Blackjack is the world’s most popular casino game and is one of the top choices for online casino players looking to enjoy the game from the comfort of their own homes. Many players put blackjack at the top of their personal best games to play at the casino because of the simple, yet entertaining, gameplay and the low house edge. There’s a strategy involved in this one, too, and that makes it even more exciting. The single most important thing that you need to understand about the game of blackjack is that it is a game of player decisions. Unlike any other game in the casino, when playing blackjack your decisions can have an outcome on how the hand plays out and thus can contribute to the wins or losses of the players at the table. Blackjack is equally well known as Twenty-One. The rules are simple, the play is thrilling, and there is opportunity for high strategy. In fact, for the expert player who mathematically plays a perfect game and is able to count cards, the odds are sometimes in that player's favor to win. Blackjack is usually played at a table of 2-7 players and uses one to eight 52-card decks. All number cards (2-10) score the value indicated on them. The face cards (Jack, Queen, King) score 10 points and Ace can either be treated as 1 or 11. At the beginning of each round, all players place their bets in their betting positions - also known as ‘boxes’. After the bets have been placed, all players are dealt two cards face-up in front of their respective betting positions. The dealer receives two cards, one face-up and another face-down. Starting to the left of the dealer, each player is given a chance to draw more cards. The players can either ‘hit’ or ‘stand’. If the player calls out ‘HIT’, they are given an extra card. They can then either call out ‘HIT’ again, or ‘STAND’ if they do not wish to draw any more cards. The player can ‘HIT’ as many times as they wish, but have to aim not to ‘bust’ (exceed a total of 21). If the player busts, they immediately lose their bet. After each player has played and either stood or busted, the dealer takes their turn. They can, again, either ‘HIT’ or ‘STAND’. If the dealer’s hand exceeds 21, all players who didn't bust win immediately - their bet is returned along with a matching amount from the dealer's bank.

If the dealer reaches a valid hand, the cards are totalled and each player’s hand is compared to the dealer’s. If the player scored higher than the dealer, they win. If the player ties with the dealer, the original bet is returned to the player. Otherwise, the player loses their bet.

A perfect hand combines an ace with a 10, Jack, Queen or King and is known as a ‘Blackjack’.

But even for the casual participant who plays a reasonably good game, the casino odds are less, making Blackjack one of the most attractive casino games for the player. While the popularity of Blackjack dates from World War I, its roots go back to the 1760s in France, where it is called Vingt-et-Un (French for 21). Today, Blackjack is the one card game that can be found in every casino. As a popular home game, it is played with slightly different rules. In the casino version, the house is the dealer (a "permanent bank"). In casino play, the dealer remains standing, and the players are seated. The dealer is in charge of running all aspects of the game, from shuffling and dealing the cards to handling all bets. In the home game, all of the players have the opportunity to be the dealer (a "changing bank"). Are you ready to try it?