results of the first hand of the split. When the first split hand is doubled by the seated player, the outside player may decide to double as well or simply stand with the total obtained by the additional card. Allowing outside players to play in seated players’ boxes can create confusing situations, e.g., when only one player takes insurance; therefore, most casinos avoid these potential problems by simply opening up additional tables whenever conditions warrant them.

Disputes
If your hand signal to hit or to stand is not distinct enough, the dealer may inadvertently give you an unwanted card or pass you by without your desired hit. In such an instance, or when any other dispute arises, the pit boss will be called over by the dealer in order to mediate a resolution. If this does not satisfy the player, the pit boss may choose to make a final decision by examining the videotape from the table’s “eye in the sky.” This is actually done very infrequently. In the thirty-odd years that I have been observing the game, a resolution “from above” has been necessary only once. If there is genuine doubt and the wager is small, pit bosses tend to side with the player in order to foster good public relations. “The eye” is the casino’s main surveillance technique and is employed primarily for security reasons. In any case, the decision of the pit boss is final regarding the setdement of various playing controversies.

Resolution
After all of the players in turn from the dealer’s left have chosen to stand on their totals or have busted, the dealer turns over her hole card, then draws additional cards, as necessary, until she gets a pat hand or busts. Some casinos do not consider a soft 17 to be a pat hand for their dealers and insist that they must hit this total. (Again, “soft” totals are those obtained when at least one Ace is counted as 11 points, instead of only 1.) Others require the dealer to stand on all 17s or more. Usually, this rule is printed upon the table layout itself.
Once a dealer achieves a pat hand, she must stop drawing cards. If your final total is higher, the dealer will proceed to pay you an amount equal to the bet(s) in your betting area. A blackjack will gain you your original wager plus half as much again. Of course, you lose all the chips in your box whenever your total is lower than the dealer’s. When the dealer breaks, however, all players remaining in the hand win with their hands regardless of their totals. It is customary for dealers to award blackjack holders their 3-to-2 payoffs immediately upon determining that the dealer does not also have a blackjack, rather than waiting to pay off these naturals in the usual counterclockwise manner.
For visually oriented readers, the following flowchart may better illustrate the sequence of events, the choices you have, and the decisions you must make in order to resolve every hand of blackjack.