Blackjack

January 23, 2010 / admin /

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Also known as Pontoon or Twenty One, no one is quite certain when, where and how the game of Blackjack first originated. The earliest references found in history date back to the 17th Century where a similar game is mentioned in the country of Spain. While it may have started then, it did not catch on until it reached the United States and even then, it was not nearly as popular as other casino games. Blackjack is a very simple game that uses a traditional deck of 52 cards and is based on both skill and luck. There are many different versions offered in today’s casinos, each with their own variation of the overall rules, and as a result, the game has a very strong following throughout the world. A controversial practice called card counting in which players attempt to keep track of all of the cards in the deck that have been played so far so that they can determine the odds of their own bets and thus give themselves an advantage over the house has made Blackjack especially popular. However, it should be noted that the practice can put players at risk of being banned from a casino’s premises since it is considered cheating although it is not technically illegal.

Traditionally, the game of Blackjack is played with contestants sitting around a half oval shaped table facing the dealer who stands behind the table. Each of the players places their bets and are then dealt 2 cards, either face up or face down, according to the method in practice at that particular casino which are generally printed on the Blackjack table. All of the players are pitted against the dealer and their goal is to beat the dealer’s hand in order to win their bet. Cards are turned over and dealt with the goal being to get closest to or an exact total score of 21 without going over – known as “busting”. Cards 1 through 10 are worth their face value; Jokers, Queens and Kings are worth 10 points; and an Ace can be played as a 1 or an 11. Scoring an exact 21 is called a Blackjack.