Sunday, July 13, 2008
Online Blackjack at Poker.com
Play Online Blackjack at Poker.com
Poker.com has blackjack tables available at their online poker room. Test your strategy against the dealer at Poker.com. Learn to play online blackjack, practice your blackjack strategy, learn the basic strategy of black jack.
Blackjack, along with video poker, is one of the only casino games where your decisions actually have an effect on your chances of winning. No other casino game offers this level of strategic thought, and in fact, a skilled blackjack player can actually tilt the odds in his favor. Even if you're only a partially skilled player, knowing basic strategy only, you can reduce the house edge to a low 0.5%. This makes blackjack one of the best bets in the casino, even if you don't count cards. And learning the correct strategies isn't hard either.
Blackjack can be played with one to eight ordinary decks of cards. Cards of rank 2 through 10 are scored according to their face value. All face cards are 10 points. Aces are semi-wild and can be worth either 1 or 11 points. The highest hand in blackjack is an ace and any 10-point card and is called a blackjack. A winning blackjack pays 3:2. If both player and dealer have a blackjack the bet is a push. Aside from a blackjack, a winning hand pays even money. The player wins if his hand has more points than the dealer, without going over 21. Thus, a 21-point hand is the highest and is why the game is sometimes called 21. If either the player or dealer go over 21 it is called a break or bust and a busted hand automatically loses. If both the player and the dealer bust the player loses, where lies the house advantage. If the player and the dealer tie, the bet is a push.
A round of blackjack begins with each player placing a bet in the circle or logo directly in front of him. Then the dealer will give each player and himself two cards. Player cards are usually dealt face up. One dealer card is dealt face up (the up card) and the other face down (the hole card). If the dealer has a ten or an ace as the up card it is possible he has a blackjack, in which case all player hands will lose except those with another blackjack. In the U.S. the dealer will check for blackjack immediately, if one is possible, and will collect all losing bets immediately if he does have a blackjack.
