In blackjack, your hand competes against the dealer. A high total helps only if it stays within 21, and an initial blackjack differs from reaching 21 later. Our edition supports several specific table rules using free play chips only.
In this guide
Card values and the objective
Twos through nines count their rank; tens and faces count ten. An ace counts eleven or one as necessary to avoid busting. Win by having a higher valid total than the dealer, or by surviving when the dealer busts. If you bust first, a later dealer bust does not rescue your hand.
Further reading: MLGCA: Blackjack, version 1.17
Soft and hard hands
A soft hand can count at least one ace as eleven. A–6 is soft 17. Add a ten and the ace changes to one: the hand is now hard 17, not bust. A–6–5 is hard 12. The same displayed total can therefore represent different possibilities.
Actions in our edition
Hit draws another card; stand ends your hand. Double doubles the wager and draws exactly one final card. Here it is available only on two cards and within the selected restrictions. Split separates an eligible pair into two hands for another equal wager. Each hand settles separately.
In our edition, split aces receive only one additional card each and cannot be split again. An ace and ten after splitting count as 21, not a natural blackjack paying a premium. With late surrender enabled and American peek selected, you may surrender the original two-card hand for half the wager.
When the dealer acts
After your actions, the dealer follows fixed rules. Below 17, draw; on hard 17 or higher, stand. Soft 17 follows the selected S17/H17 setting. The dealer does not choose tactically against your hand. Peek checks a possible dealer blackjack before your actions; European mode deals the second dealer card later.
Settlement with hypothetical chips
An ordinary win here pays 1:1 net; a push returns the stake. A natural blackjack pays 3:2 or 6:5 according to the setting. A ten-chip stake therefore wins fifteen or twelve, returning twenty-five or twenty-two in total. Player and dealer naturals push.
Insurance is a separate wager against an exposed dealer ace: half the original stake, paying 2:1 net on dealer blackjack. It loses without dealer blackjack even if the main hand wins. Calculate the insurance and main wager separately.
Starting and actual defaults
Without stored rule preferences, our edition defaults to six decks, stand on soft 17, 3:2, doubling on any two cards and after splitting, up to four hands, same-rank splitting, peek and no surrender. Insurance is on. Defaults are 1,000 chips and twenty rounds. The variants guide explains the alternatives.
Play chips are free and cannot be bought, cashed out or exchanged for real value. On a new page visit, Start game begins a fresh round using saved preferences. An abandoned local round does not resume automatically.