Okay, we’ve given you the basics; you’re trying to get as close as possible to 21 without going over, and you start with two cards.

You can ‘stand’ or ‘stay’ with your first two cards — a recommended move if you’re already very close to 21. You can also ‘hit’ for another card if you don’t feel you’re close enough (or that the dealer may be closer than you are!).

There’s no limit in the rules to the number of times you can ‘hit’ (except the rules of probability; the lowest cards that you could possibly get would be four ‘soft’ Aces, four twos, and three threes…which would give you 21 with eleven cards if you played them that way and didn’t split any of the pairs…see below). In the real world, I’ve never seen a player hit more than four times without busting, and usually two is enough.

The dealer has limited options compared to the player; in many casinos, the ‘house rules’ force the dealer to hit on anything below 17, and stand on anything 17 or better ( online casino USA like Cherry Red Casino). Some casinos make an exception for a ‘soft 17′ (just remember, your odds are slightly worse in this case).

If your first two cards are a pair, you may have the option of ‘splitting’ the pairs — essentially getting to play two separate hands with the same bet. You can win, lose, or push on each hand independently. Sometimes this works out very well, as when you are dealt a pair of eights (16 is a crappy hand that rarely wins, but hitting makes a bust likely), but sometimes it’s not a great idea (why take the chance on a perfectly good 20 by splitting tens or face cards? You may as well be playing online slots instead).

After your first two cards, you can ‘double down’, which will double your bet but limit you to only one additional card. This can be a very helpful move, but only in certain circumstances (you should never double down when the dealer has an Ace showing, for example).