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Basic Blackjack Terms
If you are new to playing blackjack, the first things you need to know are the basic rules in playing the game. If you are playing in a casino, you should also know the blackjack variation that the casino uses. These slight variations may increase or decrease your chances of winning depending on your skill in playing blackjack.
Once you are familiar with the rules and the blackjack variations, it's also good that you know the terms being used when playing the game. This will make you sound like a seasoned player and also communicate better with the dealer and the other blackjack players.
Here are the commonly used terms that you should expect to hear once you start betting in a blackjack game.
Blackjack is not just the name of the casino game. Blackjack also refers to getting a sum of twenty-one with your first two cards. This will occur of you get an ace, regardless of the suit, and either a ten, jack, queen or a king. A blackjack pays you three to two. This is also known as a natural.
A soft hand occurs when the ace is given a value of eleven. In blackjack, the ace may be assigned a value of one or eleven depending on the player and on the other cards on hand. If a player gets a blackjack with an ace and a card with a value of ten, this is considered a soft hand. The ace has a value of eleven plus ten, which is the value of the other card. It gives a sum of twenty-one.
On the other hand, hard hand occurs when the ace is assigned a value of one. This usually happens, if assigning a value of eleven to the ace will produce a sum higher than twenty-one.
A bust happens when the blackjack player or the dealer gets a sum exceeding twenty-one. When this occurs, the one who busts loses the game. However, if both the dealer and the player bust, nobody wins the game.
A push occurs when the player and the blackjack dealer gets the same sum. When a push happens, the player's bet is just left on the table.
To hit means to draw another card. A blackjack player chooses to hit when he feels that getting another card will give him a sum of twenty-one or closer to twenty-one than that of the dealer's.
To stand means to decide to keep the existing hand and not take another card. Do this when you feel you have a better advantage with your current cards.
These are the basic terms that you'll be hearing from the blackjack dealer and other blackjack players when you start betting. If you have questions about the game, feel free to ask for some help from the dealer, other players or the observers.
