Chances are that if you’re here, you’ve played the game of blackjack once or twice. However, I hate to assume anything (maybe you’re totally new to gaming, maybe you’re experienced only with online slots, et cetera), so we’ll set out the basic rules of blackjack so that we’re all up to speed.

The game is played with a standard deck of cards (jokers removed), and usually with multiple decks.

While blackjack in the ‘brick and mortar’ casinos is often a table game with multiple players, in the online versions it’s most frequently player (you) versus dealer (the computer). Exceptions do exist; in fact, there are more and more multiplayer blackjack games offered every year, and already plenty of live tournaments with players from all over the globe competing for a share of the pot.

Each player and the dealer starts off with a pair of cards, and the goal is to get your card totals as close to 21 as possible without going over. This is called ‘busting’ and is an automatic loser. There are many that say your goal is not to get to 21, but to beat the dealer — that’s pretty much true. It really doesn’t matter what your total is, as long as you win…and you can win with some pretty pathetic totals, if the dealer busts.

The cards are mostly worth the number printed on them (deuce equals two, et cetera) with two major exceptions: all face cards are worth 10, and all Aces have two values (soft and hard).

Aces can be worth 1, or they can be worth 11. It’s all up to how you play out your hand. If you happen to get an Ace and a card worth 10 (face card or ten card of any suit) on the initial deal, it’s called a ‘blackjack’ and you immediately win. Not only that, but the blackjack usually pays better (three to two, or half again your original bet). The only way a dealer can stop this is by also having a blackjack — this leads to a tie, typically called a ‘push’ by players.

We’ll continue the tutorial on the next page, or you can try your luck at any of the online casino USA choices that we’ve provided (they all have free gameplay, perfect for practice!).