What is the winning hand?
To win a hand you have to get total cards value closer to 21 than dealer's hand, but not over 21. Your hand is strictly compared to the hand of the dealer. The cards of other players do not affect your win or loss.
Cards values.
In blackjack, the cards are valued as follows: An Ace can count as either 1 or 11. The cards from 2 through 9 are valued as indicated. The 10, Jack, Queen, and King are all valued at 10. Cards suites do not have any meaning in the game. The value of a hand is the sum of the point counts of each card in the hand. For example, a hand containing (3, 10, and 8) has the value of 21. Since the Ace can be counted as either 1 or 11 you choose how you want to count the hand. For example, a hand containing (3, 2, A) can be either 6 or 16. If you stop there, it will be 16. If you choose to get another card, Ace would be counted as 1 to avoid you going over 21.
Typical round of the game
Each player places a money bet. The dealer deals 2 cards to each player and 2 cards to himself. The cards of all the players are exposed. The dealer only exposes one of his two cards. Once the cards are dealt, each player gets a chance to play his hand as he wished. The various player decisions are covered in the section below. After each player has had a chance to finish a hand, the dealer will complete his hand and then pay or collect the player bets.
Dealer's hand.
Dealer hits soft 17: The dealer hits his hand until he reaches at least 17 or busts by going over 21. If 17 is a soft 17 (one of cards is an Ace) dealer stays. Example of such a hand: (Ace, 6).
Players choices
Surrender
This action may only take a place at the beginning of the game when player has only 2 cards and before player has done any other actions. By choosing surrender player agrees to stop playing this hand and loses 1/2 of his bet.
Hitting/Standing
The most used actions at the blackjack table are to draw another card to the hand (hit), or stop at the current total (stand).
Doubling Down
This can only be done once per round when your first two cards are dealt at the beginning of the round. Doubling down allows you to double your bet and receive one, and only one, additional card to the hand. For example, if you a total of 11, say a (6,5) against a dealer's up card of 5, you have a good chance of winning by drawing one additional card, so you might as well increase your bet. Doubling down can be done for amount equal or less than your bet.
Splitting Pairs
If you are dealt a matching pair of cards (ignore the suits), you have the ability to split the hand into two separate hands, and play them independently. For example, you are dealt a pair of eights for a total of sixteen. Since sixteen is likely to bust if you draw and unlikely to win if you stay, that would be a perfect candidate for splitting hand into two hands. If you draw another eight again, it could be spitted again (up to 3 times). The only exception from this rule is the Ace. If you split pair of Aces each Ace gets only one card.
Insurance and Even Money
Insurance or Even Money can be offered to the player only when dealer shows an Ace (dealer has a good chance of blackjack). In that case players with blackjacks qualify for the Even Money option. They can get paid 1 to 1 on the blackjacks before dealer checks to see if he has a blackjack himself. Players without blackjacks qualify for insurance. Insurance cost 50% of the bet. If Dealer turns out to have a blackjack, player loses original bet but gets paid 2 to 1 on insurance (overall player loses or gains nothing). If Dealer does not have a blackjack - player loses insurance.
