Blackjack Basics for Beginners

Welcome to lesson one of this video series where we will take you from novice to card counter over eight seasons of our Blackjack Academy by 997655.com and NeverSplit10’s. In this video, we'll cover the basics of blackjack so you can start playing the game in minutes.

The objective of blackjack is to get closest to 21 with a combination of two cards or more without going over. In order to win, you need to have a higher score than the dealer without going over.

Players sit at a blackjack table. They typically look like this, whether you are playing live or online. There are usually 5-7 seats at a typical blackjack table. Pick your seat and let's get started.

Your chips go directly in front of you either in the rail on or the felt. In front of your chips are the betting circles, where you will place your bet every hand. In front of the dealer is a chip tray where the casino's chips are held.

To the dealer's left is the shoe where the cards are held and to the dealer's right is the discard tray where cards are put after the hand is over. Some casinos have a shuffling machine with continuous shuffling. In this case there is no discard tray.

The dealer works from their left around the table, and gives every player two up-cards and gives himself one card face up and one card face down.

After the hand is played, if you have a smaller total than the dealer you lose. If you go over 21 you lose and if you have the same amount as the dealer without busting you will tie, which is called a push in blackjack.

Cards marked 2-10 have a value of 2, 3, and 4 all the way to 10. All face cards (J, Q, and K) have a value of 10 and the Ace has either a value of 11 or one. The Ace always has a value of 11 unless your total goes over 21 then it switches back to one which makes the ace the most valuable card in the game.

Those are the essentials every player should know before hitting the blackjack tables. If you want to blend in with the experienced players, check out our next video on table rules. We cover blackjack etiquette so you don't look like am amateur at the table.