The rules of blackjack are fairly simple, but unfortunately there can be many variations and additional rules depending on which casino you play at. These are mentioned later on. If you are in the UK you may have played a game called "pontoon" when you were younger, the rules are similar.

The object of the game is to beat the dealers hand with your own hand. You may play at a table with several other players but it is only your hand and the dealers hand you have to worry about. Unlike a game of poker you are not trying to beat everyone else at the table.

The winner of each hand is whoever's cards add up to a total closest to 21 without going over that total. For example if your cards add up to 19 and the dealers cards add up to 18 you win and you are paid at even odds. Each card is assigned a value as follows.

2=2
3=3
4=4
5=5
6=6
7=7
8=8
9=9
10=10
Jack=10
Queen=10
King=10
Ace=1 or 10

For example a 5 and an 8 gives total of 13, a jack and a 10 gives a total of 20 and an ace and a 7 gives a total of 8 or 18. It is up to you which value you assign to the ace. A hand is said to be "hard" or "soft" depending on whether it contains an ace or not. For example a 7 and 9 card together would be called "hard" 16 whereas an ace and a 4 card together would be called "soft" 16.

At the start of each hand you will place the amount of money you want to bet on the table and when every player has done this all players are dealt two cards each, starting with the person at his left, he will then go to each player one by one. When it is your turn you have the opportunity to either, take another card "hit", or to not take another card "stand". If after taking another card the total of your cards adds up to more than 21 then you are "bust" and the dealer will remove your cards and your chips from the table as you will have automatically lost the hand.