Blackjack rules vary by table. This guide explains the differences in payouts, splitting, doubling, surrender and dealer play that you should check before choosing a game. New to blackjack? Start with our step-by-step how-to-play guide.
Common Rule: Players may split any time they begin a hand with a pair. This allows them to play two separate hands, each of which will be dealt a new second card. Players may split to up to four separate hands if they continue to receive pairs. However, there are some restrictions; for instance, players are typically not allowed to play their hands after splitting with aces (much like when doubling down, they are forced to stand), and if they do receive a ten to go with an ace, it will not count as a blackjack.
Alternative Rules: Many casinos make slight alterations to what the player may or may not do after splitting their hand. In some cases, players have some options after splitting aces; they may be able to split the hand again if they receive another ace, and in some cases, they may even be allowed to play the hands as normal.
Also, some casinos cap the number of hands a player can split to. It’s not unheard of for a casino to allow players to only split to three hands at a maximum, or even to not allow re-splitting at all, meaning a maximum of two hands are allowed.
English narration and on-screen captions. Illustrative examples explain splitting. Practice chips have no cash value.
Two eights make sixteen. But against a dealer six, basic strategy says split. What does that actually mean?
Start with ten practice chips on eight-eight. Add another ten, then separate the eights into two hands. Each hand now has its own ten-chip stake and receives another card. You play each hand separately. Splitting changes your options; it doesn’t guarantee either hand will win.
Our example uses six decks, the dealer hits soft seventeen, and doubling after splitting is allowed. Don’t split every pair: two tens already make twenty. Check the chart for your table’s rules, then practise the decision with chips that have no cash value.
Common Rule: Players may double down with any two card hand. They do so by making a second bet equal to their original bet. The player receives one additional card and then must stand.
Alternative Rules: Some casinos put restrictions on when players may double down. While it’s usually permitted to double down after splitting your hands, some casinos do not give the player this option. In a few casinos, the player may only double down on hands with scores of 9, 10 or 11. Promotions occasionally exist that allow players to “triple down,” which allows the player to put even more money on the table when the odds are favorable.
Common Rule: There is a lot of variation in surrender rules. Perhaps the most common rule is “late surrender.” This allows the player to surrender their hand after the dealer checks for a blackjack. If the player surrenders, they immediately lose half of their bet, and the hand is over for them. The player usually invokes this rule in situations where the dealer has an overwhelming advantage, and saving half of the original bet is preferable to risking the entire bet.
Alternative Rules: In many casinos, surrendering is not offered. In others, the surrender rules are more favorable to the player. This occurs in cases where the player may surrender before the dealer checks for blackjack, an option known as “early surrender.”
English narration and on-screen captions. Illustrative examples use practice chips with no cash value.
Surrender does not mean losing your whole bet. When this option is offered, you end the hand and give up half your original stake.
Here you have a ten and a six against the dealer’s ten. You bet twenty practice chips. After the dealer checks and has no blackjack, late surrender returns ten chips and loses ten. Your hand is finished, even if the dealer later busts.
For this six-deck example, the dealer hits soft seventeen. Basic strategy recommends surrendering this hard sixteen. If surrender is unavailable, hit. Early surrender is different: it applies before the blackjack check. Check the table’s rules before using a surrender chart.
Common Rule: The dealer deals out two cards to himself at the beginning of the hand. The dealer immediately “peeks” to see if he has blackjack; if he does, it is revealed, and all player bets lose (except for blackjacks, which push). If he does not have blackjack, the hand continues as normal.
Alternative Rules: In some cases, the dealer will not check for blackjack until after all players have finished playing their hands. Usually, this means that in the case of a dealer blackjack, players will lose all bets made, including splits and double downs. Some casinos limit how much the player can lose in these cases, with one rule being that the player will lose all bets on hands that busted, as well as the bets on hands that were split, but not any bets made from doubling down on a hand.
Some casinos also mix these rules, having the dealer peek for an ace (when a blackjack is fairly common), but not peek if the dealer is showing a ten.
Common Rule: Player blackjacks win at 3-2 odds. If the dealer also has a blackjack, the bet is considered a push.
Alternative Rules: Unfortunately, most alternative rules dealing with player blackjacks work in the casino’s favor. Some casinos offer less than 3-2 odds on a blackjack; 6-5 is common, though 1-1 and 7-5 can also be seen occasionally. On the bright side, some blackjack games allow the player to win even if the dealer also shows a blackjack, and promotional deals sometimes allow suited blackjacks (or even all Blackjacks) to pay at higher odds, such as 2-1.
English narration and on-screen captions. Illustrative examples explain the rules. Practice chips have no cash value.
Three to two and six to five aren’t the same blackjack payout. Here’s the difference on a ten-dollar bet.
Suppose your first two cards make a winning blackjack: an ace and a ten-value card.
At three to two, the profit is fifteen dollars. Add your original ten-dollar stake, and twenty-five dollars comes back.
At six to five, the profit is twelve dollars. With the stake returned, that’s twenty-two dollars. Same winning blackjack, three dollars less profit.
This is the payout for a winning blackjack, not every hand that reaches twenty-one. Under standard rules, a dealer blackjack means a push, not this payout.
Check the rules before playing. You can learn the difference with free practice chips at OnlineBlackjack dot com. They have no cash value.
English narration and on-screen captions. Illustrative examples use practice chips with no cash value.
The dealer has an ace and a six. Must they take another card? The table’s soft-seventeen rule decides, not the dealer’s preference.
An ace counted as eleven plus six makes soft seventeen. At a stand-on-soft-seventeen table, the dealer stops here. At a hit-on-soft-seventeen table, the dealer draws. Suppose the next card is a four: eleven plus six plus four makes twenty-one. Rewind and draw a ten instead. The ace now counts as one, so one plus six plus ten makes hard seventeen. The dealer stops. One extra card cannot bust the original ace-six hand, because the ace can change value.
These are examples, not predictions of the next card. The rule governs the dealer, not your own decision on seventeen. Check whether the table says hit or stand on soft seventeen, and match your basic-strategy chart to the full rules.
Common Rule: The dealer must stand on all hands of 17 or more, and hit on all hands of 16 or less.
Alternative Rule: In many casinos, the dealer also hits on a soft 17. This rule has a small effect on player strategy and favors the house substantially.
To see these rules in action, play a few hands in our free blackjack game (six decks, dealer hits soft 17), or compare the rules at the real-money casinos we recommend.
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