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Blackjack for Beginners

Virtually everybody plays blackjack - with friends, in casinos and even online, whether for fun, to try one's luck or simply kill time. For those who want to know more about this great game of blackjack here are some useful tidbits.

Blackjack originated from the 18th-century old French card game "Vingt-en-un," which stands for twenty-one. To win the game a player should have total card value of 21. Otherwise, he should pray that the blackjack dealer would be busted or lower than what they have.

Then why call it blackjack? To make the game more exciting different casinos devised variety of rules such as paying triple for getting a three- 7s or getting a jack of any suite and a black ace usually a space. The latter paved the way for blackjack's colloquial and widely used name.

How to win? As said earlier to win in blackjack, one should have a card value of 21 otherwise start praying that you still have a higher value than the rest.

How to determine the value of the cards? In blackjack a Face Card (Jack, Queen and King) has a value of 10 and the Numbered or "Pip" Cards take their original value.

What about an ace? In blackjack ace is referred as a hard or soft card or it could have a value of 1 or 11. For example, I have a 5 of clubs, and a 5 of diamonds then I asked the blackjack dealer for another card. Hypothetically, an ace came. Obviously, by its initial value I get an eleven (5+5+1). However, since an ace could have a value of eleven - I have 21. A great hand!

This is an example where an ace is referred as soft. However, in case that you have a 10 of spades and a 10 of clubs and you still decided for another card hoping to get an ace - to have a blackjack. Well my friend if the dealer hands to you an (hard) ace it is a surefire blackjack! On the other side, if you receive a different value … better luck next time I guess?

Here are some useful blackjack lingoes that might be quite handy when you play online or offline:

Standing - if a player is satisfied with their total card value.

Hitting - if a player wants another card to be dealt to improve their total.

If you still want to know more about blackjack there are many published books and articles or why not try playing it? Many times experience is still the best teacher.