Blackjack
Betting- Cards Value
- Blackjack Terminology
- Auto Play
- Auto Play Strategy
- Changing the Default Strategy Rules
Betting
Each player starts betting. Two (face down) cards are dealt to the players. The dealer gets two cards as well, but one of them is faced up.
Cards value
- The King, Queen, Jack and 10 all count for 10
- Aces count for 1 and 11
- Cards between 2 and 9 have their face value
- The suits of the cards do not have any meaning in the game
If one of the first two cards is an Ace and the other one have the value of 10, the player have Blackjack. The goal of the game is to get your hand value closer to 21 than the dealer, without going over. You win your bet 1.5 times back, unless the dealer also hits Blackjack. You can draw as many cards you like before you hit 21, but if you are going over you loose your bet.
The dealer has to hit a card at 16 or under, also he has to stand at 17 and above.
Blackjack Terminology
- Hit (you draw a card more)
- Stand (you are not interested in another card)
- Split (when you are dealt a matching pair of cards (numerical value, example: 6 and 6 or Queen and King) you have the ability to split the hand into two separate hands, and play them independently, by paying half of your initial bet. Aces and 10 are not a Blackjack, but 21 after a split)
- Double down (you double your bet at the first two cards you get and only hit one more card. This is only allowed if you have not got Blackjack)
- Insurance (you get the possibility of insurance if you think the value of the dealer’s card (face down) is 10. You have to pay half of the initial bet, but you will get the money back twice, if the dealer has got Blackjack, but if he has not, you loose your money and the game continues).
Auto Play
You can choose to use Auto Play - set your blackjack preferences and let the computer play for you. First you need to place your initial bet (this will be the bet amount that is used for each hand in autoplay). Then click on the "autoplay" button. You can then select the "number of deals" for the autoplay to do and when to stop (if you win or lose a cetain amount of money).
Read below for details on Auto Play Strategy and Changing the Default Rules
Auto Play Strategy
The blackjack autoplay strategy grid will show you the current strategy that autoplay will use when running. You can change the strategy to suit your preferred game play.
Fig 1
You will see on the left hand side a list that represents your hand. For example if you are dealt a {7 and a 9} you will have 16. This means the strategy will use the 3rd row from the top to use for its rules. See row underlined in red below (Fig 2).
Fig 2
Which rule it then uses is decided by the dealers first card. If the dealer is dealt an 8, from the above grid you can see the autoplay function will HIT. See yellow box shown below (Fig 3).
Fig 3
Please note that a 10, Jack, Queen and King all count as a 10.
On the left hand column you will also notice a section from Soft 20 to Soft 13. A SOFT hand is a hand that contains an Ace that at the time can be counted as an 11. For example:
| Hand | Value | Soft |
|---|---|---|
| Ace, 8 | 19 or 9 | Yes |
| Ace, 8, 10 Value Card | 19 | No |
| Ace, 6, 3 | 20 or 10 | Yes |
| Ace, 5, 8 | 14 | No |
| Ace, Ace, 8 | 20 or 10 | Yes |
| Ace, Ace, 8, 8 | 18 | No |
Any soft hands as they contain an ace that can either be a 1 or 11, are chosen from this part of the guide. Again the dealer card is used to make the final decision as shown above in Fig 3.
The final section on the left hand column (pairs), are used when the first two cards you are dealt are the same. Remember, 10, Jacks, Queens, and Kings are all the same for pairs. So a Jack and Queen is a pair.
Changing the Default Strategy Rules
Fig 4
Any rule can be changed by you. To change a rule, click on the one you want to change. A menu will appear (Fig 4).
The actions you can take change for different sections.
You can HIT and STAND on any grid decision. You can only DOUBLE, SURRENDER and SPLIT when you have two cards. When you have a third card you can no longer use these options.
You will see when you select double or surrender or split (for pairs) that the menu will become restricted (in the cards section, to 2 cards). You can then choose an option (under ELSE) for hands that are greater than 2 cards.
Using these options supplied to you in the menu you can make up many different decisions. Once you have changed one or more options you click the save button to save the options. If at any time you ever wish to revert to the default options, just click the "default" button at the bottom of the screen.
If you change a set decision from the default, a small black pointer will appear as shown below (Fig 5). This simply means you have changed this rule from the default rule.
Fig 5
