Black Jack
Black Jack is one of the most popular card games in the world. It is also known as ‘twenty-one’ or ‘Vingt-et-un’, which is the French word for twenty one, or ‘Pontoon’. The Twenty One had originated during the 1700s in the French casinos. The Black Jack which is played in the modern casinos is completely different from the British card game, which is a variant of Crazy Fights. This game is a wonderful combination of the prospect of luck and a reasonable proficiency of playing the game. The popularity is further heightened due to the excessive publicity which surrounds the card counting. Card counting is the calculation of the probability of advantages that is based on the ratio of high cards to low cards.
21 was not at all popular when it was introduced in America. To popularize it the gambling houses began to offer various bonus payouts in order to get players to the tables. Black Jack could either be a Jack of clubs or a jack of spades. If a player’s hand consisted of an ace of spades and a Black Jack, he would receive 10-to-1 pay out bonus. His hand would be called a Black Jack. These bonus pay out were soon abolished but the name got ingrained. Now when the game is played, it is not necessary that a ‘Black Jack’ would contain a jack or any black cards for that matter.
The betting amount is printed on a sign which is imprinted on the table. It varies from casino to casino and table to table. $5 dollars is the minimum bet. The ‘dealer’ deals the cards from a single or a double hand-held deck of cards after the completion of the initial bets. The decks of cards are called the ‘pitch’ game. Each player receives two cards including the dealer himself. One o the two cards of the dealer is placed face-up for everyone to view it. The face-down card is called the ‘hole card’.
In European Black Jack the hole card is not dealt until all eth players complete playing their hands. In the American Black Jack, if the dealer’s face-up card happens to be an ace or a ten value, the dealer is allowed to check his hole card to find if he has Black Jack. This is done after the players receive their insurance and they begin their play.
In order to win, the players aim to beat the dealer by holding a higher and ‘unbusted’ hand. If a hand has a higher total than 21 it is called a ‘bust’ or ‘too many’. Card numbers of two to ten are equivalent to their face- value and the face cards (jack, queen, king) are all valued at 10. The ace is worth 11, but if it enables a player to bust, it is valued 1. The hand where the ace is worth 11 is termed a ‘soft hand’. If the player happens to ‘bust’ along with the dealer, he stands to lose. When the player and eh dealer are at the same point value, it is known as ‘push’, where neither of them stand to win.
While Black Jack strategy does change from casino to casino, most casinos fall under one of the two categories: Las Vegas rules or Atlantic City rules. An ace and a 10-value card in a two card hand of Twenty One is called a ‘Black Jack’ or a ‘natural’. If the dealer has a Black Jack as well the hand will be called a ‘push’, otherwise the ‘natural’ becomes an automatic winner. The player stands to receive 3:2 on his bet.
