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"Blackjack" is also called "21". Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games in the world. Those who play different casino games spend most of their time playing Blackjack. Blackjack rules are easy to understand and to learn. Blackjack gives the skilled player a consistent winning advantage over the house! A dealer and several players take part in Blackjack. Every player and the dealer have two cards each. Each player's hand is played against the dealer's hand only. If you obtain a hand value closer to twenty-one without going bust than the dealer does, your hand wins. The objective of Blackjack is to obtain a hand value as close to twenty-one as possible without going over. The objective of Blackjack is to Beat The Dealer! The most powerful hand possible is a hand value of twenty-one in your first two cards. An ace and a ten valued card will give you 21 or blackjack. When you receive a blackjack, the dealer will pay you three chips for every two that you have bet. If both you and the dealer have blackjacks your bet is simply retained by you. In this case you neither lose nor win. The player always has an advantage in Blackjack as it is a player who decides whether to take one more card or not and when. The dealer always plays to the fixed rules. The dealer must hit until he has seventeen or more. You get your bet and an amount equal to your bet if your hand is closer to 21 than tthe dealer's. Push is a comeout, when the hand total of the dealer and of the player are equal. A push is neither won nor lost. In the case of a push nobody wins and nobody loses. If your total exceeds 21 you lose your bet and it is called "going bust". If both your hand and the dealer's hand is a bust, you lose your bet because the dealer always plays out his hand last. The dealer's greatest advantage over the player is that the dealer is always the last to play out his hand. Players have the advantage of flexible play. Players have four options. The player has to decide what to do after receiving first cards: he can stand, hit or split.

The basic system in Blackjack helps its users to decrease the house edge to 0.05%. But the card counting strategy system still remains the most profitable, because using it the right way can bring the card counter 1-2% advantage over the house. That’s why houses try hard to recognize card counters especially good ones and to discourage them from gambling. But card counting strategy is the only way to gain advantage over the house legally. Nowadays there exist much card counting strategy systems, which can be both very simple and complicated, but the principle remains the same-it assigns a numerical value to each card. The player adds and subtracts these values as cards appear arriving at what is called the "running count". This fluctuating count represents cards which are known or have already been played. This number is figured against the remaining cards to determine the more valuable "true count" representing the cards not yet played. In the case of the count being plus it favours the player because then a greater number of high-valued cards such as Aces and 10-valued card, is in the game. In the opposite case when the take is minus it means that There are more low-valued playing cards in the game, which doesn’t favour the gambler, but it favours the gambling house greatly. Perfecting card counting skills requires practice, memorization and technique. But once you master it you can be sure that you will achieve success in Blackjack in any house.

Blackjack is played on a semicircular shaped table. The blackjack tables are covered by green or blue colored felt. The blackjack table has seven places for players. The dealer stands behind the table. The dealer deals cards in a clockwise direction from one or multiple decks. After shuffling all cards thoroughly, the dealer will give one of the players a plastic card. To cut the deck, the player has to insert the plastic card into the deck. After shuffling and cutting the deck, the dealer "burns" one to five cards immediately placing these unseen cards into the discard box before the deal of the first hand. Minimum and maximum bets are indicated on the table. Minimum bets are usually $1.00, $2.00, $5.00, $10.00, $25.00 or $100.00. Maximum bets are generally $500.00, $1,000.00 or $5,000.00. Min and max bets can be different in different casinos. Every casino has his own chips, with which players make bets. Some houses allow to use cash for making bets. But in all casinos winnings are paid in chips. Chips can be purchased at the tables. If you want to cash your chips you must go to the Cashier. At the outset of each hand, you have to place your bet in the square on the table directly in front of your seat. When all the bets are made all players and the dealer receive two cards each. Players don’t see dealer’s cards. After the dealer has dealt everyone two cards, he will turn his first card face up for all to see. The card which is not shown to the players is called ‘a hole card’. After all players have played out their hands, the dealer will turn his hole card face up and, if necessary, hit his hand until he has a hand value of seventeen or more. When one or two decks are played, the dealer will deal from his hand and the player's cards will be dealt face down. When there are four or more decks, the cards are dealt face up from a "shoe". The shoe is a plastic box, which sits on the table holding the portion of the deck remaining to be dealt. The shoe provides the dealer with a convenient way to handle four or more decks. The shoe makes it more difficult for a dealer to cheat by dealing a card other than the bottom card. The house has one more advantage when dealing from the shoe. The more decks a house plays, the more favorable the odds become for the house against the card counters. When using four or more decks, the cards are often dealt face up both in European and American casinos. When the cards are dealt face up it helps to prevent cheating.

The first standardized deck of cards appeared in 1440. It was printed by Guttenberg. The first deck had only 50 cards. It is only natural that there began to appear much card games, which were very popular among aristocracy and royalty. One of these games was Blackjack, which derived the features of several card games. It had some features of Baccarat, some Italian and French games. The mixture of all these games was called twenty-one. In the late 1800s the game appeared in America, but it was not very popular here, people liked Craps and Roulette much more. To attract gamblers houses offered much bonuses and promotions to Blackjack players. The craziest bonus was the pay out 10:1 for the following combination of cards: an Ace and a blackjack. This combination of cards was called a Blackjack and Later this name was given to the game itself. Some time passed and the casino game of Blackjack became popular in America not only among aristocracy, but all Americans. Today Blackjack was the third in popularity after Craps and Roulette. Nowadays the casino game of Blackjack is one of the most popular games, it is more popular than Craps and Roulette. Further, today internet blackjack is available.